After beating the Jazz on a fantastic 4^th quarter performance by Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks flew to New Orleans to face the Hornets on the second game of a back to back series and the result wasn’t any good. Behind Chris Paul’s 39 points and 7 assists, the Hornets found in key pieces key buckets on clutch moments.

Nowitzki was infective for the most part of the game. He scored only 12 on the night. Double teamed the whole game, Dirk’s presence opened up wide open outside shots for guys like Kidd, Barea and Terry which kept Dallas in the game until the beginning of the 4^th quarter when they took the lead. On the defensive event, Dirk was even more frustrated. David West’s physically warn him out time and time again until the moment he fouled out with about 2 and a half minutes to go. By that point, Dallas had a lead because of the amazing performance of Terry who would eventually lose some key free throws in the end of the game that combined with Barea’s misses allowed the Hornets to tie the game.

For the Hornets it’s a great win but also a weird situation in which they may have to re-evaluate a couple of things. Chris Paul literally carried them on his back the whole game. On a night when Dallas seemed clearly tired because of the back-to-backs and did not play one of their best games, New Orleans never had a comfortable lead. Paul just played an as good as it gets game and the Hornets suffered a lot to take a warned out Mavericks to overtime. It was clear that the Mavericks kept hanging in there and because of the outside shooting and Dampier’s nice performance under the rim Dallas took the lead on the fourth. Paul then kept the Hornets on the game until Stojakovic hit the game tying 3 pointer and then on overtime David West showed up to play and the Hornets never looked back.

The lesson that New Orleans get from this game is that Paul needs to get more help if this team wants to go somewhere this season. West is a 2x All Star and an elite Forward but at some point he’s got do more than just score the basketball, he needs to be more involved the whole game because when he’s hitting shots, the Hornets’ chances to win are way better. Also Stojakovic can’t come off the bench if guys like Mou Peterson and Julian Wright will be on the starting lineup because their inability to hit shots turns them useless. Wouldn’t it be better if Paul penetrated and kicked to the outside to somebody who will most likely hit 6 out of 10 shots if wide opened?

Nowitzki is still the focus point of the Mavericks offense even when he’s not on a good night. He was double teamed so much that it opened space for other guys to produce. Terry got hot on the 4^th when he started to work the 2 men game with Dirk. When Dirk wasn’t there, Dallas seemed weird, maybe without a suitable plan to a situation like that but they were still winning and holding a comfortable lead until the moment that they started missing free throws and that was the key moment when they lost the game.

On a head-to-head battle between Southwest divisional rivals and probably playoff contenders, the Hornets take the win but should be scratching their heads because on a night when the Mavericks didn’t play their best basketball, Chris Paul had absolutely no help for 90% of the game and carried the team on his back for New Orleans to win at home. It can’t be a good sign.

Check More At: MVN

Day one of our trip was the drive from Geraldton to Cue.  We made a few brief stops on the way, including Pindar to find out that the wreath flowers were in peak bloom and then Mt. Magnet.  Although rain was intermittent through the day, everywhere we decided to stop and walk around, the weather held.  Mt. Magnet is essentially a large mining town with a tourist driving loop which leads you to big holes in the ground.  [Later in the trip, we saw a truly giant hole, so more on that when we get to it.]  One of the more interesting stops there was at the hill in the photo above.  The geology of the area led to some really strange rock shapes.  We stopped to explore these for awhile.  Then we drove to Cue for the only hotel stay of our trip.

Cue is a moderately old historic town.  The photo above shows about a quarter of main street.  The “hotel” stay was actually at the tavern in town.  In these towns, the local pub/restaurant/hotel/campground/whatever else you need along those lines, are the main form of lodging and food.  This one was entertaining.  For some reason, (which we still don’t know) it was a full house, so the pub decided to put on a buffet instead of the standard a la carte.  It was actually quite good, and we chatted with an interesting character for a long time.

Day two was the drive to Newman.  We stopped off at Millie Soak, a historic watering hole for Cue back in the day.  Today, it’s a dry hole in the ground with an interpretive sign giving a history of the importance of this watering hole.  A few hundred feet past the hole are a few old graves from an emergency hospital which was established here.  As we continued driving, Em saw the sponge bob creation below.  We just had to go back and get a picture of it.

In addition to the manmade strangeness, we did see examples of natural beauty.  I think the white trunks of the gum trees with the red dirt and blue sky is rather striking.

The bush below appealed to me as well.  Interesting colors and form.  That is one thing that isn’t lacking out here.

Day three was driving from Newman to Karijini National Park.  Newman exists because of the BHP Billiton mine at Mt. Whaleback.  It’s the largest single pit open cut ore mine in the world.  Naturally, we had to take the tour.  How often do you get a chance to check out something like that?  Each ledge you see in the photo below is 45 feet high.  This mine is massive.  More details on it are at: http://www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/ourBusinesses/ironOre/bhpBillitonIronOre.jsp

On the way to Karijini, we noticed the Governor.

We camped in the park for 2 nights.  This was quite an experience.  First, camping in Australia is different than the camping we’ve done in the states.  The park provides a gas BBQ and stove in a central location for each campsite group.  This cuts down on people doing stupid things which lead to wildfires.  It was really convenient.  Other differences were the lack of ranger led interpretive events like the national parks have in the states, and not providing a picnic table or a place to sit within your campsite.  [Later on this trip, we also find that buying portable picnic tables are popular here.]

The best part about camping here was hearing the campground surrounded by a pack of dingos at about 1 am.  That’s an experience you can’t get just anywhere.  An added advantage of camping in the middle of nowhere is the complete lack of light pollution.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars.  The Milky Way was a glowing river of light in the sky.  This is a far cry from the night sky back home where you can only see the brightest of stars.  Em and I enjoyed 2 star-gazing night walks while we stayed there.

After a long day, we were able to refresh ourselves with a swim in this pool below.  The hike down to “Fern Pool” begins as a 2400 foot steep rock descent, followed by a 900 ft rainforest-like walk to find this secluded and absolutely breathtaking pool. There were lots of bats hanging upside down through the mini-rainforest area to the pool, which were awesome to see and wow, are they noisy!  Size is deceptive, but that waterfall is about 8-10 feet high.  The water was very cold, but you adapt quickly.  It was worth swimming over to the waterfall, since the water pouring over it was quite a bit warmer than the rest of the pool.  This was, undoubtedly, Em’s favorite part of the trip, so we swam there twice!

