by Dan's Brain on Sun Apr 13, 2008 4:17 pm
Just made my much heralded debut for Bats Nova, ie the powerhouse of the Slovenian 8th Division league, a team boasting the inimitable talents of King Kong and Linas Kleiza.
Well, the team further strengthened their invincibility (if such a concept is possible) by the drafting of Daniel Mitchell - a 7'0, 261 lb PF from Australia and immediately installing him into the starting lineup for the game against the Koper Suntigers.
He made an immediate impact, getting on the wrong end of a turnover, which was cancelled out by the 'Tigers 3 point miss down the other end. He sprinted back on offense and got himself into good field goal position, but his sense of fairness and humility forced him to clang the shot off the back of the rim.
The moans of disappointment from the loyal Bats Nova fans shook Mitchell out of his self-righteous funk, and as Tigers forward Al Henderson went up for a putback, Mitchell got mad and swatted the ball deep into the front court to start the fast break. Thus began an uneventful first quarter, which resulted in 4 missed shots, 2 fouls, 1 rebound and a block from our heroic hero.
Quarter 2 began for Mitchell with a quick defensive foul on an Al Henderson jumper. But this awkward start was counteracted with a dynamite 4 foot jumpshot on the offensive end.
His work done, Mitchell took a seat, and elected not to return for the entire game. Which is just as well, as Bats Nova was forced to endure a 107-69 blowout - thanks in no small part to Mitchell's absence for the final 2 and a half quarters of the game.