Can't Buy a Basket

NBL Wrap Round 17: Average Wining Margin 24 Points

2012-01-29T19:42:00.001+08:00

What a round for blowout wins. The average winning margin this week was 24 points. Thank the 36ers for not getting that badly beaten of the average margin would be a whole lot worse.

Crocs takeout the 36ers, 79 - 69

The season for the 36ers seems to have hit aplateau, only problem is that plateau is on the level of mediocrity.

With the loss of their inspirational leader andtheir most potent offensive weapon Adam Ballinger for most of the season bar afew comeback trials, the 36ers outlook wasn’t good early on in the season, thearrival of Diamon Simpson changed that view and the outstanding play of youngbig man Daniel Johnson gave 36ers fans some form of hope for more than another woodenspoon.

The 36ers season has been full of disappointment

Johnson provided the only real production in thisgame for the team from Adelaide with his huge game of 21pts and 16reb andshowing dominance on the offensive end and on the boards, something he isbecoming more accustomed to while putting himself in front runner standing formost improved player.

Only problem for Johnson was the rest of his teamcouldn’t lift to the level of his play with only Chris Warren and NathanHerbert bothering to show up to help out, Warren with 13pts 3reb but also committing5 turnovers and Herbert with 11pts and 5reb.

Adelaide had a total of 5 assists for the wholegame as a team, something that doesn’t show a good sign for any team on theoffensive end and an issue that needs to be addressed if they are to pass on thewooden spoon award to another team this year.

The Crocs were a little more balanced on bothends of the floor which showed the results in the final score.

Even though Luke Schenscher was having troublecontrolling Daniel Johnson on the defensive end his presence and return to theCrocs line up provided some form of size in the paint to change shots andprovide a target on the low block on offence, Big Luke is playing himself backinto game shape and had a reasonable 10pts and 7reb, his return will definitelybe a big boost for the Crocs going into the latter half of the season.

Import Eddie Gill lead the way with his 17pts7reb, the veteran point guard steers the ship for the Crocs and provides a coolhead and tremendous ability to control the offence, Jacob Holmes, whodeservedly signed a long term deal with the Crocs had another double doublewith 10pts 10reb, Peter Crawford continuing his productivity with 14pts andMichael Cedar seems to be finding some resemblance of form with 13pts.

The Crocs needed this win to have any hope ofstaying in the race for the playoffs, but with a follow up game in this roundagainst the in form Wildcats in the Jungle, they will need to raise it toanother level in a short space of time to keep that dream alive.

(Box Score)

Breakers smash the Kings, 93 - 64

The Kings recently had been running onadrenaline after the loss of Aaron Bruce and showed a lot of heart against theleague leading Wildcats last round, unfortunately that spark wore off againstthe other top team in the league and the Kings got a right royal spanking fromthe form team of the competition in the Breakers.

Julian Khazzouh did what he usuallydoes and dominated the game for the Kings, having a low post scoring threatlike JK keeps the Kings able to at least be competitive, his 20pts 8reb isclose to his season averages and his consistency on both ends of the floor theonly real positive sign the Kings have to grab onto.

Anatoly Bose was the only other doublefigure scorer in this game for the Kings with 13pts 7reb 3ast, his productionhas undeniably put him in the driver’s seat for Rookie of the Year honours,knowing he will be part of the Kings roster for the foreseeable future givesKings fans some hope of a revival in the harbour city.

The Breakers on the other hand arewithout a doubt the form team of the competition right now and a 29 pointvictory shows they are more than just a potent offensive team, they have alsobecome much tougher defensively.

While there were only 3 double digitscorers for the Breakers, the entire team apart from development player DionPrewster scored and had points against their name in the box score.

Gary Wilkinson again lead the way andhas been one of the league’s most consistently productive players this seasonwith 18pts 5reb, while not the greatest rebounder, Wilkinson does play gooddefence and is a great help defender which could be a reason why, helping on adefensive assignment leaves other players to rebound when he helps.

Thomas Abercrombie is showing signs ofimprovement with more consistency week after week, while his athleticism iswhat is most often talked about, his consistency and production this year areproving he is becoming a smarter and more reliable player more than just ahighlight reel.

Cedric Jackson was the other doublefigure scorer with his 10pts but it is his rebounding ad assist numbers thatare the best parts of his game, a great rebounder for a guard he would morethan likely be second only to Damian Martin of the Wildcats for reboundingnumbers for a point guard and his assists and constant bordering on tripledoubles week after week that proves he is a very versatile player who needs tobe scouted well.

The Breakers are in a fantastic battlewith the Wildcats for top spot on the Ladder, when these 2 teams meet for thefirst time this season, it’s going to be an epic blockbuster game to be watchedby all.

(Box Score)

Hawks back on the rise, defeat Tigers, 90 - 68

Walker arguable looks better in a mask

To describe theTigers of late we will have to nerd it up a little and use the term coined byUnicron in the original Transformers cartoon movie “Proceed, on your way tooblivion”.

After the highlyreported shenanigans of owner Seamus McPeake and what is now being referred toas Ubakagate after the sensational firing of the Tigers import, the Tigers justseemed to have lost all momentum and sense of team harmony and chemistry, thisgame reinforced that fact as they came up against a desperate Hawks team andmatchup with their former import.

Even the introductionof new import Myron Allen fresh off the plane to play against the Hawks and anear triple double while dealing with jetlag with 17pts 9reb 6ast, the Tigerswere just in a complete shambles.

League leading scorerCam Tragardh was nowhere to be found with just 4pts and 2reb, only Liam Rushwith 18pts 6reb and Ron Dorsey with 12pts and 3ast showed any semblance of theteam that were the Tigers for most of the season.

The major questionhampering the Tigers and their fans is their rotation, why is Matt Burstonplaying only 16 minutes a game when the Tigers are being outsized most nightsin the paint, why is Trigger playing most of his minutes at the 5 spot, when isDaniel Dillon going to be the player the Tigers hoped they had signed?

The Hawks had beendown of late, but there is fight in the old dog left, and it was the old dogsof the Hawks who lead the way, Matt Campbell leading the way with 17pts and theGlen Saville of old with 13pts 9reb providing the driving force of a Hawkresurgence.

Former Tiger AyindeUbaka played his first game as a Hawk against his old team and had a 15pt 4reb3ast outing to give his old boss a little “how ya like me now” flavour. Oscar Forman with10pts 3reb and Joevan Catron with 12pts 5reb rounded out the scorers for theHawks. This win had been along time coming and was a much needed morale booster for the Hawks, with anyluck it could just change their season and at least provide some positive signsthat can be built on.

(Box Score)

Perthdestroy Townsville, 87-55

An unenthused Townsville unit dried off their rain soaked clothesa trekked West to enjoy the summer sun. A clumsy start by the Wildcats and somestreaky shooting kept the Crocs in the game; but not for long. The Crocs ownmistakes were the beginning of their undoing, looking inside to Luke Schenscherwho was being frustrated by the equally tall Luke Nevill. The Crocs also failedto look after the ball; at times looking unlikely to even get it past theirback court. The tone of the night was eventually set when Peter Crawford gaveup after having the ball stolen by Brad Robbins who went on to an uncontestedlayup.

Coach Woolpert is a very boring coach to watch when he isn’ttelling the referees what he really thinks. The Cats defence had the Crocs in adeath grip and barrel roll. A rare let down in letdown in defensive pressuresaw Todd Blanchfield with a dunk, As Todd back down the court you could see theshocked look on his face that get got the basket so easy. The other highlightfor the Crocs was PC forcing Greg Hire to commit the foul on the three pointshot leading to a four point play, the second for the league in 2 weeks.

When things were looking dark for the Crocs the Wildcats came outand went on a 14-0 run before a set of Blanchfield free throws stopped the run.From there both teams treaded water and the Crocs found themselves on the wrongside of a 32 point shellacking.

With the referees allowing a greater than usual level of contactthe Wildcats could do what they do best, body up and play tight. Instead ofplaying the game the same way Townsville opted the shrug the shoulders andcomplain to the referee tactics. It isn’t so much that Townsville turned theirattentions to complaining but more so that their heads were never in the game.Never at one stage did they look interested. Perth ran rings around Townsville becauseTownsville let them.

Townsville have a busy schedule over the next few rounds and can’tafford to dwell on this. Yes they got waxed but it’s time to move on and put themselvesin a position to play finals basketball. 10 turnovers from their starting backcourt is a cause for concern. The Crocs need to bring the ball up the court asa team and not try to beat the press singlehandedly. Jacob Holmes was the pickof a stock exchange bunch. Holmes finished with 14 points and 11 boards.

Perth showed that the team that plays together wins together. LukeNevill playing the ultimate teammate role dishing out 6 assists and added 11points and 2 blocks to the teams tally. Shawn Redhage top scored with 16 pointsand grabbed 6 boards whilst Jesse Wagstaff continues his red hot form finished with13 points, 4 boards and 4 dimes. Kevin Lisch added another 15 points.

(Box Score)

Blaze dominate Taipans, 76-49

In a round with blowout victories the Blaze handed theCairns Taipans a good old fashion ass whupping. Much like their neighbouringCrocs the Snakes never looked like part of the game, their minds distant insome sort of alternate universe where where they play crips fast pace highscoring basketball.

In the lowest score for the season the Taipans were justhorrible, being caught half a step behind all night. Cairnsfailed to look after the ball committing 21 team turnovers whilst they watchedthe Blaze hop-scotch the ball around the court with no regard. Settling on jumpshots the Taipans failed to capitalise against the less than formidable Blazefront court. If this doesn’t put you off the Snakes they failed to make a stealas a team, managed four free throw attempts (whether this was due to ‘good’shot selection is still unknown but anyone can assume from the 37% from thefield that the shots weren’t that ‘good’).

The only thing uglier than this sweater is the Taipans

This does not mean that the Blaze weren’t without theirflaws. The team that likes to run and gun still got caught in Cairn’s slowpaced style and shot an unimpressive 41% from the floor including 4/19 fromoutside. To the Blaze’s credit they did rebound well, winning the battle of theboards 42-27, offensive rebounds 17-8.

Gold Coast had this game wrapped up by three quarter time,if not half time. Mark Worthington almost scored more than the Taipans. Worthofinished with a game high 17 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Anthony Petrie,Adam Gibson and Adris Deleon all finished with 10 points each but Deleon’s 7boards (4 of them offensive) put him higher in the pecking order. With theright combination of teams losing this week the Blaze have found themselves inthe top four; are the Blaze ready to surge? It would be a great time in theseason to find some form.

Alex Loughton scored 12 points at an efficient 6/7 from thefield whilst Jamar Wilson had a game he would rather forget going 2/11 from thefield.

(Box Score)

Can’t Buya Damn Thing Award

One would think that the Crocs should get this one for the ‘effort’against the Wildcats but they weren’t really playing basketball that night. Itis their Thursday night opponents that take this metaphoric cake this week.

The 36ers managed a terrible 5 assists as a team against the Crocson Thursday night. When comparing it to the 20 turnovers they racked up itleave a hardly impressive assist/turnover ratio of 0.25. Yuck!

Put it this way, the Kings got more blocks (6) than the 36ers, theBreakers had 2 players get 5 assists, Myron Allen got 6 assists for the Tigers,and Brad Robbins got 5 steals against the Crocs a few nights later.

Gimme myChange Award

Ayinde Ubaka got the last laugh this week. A fortnight after beingkicked to the curb by Melbourne Tiger’s honcho Seamus McPeake Ubaka foundhimself suiting up against his old comrades and not only got the huge win butfinished the game with 15 points, 4 boards, 3 assists and three steals. Not badstats in 21 minutes on the floor.

Keep smiling Ayinde, don’t let the man who wears the “big pants”get you down.

NBL Wrap Round 16: The McPeake Aftermath

2012-01-22T16:00:00.001+08:00

Hey champs, please take the time to swing by our Facebook page and like us the old fashioned 'Like'. We plan on having some exclusive news/ stories soon and maybe the odd giveaway.

Breakers add to Tigers woes and defeat them, 91 – 77

Artist impression of McPeake striking down Ubaka

As if theTigers didn’t have enough bad going on for them recently, they had to face offagainst the leagues in form team which just added insult to injury after the sackingof import Ayinde Ubaka in controversial fashion.

With DanielDillon now having to take on the ball handling and playmaking the Tigers theTigers were short handed in the back court with their new import not suitingup.

Dillon and LiamRush picked up the slack and both player scoring a team high 18pts, Dillon didalso have 5reb 4ast and 2st but also committed 6 turnovers which cost theTigers dearly, Rush also added 6reb and 3ast.

Probably themost positive sign for the Tigers was the return of big man Matt Burston torelieve some pressure of Cam Tragardh, while Trigger probably enjoyed nothaving to play the pivot, he did have a mediocre game both offensively and onthe boards by his standards with 12pts 5reb and 4ast, with extra help on thelow block you would think those numbers would have gone up and not down.

