You don’t own me

I think it was the great film the First Wife’s Club which included the awesome song, You don’t own me. Every so often I love the way Sport stands up and says YOU DON’T OWN ME.

The Tigers have been put to the sword by the Eagles on a number of occasions this season in BBL competition and having defeated the Scottish Rocks on Friday night to lift the BBL League Championship, the Newcastle boys arrived at Greenbank full of confidence.

A huge travelling contingent was there in support of the Champions while a smallish home crowd would have to put up with their taunting all night. Extra reserved seating had to be made available for the fans of the Eagles.

We were all set for another Eagles win over the Tigers, but that was before Sport stood up and said YOU DON’T OWN ME.

This evening was another joy to behold as the home team, now consigned to second place in the BBL, played with the sort of confidence and freedom that had eluded them in the previous encounters with their bitterest rivals. I have commented previously about this rivalry so I’ll not go into it again but this was sport of the highest order.

The internal battles were there for all to see. The contest between Andre Smith and Trey Moore for season MVP is ‘in my opinion’ over. Andre said to me a couple of weeks ago, I am going to have to show them that I am the MVP of this league and there is no doubt that he has gone to yet another level as we head for the play-offs and the Championship Weekend.

There is also no doubt in my mind that the Eagles under Fab Flournoy wanted to win this game. They arrived without Lynard Stewart who is still recovering from his knee operation and without the influential Darius Defoe who was on the score sheet but not in the game.

The Tigers were without Chuck Evans who was in his walking clothes and James Jones picked up some kind of injury in the warm-ups and would play a limited part in this game.

It would be tempting to go through this game play by play but I am not going to.

I will, however, talk about performances; Andrew Bridge, Captain of the Eagles was awesome and as other bigger names found they had left their shooting touch back on the bus, he stepped up to keep the Eagles in the game. He went 7 for 12 in his ‘team high’ 22 points. He went 6 for 6 from the line and also pulled down 6 rebounds, 4 of which were at the offensive end.

One by one his team mates failed to deliver. Charles Smith, deadly in the two Trophy semi-finals was as Ice Cold as if in Alex, going 2 for 10 in his 6 points. Reggie Jackson, also awesome in the semi-finals and in other games before, and since, took only 4 shots from the field and finished the game with 4 points. Ouch!

The Eagles were held to just 15 points in the first as the Tigers drained 27. Josh Gross was the man, getting 9 points in the first on 4 for 5 shooting and including one from downtown.

Dorsey, who started the game, also played a sterling role moving the ball to the players who could make things happen. Tonight he would also make a couple of Dorseyesq moves which were well worth seeing.

Andre Smith, who was taunted mercilessly by the visiting crowd all night, was 3 for 5 for his 7 points. He had already dished up 3 assists and was just warming up. The other star of the early parts of this game was Marcus Bailey who was 3 for 3 for his 6 points.

The second quarter was more of the same and although the Eagles would keep the quarter close, the actual score at the end was 52 to the Tigers and 38 to the Eagles.

Having seen a number of Eagles games this season I for one was not convinced this game was over. The boys from Newcastle just don’t go down this easily. Tafari Toney and Andrew Bridge added 6 a piece and Trey Moore a further 5 but it was Josh Gross of the Tigers who was having serious fun in this ball game.

I think most basketball aficionados know that when Gross is on his game, and when he has a smile on his face, he is pretty much unstoppable. Well tonight, guess what, he was on his game and he was smiling.

At the half he had 16 points with Andre Smith just back with 15. They were the Tigers one two punch that has been missing in recent weeks.

On to the third and now the Eagles would make their run and the Tigers would be unable to stop them. WRONG.

The Tigers would win the quarter again and the score at the end of the third would be 74-56 to the Tigers. Andre would move smoothly on to 23 while Gross would move to 19. He was on his 4th foul and sat for long periods.

Andrew Bridge had 16 while Tafari Toney had moved on to 14.

And so to the final stanza and it would not last long, as Fab Flournoy realised that this, as a contest, was over and both teams gave their benches a run. The final score was 101 to the Tigers and 80 to the Eagles.

A 21 point blow out of the newly-crowned BBL Champions. UNBELIEVABLE!

The top scorers were Andre Smith with a double double of 25 and 10 rebounds for the Tigers. He also added 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot. Andrew Bridge had 22 points and 8 rebounds for the Eagles.

Those were the leading scorers but there was only one star on this Bank holiday extravaganza on Merseyside. That was Josh Gross with 22 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots. He went 9 for 13 from the field.

If Gross could keep his game at this level, the next few weeks should be interesting…very interesting.

One dunk by Gross was truly awesome and was worth the entrance fee on its own. He put an exclamation mark on the evening by bringing the hammer down with attitude on that one.

Another stunning play was the jab step and pull back before unleashing a massive three from the top of the key. I don’t know who the defender was but he does because he is probably icing a twisted ankle today.

The Tigers won this one quite comfortably and, if nothing else, will have put some doubts in the minds of the visitors going into the Play-Offs and the Championship weekend. But tonight there was another winner and that was Sport.

Once again Sport stood up and said…

YOU DON’T OWN ME.

Now that’s why we play the game, and that’s why…

I love this game.

Later

Mike S