Jan 24, 2008

Good week for the KINGS

Hello Everyone,

I now have been to Jämtland Sweden, home of the largest ski resort in Sweden. We flew up on the day of the game. It was a quick 2 hour flight into a really small airport. They have one or two flights a day to Stockholm. The hotels here in Sweden are better then the ones I was staying at in France, but still are nothing compared to the home land (except for some choice Red Roof Inns). The bathroom in the hotel had a movable sink that converted to a shower (hints a very small bathroom). They hotel did have some good food after the game so there were plenty of positives. After the game we hung out with some of the players from Jämtland. With Sweden being so small in population all the basketball players know each other on all the teams. We were up pretty early on Wednesday for the short flight back.

I was invited to one of the teammate’s parent’s house for a Sunday dinner. We had lamb steak with snapped peas and potatoes, very delicious. These dinners are always nice because you learn so much about Swedish culture and they learn so much about ours. It is so unique because much like the French team, everyone on this team is very young. Every one is younger then 25 except 2 players. So the parents are still very involved in many of there lifes.


This week we play a home game on Wednesday and then the All- star game is on Saturday. I’m not exactly sure the plan for it, but I am going to try and hook up with TJ (past Butler player). It is a shame that he did not make the team because he has been playing really well and keeping his team in playoff contention. No one on our team made it either, which we defiantly had a player that should have as well.

Team

It was a good week for the Kings with two wins. We first beat Jämtland by 17 and followed that up with a thrilling win at home against first place Plannja. The best thing about these wins was that the team did not play particularly well in either game and we still came up with the victories.


We had slow start against Jämtland and were not very in tune on Defense. We established a nice 15 point lead going to half and gave it up in the first 2 minutes in the third quarter. We hit our free throws and they did not which enabled us to pull away at the end.

Personally, I had a very slow start in first half going 1-3 from the field and not really into the game. The second half started off a lot better with me hitting my first 3 shots. I ended the game with 14, 9 boards and a steal. I have been rebounding really well lately, getting on the offensive glass for a couple buckets a game.

Plannja was a game where we played back in forth the whole game. We went into the game not knowing if we would have a center. Greg collided with another player in practice and had to get stitches on and around his ear the day before the game. He ended up playing and was very strong for us. Our other center is out with back trouble. They seemed to pull away a couple times and we would fight back. They were up 2 with 7 seconds and decided to foul us, but were called for an intentional foul when the guy went a little over board. We knocked down the 2 free throws and then our forward knocked down a 3 with no time remaining. It was bitter sweet as that was the same way we lost to them at there place.

I had a very good game defensively getting 4 steals and 2 blocks. I also grabbed 11 boards. Offense was another story, I ended with 12 points on 5-13 shooting. The crazy thing is that 4 of our top 5 scores went 7-38 from the field and we were still able to come away with a win. We have established ourselves as a defensive team and I believe we have a real shot at making a run for the championship (still a lot of games left till then).





This is a video of Mike Green talking on an ESPN show, check out the charge from the 6-10, 260 pound hofford from Florida!!

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3209892&n8pe6c=1


This is BC gone for now

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brandon,

congrats on the wins!

have fun hanging out with thomas jackson.

Big AL

Anonymous said...

great win sat.
good luck on the push to the playoffs.
enjoy the all-star weekend.
i agree with you, your team should be represented... it could be you!!
love dad