Matt Burstonwas the only other player in double figures but was nowhere to be found on theboards, you can expect that from a player returning from injury and not beingin game shape, but if the Tigers are to go anywhere except down the ladder,that really needs to change.

The Breakers onthe other hand were once again in outstanding form and were lead by the redheaded wonder Gary Wilkinson who was again leading the way for the Breakerswith his consistent level of productivity with a 21pt 7reb effort.

Import CedricJackson who is a consistent tripe double threat week in and week out again hadsolid numbers notching up 13ast to go with his 10pts and 5reb, Mika Vukona,Alex Pledger and Darryl Corletto all scored 12pts for the game, Pledgerincluding a huge dunk over Lucas Walker and Vukona adding 7reb to go with hisscoring.

ThomasAbercrombie had a slightly less impressive game than his usual scoring nightbut his 13pts added to the great work done by Wilkinson to comfortably lead theBreakers to a convincing victory over the struggling Tigers.

So with theBreakers now on top of the table and looking to stay there with the Wildcats,who possibly can say they are not the current form team of the competition,more than likely nobody.

The Tigers onthe other hand do not have such a great outlook, unless their new import is avolume scorer and half decent defender, their lack of size is going to be theirdownfall, quite a different problem than last season where their overabundanceof size was the issue, a seemingly unstable or unprofessional dictator of anowner who expects results now rather than building a Tigers team of old andwith that a reputation of mistreating players.

Pray Tigersfans, pray really hard.

(Box Score)

Wollongong Break Streak, beat Taipans 74-80

Yes, you readcorrect. Wollongong have broken their losing streak. In what seems like theirfirst victory since the 1991 season the Hawks withstood a late game Taipan chargeto hold out for the six point victory.

After plasteringon 20 third quarter points and containing the Taipans to 9, Wollongong werealmost scared of winning as they watched a 14 point lead slip to 4. Cairns hadthe momentum but the Hawks were ice cold at the line.

It is no secretthat Cairns struggle to put points on the board and rely on a slower, scrappiergame to get the job done. Averaging a league low 72 points per game it took theTaipans a 26 point final quarter to eclipse that mark, and that was only just.

Joevan Catronwas more Joevan ‘Can’tron’. Joevan unable to get into the swing of thingsmustering a paltry 5 points and 3 boards in a foul plagues 15 minutes ofaction. Maybe the Hawks are embarrassed by Catron’s season as it progressesgiven that Catron still doesn’t have a profile page on the Hawks website.

Not only did the ‘Gong spread the love, theyspread the workload with six players scoring double figures. Oscar Forman 13,Tim Coenrad 12, ‘David Larryson’ 11 and guards Glen Saville, Mat Campbell andTyson Demos with 10 apiece.

Jamar Wilson,as usual led the way and the charge for the Snakes scoring 18 points andgrabbing 8 rebounds. No doubt Wilson will be alarmed by his 5 turnovers. Wilson’spartner in crime, Andrew Warren was the only other Snake to shed its restrictiveskin. Warren scored an inefficient 17 points and grabbed three steals.

(Box Score)

Wildcats steal one against the Kings, 76-75

Word goingaround was that the Kings were going to get more than 8,000 through the gateagainst the top of the ladder Perth Wildcats. Much like the anticipated crowdattendance the Kings came in to the game optimistically, but it was Graeme Dann’stwo botched free throws that left them misty optically. Losing by a point Dannfound himself on the free throw line with 0.4 of a second left. Not one to takehis time at the line the Kings folk could only look on as both shots clangedoff the rim and the Wildcats walk away winning by the narrowest of margins.

The Kings lookedsketchy at times and brilliant at times. Shooting a crummy 3/16 (19%) from theland of plenty you could argue the Kings slat out sucked from outside; but itwasn’t the 13 they missed, it was the three they hit at the right parts in thecontext of the game. It was just their free throws that they couldn’t hit atall, collectively shooting a little north of 50% (18/34). In stark contrast theWildcats shot 5/6 for a lot better percent but a lot smaller amount.

Anatoly Bosepump faked himself to the free throw line for a lousy 8/15 (53%) but did finishwith 16 points and 10 boards whilst Jerai Grant finished with 17 and Ben Magden16. Sydney hero and Gilette endorsee Julian Khazzouh couldn’t get going againstLuke Nevill but that didn’t stop the Kings putting up a fight.

Perth maywonder why they barely got the charity stripe, or they will just put it behindthem as they charge the court 100 miles per hour.

Luke Nevill hasshown he has found his spot within the team led the way with 19 points whilstShawn Redhage was much in the clutch and Jesse ‘I should really wear a headband’Wagstaff both finished with 15 points. Kevin Lisch had an uncharacteristicallyoff night and I fear those who man up against him in his next game. The kid isgoing to look to rebound.

(Box Score)

Blaze add salt toTigers Wounds: 92-78

With the leagues losing a Showron the Tigers took it uponthemselves to add a Myron. Yes, Myron Allen had only just touched down inAustralia before being require to ‘suit up’ and lace up his hi-tops. Luckilyfor Allen the Tigers remembered to bring a spare outfit for him otherwise he wouldhave been playing in his birthday suit.

It was possible to think that it was the whole Melbourneteam that had just flown in and experiencing jet lag as the Blaze ran off to aquick 8-0 lead before Gleeson called on of his timeouts. Dorsey was the onlyperson who took any notice to Gleeson as he almost singlehandedly put thepoints on the board.

No doubt a lot has changed in Tigerland in a week and thishas certainly changed the Tigers mojo and affected their collective efforts onthe court. An owner allegedly coming in to the changeroom after the game toblast and berate the players before firing an import is hardly going toincrease team morale and despite this it was good to see the Tigers knuckledown in the third quarter and cut the lead from 18 to 10. The Tigers run cappedoff with a steal and lovely Daniel Dillon fast break dunk.

The Blaze clearly had the Tigers number and this game neverlooked in dispute. The Blaze owned their home court tonight delightingthemselves if not the crowd. After beating the Tigers twice in a week the Gold Coastare ready to make their charge at the final four. It’s going to take a lot ofsmiling and high-fiving to get there. Adam Gibson put his name in seriousboomer consideration after a beautiful 23 points and showed that he can reboundlike Damian Martin collecting 7 rebounds. Mark Worthington easily piled onanother 19 points and 9 boards whilst his hi mentee Anthony Petrie added 12points.

Cameron Tragardh capped of a week he is hoping to forgetgoing an almost Graeme Dann Free-throw like 5/16 from the floor for 10 points.Myron Allen provided some hope for Melbourne fans with 13 points and 8 assistsplaying for a team whose system he doesn’t know. It was Ron Dorsey who carriedthe hopes of the Tigers. Last year’s dunker and this year’s three point jacker,Dorsey scored a game high 24 points whilst going 4/5 from outside. Shane McDonaldwho the Tigers were proud to announce that they signed didn’t get any gametime.

(Box Score)

Crocs hold out oncharging Hawks, 65-63

Hot off their victory against the Taipans they Hawks thoughthey were all that and ventured to the swamp to get their feet dirty.

After eradicating a nine point deficit at the final breakthe Hawks levelled the game with a Larry Davidson field goal with a little morethan a minute to play. After both teams ran the shot clock fown and missedclutch shots Eddie Gill who wasn’t able to hit the side of barn managed to naila 2 pointer with 4 seconds to go. Time promptly ran out for the Hawks and theycould only look at each other stunned, disbelieved that they didn’t win thisone too.

Firstly, 65 points should never be enough to win a game andit is a shame that the Hawks couldn’t capitilise on the Crocs scoring woes andtake this one from out of their hands. Townsville, count yourself lucky thatyou weren’t going up against any other team as you would have been buried, by alot, after all the Hawks had played the night before on the road and could beexcused for being a little worn out.

Todd Blanchfield was red hot going 6/7 (3/4 from outside) onhis way to 15 points and pulled in 8 boards, Elvin Mims added 12 and Eddie Gillshit 5/13 for his 11 points. Jacob Holmes, Peter Crawford and Luke Schenscheralthough dressed, had the night off from contributing.

In what is becoming a typical affair Joevan Catron failed toimpress. Mat Campbell’s old legs weren’t up to the stresses of a double headand Tyson Demos put in a stock exchange effort leaving Tim Coenraad (16 points9 rebounds), Oscar Forman (16 points, 6 boards) and Rhys Martin (11 points)were left to pick up the slack.

(Box Score)

Gimme my Change Award

Adelaide thought they would sort this game out in the first10 minutes blowing out to a 12 point quarter time lead. Cairns took advantageof the 36ers shutting up shop early and pounced in the second quarter scoring27 points to the 36ers 12.

Nothing is more frustrating for a coach than blowing a goodstart. The NBL is a very strong competitive league and if you want to win gamesyou need to show up for 40 minutes. Then again it took the Taipans 12 minutesto turn this game into the slowed down rugged-fest that suits their tastes.Tempo is major factor in the success of a team and more often than not theTaipans know how to set the tempo.

The fans who until last week were considered the league’s ‘mostknowledgeable’ were treated to a rarity in professional basketball. AndrewWarren nailed a four point play, much to the dismay of the crowd.

Daniel Johnson has a slow game but eventually changed gearin the final stanza and finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds whilst StephenWeigh (that is a name that hasn’t popped up much this season) was hot,finishing with 21 points but with 5 disappointing turnovers. The rest of the36ers failed to get into the swing of things instead taking their talents tothe stock exchange.

Jamar Wilson finished his week with another 25 points whilstAlex Loughton pounded away for 18 points and 7 boards. Ian Crosswhite and Aaron Grabau both chippedin with 11 points each. Although the Snakes walk out with the win, perhaps whatis most disappointing was Andrew Warren’s 6 points, 1 steal and nothing else in31 minutes running aimlessly around the court. Warren couldn’t even manage afoul in that time, something most players manage to do on an off night.

(Box Score)

Can’t Buy a Damn Thing Award

This week we goback to the fundamentals of the game, and this week’s award was more a work inprogress. Coming off a 19/30 (63%) effort from the line last week the SydneyKings followed up with a terrifying 18/34 for a meagre 53%. We are lookingforward to next week’s 43% effort boys.

A specialmention goes to the whole Seamus McPeake and Ayinde Ubakalaka circus. We havepaid visual homage to it earlier in this piece and we would love to hear fromyou guys in the comments section below.

Gimme my Change Award

Arguably there is no better saying in the world than ‘it isbetter to give than to receive’; and this phrase rings true for Cedric Jacksonand the Breakers. Whilst Jackson took 6 shot attempts, the electric importdropped 13 assists against the Tigers on Thursday night.

A point guard loves to see his team hit their shots and whenthe Breakers are shotting the ball at 50% from the field a man like Jackson isgoing to have a field day distributing the ball to his men in good position tomake a shot.

Trevor Gleeson stripped back his team’s offence that enabled Myron Allen to get 8 assists inhis first game on his first day in Australia and Bread Robbins dished 7 assistsagainst the Kings, what makes this impressive is that it was in only 19 and ahalf minutes of action.

NBL Wrap Round 15: Injuries, an Athlete's worst nightmare

2012-01-15T21:19:00.001+08:00

This was a bad week for injuries in the NBL. Matty Knight was ruled out early with a strained calf, Kings guard Aaron Bruce will miss the rest of the season with a fractured leg, James Harvey has been penciled in ac 'out indefinitely' and Chris Goulding fell to the floor clutching his knee. Did we miss anyone?

Wildcatsmake short work of Blaze, 92 - 80

If recent history was anything to go by, theBlaze have been one of the bogey teams for the Wildcats and coming into theJungle, the Blaze wanted to solidify that fact even further. Early on in the game it was looking as though thehoodoo for the Cats was going to continue, but just as it seemed the Blaze weregoing to make it a long night for the Cats, the league renowned defence kickedin and the Cats started to gain control.

Adris “2Hard2Guard” Deleon was finding it toohard to score and even though he ended up with a team high of 18pts to go withhis 7reb and 5turnovers he was given a lesson in lockdown defence from DamianMartin who was instrumental in holding Deleon to 6/17 from the field.

These soldiers have lost their sea-legs

Chris Goulding looked like he was primed for abig game but a horrible knee injury saw him taken out of the game early with asuspected MCL injury, we can only hope this is not to serious for the Blazewith the injury cloud hanging over James Harvey which may potentially rule himout for the rest of the season.

With the Cats defence in top form, the rest ofthe Blaze struggled for all of their offence, Adam Gibson shooting poorly on6/15 for his 15pts 6reb 4ast which also saw him have a high turnover number (6)to go along with his running mate Deleon to have 11 turnovers between them.

Will Hudson played as good as can be expectedagainst the Wildcats frontcourt, even with the absence of Matt Knight he washounded by Luke Nevill and Jesse Wagstaff most of the night, Hudson had10pts8reb and was also involved in the highlight of the night when he had a dunkattempt blocked at the rim by big Luke Nevill.

