Halifax Defeat Quebec, 95-84

The box score is up here.

- Starting line up was Twyman, Bennnett, Jeanty, Strick, Bailey.

- Two shocking stats:  Bailey was the team’s leading scorer and Millien did not play.  There’s no word on if he was hurt, but if he was benched/didn’t make the trip on a coach’s decision then he must be pissed.  This is not what he or anyone else envisioned his role would be.  I know the front court is crowded, but why bring him in if he’s not getting burn?  I think playing him at small forward (where Berry is clearly unhappy with his options) is viable.  Of course, we’ll have to see why he didn’t play.  It could simply be a tweaked ankle or the nasty flu that’s making its rounds in Halifax.

- Bennett had a quiet scoring game but chipped in with nine assists and six boards.  I have to believe he’s the best player on this team right now.

- It was balanced scoring but Eric and Bailey both put up double doubles and Eric had three blocks and two steals.  17/12/3 are the kinds of numbers we expected from him this season but the turmoil (suspension, coaching change, front court player movements) have made it hard for him to find a groove.  Bailey got his numbers in just 17 minutes appearently.

- Halifax’s three point shooting woes continue.  Remember the intitial pre-season plan with our two 6′6″ wing players dropping bombs from the outside if someone tried to bring the double team?  Yeah… that’s not working out so well.  Halifax are second last in the league in three point shooting with only Montreal (the team playing with a skeleton roster of locals) hitting a lower percentage of their three point attempts.  Dandridge is a phenomenal 29% – 76th in the league.  Silverhorn is actually shooting a very good 46% (15th in the league) but the three guards are not exactly connecting at a solid rate with Twyman (34%), Bennett (31%) and Ramey (21%) all struggling to hit deep shots consistently.  Jeanty is 0-12 but I can’t really fault him since unlike some guys he doesn’t keep heaving them up when they aren’t falling.  Sure I’d like to see him knock down most of his attempts but if he’s only taking 0.8 three pointers a game I am not going to get mad about it.

Recap: Halifax vs. Montreal… CANCELED

So yeah… the game tonight was canceled.  It was pretty much the worst road game to be canceled since a lot of Halifax fans made the trip up to see the game.

Hopefully someone who was there can clarify why it was canceled.  What a nightmare.

edit:

Here is the official statement by Halifax:

HALIFAX@MONTREAL – GAME CANCELLED

02/28/2009 8:23 AM

02/28/2009 8:23 AM –

Here is the official statement by the PBL:

Premier Basketball League Montreal Statement

Chicago IL…The PBL was forced to cancel the games scheduled in Montreal this weekend.

“Unfortunately the arena management group in charge of the arena that had been secured for the weekend games, informed the ownership group in Montreal on Friday that the venue could not be used,” said Thomas Doyle PBL CEO. “To the credit of the Montreal organization they attempted to find a replacement venue, however the venue available did not comply with the required PBL standards and could not be used. We appreciate the cooperation of all of the organizations involved in this weekends games efforts to work with the league and the understanding that PBL requirements must be met to play.”

Despite it’s title it’s not as profound as the Port Huron Statement, but more to the point it also doesn’t clarify if that game was a win for Halifax or not.  Both games in Montreal this weekend have simply been removed from the schedule and Halifax were not given a win for last night’s non-game.  This could have huge consequences as Wilmington are leading the wildcard race and Halifax are mathematically in the running.  I am willing to bet that the management of the Vermont Frost Heaves will be adamant that the games should not count as wins when it comes time for the weekly PBL conference call.

Halifax Rainmen Owner Andre Levingston contacted the league prior to last night’s game as to the poor conditions at the facility booked to host the game. Levingston felt the court was unsafe for the team to play on.

The league agreed and cancelled the game. The Rainmen travel to Quebec tonight to take on the Kebs.

Warm Up

I I am down and out with a terrible flu combined with healing holes in my mouth from wisdome tooth removal, but I read this and it struck a cord with me.  From the blog of Michael Grange, Raptors beat reporter for the Globe and Mail:

This is probably unfair, but first impressions are first impressions. I had a moment at half time and I decided to watch Patrick O’Bryant last night and this is what I saw: He strolled out on the court early for warm-up, but did very little in the way of warming up. He kind half-assed some jumpers, like you would if you were kind of tired and goofing around on your own. I thought that was odd because given all he’s got between him and some playing time is Jake Voskuhl, I’d think he’d be quick to get out there and get a light sweat on, or at least pretend he had a purpose. Not that at all. Some relaxed shooting. Then, when the layups started, some kind of goofy finger-roll. What happens next though, is the killer: he takes off for a wicked windmill; and then throws down some other pretty rare dunks. (emphasis is mine)

Oddly enough, Grange is also down with “flu-like symptoms,” but that’s not what caught my eye, it’s this:  Whose warm up does that sound like?  It’s pretty much a spot on description of 80% of the Rainmen.  And what’s the result?  They blow lay ups in the game, often come out flat, and don’t make the simple plays come game time.   The first time you see it it’s cool to see guys throw alley-oops to themselves and try to do silly dunks, but after two seasons of not-quite-good-enough play I am sick and tired of it.

