Back in the Day: February 2003
What in the world is that? It look like a TARDIS. Could it be the BA TARDIS? Here come the drums...
The skies are dark and menacing as a willing coalition prepares to lance a long–festering boil on the face of the planet. At least the Kings were on top of the NBL, writes Nicholas Way for Basketball Australia.
The main focus of historical interest was the United States preparing the ground for an assault on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. President George W. Bush proclaimed that ‘I don’t believe that liberty is America’s gift to the world; I believe it is God’s gift to humanity.’ Prime Minister Howard is surprised to learn that Australia has become a member of the ‘coalition of the willing’. He is in the United States to meet with senior administration officials and the head of the United Nations’ weapons inspection team, Hans Blix.
On our own sunny shores, the US Ambassador to Australia, Tom Schieffer, causes a stir by criticising the Labor Party for its stance on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as ‘a rank appeal to anti-Americanism’. Senior ALP figures blast Schieffer for what they see as an unprecedented intervention in Australia’s domestic politics. Meanwhile, the streets of Melbourne are jammed as a crowd estimated to be over 100,000 people marches through the streets to voice their opposition to the war. It is the biggest demonstration seen in that city since the Vietnam Moratorium in May 1970. One of the leaders of that march, former Labor Treasurer Jim Cairns, sends a message of support and sympathy.
News and notes from around the traps:
- Over 2 million Muslims are estimated to have undertaken the Hajj to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The Hajj is a pilgrimage to the holiest sites in Islam which every believer of that faith must undertake at least once in their life.
- Dyson Heydon is sworn in as the 44th Justice of the High Court of Australia. He replaces Mary Gaudron and again the Full Bench is an all-male domain.
- Chris Cuffe, former CEO of Colonial First State Investment, receives a then Australian record severance payout of $32.75 million. In a related story, the Commonwealth Bank, owners of Colonial First State Investment, announce a 48% drop in half-year profit, partly caused by a $422 million write-down in the worth of Colonial’s investments.
- Nicole Kidman receives her second Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a row for her performance in The Hours.
- The Socceroos pull off one of the great boilovers, defeating England by 3 goals to 1 in a friendly at Upton Park in London. Tony Popovic, Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton score the goals that drive Britain’s press into paroxysms of anger. Headlines like ‘Kanga-Poo: Stinking England dumped on by Aussies’ (The Sun), ‘Shockeroos’ (Daily Mail) and ‘Roo-Bish’ (Daily Mirror) are an indication of their indignation. As betting houses are cleaned out, England’s manager Sven-Goran Eriksson is castigated for playing his first XI for the first half only. The final word should go to Melbourne’s Herald-Sun: it truly was the ‘Last Night of the Poms’.
- The 8th Cricket World Cup begins in South Africa. Australia, as the defending champions, enters as strong favourites to retain the trophy. Their campaign gets off to a shaky start with Shane Warne sent home in disgrace after failing a drug test for a banned diuretic (It is later revealed that it was his mother who provided the pill.) Despite this major distraction, Australia won its first game, a rematch of the 1999 final with Pakistan, by 82 runs. Andrew Symonds is named Man of the Match after scoring an unbeaten 143, an innings that saved his international career.
- The real story of the tournament takes place in Harare, Zimbabwe. Zimbabwean captain Andy Flower and primary fast bowler Henry Olonga wear black armbands in their match against Namibia to ‘mourn the death of democracy in Zimbabwe’. In an associated story, a new United Nations report claims that there is less than one month of food available to the people of Zimbabwe, thanks in large part to the depravations inflicted by the Mugabe regime.
- Notable deaths during this period included Ron Ziegler (press secretary during the Nixon presidency), Walt Rostow (Lyndon Johnson’s second National Security Advisor) and Dolly the sheep (the world’s first ever cloned mammal).
- On a lighter note, ‘All I Have’, ‘All the Things She Said’ and ‘Lose Yourself’ were sitting pretty at the top of the music charts.
Let’s get into the basketball now. First off, a little bit from the NBA, as Atlanta plays host to its 2nd NBA All-Star Game. It is an historic occasion for two reasons; the first being that it would be the last time Michael Jordan would play in an All-Star Game. He was not selected to start, but started the game anyway, as a mark of respect from his fellow All-Stars. He finished with 20 points, giving him a career aggregate of 262 points in 13 appearances. Not surprisingly, this was a NBA record. The second was the manner of its ending; a double overtime thriller saw the Western Conference claiming victory by the score of 155-145. Then-Minnesota superstar Kevin Garnett was named Most Valuable Player for scoring 37 points, including 9 of the West’s 17 in the second overtime.