The Wildcats of late have been having minorissues offensively, being inconsistent and stagnant at times, they have managedto stay in it by defence and hustle, but winning despite of inefficiencyoffensively is a problem most coaches would be more than happy with, this gamesaw a little more fluidity but the Cats have room for improvement, scary forother teams considering they could do a whole lot better but are stilldominating opponents.

In the absence of Matt Knight, Jesse Wagstaffknew he was going to see more minutes and he used them very wisely and went tolead the team in scoring with his 25pt output to go with 5reb and a steal going8/13 from the field including 3/7 from 3pt range.

Shawn Redhage is still finding his game legsafter last season’s horrific injury and is gradually playing himself intobetter form and regaining his shooting touch, Redhage had 15pts on the nightbut didn’t have the best shooting performance and will start hitting those openlooks as we get further into the season towards the playoffs.

Cam Tovey while not shooting to well recentlyseems to be highly under rated for the way he controls the tempo of a game onboth ends of the floor, being such a great defensive rebounder who pushes thebreak every chance he gets changes the Wildcats defensive efforts into fastbreak offence, not many do it quite like Cam and while his stat line may not besomething to marvel at (8pts 7reb 3ast 3st) statistically, his control of thegame and the ability to instigate the offence or push a break is something mostdedicated Cats fans don’t take for granted and greatly appreciate.

Ever reliable Kevin Lisch did what Kevin Lischdoes, score points, play lockdown defence and just generally hustle, eventhough he too also had an off shooting night and had 4 turnovers, whichconsidering how reliable he is with the ball is unusual for him, he still endedup with 21pts 3reb 4ast and 3st.

So is the fact that the Cats are the highestranked team who seem to be not yet playing their best basketball a scarythought, well it was for the Blaze this round and may well be for many teams inthe rounds to come, be afraid, be very afraid.

(Box Score)

Breakers shut down 36ers, 80 - 63

The 36ers it seemed were a team on therise recently, but with every rise there is always an occasional fall, this wasone of those games when they faced the Breakers who seem to be in great form.

The 36ers struggled mightily in thisgame with only 2 players even managing to score in double figures and onlymanaging a total score of 63 points, they seemed to be like a bottle of softdrink that had been shook and opened too many times as they seemed to lose allof their recent schweppervesence and were all fizzed out.

Daniel Johnson went missing

Recent player on the rise DanielJohnson struggled like no other time he has this season and had a terrible gamewith only 7pts 1reb and 4turnovers and even his front court running mate DiamonSimpson couldn’t produce in his usual way with his 8pts 6reb and 3blk which iswell below his season averages in points and rebounds. The 36ers shot a combined 36% from thefield for the game which in any language is bad enough, in hoop talk, that’s justa long night on the pine and one you hope never to see.

The Lone Ranger in this game was ChrisWarren who had a team high 14pts 4reb 2ast and 4turnovers, playing Tonto toLone Ranger Warren was Stephen Weigh who was the only other player in doublefigures with 10 but who also had 3 turnovers. This was one of the 36ers off weeks,and after having a few seasons of that, hopefully this is just a slight fallfor a club with a bright outlook to once again become a team feared by most inthe league.

The Breakers are playing Breakersstyle ball and are just rolling over everyone, with such a balanced team onoffence, defence and on the boards they would have to be considered as one ofthe deepest teams in the league with players who are able to play all types ofroles and do what needs to be done.

Cedric Jackson seems to teeter on thebrink of a triple double every round and again showed his versatility with his12pts 6reb and 7ast, he is bound to register at least one trip dub this season,the question now is when and against who will it come, not since Rashad Tuckerplayed in Perth has there been a player who has been so close so often to oneof the holy grails of basketball stat lines.

CJ Bruton saw his return from injuryand barely seemed to miss a beat, the wily veteran may be getting older andentering the twilight of his career but he still knows how to get his shots andwhen his team needs them most, he had a 10pt output including 4reb.

But the main culprits again were GaryWilkinson and Thomas Abercrombie, Wilkinson again putting up consistent numbersof 17pts and 5reb and would have to be one of the most consistent players inthe league as far as week to week production is concerned, the Big Red Rocketis full of fuel and ready to blast off.

Abercrombie is starting to solidifyhimself as an elite player in the league and has also started to become more ofa consistent player himself which was one of his downfalls in previous seasonsand his 22pts 4reb 2ast 2st 2blk showed just that, were it not for the reboundingof Mika Vukona and Alex Pledger who each had 9, his numbers would have morethan likely been much higher.

The Breakers are in scintillatingform, but with a tough schedule still to come we will have to see if theyreally are as good as people think they are and if they still have that specialsomething to make them a legit title contender once again.

(Box Score)

Taipans steal one against the Hawks, 61 - 59

Things just seem to be going from badto worse for the Hawks which is a shame considering how much history thisfranchise has throughout the years of the league and even though being in asmall market who have been renowned for being giant killers and a team to bereckoned with.

It seemed as if the recent bad fortunewould change for the Hawks on their home court in this game and fans werethanking their stars when the Hawks, after an average first quarter held adouble digit lead late in the 2^nd quarter and into the 3^rdbutalas for the Hawks, it just wasn’t meant to be.

In one of the lowest scoring affairsof the season both teams only managed to put up 120 points in total whichrepresented well the struggles of both teams in this game.

The Hawks were once again lead byOscar Forman who seems to be the only shining light in the dark season theHawks are having, Forman had 19pts 7reb to lead his team and was joined by RhysMartin who chimed in with 16pts of his own, but no other player even had morethan 6pts which highlights the Hawks struggles.

The Taipans statistically weren’t muchbetter but did manage more than 2 players in double figure scoring with 4. Imports Jamar Wilson and Andrew Warrenlead the way, Wilson with 10pts 5reb and Warren with a team high 17pts to gowith his 4reb and Alex Loughton, who is still struggling offensively at leastdid a great job on the boards with 9reb. Ian Crosswhite and Brad Hill roundedout the scorers with 10pts and 12pts respectively.

There isn’t much to write about withthis game that can be given a positive spin, both teams struggled, both teamsneed to find a spark somewhere if they have any playoff aspirations, we canonly hope for them that somewhere somehow fortunes can be turned around. Insaying that, watching the final minutes of the game was intense, everyone’sheart stopped beating when Rhys Martin had a good look to win the game but theball clanged off the rim.

(Box Score)

Crocs edge out Kings, 118 - 114

On the other end of the spectrum,there was this game, which had a combined 232pts scored, almost double of theTaipans V Hawks game, to say this game was an offensive explosion would be ahuge understatement.

The Kings were playing with some firein the belly after losing in form player and starting point guard Aaron Brucefor the season with an unfortunate injury just as the team seemed to be on theway up.

Julian Khazzouh was unbelievablymatched on the boards by team mate Graeme Dann, both players had 13reb andKhazzouh adding 17pts to that for what seems to be an endless number of doubledoubles in the season.

5 players had double figure scoringoutputs for the Kings had had 21, yes 21 more rebounds than the Crocs which isjust an unbelievable stat considering that control of the boards is usually arecipe for victory.

Young guns Anatoly Bose and Ben Madgenbrought the highlights to their coming out party, Bose having a team high 25ptsto go with his 7reb including a monstrous dunk that wowed the crowd and Madgenhaving 24pts including 4/6 from 3pt range.

Kevin Ratzsch was workmanlike and putin a 14pt 7reb 4ast game and Luke Martin with his 18pt 4reb 4ast game wanted toshow that there is still some hope in the kings back court even after the lossof Bruce for the season.

The Crocs however just willed themselfto win and had 6 players in double figures including another double double fromJacob Holmes who had 20pts 10reb 4ast, not bad for a guy who before the seasonending injury to Russell Hinder was in hoop purgatory with nobody havinginterest in signing him.

lazeImports Elvin Mims and Eddie Gill wereinstrumental in the Croc victory, Mims with 14pts 5reb 2st and 2blk was onlyovershadowed slightly by Gill who had 20pts 9ast, who even though shot poorlystill managed to rack up those 20pts mostly from the free throw line where he went12/13.

Michael Cedar had one of those typesof games Crocs fans know he is capable of, leading the team in scoring with22pts 4reb and 4ast and usual suspect Peter Crawford with his 13pts 5reb 3astgame and Todd Blanchfield who had one of his better scoring games of the seasonwith 15pts rounded out the stat sheet for the Crocs.

The fact that this game went intoovertime proved that both teams season fortunes were on the line, the Crocslooking to solidify themselves as a playoff team and the Kings hoping to put amore positive spin on the loss of their starting point guard.

Unfortunately for the Kings theexperience of the Crocs seemed to do them well and saw them to victory, but theKings can take some positive signs moving forward that they are a team to bereckoned with and will not just be easy beats.

We wish Aaron Bruce a speedy recoveryand a return to the Kings next season.

(Box Score)

Blaze defeat Tigers,73-60

The Gold Coast will be happy enough to come out of this weeksplitting their two game road trip. After a schooling at the hands of the Catsthe Blaze resettled and regrouped to come out against a fired up Tigers unit.

With James Harvey and Chris Goulding M.I.A the underdoneBlaze didn’t let a depleted roster deplete their spirit, shooting out to aseven point lead in the first quarter before the Tigers bought it back to threeat the first break. After talking about things the Blaze took control of thesituation and let their natural game flow though the league’s excitement machineAdris Deleon and his more rugged cohort in Adam Gibson.

Ayinde Ubaka appears to be a figment of the man who tore upthe league a few seasons back. Although he shows glimpses of yesteryear he largelylooks like a man not wanting to take control of the game. Cam Tragardh wasfinding it tough inside against the Blaze’s not so big bigs. But then again if14 points equates to a quiet night (at a lousy clip mind you) that shows thesort of season you are having.

In a week for uneven rebound counts the Blaze owned theboards 50 to 26, effectively creating an extra 9 second chance points (14-5).Then again the Tigers aren’t renowned for their rebounding abilities thereforethe Tigers being outrebounded is hardly an earthshattering stat.

The Blaze although with more inside prowess than the Tigers decidedto win this game form the outside. Going 9/22 (41%) as a team the Blaze were ledby Adris Deleon who finished with a game high 21 points (4/8 from outside) andan impressive 8 boards for the little man, Adam Gibson added 16 points (4/7from deep) whilst it was Mark Worthington’s 1/5 from outside that bought theBlazes long percentage down. None the less Wortho added 15 points, 8 boards and5 assists. Good Boy Mark, we all like a team player.

Cam Tragardh just can’t do it all for the Tigers, Tragardhshot 5/13 to finish with 14 points and 6 boards. Support was provided by Ron Dorsey(13 points, little else), Daniel Dillon, Liam Rush and Ayinde Ubaka added 10points each. Hmmm, wait a minute these 5 guys are responsible for 57 of theTigers 60 points. That means Luke Walker, Tommy Greer, Benny Lewis and MattBurston are sponsible for 3 points in a collective 41 minutes on the floor.Very ‘Stock Exchange’ indeed..

(Box Score)

Can’t Buy a DamnThing Award

The Breakers v 36ers game wasn’t the prettiest game, notonly did the 36ers get out-rebounded 50-24 (which if worthy of this award),both teams show in the low 60% from the line and the game was a blowout.

Given that there were 37 turnovers in the whole game not oneteam managed to capitalise on that and score a basket off a turnover.

Points off turnovers count: 0-0.

Gimme my Change Award

Sticking right on the theme of turnovers, the Perth Wildcatswin this weeks ‘Gimme my Change Award’. Their hardnosed, in your face and onyour toes defense managed to force 22Blaze turnovers, but what is moresurprising is that the uptempo Wildcats managed to keep their own turnovers incheck, losing the ball only 7 times in the game.

When a team forces you to lose the ball 22 times it makes itharder to win, when that team loses the ball only seven times it is nearimpossible

2012 NBL Player Choice Awards

2012-01-13T14:55:00.001+08:00

The NBL Release their Player Choice Awards, lets have a look at them and give our initial thoughts.

Who is the best shooter in the league?
Darren Ng (21%), Andrew Warren (16%), Kevin Lisch (14%)
The Doctor with the precision hands. It’s a shame the best shooter is only getting 4 shots a game

Who is the best PG in the league?
Damian Martin (30%), Patty Mills (19%), Adam Gibson & Jamar Wilson (tied 13%)
With the Olympics coming up I wonder if Brett Brown will see like this… Doubt it.