The falls below are at the bottom of the descent, before the rest of the hike to Fern Pool.  They were quite spectacular in their own way.

This part of Australia has lots of the termite mounds as seen below.  Average height of the mounds around the park are about 5 feet.  They are about as hard as concrete.  The “grass” mounds in the foreground are actually a species of spinifex.  It’s not soft like grass we normally think of and can inflict quite a bit of pain if you aren’t paying attention to where you are walking.  Think of it like walking through yucca plants.  You could probably use each “blade” like a needle for sewing if you were hard pressed.  It’s all over the place in the outback and is very important to the local ecology.  More on it here: http://www.alicespringsdesertpark.com.au/kids/nature/plants/spinifex.shtml

After a few other gorge overlooks throughout the park, we checked out of the campground to begin the drive to Karratha through Millstream-Chichester.  Our route took us through a part of Karijini we hadn’t yet seen.  The countryside was quite striking, and we were fortunate to have some cool clouds in the sky, a rarity here.

After 2 hours of driving, the route brought us back into the western side of Karijini, leading us now into Hamersley gorge.  This is one more example of the beautiful features in the landscape.  With a bit of creative bouldering, I was able to work my way upstream to get the following shots.  This area is prone to flash floods.  Fortunately, it wasn’t the right season for heavy rain, so we were safe.  In another month or 2, I wouldn’t have attempted this, as there was no way to get to higher ground quickly enough if we heard a flood coming.  If you’ve ever lived in flash flood country, you know they are no joke.  The curls and twists in the eroded rock speak to the power they have.

Continuing onward, we started driving on the crazy road to Millstream-Chichester.  Why was it crazy?  Well, we were in our low clearance 2 wheel drive Mazda going on a rough one way road blasted through a rocky hill.  It must be said that this road is rather far out and rarely travelled.   We assumed the risk of running into something else would be low; however, the concern was what to did if we actually did.  This is a route created for road trains but was too convoluted for them to go through as a whole.  There were staging areas on both sides so they could deconstruct/construct the road train and continue on their way.  There were a few dicey moments, but we managed to make it through ok.  That white knuckle drive was totally worth it when we started seeing the views below.  The swim at Python Pool was also very nice.

Millstream-Chichester receives virtually no publicity on the Australian national park website, to the point of not even having pictures, so we had no idea what to expect.  As it turns out, portions of the park are absolutely stunning.  It was late afternoon when we arrived to this part of the park, so lighting was getting better for photos.  Pure luck, but happy it turned out that way.  Out here they call this breakaway country for obvious reasons.  It really reminds me of parts of northern New Mexico and was my favorite drive for the whole trip.

The photo below is of  ”The Pyramid”.  The road map we have actually has the names of most large geographic features.  It’s helpful when you are trying to figure out “why aren’t we there yet?” and also for titling your photos.  The sun was dropping quickly at this point, but the color shift of the light really worked well with the spinifex.  After grabbing a few shots, we hustled back into the car to get to the campground for check-in before they closed at 7pm.  This spot was a bit over an hour away.  We made it in 30 minutes to spare fortunately.  And the best part of this stage of the trip?  After 3 days on dirt roads of varying quality, we were finally back on bitumen!  It was now quiet enough to put our music back on.

We stayed in Karratha for a couple of nights so we could explore the area.  The visitor center suggested observing ancient aboriginal rock art just outside of town which we decided to find.  An example is shown below.  You can see literally thousands of carvings on the mounds of rocks; however, their visibility is dependant upon the direction light hits the surface.  This shot captures the surrounding area as well as the art.  The piles of rock look like remnants of mining but are a naturally occuring formation which is prevalent throughout that part of WA.  It’s a type of granite estimated to be one of the oldest types of rock on the planet.  It weathers to that red look but freshly broken pieces are greenish.  When it is exposed to water for long periods of time, it becomes black.

Driving down a dirt road, parking, then walking up a seasonal creek bed gains access to this canyon.  After only a short hike inside, you reach the trees in the photo below which are actually at the intersection of 4 canyons.  It was an interesting experience and easy to see how it could be considered a spiritual place.  Apparently, this site was reserved for initiation rituals for the men in the tribe.  The rock art played a role in those ceremonies, which is why there are so many.  One interesting thing to note about the art was its implementation.  Unlike most of the aboriginal art in Australia formed by painting, this art was done in the same manner as pictographs in the American southwest.  Stone was drilled/chipped away to expose the different color underneath the outer oxidation layer of the stone.

The rocks both in the foreground and background are actually the same material in the shot below.  This was at Hearson’s cove in Dampier.  This beach is composed primarily of small shells with a few granite pebbles thrown in for diversity.  Em hung out in her camp chair with her feet in the water while I went exploring.  The tide was coming in quickly and caused one of my sandals, which I inadvertently left on the beach, to begin floating away.  I had to hustle and managed to rescue it.  Em was highly entertained and offered no assistance.

Another sight we enjoyed is the abandoned town, Cossack, just north of Roebourne.  The history of this town is interesting with a few of the buildings restored and a museum holding various relics from the inhabitants.  It rose to prominance during the early pearling history of the region, but its port fell into disuse when the newer larger vessels couldn’t pull in.  A new port was opened further up the peninsula at Port Samson, which effectively ended the town’s industry.  Nearing the same time, a major hurricane eliminated virtually every structure and finished off this town.  There is an overlook of Settler’s beach and the original waterway which was interesting.

Back at the campground, we met a gold prospector known as “Wombat”.  He had the look.  Rail thin with a great big bushy beard.  Wombat just returned from a 3 months expedition out in the bush looking for gold and actually found some.  He showed us his prize example about 110 grams, a bit bigger than a golf ball with quartz nodules buried in it. Quite a find which he estimated to be worth between $7000-$8000AUD to a collector.  As it turns out, collectors will pay more than the gold is worth to find a natural specimen for their mineral collections.  It was very interesting talking to him.  There was quite a bit of laughter, some of which had that slight edge of crazy, but we had a good time.  It’s a tempting thought to head out there and give it a go.  Em’s against it, unless I promise not to return until I’ve found something real big.

