IT wasn’t enough to get his team home but Illawarra star Rotnei Clarke removed any doubts over whether he was back to his league MVP form with his 29-point performance against Sydney on Monday.
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Clarke shot a very tidy six of nine from three-point range and, in tandem with fellow sharp-shooter Oscar Forman, almost orchestrated and epic comeback from the perimeter.
He’s now averaging 23 points a game since being shifted to a bench impact role by coach Rob Beveridge and gave plenty of the credit for pulling him out of an early season slump to his coach and teammates.
“I think it’s just a tribute to coach and my teammates,” Clarke said.
“They just tell me to go into games and be aggressive. The style we play is fun to play in, we get up and down the court, coach tells me to be aggressive and shoot shots that are predictable shots.
“There was one instance where I missed one and Mike [Holyfield] dunked it right back in because he knew exactly when I was going to shoot it. I think that’s good for all our guys.
“We’ve got guys shooting shots we know they’re going to shoot but it’s easier to get in there on the boards and clean it up. It’s nice to be able to go out in games and have guys like coach and my teammates and the captain’s on the team putting their faith in me.
“I started the season off horribly but they continued to push me and kept telling me to shoot the ball and I’m a big believer in hard work pays off. I have faith in that and knew if I continued to work, eventually things would start falling into place.”