Who is the best defender in the league?
Damian Martin (63%), Adam Gibson (11%), Mika Vukona (9%)
Explains why Lemanis uses Vukona on the full court press

Who is the best passer in the league?
Cedric Jackson (16%), Nathan Crosswell & Eddie Gill (12%)
With Gill shooting at 35% you would hope he was a good passer

Who is the best rebounder in the league?
Mika Vukona (48%), Jacob Holmes (29%), Julian Khazzouh (10%)
Ladies, take note. When your man gives you the chop, Vukona is your rebound guy

Who is the best sixth man in the league?
Dillon Boucher (16%), Daniel Dillon & Dusty Rychart & Adam Ballinger (Tied 13%)
Look at the ‘D’ our sixth men give. Dillon, Daniel and Dusty, even without ‘Balls’

Who has the deepest bench?
Perth (41%), Melbourne (32%), New Zealand (16%)
Read our comment to the Which player constantly improves themselves question. Now that is deep!

Who is the best athlete in the league?
Tom Abercrombie (44%), Lucas Walker (21%)
Let’s ask the players who the best Mathlete is next season

Who is the best dunker in the league?
Tom Abercrombie (49%), Lucas Walker (23%)
Hmmm, this might be better suited as a list of all the players who have dunked more than once

Who is the best hustler in the league?
Mika Vukona (35%), Damian Martin (32%), Dillon Boucher (13%)
Vukona hustled me out of $100 once

Who most likely will be Rookie of the Year?
Anatoly Bose (57%), Patty Mills (29%)
Wonder if Mills went through the usual ‘Rookie Hazing’ rituals?

Who is the toughest player to guard in the paint?
Julian Khazzouh (62%), Luke Schenscher & Diamon Simpson (Tied 7%)
This one wasn’t the ‘toughest’ to decide. The first 2 might also be tougher if they lifted some weights

Who is the toughest player to guard on the perimeter?
Kevin Lisch (31%), Patty Mills & Chris Warren (Tied 12%)
One of these players no longer is in the league. For that reason he is tough to guard

Which player is the most intimidating to play against?
Brad Robbins (22%), Mark Worthington (13%), Matt Knight (11%)
Wortho’s beard actually got the nod, Wortho was just attached to it

Which player is the best sportsman (fairest) in the league?
Damian Martin (26%), Mat Campbell & Stephen Hoare (Tied 11%)
Butter wouldn’t melt in these guys mouthes. To the rest of you, maybe if you didn’t use so many cuss words you might make the list. Is anyone else surprised that Robbo, and Vukona were omitted?

Which player talks the most trash of any player?
CJ Bruton (21%), Mark Worthington (11%)
Bruton must have done a lot of trash talking from the sideline this season

Which current coach (other than your own) would you most like to play for?
Gordie McLeod (44%), Joey Wright (20%), Andrej Lemanis (10%)
It’s cute to see the players think they can fix the Hawks.

Who is the most versatile player in the NBL (talented in multiple positions)?
Mark Worthington (19%), Cam Tovey (17%), Stephen Weigh (14%),
Wortho wins because he has done the beard, the moustache and the cleanly shaven look this season. Very versatile indeed.

Which current player constantly improves themselves the most, year in year out?
Daniel Johnson (10%), Cam Tovey & Mika Vukona (8%)
If time is a constant and time is the essence, then these guys are the essence of the NBL

Which is the toughest venue to play in (other than your own)?
Perth (69%), Cairns (12%), New Zealand (10%)
Wow, a one horse race. Must be a combination of the loudest and most knowledgeable fans.

Which is the best venue to play in (other than your own)?
Sydney Entertainment Centre (30%), Challenge Stadium - Perth (28%), State Netball Hockey Centre - Melbourne (15%)
I would have thought the ‘Gong would be up there given it’s the away venue you are most likely to have a win in

Which team has the most vocal fans in the league (other than your own)?
Perth (74%), Cairns (14%)
Sydney a noticeable absence where cheering or jeering isn’t the ‘Sydney’ thing to do, then again those Perth fans will complain if the beer isn’t cold enough

Which team has the most knowledgeable fans in the league (other than your own)?
Perth (34%), Adelaide (30%), Melbourne (19%)
Being Perth fans we always knew this ;) Wonder is Carfino is going to run with this gem night in night out when calling a game.

Who is the favourite to win the championship this season?
New Zealand & Perth (tied 43%), Melbourne (10%)
Can the players vote for your own team in this one?

Who is the best referee in the league?
Michael Aylen & Scott Butler (Tied 35%)
It must be safe to assume that Paul Woolpert isn’t part of this 35%

Which team has the best mascot in the league (other than your own)?
Cairns (28%), Townsville (24%), Sydney (19%)
Sydney where included because they have a suburb called ‘Mascot’

NBL Round 14 Wrap: Can you tell us how to get to Technical Street?

2012-01-08T22:45:00.000+08:00

What made Townsville Crocodile's coach Paul Woolpert morph into the Incredible Sulk? More importantly, will it be enough to win one of our weekly awards?

Perth Wildcats 72 – Melbourne Tigers 67

Complacency is a word that has been used in the Wildcats camp this week and Beveridge was worried about the Cats being complacent going against an undermanned Tigers team at home. The average punter might confuse the Wildcats with being complacent in the first quarter but they we just ordinary not complacent, the Tigers made the most of their opportunities and shot out to a 12 point lead.

The Perth offence didn’t get any better, they tightened the strings on their defence at times totally stymieing the Melbourne Tigers. After conceding the lead the Tigers, through Liam Rush and Cam Tragardh kept Melbourne within a shot at this one but it was a Kevin Lisch 2 and a Shawn Redhage three pointer that ultimately sealed the game for the Cats.

This game was scrappy and although the referees got ‘creative’ at times with the whistle they largely let the teams play and this did make it an enjoyable game to watch. Ayinde Ubaka seems like he is just out there to collect a pay cheque. Rush and Tragardh did most of the scoring with 17 a piece butit was Daniel Dillon that injected some life into his team and his game, don’t let the 7 turnovers fool you, Dillon was everywhere scrapping for everything.

Drew Williamson seems to have fallen out of favour with the Wildcats coaching staff, the Sniper only getting a run for one and a half minutes in the second quarter. Shawn Redhage had the sort of game he expects to have every night. Red Dawg finished with 19 points but it was a pleasure seeing Redhage run the court at full speed after the outlet pass hopefully putting memories of his hip injury behind him. Lisch also provided valuable input adding another 16 to the total including 7 points in two minutes to open the third stanza whilst Damian Martin finished with 10 boards, 5 points and five steals.

(Box Score)

Taipans beat 36ers, 72-67

If you thought the Tigers v Cats game was low scoring, well, this one had exactly the same scoreline but a slightly different story. Much like the abovementioned game this game was anyone’s however it was Taipan sensation Andrew Warren who went on a tear late in the game to give Cairns the edge.

The NBL sometimes misses the X-factor in the way that it is largely a team game, fans aren’t usually treated to one guy bringing his team home. Big props to the Adelaide punters who turned up in numbers, 6194 of them to be exact. It is great to hear that good sized crowds are turning up to ball games.

For Adelaide, Daniel Johnson just couldn’t get it going. Though Johnson finished with 15 points and 11 boards he won’t be happy with his 5/13 from the floor. Diamon Simpson added 16 points and 12 boards (7 of those offensive), the rest of the 36ers quite stock exchange, that included Chris Warren’s 2/13 from the field including 1/9 from deep.

Celebrity impersonator and Cairns Taipans import, Andrew Warren carried his team to victory. Warren’s 11 point fourth quarter took him to a game high 25 points and proved to be the spark that won the game. Jamar Wilson added 16 points and Andrew Crosswhite scored 14. Hmm, it seems to be these three in this write up just about every week (with the exception of Alex Loughton playing a good game)

(Box Score)

Crocs annihilate Hawks, 72-57

It isn’t so much a case of will the Hawks win the next game, it’s more a case of how much are they going to lose by. This Hawks team has shown us that they sometimes go down by a matter of a few points but more often than not they get blown out.

Things were close before Paul Woolpert got his knickers in a knot and got shown the nearest exit but somehow that inspired his team and the Crocs went on a 17-0 run from there to blow this game out, from there the Hawks found scoring hard and would never be part this game.

Jacob Holmes had no competition on the boards, hauling in 16 for the game whilst adding 13 points which included the flattest looking transition three pointer I have ever seen. Chris Cedar did nothing other than shoot the ball, 0 boards, 0 assists to go with his team high 15 points and Schencher was required for only 16 minutes of action but managed 11 points and 5 boards in that time.

Things quickly went stock exchange for the Hawks, only Larry Davidson managed double figures and that was only just with 11 points. The Hawks season is really at cross roads, they have now lost six on the trot, their playing core is getting ancient their role players haven’t been playing their roles and their imports haven’t impressed but for us the saddest thing is that the loyal fans of the ‘Gong deserve a win, they have stuck with the team through the thick and thin, C’mon boys, give your fans a win.

(Box Score)

Kings defeat Blazers, 102 - 96

Most teams would be happy to score 96 points on any given night, and usually a score that high would mean almost a lock for a victory, that is unless you’re the Blaze.

Possessing one of the most potent offensive teams in the NBL this is the kind of scoring output you would expect, 6 players in double figure scoring, Wortho with his usual cleanup of anything that strays off the rim, any coach in the league would take that on any game night.

Coach Wright is known for his defensive schemes from Brisbane that won a title, but he must have left his defensive coaching book in Brisbane rather than bring it on his trip up the coast to his next coaching gig.

The Blaze shot 51% from the field and 44% from beyond 3, Wortho was Wortho-esque with 18pts 10reb but an unusual 6 turnovers, Gibson had 15pts 4ast, Adris Deleon had 14pts, Hudson and Cadee had 11pts a piece and Harvey had 10pts, so with that kind of output, where did it go wrong for the Blaze? You’ve heard our comments on the Blaze before, do we really need to say it again, is the lack of size on the frontline also now showing to be the way to beat them consistently?

Well Jerai Grant and Julian Khazzouh proved that to be the case, if you are going to beat the Blaze, exploit their weakness in the paint and the lack of size and rebounding.

Grant is starting to show that some of his potential can match that supreme athleticism of his with his 23pts 12reb 4ast effort in this game, Khazzouh was a little less productive than his usual standards but still managed 14pts 11reb and 4ast, 23 of the teams 36 rebounds came from these 2 players, are you starting believe us yet?

Anatoly Bose has not done any harm to his rookie of the year candidacy and continues to be fairly consistent, his 12pts 3reb 3ast was the kind of numbers you can only hope for out of a rookie, Luke Cooper and Ben Madgen providing double figure scoring off the bench in the back court would make just about any NBL coach happy, they had 10 and 11 respectively.

But the Kings greatest weapon this year seems to be the amazing play of starting point guard Aaron Bruce who after a less than mediocre season with the 36ers when he came back from the NCAA system has proven to be a stand out NBL point guard, his 21 pts being a bonus from any point guard in this league, if his assist numbers were higher we would probably be ranking him among the top guards in the league.

So the Kings are on the rise and hitting tremendous form going into the latter half of the season, can they keep it up is the question, if they can we could see them slip into playoff contention, the Blaze however, well we have said it many times before, great team, sensational offensively, defensively we will say nothing not to get on the wrong side of anyone, but again the lack of consistency has become their bugbear, and as they say, never cross the bear.

(Box Score)

Tigers go down at home to the Breakers, 79 – 90

This was not the type of round the Tigers had hoped for going 0-2 against the 2 top teams in the NBL in one weekend, even having the league leading scorer wasn’t enough to see them to victory over the Wildcats on Friday night and now the Breakers on Sunday.

In both games Cam Tragardh did what Cam Tragardh does, score points and rebound, in the 2 games this weekend he averaged 19.5ppg and 8rpg, having 17pts 9reb against the Cats and 22pts 7reb against the Breakers, with those types of numbers the league leading scorer either needs help in the paint, the return of Matt Burston to help patrol it and limit Triggers defensive matchup problems against most of the leagues big men or have his team mates to learn how to play some defence.

Offensively the Tigers are as proficient as any team in the league, Ayinde Ubaka, Liam Rush, Daniel Dillon and Liam Rush can put numbers on the board, in this game Ubaka had 17pts 5ast, Rush had 16pts and even young up and comer Bennie Lewis dropped 10 of his own.

Apart from those scorers, the rest of the team did practically nothing, that is where the Tigers lack depth, while they do have some good young rookies such as Lucas Walker who has athleticism that rivals that of Tom Abercrombie, it’s the inconsistency of the bench that seems to be letting them down when it really counts.

The Breakers with this win will now once again sit in equal first place with the Wildcats and seem to be in great form, with 6 players scoring in double figures and import Cedric Jackson once again messing around and almost getting a triple double, the other player known as CJ is doing it all on the court and had 11pts 9reb 11ast and 3st, the NBL’s original CJ had 14pts in his return from injury.

Tom Abercrombie is starting to show he can take over the team since the departure of Kirk Penney and the rest of the team is chipping in just as much, Abercrombie had a team high 18pts, Alex Pledger and Gary Wilkinson had 11pts a piece with 8 and 7reb respectively.

