Riyadi Humiliated at the Hands of Hoops
Sunday 28 Feb, 2010
What happens when ego becomes too high for guys to play? When self confidence comes in the way of players actually rebounding, jumping, fighting and trying to actually win? What happens when a team suddenly decides that it can win based only on talent and not even have to play? The team gets humiliated against Hoops! No disrespect to that club, but the champion of Lebanon, Dubai, Arab, West Asia, and other numerous tournaments should not lose to a team made up of a bunch of no names coming from the second division.
But in sports the team who fights wins! There is no given, there is no game that has a decided result before it starts, and actually the champions have a thing or that they could learn from the underdogs. It is ok to put your egos aside, and fight for a win. It is ok to hustle and get to the ground for each ball. It is ok to outrun the other team.
Riyadi lost by 21 points on Monday, and the loss was the first of the season in Lebanon. Riyadi trailed the whole way, and the closest the game got after the second was 9. Tedd Scott showed some bad play, he is not up to expectations and the difference between him and Nate Johnson is way too much. The final score of the game was 94-73. And Ricky Cleamons scored 35 points, to show how bad defense was in that game.
We can only hope that this is the yearly wakeup call to the champions, and that we are not on a verge of another humiliating loss at the hands of Champville led by 3 ex-Riyadi players in Ghaleb Rida, Fadi El Khatib, and the great Tony Madison. The game is on Friday at 9pm in Champville.
Written by Jad Halabi |