After Karratha, we drove to Exmouth.  Our original plan was to spend 3 nights here swimming and snorkeling at Ningaloo Reef.  Our first night was mostly uneventful, other than Em seeing a huntsman spider, big enough to carry small children off.  Just a few hours before that, we were at the lighthouse shown below to watch this gorgeous sunset.  While the sun was doing its thing, we spotted a group of whales frolicking offshore.  This provided quite a bit of entertainment.  The rest of our time was cut short due to 4 meter seas.  It’s hard to swim/snorkel in that, plus the added danger of very strong rip currents dragging you out to sea.  We decided to not chance it and instead headed home early.

Two and a half hours south of Exmouth, we luckily did get to snorkel in Coral Bay since the weather here was more accommodating.  This is the first time I’d snorkeled above a reef.  It was pretty cool.  We saw all kinds of strange fish, a couple of rays and various types of coral and sponges.  Can’t wait to do that again.  Since this took a bit of time, we stopped for the night in Carnarvon.  Just north (~80Km) of Carnarvon, there are a few blowholes at the edge of the ocean.  The sea here is truly intimidating.  The waves crashing against the rock threw spray 40 feet in the air at times, just from direct impact, not to mention the spray coming from the blowhole.

Here is a short video I took with the D90.  Not bad.  I killed the sound since it was just wind noise.  I waited for a relatively calm period so you can see the blowhole itself.  Most of the time, the waves were throwing up so much spray it was hard to make out the actual blowhole.

There was also a jetty in Carnarvon, which we were able to walk halfway out on.  It was originally a mile in length, but due to fire damage, the later portion is currently being restored and off limits.  A nice walk over the ocean nonetheless.  Now,  it was time to turn the car towards home.  Not much exciting until Em spotted this emu in the distance.  We saw lots of wildlife throughout the driving portion of this trip, but invariably by the time the car stopped and cameras were in hand, the animals decided they didn’t want to stick around.  We saw hawks, goats, emu’s, big (3 foot) lizards, bats, dingos, etc.,  but no photos until this one.

The Mavs suck.

And by “suck” I mean they “are actually really awesome just terrible at adapting.” As a fan, I feel I’m entitled to not only this opinion but being able to yell at the TV when Dampier (the best center in the WNBA) is completely lost in the lane. Bring back Shawn Bradley. Or at the very least, not trade our draft picks and pick up a decent center. Maybe he’s just tired. Can you be tired of being black? I hope so because I would totally sign up on the black-list. I don’t think anyone that’s been blacklisted has ever come to any trouble.

In other news, it is raining which is an obvious ominous tone for me about to fail my exam tomorrow.

Andrew’s (metaphorical) killer,
Will

So, there were a couple of things to go look at in Port Hedland and then only a short run down to Karratha. First thing I went to the ship viewing area for a look at the loading

The ship on the left is nearly full down to the Plimsoll line while that one on the right is only just starting to load up.

Then, in town near the maritime centre is the observation tower, a bit like the control tower at the airport

Then down the road, one of the main reasons this town is here, is the iron ore processing facility

Another industry here is the salt mines, another exported item

I was on the road by 9.30am as that was all there was to see. It is a mining and resource town that is all, although they do have fishing of course, but did I mention the wind, blowing 30 knots+. I stopped at Whim Creek for fuel and some tucker

Down the road a way I crossed one of many rivers that looked like this, wide and dry; this one is actually Whim Creek

The landscape was not as boring as some out this way, but getting there with the monotony

The town of Roebourne had an old Gaol and courthouse which I spotted at the turnoff

I arrived at Karratha at midday and went straight to the Visitor Centre

There was not much choice here, 3 caravan parks spread out and none near anything, the closest was over at Dampier, another 20km and it was still over ½ km away from anything useful. I decided on that one anyway as it was next to the water, but as you can see, the water was full of ships again

After some lunch, I went and checked out the North West Shelf Gas Project, about 10km up the road where they had a visitor centre with quite a few displays on the project and some videos as well as models of the boats, platforms etc. Basically, the gas is brought up from 1km down under the seabed, piped 135km to shore where it is processed before being loaded onto big bottle ships and exported to China and Korea, here are a few images, you will notice the flare of stack and the flame nearly horizontal, that will give you some idea of the wind conditions.

And outside was a modern statue of what looks like mine rescue

I went into Karratha for a decko, checked out a few things, but there is nothing there except a small town and some shops. There is nothing to this town, nor Dampier except industry and the support for them. A lot of new accommodation was being built for extra workers, a lot of single men’s quarters as well. There was another salt farm and that was it, ore loading facilities, gas and salt. Back in Dampier the harbour looked nice and there is supposed to be good fishing in this area, which would be the only reason for working out this way for your days off, there is nothing else to do.

While riding around looking for the Library to check emails I spotted these little suckers, beautiful flowers and the first time i have seen them in the wild and not in a photo, as you are going to see. These are called Sturt Desert Peas.

This place is also famous for a red cattle dog that used to hitchhike and wander around and did some weird and wonderful things; they erected a memorial for him.

Then it was back to the van park to freshen up and who should ride in, none other than Jim and Lesley. So, first things first, we rode down to the Mermaid Hotel for some beers, being real careful as the police station was right next door.

We were intending to have a feed, but the prices were a bit rich for pub basic meals, so we grabbed some takeaways and sat around the BBQ area at the park and chatted until 10ish, before crashing out.

Day – 376km
Trip – 9297km
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I am currently sitting in a yard in the Karratha Light Industrial Area (LIA) waiting to unload. I left Perth yesterday with a 39t concrete block on the float that is destined to be used in the construction of the new LNG wharf at Dampier.
After an uneventful trip up here I am stuck while the mechanic works on the crane that will be used to unload me. Last trip up here (about 5 days ago) they had the same trouble with the crane and I fully expected it to be fixed for this trip. The crane runs for a short time before shutting down – unfortunately it doesn’t run long enough to complete the lift and let me get out of the way.
Luckily I’m not in a rush this afternoon. I have to be in Port Hedland (200km north) tomorrow morning to reload used conveyer belt to take back to Perth, so as long as they get me unloaded today I will be happy.
Might have a sleep though ; )

Cheers, Mike.

July 15th (Trading Markets) – Mining giant Rio Tinto Plc. said it has invested over $500 million in power generation to support its expansion of iron ore mining capacity at Pilbara in Western Australia.

The company said it will build generation and transmission infrastructure near Karratha to supply electricity to its port and mine operations.