Rainmen Release Hammack, Sign Centre

Poor Kevin Hammack.  I really thought he was going to be a star in Halifax – he had a great skill set, good experience and seemed like a nice guy.  But Halifax have lots of small guards and Rick Lewis destroyed his confidence before Les Berry even took over.  I still think he’s a fantastic player and we saw flashes of that, but never on a consistent basis.

To replace him the Rainmen signed Reggie George, another Chicago guy.  He’s a 6′10 product of Iowa State (D1) who played for the Rockford Fury last year.  George left Iowa after two years to go to the NAIA where he was an all American and had a fair amount of tournament experience.  He seems like a good defensive player – he averaged 1.4 blocks and 8 rebounds per game in the PBL last year along with 15 ppg.  He’s long but doesn’t look too strong but should provide Halifax with its first ever legit, non-project centre.

It’s a good signing but it may be too little too late.  Halifax needed a centre who could play at the begining of the season and if, as seems likely, the Rainmen don’t make the play offs I think that the lack of a centre, and the return of Rick Lewis, can be pointed to as the primary causes of an ultimately disapointing season.

Rainmen Lose to Vermont, 100-98

It was a tough loss for the Rainmen.  They started slow but managed to fight back in the third and fourth quarters.  The big difference on the night was free throw shooting – Halifax shot just 51% from the line and lost by two points, which hurt particularly bad because they got to the line a lot by virtue of refusing to settle for jump shots.

Vermont hit a lot of big shots and Thomas Sanders played absolutely out of his mind on defense.  I think he’s probably the most underrated player in the PBL right now.  Callier also played well on the offensive end and Greg Plumber managed a hot streak in the third that kept Halifax from getting some momentum to pull ahead.

Despite some poor play Halifax kept it close enough to be in the game on the final shot, and that’s all you can ask for when playing poorly.  Unfortunately Twyman (who failed to score all game) ended up with the ball and took a fadeaway three from the corner that careened out of bounds.  I can only assume that it was a broken play.

Two other thoughts:

- Halifax failed to get stops when they needed them.  Silverhorn and Eric in particular need to step up their defensive games.

- There is a reason why Vermont lead the league in fouls.  I sometimes wonder if they’re dirtier than Manchester and Callier almost started a brawl tonight.

Last Minute Thought

So I had my wisdom teeth removed yesterday and have been trying to get school work done so I wasn’t really able to update.   Just a reminder that arguably the most important game in Rainmen history goes down tonight.  It should be an absolute battle and I hope a good crowd is on hand to witness it.

After the jump are power rankings for this week.  I wasn’t actually able to finish them properly due to time constraints but I’ll give the rankings without explanations.

Buy One Get One Free Night Again on Friday

I just got an e-mail explaining that Friday is another Buy One Get One Free Night.  Once again, season ticket holders can bring their tickets to the Ticket Atlantic box office and get additional seats.

Rainmen Lose to Quebec, 95-78

What a mess.  Halifax played worse than I saw them play all year in a game that can best be described as embarassing.  The only Halifax player who I would describe as having a “good” game was Tony Bennett who continues to impress and is now without a doubt the best wing player Halifax have ever had.  Bailey and Jeanty had alright games but overall Halifax’s bigs got outplayed by a very large, very physical Quebec team.

Quebec slowed the game down and grinded it out and Halifax made one mental error after another and managed to lose a game they had to win – the Frost Heaves are playing each other today which means that Halifax had the chance to gain ground on one of them but really blew the chance.
There are no real excuses for this loss.  It was ugly and embarrassing and it means that Halifax now have zero room for error in their remaining games.

Rainmen Defeat Detroit, 100-89

An 11 point win in a game that never should have been this close.  Detroit had some hot shooting (combined with a few too many interior defensive let downs) which kept them in the game.  Some other thoughts below:

- Randy Gill is really unlikeable and I have never seen a player in the MetroCentre get as negative a reception as he got.  It started with the introductions and continued on with every single time he touched the ball.  In addition he was berated non-stop and managed to get one technical and one more foul which should have been a technical.  What a jack ass. I may have crossed a line when I called him a meth addict.

- Huge game for Bennett – he’s really a great two guard and is quite possibly the second best player (after Anderson) on the team.

- Halifax caused 19 turnovers and scored 32 points off of said turnovers.  Fantabolous.

It was a good game, but I am tired and can’t think of anything else to say.

Halifax Sign AJ Millien

Fri Feb. 13 - Halifax signs AJ Millien

Discuss.