Giants’ final tune up for play-offs
The sixth-placed Giants (14-11) host the Wanneroo Wolves (fifth at 15-10) in their final regular season game tonight at Kalgoorlie’s Neils Hansen Stadium.
Depending on results, the Giants could finish as high as fifth or as low as eighth. One scenario the Giants would dearly love to avoid is a quarterfinals showdown with Geraldton, which would mean the final two games of the best-of-three series would be played on the Buccaneers’home court during a nightmare road trip. But if the ladder remains the same, the Giants are heading to Geraldton.
Giants coach Wayne Creek said his players must concentrate on tonight’s game instead of worrying about situations they cannot control. “You need a (university) degree to work it out,” Creek said. “We have just got to play our normal game and work on executing our plays.
“If results don’t go our way then so be it, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. “It’s a good opportunity to get out there and work on our game and have a decent crack.”
Forward Tom Kendall replacing young guard Tane Moran is the only change for the Giants, who snapped a five-game losing streak with last Saturday’s 120-82 win at home over the Stirling Senators.
The Giants had a spring in their step at training on Thursday night-,with former captain Shamus Ballantyne, who has battled a form of lymphoma, watching proceedings.
“To have a guy of his calibre who has played as many games as he has for the Giants in and around the group was fantastic considering what he has been through,” Creek said.
“It gave the group a bit of a boost, everyone had a spring in their step and at this time of the year you take any added advantage you can get.”
The Giants won their previous encounter with Wanneroo 108-83 in April after a dominant display by American import John Vaudreuil. Vaudreuil, who needs only nine points for 500 this season, had 26 points and 17 rebounds in that clash three months ago.
But Wanneroo has revamped its roster mid-season with the addition of new American forward Zach Coverstone and power-forward Greg Hire, who has returned from playing in the US college system.
“They’ve got two guys who have come into that side who have asserted themselves on the starting roster and now Wanneroo has an American (John Smith) coming off the bench,” Creek said.
Article by Jarrod Lucas (Kalgoorlie Miner)
Photo by Wayne Wright (Wayne Wright Photography)
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