GB OUTLAST MACEDONIA
Well back in '08 I didn't get round to watching any of GB's Division A qualifiers on court so to speak. I think I caught four out of six of those games in total, one way or another, not on live TV. Then I headed out to Poland for Eurobasket itself. Then a trip to Turkey might have been on the cards had we qualified for the FIBA World championships if we'd been given a wildcard but instead, another Division A campaign was on the cards. This time involving a group of five teams. A trip out to any of the away games proved more trouble than it was worth but the home games were certainly doable, particularly as, yet again, no British TV channel could be bothered to screen them live.
So, match tickets check, train tickets, check, B+B check. Five days after watching GB win on a dodgy online stream in Hungary I was off to Newcastle. The game wasn't till the following day but there was no way to get from Exeter to Newcastle on that day in time for the match. So down to St Davids station, hop on a train without a seat reservation...and find that I'm not even able to get at a handhold let alone a seat the train was so full. So we have six of hanging around in this area between coaches, me trying to second guess everyone, eventually seeming to get hold of a seat at Bristol Temple Meades only to get booted out by someone with a reservation ten seconds later. Eventually empty seats appeared in the one unreserved coach at Bristol Parkway and the rest of the journey was relatively smooth.
So, I set foot in Newcastle for the first time. First impression? Not really sure what to make of it, it was just ironic that I'd hauled myself northeast for six hours for what was meant to be a home game. Anyway, I get in a cab and tell the driver where my B+B is - Blaydon, which turns out to be well out of town and he reckons I could have got a better deal nearer town. Well Blaydon turned out to be pretty dead. I check in to Hedgefield House. Check in is easy and they after I unpack, I head to a nearby Italian restaurant for some reasonably priced food and fast service - no complaints there. Other than that place though, this particular part of town, while quiet and safe, there wasn't much else within walking distance it seemed, so I was left dossing in the hotel for the rest of the night.
The following morning it was up, grab breakfast(cereal, toast etc) and pack rucksack for what I needed that day then get the bus into Newcastle itself. It was five hours before tip-off and two hours before I was due to meet the What's Bev crew for lunch. Well I make it to a place called Eldon Square after what seemed to be a magical mystery tour of north east England and eventually found a cash machine in a local Tescos. After that it's about tracking down the Old Orleans pub. Well I backtrack to Haymarket bus station and from there to Haymarket Metro. No sign of Old Orleans till a local shopkeeper tells me that the place was renamed "The Junction". Fine, that place I'd seen. So I get in and text Chris who's on the road from Manchester at this point. Can't see any familiar faces but see a woman in a Newcastle Eagles(reigning BBL champions) t-shirt. I decide to follow her and find the Newcastle branch of the What's Bev crew.
So, I order food and beer, the chat is a mix of BBL and talk about the GB players and the prospective honour of watching Luol Deng in action. Eventually Lisa shows up and with that with just under an hour to go before tip off we were off to the brand spanking new Sport Central arena run by Northumbria University. First impression was a very impressive arena
and I found that my seats were right by the front of the court. These weren't technically courtside seats though, those were reserved for a lucky family parked on a sofa! BPB had also hired the Rockettes(cheerleaders for the BBL side Glasgow Rocks - who got a few catty remarks off some of the women in the crew)
. Best I could tell, most of the fans were locals and most of them were watching their first basketball game. No Macedonian fans in sight.
A quick timeout to talk about our opponents at this point. Macedonia are on paper the best team in our group. Like GB they were at Eurobasket 2009. Unlike us though they actually survived the first group stage. Furthermore they came to this little island off the back of two wins. We could not let them get three. The biggest joke with the Macedonian side though? They were loaded with second rate US mercenaries - OK technically 'naturalized' players based in Europe and yet, they hadn't even set foot in Macedonia prior to being given passports! Still, they were guaranteed to give us a rough ride and if we were to get to Lithuania we would surely need to win our home games - starting now.
Well sure enough, GB took an early lead only for Macedonia to come back and tie the game at 4 before we all then had a "Mama there goes that man" moment. As the opening quarter went on it was pretty clear that this was our show and so far the Macedonians had yet to turn up. In fact their tactics for taking us out of the picture were increasingly desperate and even early doors some of the fans were wondering why more fouls weren't called. At this point it didn't seem to matter though. Whose court? Our court! Whose show? Our show! Luol Deng was running things in what was proving to be an awesome display and we were leading 29-18.
