Seri Matiara- International tournament First professional basketball in five years
Seri Matiari is a tournament held in Malaysia, that up until this year, featured teams that play in NBL Asia. The majority of those teams in last year’s tournament were local Malaysian teams, and one team from the Philippines.
This year in an attempt to increase the legitimacy of the NBL Asia league on the international scene, the tournament featured teams from Taiwan, the Philippines, Australia, China, Syria, and Croatia, along with two teams from Malaysia.
At the press conference, the groupings for the tournament were determined.
Avery and I played for last year’s champions, NS Matrix. Along with two other American import players on the roster, our squad also included an import from Melbourne, Australia. Although “import players,” as we are called are very important, it is very important to have at least one or two local players to support the imports. Overall we had a very good team, as we had two local players from Fort Dickson perform well.
Kuek, one of the best players in Malaysia. He was one of the locals that was very dependable. By the end of the tourney, I was calling him the Chinese Malaysian Dirk Nowitzti. Very good ball player, and he played very well
Well my first game in five years began okay, despite coming off the bench and two air balls, that came on back to back possessions.
Coach and General manager.
Coach told me that he wanted me to save me for the next two games, against bigger teams.
I hit my first shot, a fifteen-footer from the right side of the key, off a pass from Avery.
I ended the game with 10 points and 4 rebounds, one block and two turnovers in 11 minutes of play. Although that was a good return to the court, it was below my expectations, and below my standard. I would have been able to live with that first game, if I actually had a chance to play better in the next game.
Wow, I never thought I would be doing this again. Never. I may never do it again. Outside of my kids, there is not a greater feeling, than to be on the court, on the road, with the team, playing, all trying to win. Words can not express how good it felt to be back on the court. It was like a breath of fresh air.
Unfortunately, any game can be your last. My first game in five years ended before the final buzzer sounded, as I felt a pop in my left quadricep during the fourth quarter. I will not know exactly what the injury is until I get back to Seattle, as the team had no interest in paying for my MRI. However, they did treat it as if it were a quadricep tear and I was given medical treatment during the duration of the trip.
After talking to my cousin Avery, he said that he threw a bad pass, which put me in a bad positon. Although that may be the case, I don’t think I warmed up properly at halftime. Not a young man anymore, there is no way I can go through the motions, when I have opportunities to get warm and ready to play. That is probably the easiest way to pull a muscle. I have learned that the only thing that one can do after getting hurt, is to continue to remain as positive. It helps with recovery, but more so than that, it helps keep a player’s confidence high.
Not sure if it is just a torn quad. It may be worse than that.
My cousin Avery had a bad shooting night, going 0-9 in the first game of the tournament. He still managed to have an impact on the game, grabbing 12 rebounds and dishing out 10 assist, against a Philippines Blackwater team that was in the Championship game last year here in the Seri Matiara.
To add insult to injury, I was listed as a DNP, which stands for did not play.
Will I be back on the court? I am not sure, but one thing that I do know is that I really miss everything that comes with basketball, and if I want to continue play there is a long road to recovery. We shall see…..