The new power station, to be commissioned in 2010, will use natural gas turbines, resulting in a significant reduction in emission rates compared with the two steam power stations currently in operation at the Cape Lambert and Dampier ports, which will be decommissioned, it said.

As part of the investment, Rio Tinto will also build a 220 KV power line from Cape Lambert to the new power station, the company added.

Game 5 of the first round series between the Mavericks and the Hornets tips off at 7pm on TNT. The Mavericks are facing elimination and its not a suprise due to the way they’ve played. There are some major concerns i’d like to point out that the Mavericks will have to change if they want to have any chance of coming back in this series.

First off, they’ve got to show more fire. Besides Dirk and Terry, nobody seems to be playing with passion and tenacity that we saw them play with during the 2006 playoff run. The only time we’ve seen that was game 3 which the Mavericks won at home. In order to try to steal this game tonight from New Orleans they’re going to have to want it more to have any chance of winning. Every game they seem to come out with necessary passion to win , but as soon as the hornets make a run they lose all fire and will to fight. It’s the NBA teams are going to make runs, especially in the playoffs . You can’t expect to come out with fire, and control the entire game and limiting the other team to no scoring runs of bursts of energy and fire. They’ve got to be able to bounce back from those runs and make runs of there own to protect there lead. You can’t just mail it in because the other team got on a little bit of a roll. Once you do that, the little roll becomes a double digit loss (Game 1 @ New Orleans, Game 4 @ Dallas). 

My second point is the play of Josh Howard. Josh Howard is in my opinion the second most important part of this team. Dirk being the first. If they want to win tonight Josh Howard has to start hitting some shots. He’s shooting 25 percent from the field and 12 percent from 3 point range this series. Thats not going to get it done. Howard is the guy they look for to score some points when Dirk isn’t hitting his shot or the defense is throwing a lot of pressure at him. That’s been a major problem this series. When Dirk’s shot isn’t going down the Mavericks have struggled mightily offensively leading to Hornets runs and eventually wins. If Howard hits his shots that opens up Nowitzki’s game, gives the Hornets defense another much needed threat to worry about, as well as keeping the mavericks in the game during key stretches. If they want to win tonight Howard has to perform. Period.

Third, Jason Kidd. I’ve been saying since the beginning of the series that they should post jason kidd on chris paul. They’ve done that and one of two things has happened. Jason Kidd drew a foul on chris paul and/or scored, but then the Mavs failed to follow through and get the ball back to him. Or Kidd got into the lane, had an open layup attempt and passed the ball out to a contesed shooter. If the Mavs want to win Kidd has to be more agressive and take the point blank shots when he has them, and i believe he has to get more touches on the block against paul. This will wear out paul on defense, possibly get him in foul trouble as well as make kidd into a scoring option which he hasn’t been all series.

Avery Johnson. Avery Johnson. Avery Johnson. I’m not an NBA coach, ive never played in the NBA, ive never won a ring or any of that. But i severely disagree with some of these moves and choices hes made. First off , i believe they gave the first two games away by trapping and doubleteaming paul. They were trapping paul with kidd and dampier most of the time. Two people who are not known for the quickness versus one of the quickest players in the league equals splitting the doubleteam and carving the defense apart. In addition to that even when the doubleteams and traps were succesful your forcing Paul to do what he does best which is pass the ball and get good looks for other players. Heres a stat for you first two games with trapping paul Tyson Chandler averaged 10 points and 13 board with 8 attempts two games since Chandler is averaging 4 shots with 3 points and 7 1/2 rebounds. And when they weren’t trapping they had jason kidd playing him on defense? why would you do that for two straight games? thats giving chris paul the lane. I said at the beginning of the series that terry was the best option to guard him and hes proved to be, not stopping chris paul, but keeping him from playing like magic johnson. And now two coaching moves that i believe lost game 4 for the Mavs. First, JJ Barea being in the game in the second quarter with the mavericks up by 9 guarding Jannero Pargo, who just went off for 30 points last game. During the 1 minute 32 seconds that Barea was in the game Pargo hit a 3 and dished out 2 assists and was responsible for the 7 straight unanswered points by the Hornets to tie the game and shift the momentum. Barea had no buisness being in that game. Period. Then we move to the 3rd Quarter. The Mavericks open up with Dampier on West. So, in the first 3 minutes 15 seconds of the fourth the Hornets increase their lead to double digits due to West’s 10 points and an assist to peja for 3 in that timeframe. From that point on the Mavericks never had control again. Oh, and i’d just like to add that once avery johnson did decide to take dampier off West, West only scored 2 points the whole rest of the game. So in essence, those two moves, both responsible for the run that tied the game for the hornets, as well as the run that gave the hornets a double digit lead essentially lost the mavericks the game.

And Last but not least, Jump shots. Too many. Way too many. When the Mavericks are at theyre best theyre driving, scoring buckets in the paint and getting to the free throw line(where they led the league in free throw percentage.) Game 3 Mavericks 38 freethrow attempts they win the game. Game 4 Mavericks 16 free throw attempts they lose the game. Stop falling in love with the jump shot. thats it.

Personally I believe the Mavericks can win game 5 in new orleans if they succesfully change these things ive mentioned. if they can get back home i believe its puts a lil bit of pressure to close out the series in dallas, if the mavs win that game in dallas. Well you all know.

Named by a seafarer too long away from port? Unfortunate that they wimped out with East and West. Front and Rear Intercourse Islands would have worked much better. And why no Intercourse Passage? A display from the WA Museum showing the Dampier Archipelago, or The Leg-over Archipelago which was the original name. Yesterday The pre-eminent Rottnest blog Rottobloggo was asking if Rottnest was twinned with any other islands, sister city style. Go no further than Mid Intercourse Island Rottos. You have your twin. I always thought Rottnest was Intercourse Island. More people will have ended up with sand in their cracks on Rottnest than any other island besides Ibiza no? I’ll leave Rottobloggo to dig up the sand/cracks ratio.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Intercourse (Treasure) Island

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Mardi 18 mars 2008

 Lakers 102 – Mavs 100

Sortie difficile

 

 

Complexe d’infériorité

Fisher, Bryant, Radma, Odom et Turiaf pour débuter cette rencontre. On se souvient tous de la superbe défense de Lamar sur le MVP lors du dernier match. Rebelote ce soir, LO contre le premier tir de Dirk. Côté attaque c’est Vladirmir que se met en évidence le premier grâce à un trois point et un lay up sur pénétration. On retrouve un Odom motivé mais avec peu de réussite. L’agressivité des Lakers poussera Dampier à la faute. Il sortira au bout de 5 minutes pour 2 fautes. Kobe (40.6 poins et 10.5 rebonds face au Mavs cette saison) en profite alors pour mettre la machine en route (4 points 2/2). La partie est rythmée, les deux équipes jouent vites et essaient d’emballer le match. Dallas se casse les dents sur un Turiaf remonté comme jamais en défense (2 contres en 5 minutes). Temps morts Mavs, 13-14 Dallas.

