Plenty thanks to go around
What's up everyone! It's been an exciting and busy few weeks since my last blog, so I have a lot to fill you in on. First of all, I want to wish everyone happy holidays, no matter what you celebrate. This is an exciting time, and definitely my favorite time of year. With that being said, I have to tell you what I did for Thanksgiving. But, before I do, I have to make it clear that I absolutely LOVE Thanksgiving. I've been lucky enough to have some great memories of Thanksgiving. Whether it was growing up celebrating with my whole family (eating the best mashed potatos in the world: sorry Mom, not yours, Grandma’s) or eating with my teammates and coaches at Coach Billy Donovan’s house during college in Florida, or doing a eurostyle Thanksgiving with my other American teammates the last few years (here, I have to give LA, Tonya, Tiff, Linds and Bianca a shout out!), it's always been a great time. BUT this year what did I eat??? Chinese takeout. No turkey, no stuffing, no cranberries: just Kung Pao chicken with vegetable lo mein. And I have to admit, I was feeling a little sorry for myself. But thanks to Skype, I was able to see and talk to my whole family, which reminded me of all the things I have to be thankful for, like getting our first Euroleague win!
After our last tough home loss to Caja Laboral, we went on the road to play Russian powerhouse CSKA. When we landed in Russia, for some reason, it hit me just how lucky I am, getting to travel the world and play a game I truly love for a living. I was really pumped to play against CSKA because they have been at the top of European basketball for pretty much the last decade. It was also cool to play against the great scorer Ramunas Siskauskas, who is one of my favorite European players. Unfortunately, a lot like our first three games, we played hard and fought them for three-and-a-half quarters, but in the end they just made a few key plays more than us, so we lost 79-69. Aside from the frustration of losing another game, it was really cool to get to see some of Moscow. A few teammates and I braved the nasty cold and checked out Red Square and the main downtown area. The whole area was unbelievable, and it didn’t hurt to have what seemed like supermodels walking by at all times. I can definitely see why guys love playing in Moscow. But after a few hours of enjoying the scenery and acting like complete tourists (that includes wearing traditional Russian military hats), it was time to move on and get ready for Lottomatica Roma.
A big home win was exactly what we needed after a really rough 0-4 start, and that’s exactly what we got. Unfortunately for me, a few days before the game, I stepped on one of my teammates feet during practice (Thanks a lot Mr. Kikowski!) and sprained my left ankle pretty bad, so I was regulated to being a cheerleader for the game. We jumped out on them early behind awesome play by Sani Becirovic and the rest of our guys, and we never looked back. By the half we led by 20 points and at one point the lead was even over 30 points! Our fans were unbelievable once again, sticking by us even though we hadn’t won a game yet. We have such a great group of guys, I felt like I had played even though all I had to show for it was no voice from all the yelling I did during the game. So after a little celebrating (ok, maybe a little more than a little) it was time to get ready for our rematch with Macabbi.
After a long week of treatment on my ankle with the best trainer in Euroleague, my man Seba, there was no way I was going to miss another Euroleague game. After playing Macabbi pretty close the first time, we really felt like if we played the right way, we had a great chance to get our second win in a row. (It was a bad omen when my teammate Milorad "Suco" Sutulovic broke his thumb during warmups. Don't ask how, but I'll just say I was somehow responsible.) After going back and forth most of the game, we found ourselves down two points with only a few minutes to go, but that was as close as we were able to get. Eventually, Maccabi pulled away, leaving us with another gut-wrenching loss to swallow. For some reason we just haven’t been able to put teams away in the fourth quarter. I took this loss particularly hard because I didn't play great and could have made some plays down the stretch that might have changed the outcome for us. So now, at 1-5, we are heading to Maroussi, where both teams will be playing for our second win of the season. We know it's a must-win game for us if we have any chance of moving on to the Top 16, so we will be ready. It's also exciting to be heading back to Greece, where I played in my first season in Europe. I think about everything I've been through in the last four years, on and off the court, and everywhere I’ve traveled to play, and it just blows my mind. It will also be a homecoming of sorts for Sani Becirovic, who played at Panathanaikos for two years, so maybe we will be able to channel some of our previous success into a nice win.
Well, everyone, thanks again for reading my blog. In case you don’t hear from me again until after the new year, I want to wish everyone happy holidays for whatever you are celebrating. Happy birthday also to my boy Suco, and please send your prayers out to my former D-League teammate James Lang, who suffered a stroke recently. Thanks and wish us luck in Athens!
POSTED BY
Matt Walsh, Ljubljana
DATE:
Tuesday, December 08, 2009