But this game once again was about the return of former Tiger Darryl Corletto who seems to create nightmares for his former team whenever they play each other, Corletto had 15pts including 3 made shots from beyond the arc, Corletto rightfully got a cheer from the crowd when announced in the Breakers starting line up but will probably never see that again at The Cage after being instrumental in sinking the home team.

So the Breakers are up again and the Tigers are down, with some teams below them on the ladder having played a few less the games maybe now is a good time for the Tigers to start praying and praying hard.

(Box Score)

Can’t Buy a Damn Thing Award

Easy winner this week, Townsville coach Paul Woolpert clearly gets the nod.

Woolpert the Grouch

Looking like a prisoner on day release Woolpert took issue with last year’s referee of the year and got tee’d up for yelling at him across the court from there Woolpert blew his stack and unleashed a barrage of ‘phat’ lyrical accostment whilst jiggling his body in some sort of half assed ‘Dougie’ to which he was subsequently told to go and take a long cold shower.

Now there is a difference between making a point and squealing like a banshee and Woolpert decided to take the banshee route on this occasion. Mind you, he learned from the best sitting under Trevor Gleeson last season.

Assistant coach Liam Flynn should of just picked Woolpert up carried him away from this one way heated exchange however to Flynn’s credit, Crocs lead when Flynn took the reins, 7, Cross lead at the end of the game, 15.

Now the Crocs have to decide whether Woolpert needs to get his best suit dry-cleaned for the tribunal hearing. Though Woolpert lost it and acted out of line we would hate any further penalty imposed, it was done and dusted on the spot anything else is overkill.

Gimme My Change Award

This week’s award has a Sesame Street type theme to it and is brought to you by the letter T and the number 72.

The letter T was demonstrated as mentioned earlier in the wrap by Croc Coach Paul Woolpert who managed to get T’d up and ejected from the game.

But it was the recurring theme and use of the number 72 this round that was worth the mention for this week’s award, out of the 5 games for the round, 3 of the games had the winners score being 72 points.

Maybe the 2012 prophecy of the end of the world is starting to come true, who would have thought that a 72 point scoreline would be a reasonable winning score, who would have thought you would see 3 teams in the same round winning with the same score, maybe someone missed the NBL section on the Mayan calendar, if they predicted the end of the world, surely there would be somewhere on it that could have predicted these score lines.

Can you tell us how to get.....................how to get to Technical Street?

NBL Wrap Round 13: End the year and pass that sphere

2012-01-02T11:24:00.000+08:00

36ers down Kings,96-77

Where did things go wrong for the Kings? At home in front oftheir home crowd, Khazzouh back from the States and settled back into the teamfacing a team coming off a loss. But the 36ers had other things on their mind,to come in, ambush and get the hell out of there. The 36ers inflicterd their damagefrom long range shooting 9/27 from deep. The King’s long range arsenal was flaccidby comparison. Sydney going 0/10 from outside. Things weren’t all peachy forthe 36ers however, their free throw shooting was sketchy (13/22 @ 59%).

To even the playing field the league is making Johnson shoot with one hand

Daniel Johnson is simply having his way with the leaguelately and though his form isn’t extending to beyond the arc, Johnson isputting up some good numbers including a 21 point and 14 rebound haul againstKhazzouh. Steve Weigh scored 17, Nathan Herbert 14 and Chris Warren finished with13 points

The longer this game went the more the Kings lookeddisinterested. Was it a case of ‘let’s forget this game, we have the Hawks next’?We certainly hope not, we hate to see teams just simply quit on a game. LukeCooper scored a team high 13 points whilst Julian Khazzouh and Anatoly Bosewere the pick of these stockbrokers, both with 12 points and 9 rebounds.

(Box Score)

Taipans annihilateBreakers, 74-57

One word to describe the Taipans performance. Usual. Oneword to describe the Breakers. Atrocious. The Breakers put on one of the worstperformances of the season, their reward was to get utterly pwn’d by theTaipans.

The Breakers shot a terrible 34% from the field, 21% behindthe arc and a dismal 44% from the charity stripe. If that wasn’t bad enoughthey also racked up 24 turnovers whilst dishing only 2 assists as a team forthe whole game.

This wasn’t what the Breakers were hoping for in CJ Bruton’sreturn to action. New Zealand bought a whole new meaning to this site’s term ‘stockexchange’ Alex Pledger scored a team high with 10 poinjts, Mika Vukona and GaryWilkinson both scored 9 points.

This was a healthy win for the Taipans to get their seasonback on track after two straight losses. Alex Loughton scored a game high 20points, Jamar Wilson had 18 and Ian Crosswhite 12.

(Box Score)

Tigers edge Blaze,79-72

The Melbourne Tigers held out for a seven point win in athriller against the Blaze on the Gold Coast.

Ayinde Ubaka hasn’t stepped up that much this season butlike Ubaka has done before us many times he stepped his game up down thestretch. Ubaka scored 10 fourth quarter points to keep the Tigers in the gamebut it was Liam Rush who nailed a clutch three pointer to put his team up bythree. The Blaze couldn’t contain Ubaka nor make their own shots, the Tigersable to get the win in the thriller.

Mark Worthington and Anthony Petrie made use of the Tiger’sundersized front court, Wortho with 17 points and Petrie with 15, it was theBlaze’s guards that couldn’t keep up, especially with Ubaka down the stretch.

Cameron Tragardh continues to inspire the Tigers, Tragardh finishedwith a game high 25 points, Liam Rush had 20 points and Ubaka 15 points.

(Box Score)

Wildcats destroyCrocodiles, 97-76

After abolishing the then league leaders last week theWildcats continued their blistering form against the Crocs, another team toutedas contenders. Perth chipped out to an early lead thanks largely to Luke Nevillwho used his strength over Luke Schenscher. The fight in the Crocs died out athalf time the Wildcats powering away to a 21 point victory.

The Crocs weren’t able to man up, the result was the Wildcatsshooting 52% from the field, but that would only be half the concern for PaulWoolpert as his team forgot the basics of basketball and allowed the Wildcatsto grab 44 rebounds (16 offensive) whilst pulling in only 25 themselves.

As mentioned earlier, Luke Nevill clearly won the ‘battle ofthe Lukes’, Nevill wil 21 points (at 77%) and grabbed 7 boards, Jesse Wagstaffcontinues his hot form adding another 18 points to the Wildcats tally whilstKevin Lisch kept the scorer’s busy with 16.

Townsville will be hoping to wash this one quickly as theyneed to prepare for their busy schedule in the following rounds. Peter Crawfordhad 14 and Todd Blanchfield had 12.

(Box Score)

Sydney hold out for 3point win against Wollongong, 86-83

Though the Hawks put up some fight they were not able to endtheir losing streak against their interstate rivals. The Hawks did manage tochip away at the deficit in the final term but eventually ran out of time, youcan’t help but think if the game still had 12 minute quarters the Hawksprobably would have stolen this one.

Up by 17 with three and a half minutes to go the Kings needto figure out how to close a game. In theory this game shouldn’t of been soclose; but let’s not forget the fight this Wollongong team shows at times.

The Hawks have not won since they beat the then surging Breakersin New Zealand in round 6. Since thenthey have dropped 5 straight, the run of losses only broken via a bye in round12. Tim Coenrad provided the spark off the bench and led the way with 18points, Glen Saville added 14 and Joevan Catron put on 13 (points, not kilosover Christmas).

The Kings were led by Anatoly Bose who grabbed 7 boards togo with his game high 23 points. Jerai Grant was dominant inside scoring 14points and grabbing 14 boards. Last year’s rookie of the year Ben Magden added 13to the Kings total which included a couple of vital trips to the line insidethe final minute of the game.

(Box Score)

Can’t Buy a DamnThing Award

Sydney did fail to nail a triple on Friday night, a featusually worthy of this award but the Breakers where light-years (a measure ofdistance, not time) ahead in taking out this week’s award with their 2 assist ‘haul’against the Taipans.

It has been suggested that the statisticians do not work inthe away teams favour before but there is no excuse for such a dismal assisttally. The Breakers must have set the NBL record for lowest number of assistsin a game right?

At the end of the day, basketball is a team sport and if youaren’t dropping dimes chances are you aren’t playing as a team.

Gimme My Change Award

Darren Ng sent the crowd into a frenzy with his half court buzzerbeater against the Kings on Friday night. The Doctor also ordered an ‘and one’with it to which the referee’s refused. Darren may be a little bit unlucky notto get the bonus free throw on this. (thanks to ANZballaz for the video).

NBL Wrap Round 12: Twas the night before Christmas

2011-12-25T19:38:00.002+08:00

Twas the nightbefore Christmas, when on half of the courts
All the creatures was balling, except for the Hawks
The nets were hung on the ring with care,
In hopes that St Senstock soon would be there.

Merry Christmas to all our readers. If aren't aware, we have a Facebook page. Please take the time 'like' it to get all our latest news and feeds. Oh yeah, we are also on Twitter, @cantbuyabasket

Perth Decimate NewZealand, 86-62

This was the top of the ladder contest that fizzled. Manypeople were beginning to think the Wildcats aren’t as good as they are toutedto be. The Wildcats built a 12 point lead by quarter time then a 23 point goinginto the half. The Breakers came out on a 14 to 2 run into the third which madmany thinking the Cats were going to simply hand the game to the Breakers gamebut after a Bevo timeout the Cats regrouped and continued to pile points on theboard. Apart from the mini run the Breakers had in the third they never everlooked like their heads were in this game.

To be fair to the Breakers, the game didn’t tip off untilmidnight their time and finished sometime around 2am. This could explain theKiwi’s lethargic approach to the game but doesn’t explain their angst-liketemperament. Gary Wilkinson was an angry man until he got whistled for a techfor slapping the ball into the crowd after a dunk after which he disappearedfrom the game and Cedric Jackson, clearly frustrated with the pressure appliedby the Martin, Robbins and Lisch combination finally had enough and put Wildcatpretty boy Kevin Lisch on his backside off the ball. Jackson was given a USFfor his efforts. This is the sort of behaviour that transpires when you areaccustomed to winning and then things finally don’t go your way.

With something to prove the Wildcats were hungrier in everyfacet of the game and after the spraying they copped from Coach Beveridge afterthe Blaze break out they would have wanted to. Looking straight from the 70’sJesse Wagstaff led the way for the cats with 23 points whilst Lisch backed upwith 18. The rest of the Wildcats provided great support in the absence ofMatty Knight. Shawn Redhage’s season had another turn after he left the game togo hospital to get a poked eye checked out.

From the tip off the Breakers never looked like being inthis one. Jackson finished with a frustrating 15 points and 8 rebounds, TomAbercrombie 14 points and Mika Vukona 13 points.

(Box Score)

Gold Coast annihilateAdelaide, 96 – 77

The Blaze are either hot or cold and regrettably forAdelaide, they met them when they were hot. Adam Gibson continued his sizzlingform from last week again putting himself into player of the week considerationwith 27 points and grabbed 8 boards. Jason Cadee made the most of the extra‘blow out’ minutes he received finishing with 13 points whilst the bigs, Stephen Hoare, Anthony Petrie Will Hudson allscored 10 points apiece.

Gibbo has been on fire lately

Adelaide need to make sense of how they got outrebounded 45to 26, with their bigs (Diamon Simspon and Daniel Johnson) in theory too bigand too strong for the Blaze. Field goal percentage is also a concern with the36ers managing a meagre 38% from the floor whilst letting the Blaze loose,allowing 55%.

Foul trouble limited Mark Worthington to 13 minutes of gametime which was ok as he got to watch Gibbo go off and watch his team remain thetop 4 on the ladder, if only by a thread. Brendan Teys needs to be asking whathe has to do, not even managing to make it on the court in this blowout.

(Box Score)

Tigers tame Taipans,67-65

Liam Rush must be breathing a huge sigh of relief after histeam managed the small victory after one of his late game free throws rattledout. Alex Loughton however, must have ended up on Santa’s naughty list as histhree ball to win the game was off the mark.

Oddly enough is that the Taipans out rebounded and outassisted the Tigers, an unusual statistic for a losing team. As often theproblem, it was field goal percentage that let the Snakes down. Without their floorleader Jamal Wilson it was left to Andrew Warren to carry the bulk of theworkload. Warren got some support in Crosswhite and Hill, but it wasn’t enoughto get the Snakes over the line.

Warren finished with 20 points but definitely tried his luckfrom outside going 4/11. More devastating was Alex Loughton’s 2/14 from thefield which leads to the question, did he really think his last second chancewas going to drop? Bread Hill grabbed 12 boards to go with his 14 points andIan Crosswhite scored 11 and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Cam Tragardh was the pick of a mediocre bunch, but thenagain that is expected with the low scoring drain and scramble usuallyassociated with a Cairns game. Tragardh led the team with 14 points and 5boards. Ayinde Ubaka ptovided some support with 11 points.

