Basketball success will depend on consistency

Press, 2 August 1985, Page 8

Basketball success will depend on consistency

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Like a tight-rope walker with an egg in one hand and a melon in the other, Converse Canterbury will start in Wellington this evening, its final challenge for New Zealand’s greatest basketball prize, the Countrywide league championship. Canterbury’s chances of success are unbalanced. First, this evening, it has to face the title-holders, Exchequer Saints, in a semifinal, and the weight of opinion and past performances favour heavily the Wellington side. Then, if Canterbury does tip the scales and overrides the critics, it will almost assuredly have to meet D.B. Auckland in tomorrow evening’s final. Again the balance would be in the northerners’ favour. It would take something of a minor miracle for Canterbury to win the title. Twice this season Saints has drubbed Canterbury, while the Rams and Auckland both won at home in their two clashes. It has to be remembered that Canterbury last season defeated Saints twice, and the Wellington side went on to win the championship against Auckland in a mediocre final. League play-offs are different from most of the basketball seen in the lead-

FRANK DUGGAN

ups to the finals. Whether it is because of the situation there is always a tenseness in the play of the teams, principally because the players are drilled not to make mistakes. Therefore, adventure or flair are replaced by a hard-nosed attitude. Auckland and Saints know about winning. Canterbury and the other semi-finalist, Hamilton Supersport, are fledglings in an arena which calls for complete dedication and concentration. Unfortunately, Canterbury has lacked these two vital ingredients in a lot of its games this season, particularly in the second round until the last week when character and consistency eventually imposed themselves with greater regularity. A repeat of these attributes would set Canterbury on the right course for its first national championship. The skill is there, that has never been questioned, but the mental approach is another matter. Apart from the odd match or two this season, Canterbury has shown an inadequacy in being able to sustain a high degree of skill. Thankfully, a couple of players have kept an even head, particularly John Hill and Bert Knops, and if Canterbury should win the title an accolade should be given to these two men who have never wavered in performance and a true sense of commitment. Apart from at times the captain, Clyde Huntley, fellow guard, John Rademakers, and to a lesser extent the often disappointing Eddie McLeod, Canterbury lacks a “pure” shooter. Saints and Auckland have plenty, as well as several equally-consistent bench replacements. Canterbury has no such luxury.

It has to rely heavily on the “old guard,” Hill, McLeod, Knops, Rademakers and Huntley, with useful back-up from lan Webb, Dave Edmonds and lan Johnson, and to a lesser extent Kelvin Duff. Hugh Thomson has been seated in the wings for months and deserved better. Huntley is only a shadow of the man who ran rings round big and small men in recent years. Although he will not admit it, he has a knee injury that keeps nagging away with a resultant sapping of performance. The likeable American has been saving himself for the grand finale in Wellington, and bad knee or not almost assuredly the capital, Saints and Auckland, will see Clyde “The Glide” at his best. Although his form this season has wavered from between third grade to international standard, Rademakers, on his day, is still the best New Zealand guard. When he strikes form he completely, overshadows other New Zealand “pretenders” such as Hamilton’s Tony Smith, but the intervals between good and indifferent performances have been widening with every game. Together, Huntley and Rademakers on the break,

breathe life into the game, but this season, for one reason or another, these breaths have been short pants. Johnson had to wait a long time for some decent playing time, and when he got the opportunity against Cable Price Centrals, now relegated to the second division, he grabbed it. He is a competitor and in the grind of league finals should prove an ideal back-up for either Huntley or Rademakers. Rarely does Knops drop below his usual high standard. He may not be spectacular, but he gets his usual 10 to 12 points with quiet efficiency. John Hill is rapidly closing the gap in defensive skills on his renowned brother, Stan. But scoring wise they are mountains apart. John is another almost certain to be chosen for New Zealand this season. McLeod is an enigma. He started slowly in his first league season for Canterbury and earned the wrath of Canterbury supporters with several displays not in keeping with his record. However, when it counted most McLeod put together a series of fine displays and a continuation of that form should prove invaluable at the week-end. This week Huntley said that he had been forced to change his approach. “It was good dishing out the points, but what we lacked was a floor leader,” he said. “That is what I’ve been doing in recent games and the team has responded. Finals always have an element of uncertainty and are unpredictable. The players must remember that we got to Wellington on hard work and skill, and if we play to our potential we will win,” said Huntley. “We must decide that we have to attain a 60 per cent scoring average. Anything less and we could go down.”