Bryant revient toujours aussi calme. Sa préparation de la veille au shoot paie. Il rentre deux nouveaux tirs pour afficher 9 points à 100%. Dirk passe sur lui en défense. L.A prend l’avantage 22-16. On entend déjà les premiers « MVP chants ». Avery Johnson demande un nouveau temps mort suite à un panier renversé de Lamar. 24-17 LAL.

Farmar et Walton rentrent pour Fish’ et Radma. Sasha suivra pour Kobe. Il faudra attendre un airball et une balle perdue pour voir les premiers points de Luke, mais comme à son habitude, il offre par la suite une superbe entry pass à Ronny qui convertit ses deux lancers. 28-21 LAL, fin du 1er quart.

Kobe revient sur le poste de Lamar (3 – Sasha en 2 – NDLR). Les hommes de Jackson restent agressifs vers le panier et multiplient les voyages sur la ligne des lancers. Sasha lance la machine (trois points) et KB24 trouve Turiaf sur un back door pour un Dunk rageur à deux mains. 37-23 LAL, MBenga rentre en même temps que Dampier. Poussé par Lue, Dallas opère un petit run vite éteint par un énième jump shoot de Kobe qui semble plus que jamais en voie de se morpher en Mamba (13 points 5/6 dont 100% à 3 points en 14 minutes). Temps mort Dallas, 39-29 LAL.

Avery lance les premières prises à deux sur Bryant. Intelligemment l’arrière des Lakers laisse Luke et Jordan marquer. Le 5 majeur revient à l’exception de Turiaf. Les Mavs oublient tout système et favorise l’isolation sur Dirk alors en réussite. Il limite les dégâts. L.A pousse toujours autant la balle en contre attaque, multipliant rebonds et contres. Le dernier block est pour MBenga qui humilie le pauvre Howard. Turiaf revient enfin. 4 minutes à jouer, +12 LAL.

Kobe trouve Fisher à trois points après avoir provoqué une faute technique défensive sur une prise à deux latente. Tutu trouve ensuite son petit shoot à 5/6 mètres pour la seconde fois ce soir. Kidd est partout sauf dans le match. A deux minutes de la mi temps le génial meneur n’affiche que 2 rebonds et 2 passes. Sur son troisième contre Ronny lance Kobe en contre attaque. La balle est trop longue mais Bryant arrive à la reprendre et à rentrer le panier. Dirk manque un shoot et Kobe dégaine à trois points à 35 secondes de la mi-temps essayant de jouer les deux possessions. Bingo !!! Les Mavs relancent vite mais le Black Mamba intercepte Howard. Il reste 17 secondes à jouer. Les « MVP chants » résonnent comme jamais à l’extérieur. +21 à la pause pour les meurtries californiens, (Oh et pendant ce temps, la dernière fois que j’ai entendu des « MVP chants » aussi forts à l’extérieur c’était chez les clippers, did I mention that ?)

 

 Scoreboard à la mi temps

 

 

 

 

Nemesis

La seconde période démarre comme le match a commencé: Vladimir marque d’entrée. Avoir 21 points d’avance à l’extérieur n’est pas toujours une affaire facile, surtout face à des Mavs d’ordinaire très à l’aise à la maison. On voit d’ailleurs sur les deux premières possessions texanes que les hommes d’Avery sont beaucoup plus offensifs. Fisher puis Kobe par deux fois s’assurent d’enfoncer le clou. La rencontre s’annonce achée maintenant. L’agressivité couplée à la fatigue va résulter en lancers francs. KB24 intercepte et lance Fisher en contre attaque qui s’arrête et shoot à 6 mètres. La confiance est du côté des ors et pourpres ce soir.
Une fois de plus Phil gagne son duel face à Johnson perpétuellement dépassé par les évènements. Dès que Dallas entreprend une nouvelle stratégie Los Angeles répond en haussant d’un ton. Quand Kidd tente d’emballer la rencontre sur son jeu de passe c’est Bryant qui sert Radma d’une passe aveugle en transition. Quand Dallas tente de défendre c’est Bryant qui intercepte la balle dans les mains de Stack sous de nouveaux « MVP Chants ». +23 et pour assurer le show, KB24 sort un lay up 360 d’une rare beauté. Temps mort Mavs…encore. A leurs retours les Mavs perdront la balle sur une violation des 24 secondes. Toute tentative pour récupérer le momentum est évincée.

Pourtant la petite étincelle viendra de Jason Terry qui provoque faute après faute dans la défense un poil statique des Lakers. Kobe prend sa 4ème faute et sort rejoindre le banc. L’attaque et le triangle deviennent stériles. Dallas revient à 16 unités fort d’un run de 9-0. Turiaf arrête un temps l’hémorragie mais Dirk et Terry (auteur d’un buzzer à trois points) ramènent les locaux à 12 points seulement pour un 4ème quart temps qui s’annonce difficile pour LAL. 77-65 LAL.

Comme prévu le momentum va être difficile à récupérer. Georges part au dunk, Terry shoot à deux, Dirk à trois et voilà les locaux à 5 points des Lakers. Kobe redonne un peu d’air aux siens avant que Radmanovic ne convertisse deux trois points à 8 mètres, libéré par les prises à deux sur le numéro 24. La salle perd un peu d’enthousiasme et Bryant commence à poser le jeu en appelant quelques systèmes. +9 LAL, temps mort.