In Australia, both the NBL and WNBL were reaching the pointy ends of their seasons. The WNBL was in the midst of its play-offs, with the Canberra Capitals having already confirmed their status as host of the Grand Final with a 68-67 win over the Townsville Fire in the Major Semi-Final. The Capitals were paced by Lauren Jackson who scored 38 points, grabbed 21 rebounds and blocked 9 shots, including a game-saver with one second remaining. This effort becomes more outstanding when you take into account that she played with stress fractures in both shins. For her efforts, Capitals coach Tom Maher gave her a week off to rest up for the Grand Final. Townsville would have a second chance to make the Grand Final; they would host the Sydney Flames in the Preliminary Final.
Wednesday 12th February 2003
Two NBL Games:
Game One: Cairns Taipans @ Canberra Cannons.
Final score: Canberra 84-Cairns 81
A sparse crowd of 1956 visit the Palace to see the Cannons put a tumultuous 48 hours behind them (there had been issues concerning the ownership of the Cannons’ licence that led to the dismissal of CEO Cal Bruton) and claim victory over the Taipans. Bruton shows up at the game and is cheered to the echo. Canberra’s stand-in captain Brad Williams leads from the front, garnering 23 points and being a generally formidable presence in the paint. For Cairns, Jayson Wells is the top-scorer with 21 points. It provides a boost to the morale of a city recovering from a devastating bushfire that swept through Canberra on January 18th, 2003.
Game Two: Sydney Kings @ Melbourne Tigers
Final score: Sydney 95-Melbourne 90
One of the NBL’s great rivalries produces another classic as the Kings come back from seventeen down late in the third quarter to win. In front of a stunned 2669 fans inside ‘The Cage’, Shane Heal ices the game with a monster three-pointer(the only shot he made for the game) with Lanard Copeland and Mark Bradtke in his face and less than forty seconds remaining to play. MVP favourite Chris Williams has another stellar game for Sydney, scoring 22 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Kings coach Brian Goorjian says afterwards that he ‘would kill for top spot’.
Friday 14th February 2003
Two NBL Games:
Game One: Adelaide 36ers @ Wollongong Hawks
Final score: Adelaide 116-Wollongong 100
In a game of vital importance for the play-off picture (both teams were in a dogfight for home court advantage in the first round of the play-offs), unheralded Adelaide import Dusty Rychart tore the Hawks to shreds in the second half to give the 36ers a major win. 21 of Rychart’s 38 points were scored in the fourth quarter as a 78-75 game at three quarter time became a laugher. Hawks coach Brendan Joyce was so disgusted by his team’s performance that he refused to attend the post-match press conference.
Game Two: Melbourne Tigers @ Victoria Giants
Final score: Melbourne 106-Victoria 98.
This game stunk. To quote Melbourne coach Lindsay Gaze ‘That game was ugly...I didn’t enjoy that game’. With aggregate totals of 45 fouls and 44 turnovers, the quality of play was not particularly high. A 19-7 run saw the Tigers lead by 10 at the end of the first quarter. On several occasions the Giants were able to claw their way to within 5 points, but no further. Andrew Gaze brought up a triple-double (20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists). For many of the 4765 persons who paid to enter Vodafone Arena that night, the play of both sides was extremely disappointing. With this win, the Tigers just about sealed the final play-off spot ahead of West Sydney.
NBL Ladder (halfway through Round 20)
Top Six
*Sydney 19 and 8
*Perth 18 and 8
Adelaide 16 and 11
Wollongong 16 and 11
Townsville 16 and 11
Melbourne 13 and 13
Bottom Five
West Sydney 11 and 14
Canberra 10 and 13
Cairns 10 and 15
Victoria 8 and 19
Brisbane 6 and 20
* Indicates that play-off position was assured.
Next week, who knows where we’ll end up? It may be 1980, it may be 2004. It sounds a little goofus, but we’ll just have to roll the dice and see. That’s next week, in ‘Back in the Day’.
This is another in a regular series of articles that will take note of the historic events of the modern era of Australian basketball (1979-today). If you have memories to share, or topics that should be discussed, send an email to Nicholas.Way@Basketball.net.au and put in the subject line ‘Back in the Day’.
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