The early stages of the second quarter looked to be is not a case of us extending our lead then at least we were able to keep things ticking over. Problem is, then the Macedonians started stepping it up and nibbling into our lead. At that point I have to say that we had no reason to freak out but their guys were getting through our defence a bit too often. Then again, what else were expecting? As I said before, on paper they were better than us. With less than two minutes in the half the visiting side had cut the gap to one yet we were able to step it up again before the halftime buzzer. Luol was still taking care of business though it now Pops Mensah-Bonsu was showing that he could do the business as well. GB were leading 47-43.
Well I snapped up a "Back British Basketball" t-shirt at half time and left a bunch of Butlins dancers to do their best Matrix impersonations. Macedonia did get the opening basket of the third though we were able to extend our lead from there. . And yet the visitors were stepping it up as well, coming back to tie the game and then take a 53-52 lead which forced us to step it up once more and take a solid lead despite the fact that the quality of our free throws was getting increasingly dire. While our lead hit 655-59 with 1:30 left in the quarter, a Macedonian three pointer meant that they tied the game at 68 with a quarter to go. Their main US mercenary Bo McCalebb was being a particularly nuisance but Luol, Pops and Dan Clark was keeping us in the picture.
Well GB hit the opening basket for a 72-68 lead but there was no way that the Macedonians were going to be held back. Our free throw shooting continued to be intermittent and both sides were left a man down as the arena took on a rather desperate air - despite being so far from home and no fans to cheer them on, the Macedonians were now running the game. We tried to restrain them but with 2:35 left in the game the visitors had taken an 83-76 lead. We were buried surely. Not quite. Again we managed to haul them in but were still down by three with six second on the clock. Buried? Not when the ball found it's way to Luol down town we weren't. Pops was doing the business for us and Eagles start Andrew Sullivan was also doing his bit. Tied at 87 at the end of regulation. McCallebb was still causing problems at the other end but their other main man was Pero Antic and he'd fouled out. Overtime awaited and now all bets were off.
Well GB got the opening bucket of overtime after Macedonia failed to take the lead only for Macedonia to reply with a three pointer to take a 90-89 lead. Fine by GB though as the Macedonian offence then ran out of fuel and we easily took the lead. The Macedonians just found themselves running scared, the fans were making themselves heard and our guys were going to the hoop at will. At on the other end, the Macedonians just couldn't get through our defence. In short, once things got going in the extra period there was only going to be one team winning it. Pops took the game MVP after grabbing 27 points, Luol backed him up on 23. Nate Reinking proved further backup on 11. GB won 104-96 - that'll get a few people's attention.
Elsewhere, well Macedonia had come to Britain off the back of annihilating Hungary 78-44 in Skopje, it was that result that made me worried about our chances in the first place. At around about the same time, Bosnia made their entrance by beating the Ukraine 86-76 in Sarajevo. Then on the same day as we were in action in Newcastle, Hungary beat Bosnia 74-70 in Szolnok in what was one of the more surprising results of the group so far. That leaves Great Britain 2nd in Group B with a 2-0 record, behind group leaders Macedonia(2-1) seemingly on the grounds that Macedonia have played more games and head of Hungary in 3rd place(1-2).
2nd place in itself doesn't automatically get us to Lithuania though, that then would become dependent on how the other 2nd placed teams are doing. That virtual group is currently made up of Israel, Great Britain and Bulgaria. GB are 2nd in the 'group' with a 2-0 record, the same as 3rd placed Bulgaria but we have a +4 game points difference over them. At the moment, that is all we need to remain on course for Lithuania at the first time of asking.
So, we left the arena in a good mood. Most of those who'd come in from outside Newcastle wanted to head on home and the Geordies decided to split so that left me hitting Starbucks for a cake and then back to the Junction for something more substantial before making my way back to Eldon Square and then back to base(going past a "90s bar" called Babylon in the meantime). Once back at base it's just a case of dossing and watching TV, including highlights of the Community Shield then bed.
The next day it's up, hit shower, grab breakfast get packed and get out. Catch the bus as far as Eldon Square and then another bus to the train station(which the locals call "Newcastle Central" for some reason like there's another national rail station in town). I find that there's a 9:43 train heading towards Plymouth and get on during which I grab lunch and manage to keep hold of a seat for most of the journey(other than a brief period when I went to the toilet coming out of Temple Meades and someone had nicked my seat). Get into St Davids just before 4, head to Exeter Central from there and then home.
One down three to go.
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