Après le temps mort Vlad’ remet le couvert à trois points ! Suite à un shoot manqué Vujacic récupère le cuir alors que Dallas avait le rebond. Farmar reset l’attaque et Kobe trouve LO qui provoque deux lancers francs. 92-80 pour L.A. Odom convertit ses deux tentatives. Radmanovic (21 points 10 rebonds) ajoute un lancer de plus avant que KB24 renouvelle son baby hook en pénétration. + 9 pour L.A à 3 minutes du buzzer final. Les hommes d’Avery Johnson mettent désormais la pression dès la montée de balle. Les Lakers sont gênés. On entend Phil Jackson siffler grassement pour annoncer un changement de système. Dallas va avoir besoin d’un stop défensif maintenant. C’est chose faite (Lamar manque son tir, prend son rebond, reset l’attaque mais Sasha perd le cuir…). Stack part au dunk. Sur l’action suivante Kobe provoque la faute et convertit un lancer sur deux (2/5 pour lui ce soir). Terry rentre un nouveau jump shoot en tête de raquette. 96-91, 1 minute 30 secondes à jouer. Sasha rentre un shoot à 5 mètres mais Dirk répond par deux trois points coup sur coup pour revenir à un petit point à 40 secondes de la fin du match. Mano y mano. Welcome to the méga money time. Balle Los Angeles. Radmanovic tente sa chance dans le corner gauche et échoue. Les Lakers sont temporairement sauvés par un coup de sifflet de l’arbitre qui siffle une « lose ball foul » sur Stack au rebond. Lamar hérite donc de deux lancers francs au moment le plus crucial. Extrême rareté il rentre les deux. +3 LAL 29 secondes à jouer. Le cuir atterrit dans les mains de Kidd (comme dans un mauvais système… voire un mauvais rêve…). Il tente sa chance à trois points (0/3 pour lui ce soir et 1 petit point…). Rebond Lakers, les Mavs envoient Sasha Vujacic sur la ligne. La machine fait 1/2.

Le reste ? C’est un remake du match au Staple Center. Jackson décide (encore !!!) de ne pas faire faute et Dallas, qui perd de 4 points à 18 secondes de la fin, rentre un nouveau trois points (Terry) à 5 secondes du buzzer. La partie est relancée. Surtout quand Fisher (le joueur qui subira la faute) affiche 50% sur ses deux derniers lancés… Heureusement que Dirk aura du mal à attraper la balle sur une remise en jeu certes un peu basse. Il brique sa dernière prière. L.A l’échappe belle sur la route et prend une victoire importante 102-100, (Oh et pendant ce temps, Détroit passe 136 points à Denver, did I mention that ?)

 

 Scoreboard à la fin du match

 

 

 

 

Médias

Versus Mavs

Retrouvez les photos du match dans le forum en Cliquant ici

 

 

 

 

 Les vidéos du jour
Kobe’s commercials

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prochain rendez-vous, Jeudi 20 Mars

Lakers @ Jazz

Srces: CL/NBA/Espn/LAT

“Why can’t America realize that falling in love with Kobe doesn’t mean breaking up with Michael?” Rick Reilly

 

 

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Mardi 18 mars 2008

Heading to Dallas

Les choses peuvent changer très vite en NBA. Les choses changent souvent très vite pour Los Angeles. L’histoire de ces dernières saisons se résume à des blessures limitant les ambitions. En 2005 Lamar et Kobe privent les Lakers de Playoffs pour la première fois en 12 ans, en 2006 Mihm fait défaut face à une équipe des Suns dépourvue au poste 5, cette saison, Bynum et Gasol n’ont partagé à ce jour que l’injured list. Dur dur… Sans parler de la courte campagne en avril 2003 (Shaq et Fox) ni de la finale perdue en 2004 (Kobe, Shaq, Fox Georges et Malone). Depuis la fin de la dynastie Lakers on compose, on arrange. Après deus défaites consécutives les Lakers regardent à nouveau vers le haut dans une conférence qui ne tolère pas la moindre défaite. Houston trône désormais fort de ses 22 succès consécutifs. LAL patiente, encore et encore.

L’entraînement se termine tard hier soir à l’American Airlines Center de Dallas. Les hommes de Phil Jackson ne semblent pas affectés par leur nouvelle seconde place à moins de 24 heures d’un nouveau défis. Un nouveau défis qu’il ont déjà connu et relevé avec un relatif succès. En effet suite à la perte d’Andrew Bynum, les ors et pourpres entamaient un road trip dans le Texas avec la même configuration. Plus de ‘Drew, pas encore de Pau. Dans ce match ce sont les Texans qui se sont imposés sur le fil, s’appuyant notamment sur l’opportunisme d’Harris, portrait robot type du talon d’Achille californien; soit un meneur qui pénètre et joue en percussion (Udrih, Alston, Paul en sont les récents exemples d’une liste loin d’être exhaustive).

Malgré l’arrivée de Kidd les Mavs ne font pas peur. Perdre la première place n’est palus signe d’anxiété. Aussi solide mentalement qu’un champion sortant, cette nouvelle équipe des Lakers reste forte, consciente de ses acquis tout en sachant que le meilleur reste à venir. Hier Franck Hamblen portait un t-shirt vert (couleurs de la St Patrick – NDLR) sur lequel on pouvait lire “Frankie Says Relax” en lettre majuscule. Lamar Odom plaisantait, affirmant pouvoir effectuer une passe de 50 Yards pendant que les équipes de foot US pénétraient dans l’arène. Pendant ce temps, Phil Jackson titillait encore la presse de jeux de mots toujours plus ingénieux les uns que les autres. Ambiance décontractée et relaxe de rigueur. Pau Gasol a même souhaité faire le déplacement avec l’équipe, une première depuis bien longtemps dans la cite des anges. L’osmose semble parfaite et l’espagnol bien intégré au groupe.   

Last Meeting

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Dimanche 2 mars 2008

Kobe gagne dans la défaite des Lakers

Eye for an Eye

Les Lakers restent sur une défaite face à leur bête noire Portland, mai également une défaite face à leurs adversaires du soir ; les Mavs de Dallas. Lors d’un match serré en plein road trip texan, LAL, alors sans Bynum (et Gasol), tenait Dallas jusqu’à ce qu’Harris fasse mal… très mal grâce à sa vitesse. Ce soir les choses sont différentes. Gasol est en blanc et or, Kidd en bleu marine. Le rematch peut alors commencer.
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Fisher, Bryant, Walton, Odom, Gasol démarre.
Et ce sont les hommes du sud qui partent les premiers sous les ordres de Jason Kidd qui réalise un superbe début de rencontre. 3 points et 2 passes en 1 minutes ; L.A prend un 7-0. Los Angeles reviendra lentement mais sûrement grâce à l’agressivité de Walton qui vole 2 ballons et trouve un contre. Mais ce sont les picks and roll entre Kobe et Pau qui remettront L.A sur les rails. L’espagnol marque pas moins de 12 points au premier quart temps (5/7). Kobe lui, s’assure des quelques opportunités qui lui sont laissé par la défense des Mavs. Famar clôt la période par son habituel trois points de fin de quart temps. 29-23 LAL

Les Lakers ont entamé le match comme de mort de faim des deux côtés du terrain. C’est la principale différence entre les deux équipes dans ce début de match. Au second quart temps les visiteurs reviennent plus motivés que jamais, avec notamment une défense plus dense sur les intérieurs californiens. Turiaf remplace Gasol. Dallas repart sur les bases de leur début de match infligeant un nouveau 7-1 à L.A.

