GUARD TO WORK MAGIC IN ALICE GRAND FINAL
MAGIC’S James Melky is stoked to get his first taste of an Alice Springs Basketball grand final when his side takes on Rockets tomorrow night.
Melky has been a standout for Magic throughout the season, consistently among the top scorers and has been pivotal in getting the side to the big dance for the first time in around 15 years.
He contributed 22 points in his side’s 85-71 preliminary final win over Rebels, and will again be a lynchpin for his side if it is to succeed against the top seeded Rockets.
“I’m stoked to be in what will be my first A-grade final with Magic and the club’s first in about 15 years,” Melky told the Sunday Territorian.
“We’ve had so many good match-ups against Rockets this season and the three-point loss to them in the semis (91-88) showed how close our sides are.”
Melky’s scoring pedigree has helped inspire his Magic teammates to better performances, including Quentin Denieul who managed 24 points in the high-pressure preliminary final.
“We have a lot of diversity in our team and we’ve been recruiting and building each week to be the best that we can be,” Melky, the league’s highest pointscorer with 334, said.
“Teamwork has to be our greatest asset and that has shown in how we have played offensively and defensively.
“For me personally, I’ve just come out to play every game and worked as hard as I can, scoring as much as I can
“But I’ve not had to as much in the past five weeks because we have other guys scoring taking the pressure off.
“When we’re all scoring we’re unstoppable.”
The young gun also ran out for Ellas Titans in the Darwin Men’s League last season, and has hopes of playing up there for a couple of weeks before the end of the current season.
But it’s Adelaide where he hopes to get a bit of practice first after the Red Centre grand final, with Darwin on the cards afterwards.
“Like everyone else I’m just waiting to see what happens with COVID as there has been talk of a bubble in Queensland,” Melky said.
“I’m going to take a few weeks off post-final to train in Adelaide. Then possibly up to Darwin to play with Ellas for a few rounds to keep myself in the game.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on Ellas and they’ve been going all right with Shack (Willie Shackleford) going really well, and they will get a boost from Deba George being back. But it’s just waiting to see what happens and staying ready for when something comes up.”