MITCH Creek was able to look back on his 2017-18 campaign with the Adelaide 36ers as one full of positives despite missing out on a National Basketball League championship on Saturday.
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The Horsham-export and the 36ers trailed Melbourne United for all of the deciding game five of the grand final series after the home team made a fast start at Hisense Arena.
Creek said his side’s biggest issue was that it gave up eight offensive rebounds in the first quarter as it fell behind 34-22 by the first break.
“There’s 12 to 15 points straight away,” he said .
“We missed a few free throws in the first and at the start of the second, that’s another five or six points – by that stage it’s a 20-point differential.”
The 36ers simply could not make up the deficit through the final three quarters as Melbourne United went on to win its first NBL title 100-82.
Creek said his club still needed to be proud of its efforts in a grand final series where each game was won by the team on its home court.
“To be able to push an awesomely strong side like United to five games in the grand final is a credit to our guys,” he said.
“Our backs were against the wall for a lot of the season and we faced that adversity as a team.
“When you put all of that together then you have to be proud of what we have achieved – I’m more than happy to call myself a 36er at the end of the day.”
After a big season Creek won accolades within his team, as the side’s MVP, and at a league level by being selected in the All-NBL second team and winning the fan voted MVP award.
He said the loss felt like a kick in the guts at the moment but would ultimately drive him forward.
“Getting those accolades is nice but it’s not what I’m here to do – I’m here to win championships,” he said.
“I was very emotional after the game on Saturday, but once the dust settles in a couple of weeks or a month then I’ll really get back into things.
“Then all the messages I got saying ‘bad luck’ will spur me on a bit more at the early trainings or late at night.”
Creek took an opportunity to play summer league basketball with the Utah Jazz in the United States during the 2017 off-season.
He said it looked as though there would be an opportunity to return to the US this off-season.
“Right now I just need to wait and see though,” he said.
“I’ll take it as it comes.”