Après un temps mort, Jackson remet Pau sur le terrain et la machine repart. Sa simple présence intérieure ouvre le jeu et les joueurs retrouvent des espaces de travail. Kobe en profite pour inscrire 7 points d’affilés 13 points 5/9, 3 passes et 3 rebonds en 18 minutes) tandis que Vujacic fait le show sur des lay ups renversés. L’intensité défensive renaît et le petit matelas de points d’avance également. Temps mort Dallas, 35-43 LAL.

Les locaux viennent de répondre avec un 12-0 ( !!!), Laissant les Mavs essayé de composer en attaque avec les shoots et dunk manqués de George. Personne côté Dallas ne semble en mesure de stopper ni même de limiter Kobe Bryant. Heureusement pour eux le numéro 24 n’est pas dans son meilleur jour aux lancers francs… seulement 3/8. Côté critique on peut dire que les ors et pourpres oublient parfois de jouer avec Pau lorsque le match s’emballe ou que les shoots extérieurs commencent à rentrer. 50-47 LAL.

Scoreboard à la mi temps

 

 

 

 

Black Mamba

On change rien et on recommence. Après un 7-0 puis un 7-1 c’est un nouveau 7-0 qui accueille les Lakers dans ce début de seconde mi-temps. Terry prend chaud à trois points (alors qu’il restait sur un 0/8 lors de ses deux dernières sorties). Kobe répondra avec par deux fois en transition, dont un superbe lay up main gauche face à l’allemand. Cette rencontre devient de plus en plus virile, une véritable ambiance de playoffs ! Chacun se donne 100% sur chaque ballon car chaque possession compte. Pendant qu’on fait tourner les effectifs à l’est (Orlando hier pour la première fois de la saison) à l’ouest on est déjà en phase finale. Chaque victoire étant un ascendant psychologique relatif pour le 16 avril prochain. A ce jeu ce sont les Mavs qui font la course en tête, s’appuyant sur un Dampier (16 points et 17 rebonds) mis en valeur par les passes de Jason Kidd (7 passes) et les ajustements défensifs sur Dirk (9 points à 4/16). L.A revient quelque peu vers la fin du quart temps. Kobe frustré par son étonnante mauvaise série aux lancers francs (5/12) et énervé par la faute très physique de Dampier non sifflée comme antisportive, prend les choses en main. -3 à l’aube du 4ème et dernier quart.

Farmar, Sasha, Kobe en 3, Turiaf et Pau pour finir la rencontre. Les meneurs californiens enchaînent les mauvais choix. Ce genre de rencontre est un véritable test pour L.A. Les jeunes loups ne sont pas habitués à ce genre de match à tension et ce quart temps est révélateur. Jackson le sait et sort Kobe consciemment. Sur le papier L.A à l’équipe type mais niveau expérience cela reste un peu juste. Si Kobe sauve le match ce soir, les Lakers n’auront rien gagné, juste du sursis. Kobe revient sur le terrain sur la 6ème faute de Luke, forcé de quitter le terrain. Gasol suit de près. Comme prévu le triangle laisse place aux isolations. On sert Bryant en premier, Pau en second qui attaque Dampier. 5ème faute du pivot texan et LAL revient à égalité à 6 minutes de la fin. Après un tir rentré de Dirk (son 5ème seulement de la soirée… merci LO) Bryant profite dune prise à deux peu franche sur Gasol pour sortir un énorme trois points face au cercle. Une bonne défense plus tard face à Howard, il pénètre avant de tirer un fade away sur deux défenseurs. 35 points 7 rebonds 4 passes 2 contres et 1 interception pour le Black Mamba. 84-81 LAL, 4 minutes à jouer.

Le Mamba continue ses attaques et enchaîne désormais un petit 12/12 aux lancers. Dirk répond d’un fade away avant que Kobe hausse le ton d’un 2+1 envoyant Dampier sur la touche pour le reste de la partie. Terry fait revenir Dallas à 1 points d’un floater prière avec a planche. Dallas a maintenant le ballon avec -1 au compteur et 28 secondes à jouer. Kobe vole sur une aide défensive et pique le ballon à Dirk. Récupéré par Kidd le cuir traverse la raquette pour atterrir dans les mains de Stack qui tente sa chance à trois points. Gasol plonge et contre l’allier. Kobe récupère le ballon et lance l’espagnol en contre attaque. Gasol transmet à Odom qui part au dunk avant de subir une nouvelle faute énorme. 0/2 pour Lamar (qui a dit logique ?) mais sur une feinte de déplacement latéral Kobe hérite du rebond offensif et provoque la faute. 2/2 pour lui, 9 secondes à jouer, + 3 LAL.

Sur une remise en jeu et un système des plus cheap Dirk (le passeur sur la remise en jeu… plus cliché tu meurs) trouve un trois points ouvert et envoie les siens en prolongations.

