Adelaide 36ers vice-captain and Boomers shooting guard Nathan Sobey gives his insight into the NBA clash with Utah
Adelaide 36ers and Boomers shooting guard Nathan Sobey will write an exclusive column for Advertiser.com.au during the 2018-19 NBL season. This is his first column as the Sixers prepare to play the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City.
THIS week in Salt Lake City has been anything but normal for our team.
We’ve flown half-way around the world, have trained in world class facilities and on Saturday will finally step out against the Utah Jazz on the biggest stage many of us have ever played on.
The arena will be packed with more than 15,000 people screaming against us and we’re playing one of the best teams in the NBA.
So the biggest challenge as players is mostly above the shoulders. We know we’re good enough to compete but we’ve got to stay calm and in control of our emotions.
Of course this is a massive opportunity but I try to stay the same all the time - never get too high or too low is my mantra.
For me personally it’s great to be back in Utah. I was here for the summer league in 2017 and trained with the group but hurt my groin and didn’t get to play.
I didn’t get to train on the main court either because they were renovating the stadium so it will be nice to finally run out there on Saturday.
Of course we’ve all had moments this week when you think about how big this whole thing is. Like how big the stadium is, how much money is involved in the game over here and getting to train in a facility like this.
Some of our guys haven’t been to the States before and witnessed how big college and NBA basketball is so it’s great to live off their energy as well, but we’ve also got a job to do.
Are we going to be intimidated? I hope not but there will be moments when people are higher and lower than what they normally are and the more we can control that medium the better it will be for us.
Everyone is different with how they handle stuff but as leaders and senior players we’ll do our best to get around everyone and make them as comfortable as they would be playing in Adelaide.
That doesn’t mean we ignore the scoreboard though. As much as it is a great experience just to be here, at the same time we’re trying to win. We’re not here to go down by 20 points and be satisfied.
We want to do our best and ultimately try to come away with a win, and whether the game is going in our favour or not we’ll keep working on all the areas of our game that we want to.
We’ve been on the road together for a while now with the Blitz last week and this trip to Utah which has allowed the team to really gel together.
This is a new group, a new team and we’re just focusing on trying to get better together.
Last year we brought in three new guys and we’ve got four new guys this year, so there is a new feel.
We obviously play the same style with Joey and guys are learning that and it’s not easy because we do run the floor and all that but when we want to run sets there’s a lot of them so a lot of rules and reads so you’ve got to be paying attention through this time of the year.
We know we’ve got the talent and done the work to be competitive against Utah on Saturday so hopefully we do Adelaide and ourselves proud.