FREE SWING GETS FIRE CRACKLING
TOWNSVILLE Fire captain Suzy Batkovic has heaped the pressure on Melbourne Boomers by describing game two of their WNBL grand final series as a “free swing”.
Batkovic said the Fire, chasing a third title in four years, were nervous as favourites on their home court in game one.
But after grinding out a 69- 64 win the blowtorch is now on the Boomers to level the series in front of their fans tomorrow night.
“All finals series are like that. It was a grind out game and it was such a long week waiting for it,” Batkovic said.
“There was a lot of time to think about it, whereas now we’ve got a free swing down there.
“There was nerves in that first game from both sides. Now we’ve got that first one out of the way, the pressure is on them.
“The pressure’s off us, because we get that free swing down there.”
Batkovic said it was foolhardy to believe any team could stop her Boomers centre rival Elizabeth Cambage, who drained 26 points in game one, from having an impact on a match.
She said the focus was to limit her opportunities and force her teammates to try to beat them.
The Boomers were guilty of missing several wide open shots in the series opener.
“She ( Cambage) is a big body and you’re not going to stop her,” Batkovic said.
“You just have to slow her down as much as you can, limit her touches and let somebody else try and take some shots.
“I think we did a pretty good job of that. Liz is going to get hers. We just have to make sure we limit everyone else. She can take 30 ( points) as long as the others are down and we get the win on the board.”
WNBL GRAND FINAL GAME TWO
MELBOURNE BOOMERS V TOWNSVILLE FIRE
Tomorrow at State Basketball Centre, Melbourne, 6.30pm
Live on Fox Sports 3