Basketball Australia’s US correspondent Phil Moskowitz wraps another week of Aussie Boomers in action overseas.
This past week Aleks Maric won the Serbian League with Partizan Belgrade, the club’s 9th Serbian League Championship.
Maric guided Partizan to a near perfect 13-1 regular season record and an undefeated (5-0) postseason mark.
Partizan’s only loss was a 74-72 defeat at the hands of eventual Finals opponent, Hemofarm during week three of the competition.
In Game 1 of the 2010 Serbian League Championship Finals series Partizan came away with the 67-60 victory as Maric totaled 13 points and seven rebounds.
While Game 2 was more eventful, Maric finished with 18 points, four rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal as Partizan walked away with the 86-81 win.
Hemofarm forfeited Game 3, handing Partizan the title.
Maric was on fire from the field in the finals where he shot an astounding 71.4 percent (15-for-21).
His playoff averages were very similar to his yearly averages where he posted 12.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.1 assists, .9 blocks, and .8 steals over the course of the 19 games in his rookie season.
Another Boomer taking home Championship hardware was Mark Worthington who played for Bamberg in the BBL Finals in Germany.
After his outstanding play in Game 3 (20 points, 8 rebounds), Worthington was held to just one point in Game 4 and three points, three rebounds, and one block in Game 5.
Worthington’s Finals performances were plagued by foul trouble:
Game 1: 4 fouls – 15 min Game 2: 5 fouls – 13 min
Game 3: 2 fouls – 21 min Game 4: 3 fouls – 10 min
Game 5: 2 fouls – 15 min
Even with Wortho in foul trouble, Bamberg had enough fire power to edge out the Deutsche Bank Skyliners in the decisive Game 5, 72-70.
Wortho plays a very aggressive style of basketball and needs to channel that aggression as one of the centrepieces of the Boomers World Championships this coming campaign.
One Boomer who didn’t have similar luck in the Playoffs this past week was CJ Bruton.
Bruton was stellar for his club in the BSN Semi-Finals in Puerto Rico but Quebradillas couldn’t overcome Capitanes late series surge.
After jumping out to a 2-0 series lead Quebradillas struggled to find consistency the rest of the series.
In Game 6, CJ racked up 19 points, five assists, three rebounds, and one block but lost 86-85. Game 7 he also played well totalling 16 points, four rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal but lost 97-92.
For the series he averaged 15.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists as Capitanes needed all seven games to defeat Quebradillas.
In WNBA action, both young and veteran Opals continue to have an impact.
Lauren Jackson had another solid week averaging a double-double, 18.7 points and 11.7 rebounds, while adding 1.0 assists, blocks, and steals per game.
Jackson and the Seattle Storm were 2-1 on the week, and the 72-65 loss to Jackson’s Opal teammate Tully Bevilaqua and Indiana Fever was only their second one of the season.
Also padding her stats this week was Penny Taylor of the Phoenix Mercury who averaged 22.5 points, 3.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.0 steal in the Mercury’s 0-2 week. She had back-to-back 20-point games for the first time this season.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED:
• Maric and Worthington crowned champions in Serbia and Germany
• Maric named Serbian League MVP
• Bruton knocked out of BSN Playoffs
WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK
• Will AJ Ogilvy get drafted? NBA Draft Thursday 9am AEST
• Boomers battle Argentina in World Championship warm-up
• Can Taylor make it three 20-point games in a row?
In the spirit of reconciliation Basketball Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.