Giants destroy sorry Sharks
If this was a boxing match, they would have stopped the contest half-way through to stop the beating. And Manchester Giants connected with every single punch as they moved forward to the final of the uni-ball Trophy, setting up a showdown with London Towers in early match with a stunning 93-76 destruction of Sheffield Sharks.
By the manner of their victory, the holders in this competition have sent out a message to the rest of the league - we're going to be tough to beat. And right now, the Giants - Cup Finals apart - are playing outstanding basketball.
By contrast, Sharks coach Chris Finch is facing a mini-crisis. Hammered by 21 points by his great Conference rivals last week, the one-sided nature of this contest must be a concern. Down by 19 points after the opening period, his lethargic team could do little right and were never in contention, falling behind by as much as 36 points in the third quarter.
Often in the past Terrell Myers has been a thorn in Giants' side but his single point contribution, which came after sustaining a neck injury in the opening moments of the game, left Sharks struggling for a spark. Only Wil Johnson and Nate Reinking managed to stem the tide, scoring 15 and 14 points respectively.
"On the (Sharks) team, there are two guys who get most shots - Myers and Reinking," explained Tony Dorsey, who notched 20 points. "We thought that if we shut them down, the others would struggle and they did tonight."
Struggle was Sharks by-word but their opponents were in a different class. Giants' star was Phil Handy who could not miss, notching 4/5 from three-point range en route to a superb 24 point haul and nine of those came in the first quarter when his personal tally was only two less than Sheffield's total, the holders hitting the opening eight points as they raced to a 28-11 lead.
With Tony Dorsey and Roy Hairston also piling up the baskets, Manchester turned the screw in the next ten minute spell, their defensive pressure all but shutting their rivals down to build a 53-20 half-time lead.
A 12-0 run after the re-start, inevitably capped by a trey from Handy, just made things worse and with Myers in pain - both physical and mental - on the bench, Nick Nurse's side peaked their advantage at 79-43 with 2:20 left in the third quarter. That arrived when ex-Shark Travis Conlan notched 1/2 from the foul line, an irony which was not lost on the tumultous supporters in green.
With Nurse resting his starters, Sheffield saved some face by embarking on a 19-3 burst up to the final close but the white face of the helpless Finch said it all at the end.
Hairston hit 21 points and 11 rebounds, his scoring tally matched by Dorsey who pointed out the improvement which this version of the Giants has over the side which won the Trophy last year.
"Last year's team just tried to outscore other people and win games that way. But this year we started working on our defence from day one in training and that's working well right now."
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