OT ; Mavs vs « El Ocho »

 

 

 

La prolongation est une caricature côté L.A, malgré l’extraordinaire forme de Kobe. Je suis d’accord avec Phil Jackson sur bon nombre de points ce soir, sur la plupart de son coaching d’ailleurs. Laisser les kids sur le terrain à ce moment de la partie est formateur, mais isoler Kobe sur chaque attaque l’est beaucoup moins. Même si Sasha a eu sa chance plus d’une fois (3/12 dont 1/10 à trois points) et que Farmar a montré quelques limites dans la gestion. Vujacic rentrera donc son seul shoot lointain dans cette prolongation avant que Kobe prenne la relève. LAL compte jusqu’à 7 points d’avance à deux minutes de la fin du match. Kobe (52 points, 11 rebonds, 4 passes et sur une série de 17 lancers francs consécutifs convertis) est unstoppable. El Ocho ne manque rien, et les prises à deux lancées par Avery Johnson n’y changent rien. La où Phil déconne, c’est lorsqu’ à 3 reprises, il laisse Dallas prendre une position de tir ou pénétrer au buzzer alors que L.A mène de 3 points ! Envoyez les sur la ligne des lancers francs bordel ! Faites les mettre leur premier lancer, récupérer le rebond et remettre deux points ! Au lieu de ça le Zen master se la joue Larry Brown 2004 et les Mavs (en plus sans temps mort ndlr) exécutent leur schéma offensif et prennent les tirs qu’ils veulent. Dirk met le 3 points au buzzer ? Ok prolongation. Kidd qui met le shoot plus la faute de Gasol? Ca ne doit pas arriver !!! Alors d’accord il y a deux écoles aux USA bla bla bla… D’accord mettre les joueurs face à leur destins et responsabilités est formateur etc… Pau n’avait pas à faire faute à ce moment là de la rencontre. Mais multiplier le temps de jeu en saison régulière (surtout à une rotation à 8 joueurs…), épuiser Kobe, risquer d’autres blessures si ce n’est des blessures de fatigues pour une leçon basket ? Non, je ne suis pas d’accord. Soit Phil refuse de remettre Kobe dans la partie comme face à Cleveland et les Lakers perdent pour une « bonne cause », soit Jax remet Kobe et écourte les débats. Car si Kidd rate son lancer (et heureusement d’ailleurs) la victoire n’en est pas plus glorieuse pour autant. Ce soir Kobe a gagné, mais les Lakers ont perdu, (Oh et pendant ce temps, dites à Lamar de faire une passe avant qu’on fasse faute sur lui puisqu’il ne sait pas tirer un lancer franc sous pression, did I mention that ?)

Réactions de Kobe post Game ( Espn)

 

 

 

 

Scoreboard à la fin du match

 

 

Médias

Versus Mavs

Retrouvez les photos du matche dans le forum en Cliquant ici

 

 

 

 

 

La vidéo du jour

Kobe Bryant – The Early Years

 

 

Prochain rendez vous, Mardi 4 mars
Lakers at Kings

Srces: CL/NBA/Espn/LAT

“Why can’t America realize that falling in love with Kobe doesn’t mean breaking up with Michael?” Rick Reilly

 

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With eight games remaining in the regular season, Jarvis Varnado is just one block shy of tying Erick Dampier’s single-season record of 106 blocked shots.  Oh yeah…. he’s also the nation’s number one shot blocker.  As a sophomore.  He’s still got some growing to do, and he’ll only get better.  Simply amazing.

Dampier also holds the career blocked shots record at State with 249 (1994-96).  I’m not sure how many blocks Varnado may have had as a freshman, but expect him to shatter the career blocks record before he’s done in Starkville.

This, from the ATSB’s report on the grounding of the offshore tug Massive Tide on 29 August 2006 doesn’t need much comment:

“The radar mounted next to the chart table was not working on 29 August or over the preceding days. Consequently, the forward bridge console mounted Koden MD-3840 radar was in use on the morning of the grounding. The second mate set the radar in the north up mode and on the 12 mile range scale. He was accustomed to using more modern radars and electronic charting systems; consequently, he was only using the radar for collision avoidance. During the voyage, the second mate had found the echoes of some targets were hard to read so he increased the radar’s clutter and gain controls. There was some ‘clutter’ showing on the screen but as he was not using the radar for navigation it did not seem important to him. When the master arrived on the bridge after the grounding, he reduced the radar range scale and adjusted the clutter and gain controls. What had appeared to the second mate to be ‘clutter’ was, in fact, Rosemary Island.”

Top (Black) line, where the Massive Tide was supposed to go,
Bottom (Red) where she actually went.

Okay, I will make a comment, the second mate had already seen the lights on Rosemary Island and the lights of nearby ships and noticed that they didn’t seem to be in the right place. Says the ATSB report “Despite detecting these critical cues, the second mate either did not understand their significance or was averse to the mental effort involved in concluding that the ship was not in the correct position.”

Hi Everyone,

On Sunday I had such an awesome day that I wanted to share it with you all. I was asked to record a visit of a VIP touring some company facilities in the North West of Western Australia and of course I jumped at the chance, it was a change from doing landscapes and I absolutely love helicopters (I had always wanted to be a helicopter pilot) and don’t need to be asked twice to hop into one espcecially when its a Kawasaki BK117, they would have to be one of the best helicopters around.  At least they are my favourite.

The morning started at 0400 for me as I had to be at the airport by 0530 in the morning.   I was fortunate enough to be invited into the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge where we all had a quick bite to eat and some coffee to kick start the day.   We took off from Perth at 0630 and arrived in Karratha at 0830, early morning Karratha was warmer than Perth in the middle of the day at the moment!!!    After a quick helicopter briefing we hopped into the Kawasaki BK117 and took off, once in the air we did a number of circuits around Karratha and Dampier where I managed to get some aerial photographs.   If you look closely you can see two mini drilling rigs just sitting there.

We then headed off to some offshore installations and the VIP got a tour of the facilities.    We then headed back inland, which took 30mins of flying time across the water and coast, the best thing about a pilot’s job is the view from their office!   We reached our location and landed in the middle of a paddock and then did an inspection of another facility.   At this stage it was time to say goodbye to the BK117 as the rest of the trip was via road.

Once the facility inspection was complete we headed back up to Karratha to experience the highlight of the day.   We were going to be taken on a tour through Deep Gorge in Karratha to see some Indigenous paintings and the tour leaders were very senior Indigenous people in the area.   We walked into the gorge and after our eyes were used to spotting the paintings we saw at least a hundred paintings, it was amazing.   We were told the meaning to some of the paintings as well as shown grinding stones and other interesting artifacts.  

It was a trully rewarding experience to spend time with the guys and at the end of our visit the senior law man sang us two songs which they sang to the Kangaroo and Emu.  After that it was back to the airport, and after a 30min wait we hopped onto the plane.   I ended up getting home at 8pm and headed straight to bed.   What an awesome day!

Thank You for stopping by,

Jamie Paterson

Jamie Paterson Photography