Rams show Nuggets no mercy
What does hope look like when it has been shredded in a blender?
Well, like the long faces that headed into home dressing rooms at the Edgar Centre last night.
The Otago Nuggets trailed the Canterbury Rams 55-29 at the break.
The game was over.
Or was it?
Of course it was over.
It was a clash between the best team in the National Basketball League and easily the worst and that was very, very obvious.
The 113-59 final score was a painfully honest reflection of the gulf in class between the traditional rivals.
The 54-point loss was the heaviest defeat in their history. Their previous largest losing margin was a 47-point shellacking by the Southland Sharks in 2013.
Australian guard Sean Macdonald top-scored with 27 points and CJ Penha added 19 from the bench.
Jonathan Janssen was the best of the Nuggets players. He posted a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds.
There were early troubling signs.
Rams guard Taylor Britt got free passage along the baseline for a basket. Someone dropped off their defensive assignment and he was not the last.
Macdonald drilled a couple of early three-pointers and the Rams took an 8-0 lead.
Janssen finally got the Nuggets on the board with a putback and Jaylen Sebree landed a triple.
Other than that it was painful to watch for the home fans.
The Nuggets made a series of bumbling efforts close to the hoop and some complete misreads on defence.
Where is the exit?
Cannot have been the only one thinking that.
The Rams claimed twice as many rebounds and posted almost three times as many points in a lopsided 27-10 opening period.
Macdonald stuck another three for the two-time defending champions early in the second quarter.
Walter Brown grabbed an offensive board and popped it in. That was too easy.
So was the cut Macdonald made to the cup for another bucket moments later.
Maybe the fire alarm will go off now?
Cannot have been the only one thinking that.
The Nuggets rallied towards the end of the half but still trailed by 26 points.
The third quarter was sloppy. The Rams lacked some of the urgency they displayed earlier and the Nuggets were able to disrupt their pattern more successfully.
Max Darling drilled late back-to-back threes to stretch the margin to 38 points with 10 minutes remaining, though.
Make it stop.
Cannot be the only one thinking that.
The game carried on, of course.
The Rams spent a chunk of the fourth quarter taunting Sebree and he promptly fouled out of the game.
Call that a win for the visitors.
Darling brought up 100 for the Rams with a lay-up.
The Rams beat the Nuggets 42-36 in the Rapid League game.
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