Edmonton NRG BlogBy Chris O'Leary
The morning after - July 4
There’s nothing worse than the morning after a season-ending loss.
I’d imagine it’s a lot like getting dumped by a long-time significant other. You wake up that first morning after it’s all done and for a fraction of a second, you’re oblivious to the world. Then you open your eyes and reality comes crashing down on you like a bucket of bricks.
Maybe bricks are the wrong object to use here. Because honestly, there weren’t too many of them when it came to the Snohomish County Explosion last night.
The team shot 51.1 percent from the field in their 143–131win over the Energy and as Paul Sir said after the game, it was their big three of Devon Greene (52 points on 6–14 three-point shooting), Richard Ford (30 points, 13 rebounds) and backup guard Jason Hicks (27 points on 10–15 shooting from the field) that did the majority of the damage.
As I wrote my game story through the second half of the game last night, Oregon Waves coach Terrence Dickens sat next to me and said that this was the best he’d ever seen the Explosion play. They definitely weren’t the team that Edmonton saw when they came up to play the Energy on May 22 and 23. Edmonton won those respective games 159–127 and 148–120.
There was an off feeling to the game from the moment the ref threw the ball up. Edmonton seemed to get away from their game and fell into Snohomish’s style. For a team that had prided itself on its defence down the stretch of its season, the Energy threw the D out the window against Snohomish and lost the shootout. Edmonton threatened to pull away late in the second quarter, going up by six. It would prove to be their biggest lead of the night. Snohomish fought back in the last minute of the frame and a Greene free throw put them up 75–74 at the half.
In hindsight, it was the Energy’s best chance at winning. In the second half, Greene sparked a third-quarter run (when wasn’t he scoring?) that pushed his team out in front by as much as 18.
It was strange to watch. Down for most of the third and fourth quarter by 12 or 13 points, the Energy’s body language made it look like it was a 30-point hole. When they finally started to chip into the lead, it was too late. A Kevin Shand free throw got Edmonton within eight points with about two minutes to play, but the Energy could get no closer.
Greene, the IBL’s leading scorer this season, gave a magnificent performance on Thursday. He was steady from the first quarter through the fourth. He’d hit a three with a hand in his face, then shake his defender off the dribble on the next possession to get to the hoop. Edmonton tried bodying him up and he went 12–14 from the free-throw line. His points came from off balance, contested, and physical play. Just about every time he touched the ball he made good on it.
Will Funn went out swinging for the Energy. He was a rebound away from another triple-double, scoring 12 points, grabbing nine boards and handing out an absurd 22 assists in 45 minutes of play. He also led the team in blocked shots with three. Steve Sir and Lee Scruggs both scored 24 for the Energy, and Skousen Harker had 21.
After the game, an emotional Paul Sir said he was more sad to see this group of players go their separate ways than anything else.
“What made this experience really unique, along with the on-court success was the off-court respect and care that this group felt for each other and committed to on a daily basis. I mean that from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
“This is a very special experience for me, and I’ve had a lot of experiences in basketball but I’ve never quite had one like this. The guys are all on the same page and they all care about how they play and how each other played and they all tried to make each other better. That’s a very sad locker room for that reason.
“We all wanted to bring a championship home to Edmonton. That isn’t going to happen, but the hard part is we can’t practice anymore together because we all have to go our separate ways.”
That’s not the kind of thing you can sleep off. Not in one night, at least.
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