(Box Score)

Townsville Crocs 100,Sydney Kings 93

The Kings contemplated life without Julian Khazzouh thisweek but his return from the NBA pre-season was quicker than Donovan Monroe’sstint at the Hawks. Khazzouh’s return wasn’t enough to inspire the Kings forvictory.

In saying that, victory against the Crocs when PeterCrawford and Eddie Gill are red hot isn’t an easy task. The task becomes a lotharder when Jacob Holmes decided to consider himself a scorer also. The Kingsdid challenge and play for four quarters but they could not dig deep enough topull through.

Sydney looked inside often and relied on Khazzouh and Jerai Grantto make most of the scoring duties but it was the Crocs 16/32 from the land ofplenty that ultimately did the damage. Whilst the Kings hand a match for JacobHolmes it had no match for the offensive prowess of the Crocodile guards.

Peter Crawford was electrifying, putting on a vintage PCperformance (and a typical one for this season) finishing with 22 points whilstEddie Gill shot 8/11 (5/6 from deep) for his 26 points and still had time todrop nine dimes whilst Jacob Holmes cleaned the boards, grabbing 11 to matchhis 21 points.

Khazzouh and Grant were fantastic inside. Khazzouh scored 17points, grabbed 13 boards and swatted 4 shots whislt Grant finished with 18points and 12 boards. Anatoly Bose chipped in with another 18 points.

(Box Score)

Gimme My Change Award

Santa delivered the best present of all to the Wollongong Hawks.A Christmas bye. For the first time in a month the Hawks know what it feelslike to not lose a game, the bye putting a hiatus on their four game losingstreak.

Can’t Buy a DamnThing Award

Alex Loughton gets a reprieve this week.

Bennie Anthony and Leon Henry share custody of this week’s award. With key players in foultrouble and benched Coach Lemanis called upon his tattooed soldiers to take onan increased role in the rotation on the road. Anthony repaid their coachesfaith with a combined 0 points (0/4), 1 rebound, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in acombined 14 and a half minutes of action. Great performance from two on thenational team roster,right?

NBL Wrap Round 11: Swagger Me Timbers

2011-12-18T22:50:00.002+08:00

36ers handHawks a whuppin, 87 - 63

The Hawks are not in a good place right now, andthe beating they got in this game was the same as the one a little brotherwould get from his bigger brother for perving on the bigger brothers girlfriendwhile she’s getting changed.

Hawks import Showron Glover, otherwise known as“Tha Show” shall now be dubbed “Tha No Show” for forgetting to bring anyresemblance of a basketball player or any kind of game when he turned up to thestadium on this night, so much so that Glover didn’t even manage to put up 1field goal for the whole game, not something you want from an import pointguard.

The Hawks other import Joevan Catron must have stolen Glover’s portion of hoopjuice before the game as he was the lone hand in keeping the Hawks anywherenear resembling a basketball team, Catron lead the Hawks in scoring andrebounding with 19pts 11reb, no other member of the Hawks squad even warrants amention, so we won’t mention just how bad they were.

The 36ers on the other hand have continued theirgood form lead by all purpose import Diamon Simpson. Simpson has gone from strength to strength sincehis debut in the NBL, and even without a mid range game, he continues todominate the low block with his post scoring and rebounding on both ends of thefloor, Simpson ended up with a game high 22pts and also had 10reb to recordanother double double.

Steven Weigh is showing some improvement withmore consistent court time and had another double figure output of 11pts and4reb, Chris Warren was again a solid contributor with 12pts and 5ast but it isthe rise of young 7 footer Daniel Johnson that is surprising people the most,putting him in as a front runner for the Most Improved Award and forming aformidable front court with Simpson.

The loss of Adam Ballinger and Nathan Crosswellwas a big sore point for 36ers fans, but with the play of their young frontcourt and the injury replacement of Crosswell with Everard Bartlett as a comboguard able to provide solid minutes in the back court, signs are looking up forthe 36ers.

(Box Score)

Breakers dominate Taipans, 85 - 65

Oh the Taipans, we’ve said it on heremany times, but this team can be great one week and flat out suck the next,well this was one of those weeks where they sucked, even against topcompetition, which is usually when their game elevates, they couldn’t put onanything more than a B Grade effort.

Imports Andrew Warren and Jamar Wilsonwere again the 2 most consistent Taipans players but even their output wasmediocre by their standards, well for Wilson anyway, Warren did his thing andwent for 18pts and not much else, Wilson had 11pts and 3ast.

Alex Loughton seems to be returning tosomething that resembles form on a basketball court, and even though he dropped13pts and 4reb, he shot an abysmal 4/14 from the field for 29%.

The Breakers however were, well, theBreakers, they did what they do to most teams and flat out dominated the game.

Lead by former Tiger Darryl Corlettowith 26pts on 6/8 from 3pt land the Breakers dominated the Taipans on theboards, out rebounding the Taipans 42 to 28 including 16 offensive boards, 10of those rebounds going to Alex Pledger. Thomas Abercrombie was proved to behuman and had an off night going only 1/8 from the field with 7pts and only3reb, but it again was Cedric Jackson steadying the ship with a nice offensiveoutput of 18pts to again toy with getting close to a triple double adding 6reband 7ast to the points total and Gary Wilkinson was again on song with 13ptsand 5reb.

The Breakers seem to be playing thebest ball and are the most consistent team in the NBL right now, and based oncurrent form, we can’t see anyone changing that anytime soon.

(BoxScore)

Wildcats succumb toBlaze onslaught: 77-74

The Wildcats are a special team, one quite adept at buildinga 20 point lead and one quite versed at losing a 20 point lead. The Wildcatsall but had this game wrapped up at half time, the Blaze not even lookinginterested in the game, in fact it took one and a half quarters before any onenot named Adam Gibson or Mark Worthington to score for the Blaze.

The Wildcats have traditionally never been that good in thethird quarter and this script followed the usual one. Behind Adam Gibson whonailed three long balls in succession the Blaze powered their way back into thegame, clearly with momentum on their side.

Things went from bad to worse in the fourth stanza for theCats. Matty Knight’s injury could not inspire the cats to ‘do it for Matty’. TheWildcats looked terrible scoring only 7 points for the quarter. The Blazehowever went for 19, some big shots down the stretch by Adris Deleon effectivelysealed the game for the Blaze

Congrats on 200 Wortho

This is not to say that the dice wasn’t rolled in the Blaze’sfavour, the Blaze apparently only committing one defensive foul and oneoffensive foul in the fourth quarter and both of those were in the final minuteof the game, the Wildcats had already been whistled for five within the firstfive minutes. As people who watch a lot of basketball we just fail to see how itcan go that way in a game with this sort of intensity.

Adam Gibson put himself in to player of the weekconsideration with 28 points at an impressive 11/15 from the field. Gibbo wassimply on fire and just about everything he threw up saw the bottom of the net.Mark Worthington didn’t let getting fouled out spoil his 200^th game.The Worthinator went for 15 points and 9 boards whilst Ardis Deleon who waskept quiet early on finished with 15 points (@ 28%) but hit a huge and heavilyguarded three that changed the game.

Seven points in the final quarter, 22 points in the half. Thissort of stats aren’t going to cut in the NBL. You need to ask yourself, howmany times are we going to give up 20 points leads before it finally sinks in.Kevin Lisch was the pick of the Wildcat bunch with 17, Like Nevill showed thathe has some game in the first half but couldn’t carry that through and MattyKnight grabbed 14 boards and scored 9 points before he hit the deck hard. Poorfellow had no idea what was going on when he came to. Get well soon Matty, noone like to see anyone get injured, let alone carried off on a stretcher.

(Box Score)

Tigers 93- Crocodiles80

Townsville put themselves out of this game in the secondquarter, scoring an almost ‘Wildcat-like’ 9 points whilst letting the Tigersexplode for 26. A big third quarter from the Crocs had them thinking about thelittle engine that could (I think I can, I think I can) however that glimmer ofhope was quickly subdued as the Tigers ran out for the comfortable thirteenpoint victory.

Though Peter Crawford was bombing them from outside theCrocs uncharacteristically were flaccid inside getting outscored 30 – 18 in points in the paint. The Crocs putin a good effort but at the end of the day simply could not match the efficiencyof the Tigers offence. The Tigers shot 51% from the field.

The Tigers have come together as a team a lot more since PattyMills jumped ship to the Orient, and particularly in this game. At times itseems like the team just relies on Cam Tragardh to score points and grab boardsbut look at the scoring spead here. Tragardh 19 points, Tommy Greer 18 points,Ron Dorsey 18 points and Daniel Dillon with 16 points. See what happens whenyou all pitch in and help, you beat a team as good as the Crocs but such a comfortablemargin.

Peter Crawford did his best to keep the Crocs in it. PC finishedwith a game high 30 points which included 8 from the land of plenty. JacobHolmes finished with 20 points and Luke Schenscher scored 11.

(Box Score)

Can’t Buy a DamnThing Award

We aren’t too sure if it is a direction from the NBL frontoffice, a popular phrase that we aren’t aware of or simply a small group of peopletrying to ‘bring a word back’ or make it cool, but the use of the word “swagger”has to go.

NBL commentary’s version on Guy Smiley, Steve Carfino andburger merchant & Gold Coast Blaze advocate Shane Heal’s use of the phrase “swagger”this weekend was dreadful. Their usageof the term “swagger” was ticking over faster than the Wildcats second halfscore. On the bright side though, at least it gives us reason to delay Channel10’s decision to air footage of cheerleaders dancing through timeouts insteadusing that time to show things like replays or highlights.

Ardis Deleon storming around the court like a little kid ata birthday party was confused for “swagger”, Kevin Lisch doesn’t walk aroundthe court strutting with “swagger”. Swagger isn’t sitting on the bench wearingyour club polo shirt and jeans and “swagger” isn’t high-fiving a teammate.

Even the NBL website has introduced this word. Here’s to hopingthat ‘swagger’ leaves the lexicon of the leagues linguists; because contrary toCarfino and Heal, you don’t win games with “swagger” you win games by scoringmore points that your opponent.

Gimme MyChange Award

Sometimes change is a good thing, and the type of change thisaward is about is a good thing if you’re a Blaze player or fan.

The Blaze took out this week’s award with a monumental comebackeffort against the Wildcats.

Being down double digits for most of the first half, sometimeswith the lead blowing out to 20pts, the Blaze kept their swag and had beliefthey could come back.

After the Wildcats usual 3^rd quarter lapse, the Blazebrought it back to within a reasonable total for a 4^th quarter run,and make that run they did.

Lead by the sharpshooting of Adam Gibson and Adris Deleon andcontributions from Mark Worthington, who despite foul trouble managed to stayin the game until the end, the Blaze rallied and believed enough that theycould come back, and come back they did to win by 3 in the end.

Is this a good sign for an inconsistent Blaze team, probably, canthey keep this level of play up for the rest of the season, probably not, butthey should be thanking their lucky stars they had 2 games against the Wildcatsat home this season and only have to play them once more, albeit away in theJungle.

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NBL Wrap Round 10: Ejection to Dejection

2011-12-11T21:43:00.001+08:00

Ejections, deflections, dejection, inspection and rejections, the NBL Round 10 had it all.

Breakershammer the Blaze, 106 - 85

How frustrating must it be to be a Blaze fan right now, other thanhaving picked up Adris Deleon Blaze fans must be wondering what’s going on withtheir team. Most of the Blaze players in this game were subpar, even the consistentMark Worthington had a stinker with only 6pts and 2reb.

A return to form for James Harvey is the only real positive sign to comeout of this game for the Blaze, Harvey had 19pts but not much else, AdrisDeleon did what he has been doing since he got to the NBL, score, Deleon had15pts and 4ast but was also surrounded by the injury cloud, Adam Gibson messedaround and came close to a triple double but it was Will Hudson who lead theway with his 19pts and 4ast.

The Blaze had 22 rebounds as a team for the game, less than half of the48 pulled down by the Blaze, offence is great, but defence and rebounding winsgames, this game just proves that fact further.

The Breakers were a whole different team on the day, having 6 playerswith double figure scoring, 2 players with double doubles in points andrebounds being Mika Vukona who was just outstanding with 21pts 11reb (9offensive) and 6ast and Thomas Abercrombie with 16pts and 10reb.

Darryl Corletto was again showing his worth in the absence of CJ Brutonand the back court of him and Cedric Jackson holding it down, Corletto having18pts 6ast while Jackson had 14pts 4reb and 7ast, the 6 turnovers were his onlyblemish. The big men also held it down, Alex Pledger showing growth in his gamewith 18pts 6reb and Gary Wilkinson continuing his workmanlike production with11pts 8reb.

The Breakers look to be getting to where they want to be, theBlaze..................let’s just not go there.

