The Winnipeg Sea Bears returned home on Wednesday night, prepared to take the lead in the Western Conference standings, and beat the Vancouver Bandits. While Calgary lost in Brampton, the opportunity was open for the Sea Bears to take sole possession of first place. After a back and forth game, that saw Winnipeg do their best to give the game to the Bandits, they closed the fourth quarter and Elam Time on a 29-9 run to take the victory. Then in the Friday night, primetime matchup against the prairie rival Rattlers it was a battle. A good start from the Sea Bears saw them out in an early lead. Then some cold shooting during the second and third quarters saw them chasing going into the fourth. But once the Target Score was set, Winnipeg never looked back and took round two against the provincial rival. They weren’t perfect performances by any means, as there were similar mistakes made throughout both contests. I will dive more into this as I explain my three important keys from these two games.

Inconsistent Defence

While you could say that the Sea Bears were overall inconsistent throughout both games, the most prevalent was their play on the defensive end of the floor. They had moments where they completely shut down the Bandits and Rattlers offence, and nothing could be generated. There were also moments where the Sea Bears could not get a stop at all. I will point out that much of their success in the first game could be contributed to Bandits coach Kyle Julius subbing out big man Nick Ward in favour of a smaller lineup. Winnipeg had no one who could properly guard one of the best traditional big men in the league, and things defensively were much easier when Ward was on the bench. I will give the Sea Bears props for doing a better job on Giorgi Bezhanishvili, but guards M.J. Walker, Jahenns Manigat, and Alex Campbell played very well. You could say that this performance was more so “clutch” than an overall good showing. Then against the Rattlers, along with that “clutch” defence, the Sea Bears also got lucky that shots stopped falling for Saskatchewan. Winnipeg got stops when they needed to late to win it in both games, but it is still not at the level I believe it should be. As I have said before, if the Sea Bears can show more consistency defensively, I do believe they are one of the best teams in the league.

Giveaways

Both of these contests were sloppy from both teams from start to finish. They all gave away many possessions, some forced, but many of them unforced. This was the main reason that the Sea Bears kept having to claw back in both games, because of passes straight to the defence, or silly turnovers. There isn’t much else to say here, but it was one of the important reasons the games turned out the way that they did. Winnipeg needs to do a better job of taking care of the ball next Thursday, because it could really hurt them against Niagara. I will reiterate it closer to the game, but I believe that the River Lions have the best defence in the league. You cannot be making these sort of mistakes when facing a team that good.

Timely Scoring

Clutch scoring was the name of the game at the end of both of these games. After having up and down nights offensively, somehow the Sea Bears were able to go on a 29-9 run to end the game against Vancouver. Then they found a way to stay in the game against Saskatchewan, and cleanly close it out in Elam Time. Scoring from Teddy Allen, E.J. Anosike, and Glen Yang, and Jelani Watson-Gayle led the charge to take both contests from the Bandits and Rattlers. Winnipeg got lucky that Vancouver and Saskatchewan decided to go ice cold in the fourth quarter, and they were able to take advantage. This is definitely not an avenue which is sustainable, in which they will be able to win many games. We have now seen them almost blow games in Elam Time (and even lose after giving up a big lead), the Edmonton game, and now two game in which I am not sure if they were the better team most of the night and pull off a victory. We have only seen them closeout one game properly, and that was against the Honey Badgers. We are still waiting on that complete game to surface.

Now that we have gone over the three important keys from this game, let’s now take a look at each players individual performance.

Glen Yang

I promise I am not starting with Yang just because he hit the game winner on Wednesday. I am starting with him because I think that was his second best game of the year. I was quite impressed with his performance. He look confident, being aggressive in taking opportunities to score and was dishing out assists. I am hoping that game is a springboard for him because the Sea Bears need him to be an important piece. It also helps coach Mike Taylor if he has two elite lead guards that he can lean on. I will say that he went completely silent then against Saskatchewan, which is not what I wanted to see.

Teddy Allen

We will keep this one short. There isn’t much else to say about Allen because he is playing really well right now. He’s going to do his thing, and be one of the best scorers this league has.

E.J. Anosike

The last two games for Anosike were fantastic. He is scoring, rebounding, and being a significant difference for the Sea Bears. I do hope these performances continue, because next to Allen, he could be the most important player on the roster.

A.J. Hess

Inefficient is the best way to describe the last two games for Hess. After a good performance against the Honey Badgers, Hess went back to the form he had been displaying. I understand coach Taylor wants a different look in the starting lineup to Okafor, and Hess spaces the floor, but he has not played great this season. I have a feeling this is the sort of play we will see from Hess for the rest of the year.

Chad Posthumus

Very solid play from Posthumus. He seems to has found his form, and is excelling. Double-doubles a plenty for him, and I have a feeling we will continue to see them flow.

Jelani Watson-Gayle

This guy has been playing so well. 6th Man of the Year. That is all I really have to say.

Michael Okafor

Good defence follows this guy wherever he goes. Offence is still developing, but looked better against the Rattlers. Okafor has shown to be good in transition as well, which is why I think he has been getting a bit more minutes when coach Taylor wants to play fast. I will assume he will get the Khalil Ahmad assignment on Thursday, and I know he will be up to the task.

Simon Hildebrandt

Major cold streak. That’s about it.

Shane Osayande

Osayande brings fantastic rebounding off the bench, and score some on offence. He has also surprised me with his rim protection, which has been a welcome addition to bring in.

Tyler Sagl

Sagl has been on the active 10 man roster, but has not seen the floor. I am not sure if he will the rest of the season, as it seems that coach Taylor has turned to a nine man rotation.

Final Thoughts

We have now hit the halfway mark in the season. A 7-3 start is very much surprising, but to be honest I did not have many expectations because they are a new franchise. Winnipeg’s level of play has been very good for a team just meshing, and I think that you need to give props to coach Taylor for the work he has done. He is definitely in conversation for Coach of the Year. You can definitely pencil in Allen as a MVP finalist, and as I mentioned above, Watson-Gayle is my 6th Man of the Year. The Sea Bears currently sit a top of the Western Conference and one and a half games ahead of the Edmonton Stingers. Realistically, if Winnipeg keeps up their level of play, and even does some clean up on defence, they could be a real force in the league. I cannot wait to cover the back half of the season!