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Awesome performances all round... A great team effort

Elmacca's dynamic duo dominated the scoring. Sharpling on the outside, Simpson on the inside. Marshall and Innes were 1 and 2 in Rebs, and 2 and 3 in assists, so clearly Princeton suited them. 3 blocks from Innes were also a welcome stat.

If I'm right Marshall is 1 in Rebs and assists

I don't even need to check the box score to know you're absolutely right. Unforgivable error.

Which means Innes is joint 2nd! rofl... let's keep staring at it and see what happens next!

All I can say is my attention to detail is much better before the game than after I've started celebrating.

Jamaica vs England

Yes, I was really watching it at this time. In my defence though, I actually prefer this time of day, I really dislike mornings. But we're not here for that.
We started the game like we were jet lagged, with the Jamaicans gaining an early lead. We started to settle midway through the first and by the end had taken our first lead. Which, of course, we never relinquished.
As the game wore on we seemed to get stronger, peaking in the third quarter in which we scored 33. I felt at the time it was Jamaica tiring but they fought back well in the fourth, cutting into our lead. In the end we ran out winners by 109-87. Credit to Jamaica for holding us to our lowest score of the season, and the lowest gap.
Sharpling top scored and led in assists. Bobby Bucky grabbed 9 rebounds before mysteriously disappearing. Esposto with 4 steals is also worth a mention. (Hope he doesn't do that on thursday.)
Having praised Jamaica it feels slightly churlish to say this but I do feel we didn't see our boys at their best today. I don't want to detract from their fine performance but given the excellent game shape I can only think that I could have done better playing a different style of offence. I'll be looking at that again in the coming week to ensure we do better in the harder games ahead.
We're in a strong position though, and there's a lot to be hopeful about.

Colombia vs England

Well, that was tense. For most of the game there was only a few points in it, possibly the tightest game I've been involved in. It was only in the last few minutes that we managed to gain a lead, which we managed to hold on to, to claim the win.

I knew going in it was going to be tough, Colombia's ranking says it all. Their record in the consolation is misleading. I had looked at their schedule and saw they had only lower ranked teams left after us, so I knew they'd certainly be trying today. That, coupled with their home advantage made it an easy decision to normal. I felt the loss of enthusiasm was worth it if it meant we remain undefeated.

Once again it was a team performance that got us the win. While we had no one to match Orjuela's shooting for Colombia, that's not really what we do. Gascoigne top scored with 16, Simpson and Bucky contributed 9 rebounds each, and Palit really showed his worth to the team with 6 assists and a very good performance in general. Also worth a mention is Big Mac MacAusland, who managed two steals in the late part of the fourth quarter which helped us gain the lead. Outstanding play by the big man.

Very good game shape again this week, which helped us to a very satisfying win away to a top 20 team.

England vs UAE

Possibly the most interesting thing about tonight's game is that it took place at The Marsh, home of season 8's EBBL champions, the Hackney Marshes. Obviously the place has seen better days, I wasn't at all sure the roof was going to last, but we all survived.

The UAE have won only one game up to now, despite a favourable draw against similarly ranked teams, so it's quite right that expectations would be high for this one. As seems typical both offences were doing well early, I was actually slightly disappointed by our D at that point, but we soon gained the upper hand. 41 points in the first quarter is undeniably excellent.
The UAE played pretty well in the second quarter, despite their starters playing a lot more minutes than ours. I felt they'd tire but they kept going.

We were a little more on top through the second half, and increased the lead, running out winners by 44 points. A healthy win but probably not enough to help us in the standings.

Nine players managed points in double figures but for once we did have a player who clearly top scored. Alan Sharpling with 21 points on his 99th senior appearance. He was also our top rated player. His Tallfella teammate Gregor Simpson was top rebounder with 10. Connor Marshall, with probably his best performance of the season, had 6 assists and 3 steals. As always of course the whole team contributed, including those who played less than 20 minutes.

Almost four weeks since anyone else was present in the thread so there's a risk I'm talking to myself but since I enjoy my own company that's probably ok.

Brazil vs England

A number of shocks today, including some for me. Alan Sharpling, one of our true stars, wasn't among the players who made the trip to Brazil. I expect him to be back in next week, performing at his usual high level.
Another shock came at the end of the game when I found out two things. Brazil tried harder in the game than us. While I thought this was a possibility pregame, from the way the game went I didn't really expect it. And their defensive tactics were a shock. Not sure of the thinking behind going FCP. We don't really turn the ball over much and our flow is usually good so FCP would seem like the wrong thing to do. Certainly I don't think it helped them at all.
One other surprising thing that you might not be able to gauge from the gameW report, but would be clear if you'd seen the game, is the fact that Connor Marshall played 33 of the first 36 minutes of the game. This is because I experimented with putting a starting and backup SF in among the blanks in the lineup. (Thanks to Joe for the tip.) I'm not sure how wise an experiment is away to a top 20 nation but it worked.

We started the game very well, we led early and looked quite comfortable. However Brazil kept coming back and were on top for a lot of the first quarter, though we did end it a point up.
The second quarter should have given me a hint that Brazil were playing FCP as we scored a massive 43 points. We looked about as strong as we ever have in that quarter, very impressive stuff for a difficult away game.
The third quarter was a little quieter, but we looked well in control. This continued through the fourth, with Connor Marshall actually sitting on the bench we were so comfortable. Of course, his deputy was Luke Innes, so its not like there was a huge drop in quality there.
We ended the game comfortable winners by 123-97.

Of course, Brazil were weakened by their efforts in the repechage earlier in the season so we can't strut round Brazil like we own the place. However, we did just beat another top 20 team on the road, and we looked very good in doing so. Their game shape was much better this week than it had been the previous weeks, so I do feel this is a good result, not just by our standards, but by anyone's.

A little more now about the experiment with Marshall. Having looked at Brazil's team, and their previous games, I felt whoever they played at SF simply wouldn't be able to cope with Marshall in his best shape. Equally, Innes as his backup made us very strong at that position. I think the game report proves the experiment was worth it.

As always it was a strong team performance. In every game we play, everyone contributes. In this game though, unlike a lot of the others, we did have a dominant performer. Connor Marshall led us in points, rebounds, assists and blocks. Definitely his best of the season.

On now to our final game in this stage, a home game against Macedonia, who, like us, are unbeaten this season. Our game shape has been excellent all season. I've always managed to field 12 fit players, so praise due to all the managers for that. We do need it to continue though, this is the crucial part of the season now, there are no more easy games.