(Box Score)

Kings take down the 36ers, 107 - 103

Without captain Adam Ballinger in theround this week, the usual suspects for the 36ers did their thing, the samenames you see dominating the 36ers box score ever week were at it again.

Daniel Johnson top scoring, nosurprise there, Johnson has elevated his game to a new level this season beingmuch better offensively and starting to show more grit in the defensive andrebounding duties expected of a 7 footer on any team, Johnson lead his teamwith 24pts 9reb and 3ast, definitely on the radar for most improved player thisyear.

Diamon Simpson was a great pickup forthe club from the city of churches, proving that there may be a god in Adelaideand all those churches weren’t built for nothing, Simpson did his thing asusual playing down low and scrapping for all he can finishing up with 19pts7reb and 3blk.

Stevie Weigh and Chris Warren alsoloaned a helping hand, Weigh with 12pts and 8reb and Warren with 15pts 3reb and5ast, with that kind of performance from key players, patience and consistencyis all that is needed before the 36ers are back in the mix, maybe not thisyear, but soon. The Kings on the other hand are alsoplaying some good basketball and looked to be on the up and up, until the newscame through that they could be losing their star and more than likely frontrunner for league MVP Julian Khazzouh to the NBA, JK is trialling with theGolden State Warriors and if picked up, could be gone for good.\

The good news for the Kings is thatguys like Jerai Grant, Anatoly Bose and Aaron Bruce will still be left tosteady the ship, and while they will provide solid play, the loss of Khazzouhmay be just a little too much. Khazzouh recorded the first 20/20double double of the 40 minute era in the NBL, no surprise that he would be theone to get it either with is 20pts 21reb game, funnily enough other playersalso got their hands on a rebound occasionally, Anatoly Bose grabbing 7 to goalong with his 21pts.

The Kings top scorer though was againAaron Bruce with 24pts and 5ast, who has been playing some lights out hoops oflate which was what was expected of him after his stellar college career atBaylor.

So a bit of a bittersweet result forthe Kings, a good win but the loss of their star player, let’s hope the Kingscan stay competitive and continue to improve with their young core, if they cankeep them together, the Kings will be back in a big way.

(Box Score)

Taipansedge Tigers in overtime, 79 - 77

WOW, what more can be said about this game, nail biting down tothe wire, just WOW, low scoring game that it was, you would have never thoughtso until reading the box score afterwards.

Cam Tragardh is just scoring points like his life depended on itwith another 24pt haul and he even helped out on the boards with 7reb, muchbetter numbers and what is expected from your prized big man.

Ron Dorsey is starting prove he was not a total waste of a 3 yearcontract with his 18pts and 12reb, Tommy Greer rebounded well but not muchelse, he had 11 but only 2pts, Ayinde Ubaka now having the responsibility toanchor the back court and having more freedom to play openly since thedeparture of Patty Mills proves he was good signing for the Tigers, his 18pts6reb and 5ast giving the Tigers what they needed and almost taking it out withthe last shot of the game to win it all that he just couldn’t get off in time.The most amazing thing about this game wasn’t the drama at the end of the gameit was the fact that Trevor Gleeson for the first time in his coaching careerdidn’t argue a referee’s call after it was ruled that Ubaka didn’t get his shotup in time.

The Taipans are just that one team you hate to play, a hoodoo teamfor many who can just outplay you on any given day, and no team knows whichTaipans team turns up each week, it’s a flip of the coin, you just need to hopeyou catch them on a bad day. Alex Loughton, after being such a perennial player when at theWildcats has just taken a massive dive into funk land of late, being a premierplayer, or supposed to be anyway he should be putting up relevant numbersrather than bench production stats, his game this week of 4pts 7reb and 1/6from the field is just not good enough, if Big Al can lift his game standard,you will probably see the Taipans lift higher with him.

Ian Crosswhite has proved that even as an ageing veteran he can stillproduce numbers, his 13pt 13reb effort was hard fought for, but it was againthe imports of Jamar Wilson and Andrew Warren who did the damage. Wilson top scoring and just cutting the Tigers defence to shredswith his 27pt 5reb effort, and Warren did his thing with 16pts and 7reb. Beware the Taipans, they’re coming to limit your scoring, and ifthey do, and you play their type of game, don’t say we didn’t warn you.

(Box Score)

NewZealand Breakers 86, Adelaide 36ers 73

At three quarter time this game was anyone’s, the Breakers holdingthe smallest of leads. Regrettably for the 36ers they did a LeBron James andwent missing in the fourth quarter, allowing the Breakers to run away with a 13point victory.

Gary Wilkinson stood out for reasons other than his red hair, the ‘BigKetchup’ amounting 30 points, even going 4/5 from the land of plenty. The listof Breaker scorers continue, Daryl Corletto 15 points, Alex Pledger and Mika Vukonaboth with 13 whilst Cedric Jackson flirted with a triple double finishing with11 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds. Ten rounds in and the Breakers are sittingon top of the ladder, right where they were last season; a hard feat when theyhave had to deal with lining up without arguably the best player in the NBL.

The 36ers rely on Daniel Johnson (17 points), Diamon Simpson andChris Warren (16 points each) and without Adam Ballinger the 36ers had no othersuitors. You can’t help but think that the 36ers would be so much more successfulshould Ballinger get sorted out or if Stephen Weigh plays with a bit moreconsistency. The Adelaide role-players have been very stock exchange at best.

(Box Score)

Townsvilleburn the Kings, 80-67

Sydney, brilliant one day absolutely terrible the next. No that isnot the weather, that is their basketball team. Just days after edging thebottom of the ladder 36er brigade they Kings looked real ordinary againstquality opposition.

With Schenscher back into the offence the Crocs are not onlytaller in stature, but taller in spirit. Schench takes a load of the streakyEddie Gill and Peter Crawford.

Sydney will be looking for any reason as to why this one slippedout of reach. After being within the realm of the game the Kings disappeared inthe championship quarter. Sydney were also handed an extra ten freethrows overthe course of the game but still could not find a way to get back into it.

Low shooting percentages equate to high rebounding numbers. JulianKhazzouh followed up his mammoth performance earlier in the round with another16 rebounds to go with his 17 points. Jerai Grant hauled in 11 boards andscored 15 points Whilst Anatoly Bose rounded out the double doubles with 10points and 10 boards. With Julian Khazzouh trying his luck in the NBA pre-seasonthe Kings going to have a huge hole in the middle.

Peter Crawford had good patches of play to lead the Crocs with 17points, Schenscher’s freethrow shooting partially covered his terrible fieldgoal shooting to finish with 13 points Whilst Jacob Holmes scored 12 points andgrabbed ten boards. The Crocs have now snuck into the top four, a place wherethey believe they belong. Any team wanting to challenge them will want to do sonow as once the full roster is back in full working order and beginning to geltheir opponents might be seeing more than just green.

(Box Score)

Wildcats decimatethe Hawks, 98-70

If I was a team I wouldfear facing the Wildcats coming off a loss. Playing with a chip on theirshoulder the Wildcats got to work at the ‘Gong, a place until this season hadbeen an unfruitful trip for them for some time.

After coming out the main break with a one point lead the Wildcatslit it up for 34 third quarter points, effectively putting the game out ofreach. The Hawks never looked like getting back into it. The Wildcats turning upthe heat d running out 28 point winners.

Wollongong can’t be looking at referee calls perceived to beincorrect, they need to be looking at other aspects of their game when lookingfor answers for the shellacking. 20turnovers whilst only forcing 8, 10 points in the paint, 59% from the line.These aren’t stats that win games and we are sure Coach MacLeod will be tellinghis men this. Glen Saville checked himself out of the game when he was calledfor his second unsportsmanlike foul of the game, we can’t recall many USFsbeing whistled when a team is down by 23 points with 8 minutes to go in thegame. Rhys Martin lead the way for the Hawks with 15 points, Oscar Forman 11and Joevan Catron 10.

The Wildcats play a rough and aggressive style of play and everyteam knows that, you simply cannot let them have their way if you want to win.Shawn Redhage no doubt enjoyed his 23 points, hoping this is the one thatbreaks his form slump as of late. Kevin Lisch was dynamite, also scoring 23points, 16 of those in the third period and the little guy even found time tohaul in 8 rebounds.

(Box Score)

Gimme myChange Award

Julian Khazzouh exploded for the first 20-20 game since the 40minute format against the 36ers on Friday night, finishing with 20 points and21 boards. Julian then followed that up with 17 points and 16 boards againstTownsville on Sunday which totals 36 points and 38 rebounds for the week,simply a mammoth effort.

To cap it off Julian is making his way to the USA to test his luckwith a tryout with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. This leaves Sydney ina very compromising position. A team that is winning only half its games isgoing to need to find 17 points, 10 rebounds and a whole lot of stubble somehow.

Can’t Buya Damn Thing Award

Yes Thomas Abercrombie did go 0/9 against the Sixers this week,but he contributed in other ways such as pulling in 7 boards and dropping threedimes so he is safe. Aaron Grabau was a couple of rebounds and blocks ofsharing the award this week.

Tyson Demos takes it out this week. In 15:20 of action against theWildcats Tyson shot 0/6 from the field and tirned the ball over three timeswhilst registering big fat doughnuts in every other statistical category. Goodwork Tyson.

NBL Wrap Round 9: 2hard2guard Avant-garde

2011-12-04T22:29:00.001+08:00

Taipansshock the Blaze, 87- 78

This matchup saw the 2 most enigmatic teams of the last few seasons faceeach other.

The Blaze are tipped by many as a team to look out for, gifted withoffensive prowess and a coach with a stacked resume, the Blaze just can’t seemto put some consistency together.

Even with the new flavour of the month player in the league Adris“2hard2guard” Deleon lighting up all who defend him, the Blaze still can’tstring together the wins to put them in the contender’s column rather than thefull of potential pretender’s column. Deleon again showed why 2hard2guard is not just some nickname he gavehimself, the guy literally lives up to his name, breaking ankles with killercrossovers and making team defences look like swiss cheese.

Now with spelling mistake

Anthony Petrie is coming back into some pre injury playing conditioninghaving 11pts and 7reb and Stephen Hoare is also proving why his hardy veterantag is still valid with 10pts and 6reb of his own.

While not having his best shooting performance, Deleon top scored alongwith Mark Worthington with 17pts a piece, but even the diminutive guard did morethan his bit on the glass by grabbing 11 rebounds and picking 3 pockets, notmany point guards out rebound their big men unless your name is Damian Martin.

Speaking of a return to form, welcome back Alex Loughton to the land ofproducing numbers based on your pay scale, Loughton has been having a seriousform slump, was it injury, probably, but it’s gone on for some time, and for aplayer of his calibre it’s just good to see him back putting up some numbersand a 20pt 6reb 4ast 3st game is a good way to announce you’re back.

Ian Crosswhite just does what he does and rebounds having double figureboards again with 10, Andrew Warren seems to be increasing his productionhaving 15pts of his own, but it was Jamar Wilson again who dominated for theTaipans with 23pts 6reb and 6ast. Wilson is the game changer for the Taipans right now, and as he goes, sodo the Snakes, with some time under his belt now hopefully some consistency canbe found from the boys from way up in far north Queensland.

(Box Score)

Breakers blitz the Tigers, 108 - 98

After losing Patty Mills, the Tigerswere in a state of purgatory wondering how they were going to adjust to lifewithout Patty. Cam Tragardh is currently leading the eague in points per game and he was going to have to continue to put the ballin the hoop for the Tigers to have any chance, and that he did with another20pt outing and he had 7reb and 5ast to go with it, one thing can be said aboutTrigger, and that is he can deliver.

Lucas Walker showed some of that muchtalked about potential having a 20pt 8reb 4st explosion to match his wing teammate Ron Dorsey who also dropped 21pts and 6reb, which is almost more points inone game that he has scored all season, and we aren’t kidding, alright, maybejust a little bit.

Ayinde Ubaka will have to adjust backinto the starting point guard role and didn’t do too badly with his 15ptoutput, but the Tigers didn’t get much else from anyone else except for the 14rebounds from Tommy Greer.

But this game, exciting as it was withthe trip into overtime was nothing more than the Thomas Abercrombie show, andboy did he put on a show, 6/9 from the 3pt line, dunking like he belongs in theair and just proving unstoppable to anyone in a Tigers uniform.

Darryl Corletto lit up his old teamfor 18pts, Cedric Jackson, while playing with some foul trouble was again astat sheet filler with 10pts 6reb and 8ast and Mika Vukona did what Mika Vukonaalways does, grab rebounds and play defence while occasionally putting up somepoints, Vukona had another double double with 10pts 10reb and 5ast.

But it was Abercrombie who was thestar of the night, his 33pts and 11reb drove his team to victory in overtimeand in the absence of CJ Bruton and Kirk Penney from the Breakers squad, thiscould be the coming out party for the man many expect to one day be a solidEuroleague or NBA player, time will tell, but we should all marvel at thesights we are seeing from him now before they are gone.

