Midweek with the Edmonton Energy

By Chris O’Leary

 

Before we start talking about what’s going on with the team, we’ve got to talk about being witness to a piece of basketball history on Saturday night. In the first half of the Energy’s 148–120 romp over the Snohomish Explosion, Snohomish power forward Johnny Hardwick was called for a technical foul after excessively shouting and cursing out someone on the court. That someone wasn’t an official. It wasn’t an opponent. It wasn’t even a heckling fan. The target of Hardwick’s frustration? Explosion player/coach Chris Weakly.

 

That’s right. Hardwick gave myself and probably many other people in attendance a basketball first when he got tech’d up for cursing out his own teammate. Don’t get me wrong, I think he deserved it. Hardwick was shouting and cursing for a good three plays after his initial outburst against Weakly. That didn’t make it any less strange though. It was one of those basketball rarities that until you see it happen, may think is just urban myth. Kind of like the albino moose.

 

Not that there’s an official question of the week going here—I mean, I’m always up for answering questions if you have them (my email address is up top)—but this gem of a query comes from the Brandon Sun’s David Larkins—a big hoops head in his own right—via Facebook Sunday morning:

 

“dude, what is this league where teams just score 150 points? have you ever seen a double-team or a lock-down defender in that thing? is it full court 3 on 3? are you covering NBA Jam? i read your twitters and go "someone kill doug moe already."”

 

Covering the IBL, I do feel like I am in a way covering a five-on-five version of NBA Jam. Minus the flip-dunks and an announcer screaming, “He’s on fire!” every time a player hits three shots in a row (insert your own Chuck Swirsky joke here).

 

That’s as good a segue as any to shamelessly plug my own Twitter account, where I’ve been live-Tweeting Energy games on Friday and Saturday nights. If you’re in the gym at MacEwan and on a mobile device, or if you’re away from the game and want to follow the games, follow me and share your thoughts on how you think the Energy are doing, or on why you think the ballrack is such a complicated device for so many visiting players to figure out.

 

I got to Saturday’s game early to find Energy big men Skouson Harker and Kevin Shand set up at the scorer’s table with a laptop, watching tape from their Friday win over Snohomish County. They weren’t talking X’s and O’s, though. At least not when I showed up. The duo—a pair of players who have spent their share of time above the rim—were trying to find a clip of an Andrew Parker dunk, where the Energy guard/forward skied baseline to throw it down. What had their interest specifically was that Parker actually hit his left shoulder on the lower portion of the backboard on his way to the hoop.

 

Normally, this is something that would cause the player to turtle, losing their focus on the task at hand and hoping that they haven’t hurt themselves. Parker just kept going—backboard-hit and all—for the flush. Paul Sir said he couldn’t think of anyone else on the Energy or in the IBL who would finish that play.

 

“I wouldn’t call (Parker) a quick jumper. He’s a powerful jumper,” Sir said. “He’s a powerful player and he’s got an unbelievable focus—especially when he can sniff a dunk. When he sniffs it around the rim, he finishes it. That was spectacular. A great finish.”

 

Shand is coming off of a strong Friday game for the Energy. At 6-10 and 270 pounds, there isn’t much stopping the big man when he gets the ball down low. Shand overwhelmed an undersized Explosion team last week for 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and a steal. He did a lot of little things right through a stretch in the second quarter, where he was scoring at will. He managed to dish off twice to Parker for two assists and he even hit the floor, taking a charge on a Snohomish player under the bucket. Shand dressed but didn’t play on Saturday, thanks to a groin injury. Shand will play on Friday against the Oregon Wave, Sir said after Wednesday’s practice.

 

I think he looks the best he’s looked all year,” Sir said. “He’s light on his feet, he’s playing better and better. He’s playing very well.”

 

Looking ahead

 

Making their way up north across the U.S. border for this weekend are the 6–1 Oregon Wave. Jeremiah Dominguez’s 26.5 points per game (fifth in the league) and 8.5 assists per (fourth in the league) lead the Waves.

 

You look at their lineup online and I’m very impressed,” Sir said after an intense practice Wednesday night. “It’s just a question of who they bring. The Lucas kid is hurt, but they’ve got a lot of good players and supposedly they just signed (NYC point guard and playground legend) God Shammgod. So we’ll see. If they bring the healthy players on their team, they’re going to be very good.”

 

Also on the Wave roster is seven-foot-two centre Brad Kanis, who has played with the Houston Rockets’ summer league team.

 

“It’ll be good for us to go up against a bigger more physical team and have to really focus and execute instead of physically overpower a team like we did last weekend,” Sir said. 

 

Making moves through last weekend was Will Funn. Edmonton’s starting point guard is now second in the IBL in assists, with 12.5 per game. He trails Anthony Slater of Snohomish, who’s dropping 15.1 dimes per outing. Funn is also close to averaging a triple-double this season (he has two thus far), with 12 points and eight boards to go along with those 12.5 assists per game.