Road Win

Last night we picked up a victory on the road against St. Vallier beating them 94-72 in a French Cup match-up. To refresh everyone’s memory about the French Cup – it is a tournament format that involves all the teams from each different level here in the country of France. There is five different levels  with Pro A being the highest followed by  Pro B and then there is National 1, National 2, and National 3 in their respective order. With that win we are now among 16 teams left competing for the French Cup trophy. Our next game is scheduled for March 15^th against another team from Pro B (Antibes).

More details about last night’s game – we jumped out to a fast start scoring 8 straight points before they scored a basket. From that point on we never looked back and built a 22 point halftime lead. The rest is history. I ended up playing 25 minutes, registering 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 assists. It was a good effort overall from the team but now we have to refocus for Saturday’s showdown with Orleans. This is a big match up for us because the winner of this game will qualify to play in the Semaine des As  – a mid season 4 day tournament that features the top 8 teams in the Pro A standing during the first half of the season. The tournament will take place February 10^th-13^th at a neutral location. There is a lot riding on this game for us and the challenge will be difficult as we are playing on the road this weekend. It’s a long travel weekend for us too. We will fly to Paris Friday morning and then take a couple of vans to Orleans – which is about an hour or two away. I know I’ll be ready because just thinking about this game is getting my blood pumping!  

This is all I have for now; I’ll be back on this weekend informing you all on how the game went. Enjoy the rest of your week, the weekend is almost here! As always – love, peace, and happiness. 

2 in a Row

Six days after a 19 points loss at Nancy, Gravelines came into our house and beat us 91-68 on France national television this past Friday night. Poor defense is the blame for this game. We couldn’t defend anything and allowed our opponent to shoot 54% from the floor including 40% from beyond the arc. We really let them have their way with us – they were more aggressive than us and did what they wanted to on the offensive end. Also it didn’t help that we were 27/77 from the floor – a whopping 35%. Our schemes and approach need to change or we need to find a better way to execute our game plan at a higher level. We need to be able to dictate the game from the start and force our opponent to play our style instead of us always playing catch up.

On a more personal note, I had a decent game. I had 18 points on 8/12 shooting from the floor to go along with 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and one steal in 27 minutes of action. The playing time has continued to improve which is good but if I want to keep seeing those minutes, I have to keep playing at a high level.  I should feel good about my game as I am getting back into the flow of everything but nothing feels good when the final result is a loss. The good thing is that we can forget about the loss and move ahead to our next game which will be tomorrow. This game will be a French Cup game and we will be playing against a team from Pro B (second division). This is a good chance for us to regroup and get a win.

This is all I have for now – I will update you all about the French Cup game. I hope this post find you all doing well.  As always – love, peace, and happiness! 

Road Test

This past weekend was a big game for us on the road as we matched up against one of the top teams in the league – Nancy. Unfortunately, we found ourselves on the losing side of the scoreboard 86-67. I have to give credit to Nancy for executing a great game plan. They forced us into playing at a faster tempo than we wanted to; that caused us to cough up a few extra turnovers and most importantly they beat us on the boards. There is no shame in losing to a team like Nancy but we had our chances to take the lead in the game but just couldn’t capitalize.

From an individual standpoint I played a decent game. I finished with 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, one block, and one steal in 20 minutes of action. The stats don’t speak much volume but I was very active out on the court and did a lot of things that didn’t show up in the stat sheet. I feel great playing again and the ankle feels great. Since I’ve been back playing I haven’t had any trouble with the ankle whatsoever (knock on wood). I have to give special thanks to Michelle – a certified athletic trainer in Fort Dodge, IA - for working with back me while I was back in the states. Her hard work has definitely paid off and she definitely made me a better athlete. I do look forward to working with her again in the future. In the meantime I will continue to work hard and improve my game and hopefully do great things this second half of the season.

This is all I have for now. I hope everyone is doing well back in the states. I will be more active and updating this blog more often. As always Love, Peace and Happiness.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! Here’s hoping your 2011 is off to a great start. We are back in France and I will return to the court tomorrow for a game against my old team Vichy. I will give an update after the game.