GEORGIA ON EVERYONE'S MIND
We returned to winning ways tonight against Georgia. They put up a strong fight, especially their inside men who gave us a lot of trouble, but with the help of some manipulation of the lineup, and some strong individual performances from key men we were able to do enough to won fairly comfortably in the end.
The first half was very tight, in fact Georgia started both quarters strongly, but we finished them better than they did. It seemed that might indicate we'd be dominant in the second half, and without achieving complete dominance, we were on top for most of it, and the 41 points in the fourth quarter gave us a scoreline that I think fairly reflected the difference between the teams.
The manipulation of the lineup I mentioned earlier was to make sure Innes started at PF, and that he played most of the minutes there. It didn't quite work perfectly, I wanted Marshall to play most of the game at SF, but Innes at PF in a motion offence was always going to be a plus for us and it worked well.
Innes, and in a bit of a surprise, Palit top scored. Not because Palit isn't a good player, its just I value him as a passer rather than as a shooter. But he was on fire tonight. Sharpling showed he still has it with 4 assists and Innes led rebounding with 13.
On now to Estonia. They lost to Armenia today, so they have the same record as us. This makes it a very important game for both of us. Armenia are now in a good position too. They've played the top four teams and won twice, and should really win the remaining three. That leaves a possibility of a group of teams on 5-2 relying on PD to qualify.
Its looking difficult right now, but far from impossible, so I hope no one has lost faith yet. Its not over.