Our live run in the Season 55 Asian Cup came to an end at the hands of a very strong Chinese outfit tonight.
We went in as massive underdogs and threw a bit of a long shot in terms of a GDP but picked it wrong, which led to the margin blowing out a little more than it might have, but collectively the brains trust felt it was our best shot of pulling off the upset. In the end we went down by 30 in the semi final, but making a semi final is a good start and progress on the last time we were here.
While we have a scrimmage against the other semi final loser in Hong Kong on Monday our MVP count came to a close with the semi final and there was a clear, runaway winner this season.
Derek Houghton, managed and trained by Kinky Koala's manager Balev, had an absolutely dominant season this year, and with a scrimmage to go could go past 300 points for the season.
Given he will probably also finish the season with around 40 assists it was a truly amazing run for the breakout guard who took over the mantel of the number one all-round guard from veteran Du Hongjing.
Houghton, 0, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3, 0, 3, 2, 3, 3 - 25 votes
Duffield, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 0, 3, 0, 3, 0, 0 - 9 votes
Davidson 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 3, 2, 0, 2, 0 - 9 votes
Biglands 3, 2, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0 - 8 votes
Laga-aia 2, 0, 2, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 - 6 votes
Grunter 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1 - 4 votes
Hongjing 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 2 - 4 votes
Gibbins 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0 - 3 votes
Dawes 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0 - 2 votes
1 vote each - Omu, Bill,
Dawes is almost certain to retire after tonight's game, with the skill drops starting to come quickly towards the end of the season, but he has been an absolute warrior for the Aussie side, playing the second most amount of games ever behind his former paint partner Dwayne McFlynn.
The scouting process for the new season will start soon, so feel free to direct message me with skill updates of your player if you think either he might be getting close to the mark or might have potential to make it in the future, or even if you want to talk about a training plan to maybe get him there one day - particularly if you have a big guy, I want to make sure I haven't missed one hiding in the woodwork somewhere.
Sorry I couldn't get us to an Asian final this season, but thanks for your support, particularly all of the managers who kept the side in cherry ripe shape most weeks. It really makes a difference.
Deano