Adris Deleon during the match between the Adelaide 36ers and Wollongong. Picture: GETTY IMAGES
NBL
Watching in shock on television, sharp-shooting Hawks guard Adris Deleon was relieved to learn his family had come through the worst of Superstorm Sandy’s deadly fury unscathed.
Deleon had a troublesome wisdom tooth removed yesterday in Wollongong, but his pain was eased after speaking to his mother, who was bunkered down with his family in their apartment in the upper Manhattan area.
They live about 15 kilometres from the worst-affected flood areas of New York, but the sustained winds of more than 130km/h still made for a sleepless night.
‘‘It would take a lot for my mum to be scared,’’ he said.
‘‘It would take something very scary, like something from another planet to come.
‘‘So they’re fine, they’ve spent the night together playing cards.
‘‘But when you look at what was happening on TV, it’s pretty crazy. I’m glad they’re all good.’’
‘‘I saw photos where you could see signs on the streets that I know well and they were going underwater,’’ he said. ‘‘They’ve made a big deal of storms in the past, but they’ve never really hit like this, so it’s pretty crazy to see.
‘‘When I was a kid, the only reason you’d have a day off from school would be a snowstorm, so I didn’t think this would end up being as bad as it has.’’
His thoughts then turned to the New York street courts where he earned the name of ‘‘2hard2guard’’, a tag which he lived up to in Sunday’s demolition of
Adelaide, scoring 14 fourth-quarter points in the come-from-behind 77-63 win.
‘‘I just hope the courts and the park is all there when I get back,’’ Deleon said with a laugh.
But after producing the remarkable performance which has helped Wollongong to a 4-0 record and the top of the NBL ladder, Deleon revealed he had been struggling in the lead-up to the win over the 36ers.
Deleon is determined to prove the Hawks were genuine title contenders in Sunday’s top-of-the-table showdown with Perth.
‘‘My tooth had been hurting in the days before the game and it made me feel sick before it,’’ he said.
‘‘I went and got it checked out (yesterday) and got the wisdom tooth out.
‘‘So I missed training, hopefully by Friday I’ll be fine, but we’ll see.
‘‘It’s a big game for us against a really good team, so I’m going to make sure I’m up for it,’’ the New Yorker said.