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www.concrete-online.co.uk Tuesday 6th December 2011 - Issue 262
NBA agrees end to lockout for Christmas Kris Nelson Sports Correspondent After 139 days of bitter arguing, accusations and attempted negotiation, the news that millions of Americans had been waiting for finally broke on 26 November. The NBA’s selfimposed lockout had finally come to an end. The lockout situation is a phenomenon the majority of English sports fans will never experience, but in America it seems to be happening on a regular basis across the so-called “big-four” sports of basketball, NFL, ice hockey and baseball. An entire season of hockey was lost in 2004-2005 and this year’s NFL only just got the goahead, but it seemed for a long time that basketball would be the real loser with seemingly no end to a dispute revolving
around revenue sharing and the structure of the salary cap. During the lockout, franchises were unable to trade and sign players, or access facilities controlled by the NBA. As top players such as two-time all-
star and Olympic gold medallist Deron Williams defected to European leagues, American basketball was being shaken to its very foundation. Eventually, after claiming all pre-season games as well as a
significant portion of what would normally be the regular season, common sense has prevailed. Both parties have managed to reach a tentative agreement whereby teams will play two pre-season fixtures before embarking upon a shortened 66game regular season, beginning on Christmas Day. Finally, the world can get excited about basketball again. Star performers Chris Paul and Dwight Howard seem set for moves to new franchises, current titleholders Dallas Mavericks face a real battle to retain the championship and there is heightened interest within Britain as $50m man Luol Deng looks set for a key season at Chicago Bulls before leading Team GB at London 2012. The world can now finally start getting excited about potentially the most exciting season of basketball yet.
Netball ease to BUCS Cup win
Greg Mann
Women’s Netball I Warwick III
60 18
Chris Teale Sports Editor Netball I are through to the last 16 of the BUCS Midlands Conference Cup after a highly impressive 60-18 demolition of Warwick III at the Sportspark. Given that the away side are in Midlands Division 4A, a full two divisions below UEA, they were always expected to struggle, and it was no surprise that an attacking onslaught from the home side saw them open up an early 6-0 lead. This
domination continued thanks to some excellent defence and rapid counter-attacking movement, to which the away side had no answer. Thanks to a number of intercepted passes and great rebounding, UEA found themselves up by a margin of 12-3 at the end of the first quarter. Their opponents had little answer to the home side’s great attacking play and stifling defence, and it appeared they would struggle for the rest of the game. The second quarter began much the same as the first, as Warwick had little answer to constant pressure by the home side, and UEA’s domination was even greater than in the
first quarter. The home side continued to rain in the shots and the goals, with the away side’s defence struggling to cope with a constant barrage of attacking play. It was all very comfortable for UEA, who went into the half-time break with a 31-5 lead, looking very strong and keen to continue their dominance. UEA managed to keep up the momentum from the first half as the second period began, and their good rebounding and interceptions continued, adding to their already impressive goal tally and margin. While Warwick managed to find a few more goals, their defence still struggled to keep the home side’s scoring under control, and found themselves still very far behind an impressive home side performance. Despite an injury where one of UEA’s players took a ball to the face, the home side were looking extremely comfortable at the end of the third quarter, with a 44-12 lead. The fourth quarter continued somewhat in the same vein, as UEA still managed to score numerous goals, and their movement was far superior to their opponents’. As their lead became even more unassailable than before, some slight handling errors began to creep
into the home side’s play, but the damage was done. At the final whistle, the scoreline of 60-18 did not flatter UEA whatsoever. Credit must go to Warwick, who continued to work hard throughout and kept pressurising UEA, but it is the home side who advances. Now, they face an away trip to Birmingham II, and will be hopeful of taking the momentum from this game into their next league match, again away, this time to Birmingham III.
Greg Mann
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Federer ends season with Finals victory Keiren Cordery Sports Correspondent Roger Federer overcame a brave fight-back from Jo-Wilfred Tsonga to win the ATP World Tour Finals for the sixth time. Federer beat his opponent 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 on the way to a 17th straight victory. The Swiss looked to have the match wrapped up after going a set and a break up, but the resilient Frenchmen summoned all his strength to save match point before eventually breaking back to ensure a third set would be played. Unfortunately, Tsonga, playing Federer for the third consecutive Sunday, lost comfortably in the third.
“Defeats in the group will do little to overshadow Djokovic’s outstanding year” Federer was the only one of the “big four” to emerge from the group stages, as this tournament proved one too many for his competitors. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal suffered from fatigue after a long season, while injury-prone British player Andy Murray was forced to pull out. However, defeats in the group couldn’t overshadow Djokovic’s outstanding year, in which he has won three of the four major tournaments. Nadal’s humiliating 6-3, 6-0 loss to Federer would certainly have been more painful for the Spaniard, but his season will conclude with the final of the Davis Cup against Argentina, despite complaints of fatigue. Murray, who suffered a groin injury during his straight sets defeat against David Ferrer, had a miserable homecoming at the O2 Arena. With notable performances from Berdych and Tipsarevic, and strong challenges looming from other players, he has his work cut out trying to capture that elusive Grand Slam in 2012. Ultimately, it was the consistency and class of Federer which shone through. At this point in time he appears to be immune to the injuries and fatigue which have plagued his opponents, and this has allowed him to end the season in triumphant fashion.