(Box Score)

Crocs pipthe Hawks at the line, 82 - 81

The Hawks are the holders of an unfortunate record in this year’scompetition, and this game just continued the streak of 0 dunks for the year,and it’s not for a lack of trying.

Joevan Catron almost broke the hoodoo but Elvin “Rock Rims” Mimmsdenied him right at the moment of truth.

Catron is finding his feet ever so slowly and had a 15pt output inthis game, why he doesn’t start in a Hawks team who desperately need a low postplayer is beyond comprehension, but we don’t coach the team so who are we tocomment.

Helping Catron on the scoresheet was Oscar Forman with 13pts and5reb but it was Tim Coenraad who dug deep to keep the Hawks in the game withhis 22pts and the old veteran Glen Saville had 11reb but only 6pts, not muchelse was worth writing about for the Hawks except that they played toughdefence to keep themselves in the game to the wire.

It is true, they did miss Luke

The Crocs welcomed back the big fella Luke Schenscher who theyhave been missing greatly, even though Schenscher only played 12 minutes, hispresence was greatly felt by his team mates.

Elvin Mimms did his thing with an 18pt 9reb haul, Eddie Gill wasproven to be human after all with a small output of only 9pts, but it was againanother veteran in Peter “PC” Crawford who led the Crocs to victory.

PC had a game high 22pts and also had 7reb to go with it, he wasinspirational in getting the Crocs over the line at the wire and in leading thecomeback that the win came from. At least with the Crocs victory we don’t have to write somethingthat rhymes like PC for 3 in OT, which we are sure you will all be happy about.

(Box Score)

Adelaide 96defeat Perth 84

Regardless of ladder position a Perth v Adelaide game usuallylives up to the hype. The two teams traditionally known for working together onthe now extinct ‘Doomsday Double’ have always had a rivalry between each otherand in recent years has swung the way of the underdone 36er unit.

This game was no exception. After a good start the Wildcats letsbrain-fart after brain-fart subdue them. If the Cat’s weren’t throwing awayward pass they were wrapping up 36ers on the fast break for the USF or beingwhistled for three seconds in the keyway. The Wildcats definitely missed thex-factor, something that Cam Tovey usually gives them. The Wildcats did howevercelebrate the return of champion point guard, Damian Martin back to the playingroster. Marto celebrated himself by totally annihilating a Darren Ng fast breaklayup in one of the hugest blocks the jungle fans had seen since the JC era.

Adelaide on the other hand came to play and knocked down big shotafter big shot. Chris Warren is not short on confidence when pulling up withthe long shot or taking it to the hole, the dude definitely has swagger. Thelittle warrior finished with 20 points and six assists. Diamon Simpson boughtthe type of game that matches his physique. The big Simpmiester finished hith22 points and hauled in 10 boards. Daniel Johnson found it hard banging awayagainst Matty Knight and began looking outside the key to finish with 12 pointsto go with 10 boards.

This is the second time the 36ers have rolled the Wildcats onPerth’s home court. If memory serves me correct it happened last season too (We’resure someone will tell us if this isn’t the case), but more importantly, thewin lifts Adelaide from out of last place.

Drew Williamson’s season is at crossroads. Having no impact so farthis season Drew saw less than two minutes of action in the second quarter andappears to be out of favour with the coaching staff. Matty Knight finished with 21, Kevin Lisch 16 and JesseWagstaff found himself on the scorer’s list with 12.

(Box Score)

Sydney 69,Cairns 64

The Kings gave their kingsfolk something to cheer about with agutsy five point win over the gritty Cairns Taipans.

Whilst the Kings went to their faithful beasts inside the Taipanslooked to settle this from outside. That tactic did not work for the Snakes. Whencompared to the Kings 34 points in the paint the Snakes paltry 18 paint pointswas never going to cut it, especially when they are shooting 6/26 from deep.

In fact when you compare the Snakes 33% from the field to theKings 44% you really have to wonder how this game only had a margin on 5points. Andrew Warren gave it is everything (as usual) to lead the team with 19points, whilst Jamar Wilson finished with 10 points and 9 boards. IanCrosswhite grabbed himself 10 boards but other than that there wasn’t anythingoffered from anyone else. Alex Loughton who was so good earlier in the roundwent missing, thanks largely to foul trouble and Jeff Dowdell didn’t let his 4boards get in the way of this 1/7 from the field.

Julian Khazzouh and Jerai Grant were too classy for the Taipansfront court. Khazzouh scored a team high 18 points whilst Grant ripped a hugedunk on his way to 10. Luke Martin put in a 10 point cameo. Sydney haven’tgiven their fans a lot to cheer about, especially at home where lacklustreperformances are strongly being considered the norm; and of a team with fansthat are unsettled with a lot of the teams make-up this win means a lot morethan another notch in the win column.

(Box Score)

What George & Williams eat for breakfast

Can’t Buya Damn Thing Award

There were a few stinkers this round, but after little thought itwas an easy award to give this week.

The Taipan’s back-up back court tandem of Deba George and KerryWilliams get to share the trophy for at least a week. Combining for just shy of15 minutes of action in Sunday’s game versus the Kings, George and Williams combinedfor six missed shots, a turnover and a bunch of doughnuts in every othercategory.

Gimme MyChange Award

Thomas Abercrombie was flying high against the Tigers and flieseven higher with the esteemed ‘gimme my change award’ this week.

Thomas lit up the Tigers for 33 points (at 56% from the floor& 6/9 from outside), 11 rebounds, 4 assists and even found time to swat 2shots, playing a pivotal role in the Breakers double overtime win over theMelbourne Tigers.

NBL Wrap Round 8: Dropping leads like their hot

2011-11-27T22:02:00.001+08:00

What is with teams dropping sizable leads? The Crocs gave up a 20 point lead to lose by 14 points and the Wildcats saw a 20 point lead evaporate to just seven, although they managed to pull theirs back out before the time expired.

Breakers burnCrocodiles, 88-74

The Crocs gave the Breakers a taste of their own medicine byjumping out of the gate and tearing it up for 33 first quarter points. Fromthere the Crocs barely hit 33 for the rest of the game. Fearing a total ambushthe Breakers defended their stronghold and regained control of Vector Arena.

How the tables turned for the Crocs in a matter of 40minutes. The talk quickly turned from the Crocs being legit, to remit andacquit. With a bit of luck things get better for the Crocs when the retrofit(adding Schenscher and Hinder to the roster). This isn’t the first time this season a sizable lead has been squanderedand it won’t be the last but teams are going to want to search for ways to stoplosing sizable leads.

Townsville’s problem was the offence dried up. Afterseemingly being on fire in the first the Crocs could not buy a basket. Theexception was Jacob Holmes who fancied himself as an offensive juggernaut thesedays who finished with 21 points and going 5/5 from the land of plenty. PeterCrawford needed free throws to get his way to 17. Eddie Gill finished hishorror night going 2/11 from the field. We’re certain Eddie isn’t happy withthat.

What the Breakers showed us this game that they shoot threepointers as well as free throws (both 9/19, 47%). Cedric Jackson dusted off hislousy night from the field (4/11) to go into beast mode finishing with 11points, 12 boards, 8 assists and 4 steals. Daryl Corletto gave the Melbourne Tigers a reason to reflecton decisions they made earlier in the season with a 16 point haul and ThomasAbercrombie and Garry Wilkinson continually incited the crowd with 19 and 18points respectively.

(Box Score)

Sydney destroyMelbourne, 89-80

The result on the scoresheet will show that the Kings won bynine points but for them it was so much more. The Kingsfolk had grew impatientof the lacklustre performances by the Kingsmen and with a double this round theMoose had his kaboose on the line. After a fast start the Kings fanaticalclenched up a little when familiar habits were brought to the forefront in thesecond period, a ten point lead squandered. At the main break the Moose wentloose on his tirade to the players who responded in a positive manner, theTigers who are adjusting to like without Mills could simply not match thepoints the Kings were putting on the board.

The Kings knew how to take on the Tigers, by playing inside.Julian Khazzouh and Jerai Grant had their way inside, The Tigers frontcourt nomatch for the dynamic duo. Khazzouh went 9/14 for 22 points and Grant 8/10 for19. Ben Magden pleased the purple brigade with 26 points. As a collective theKings fired at a 52% clip. Does this win save Moose’s job?

Cam Tragardh (28 points), Ayinde Ubaka (17 points) andRonald Dorsey (15 points) put up a little resistance. As a team the Tigers had25 rebounds, 1 steal and 8 blocks, hardly statistics that suggest any defencehas being applied. To the Tigers credit, their 15/16 (94%) from the charitystripe is a good team effort.

(Box Score)

Gold Coast Blaze 95,Adelaide 36ers 82

The Gold Coast Blaze held out for a 13 point win against thebottom of the ladder Adelaide 36er unit. The 36ers almost toyed with thepossibility of starting a comeback but the ‘leagues most knowledgeable fans’knew that that was going to be unlikely. Every time the 36ers hit a couple theBlaze would always be there to extinguish those spot fires.

Ardis Deleon continues his blitzing start to his NBLcampaign. Will Deleon still have the same impact once teams figure out how toguard him? Deleon finished with a game high 25 points whilst Mark Worthingtonrand around the court and mustered 20 points and 7 boards. As usual the Blazerely on their shooting percentages to win games and as of late have been hot.It is surprising to see a team get outrebounded 30 – 43 and that team stillwins by a large margin.

Darren Ng got hot late in the game to finish with a teamhigh 20 points. Big men Daniel Johnson (19 points, 11 rebounds) and DiamonSimpson (14 points, 13 rebounds) wore the majority of the workload. MartyClarke said after the game that is team is not “getting distracted with winsand losses” but is getting to the point where they might need to before it istoo late to make a charge this season. Anyone could make the argument that acore of Johnson, Simpson, Adam Ballinger, Stephen Weigh and Chris Warren shouldbe a little better than 2 and 6.

(Box Score)

Wildcatstake out Sydney, 103 - 92

It looked like it wasgoing to be a long night for the Kings early into this game as the Wildcatswould hardly let them near the basket. Jerai Grant had otherideas though, with some monumental displays of his amazing athleticism, Grantthrew down a huge dunk in the paint, and not long after channelled his innerBlake Griffin and tried to throw a monster dunk down on Matt Knight whilstcoming down the lane, which only just rimmed out, otherwise Matt Knight wouldforever have been on Grants highlight reel.

Aaron Bruce startedoff in shocking form, committing 3 turnovers early, but he picked up hi gameand ended up 1 assist shy of a double double with 15pts and 9ast. Khazzouh was evenheld to lower production than he is used to by the big Wildcats front line andonly managed 16pts and 6reb, much less than he is used to, but it was Grant whowas all over this game with 20pts 11reb and 4ast while providing highlights andlots of ooooh’s and ahhhhhh’s to the fans in the jungle, Anatoly Bose thoughwas the top scorer with 22pts and 7reb, although we can’t recall where heseemed to get all those points.

The Wildcats wereexpected to win this game, and only for a few seconds was the result ever inquestion. Matt Knight is intremendous form recently and it seems to be rubbing off as well onto LukeNevill, both big men forming a big frontline and making the most of theiropportunities when the ball comes into the low block. 5 Wildcats scored indouble figures, and when that happens and the Cats score over 100 points, thatusually means a very bad night for any opponent.

Kevin Lisch, whileseeming to be in a small funk lately still puts the numbers on the scoreboard,Lisch had 14pts 8reb and 5ast while seeming to struggle but actually shot over60% from both the field and from 3pt land. Cam Tovey has alsoregained some form, although not offensively, Topsy Tovey was blocking shots,rebounding and leading the break with supreme confidence, but for some reasonwhich we are not sure of, didn’t play much in the 2^nd half, itwasn’t foul trouble and we sure hope it wasn’t an injury. The Cats hold ontotop spot and with a reasonable schedule to come with 2 more games at home lookslike they may hold onto it for a while, and with room for them still to improveand also the eagerly anticipated return of Damian Martin, signs are lookinggood for those in Cat land.

(Box Score)

Can’t buy a DamnThing Award

Iti, phone home

Honourable mention this week goes to the Melbourne Tigersfor their almighty collapse against the Kings but this week’s award goes tosomeone goes to someone most teams wish they had, a 7 footer, but this 7 footerprobably couldn’t be given away right now.

Welcome to the club....................Martin Iti.

Given great reviews after a stellar college career, Itidrifted for a while in obscurity before landing this season with the Kings wholacked size other than star Julian Khazzouh.

Iti this weekend in a double header round had stat lines inboth games that resembled a box of Krispy Kreme’s, which for those of you whoknow CBAB terminology is a big fat 0 in their total stat line.

So to all those who say basketball is a game for tallpeople, maybe it is, but Iti shows this week that just being tall doesn’t meanyou’ll be any good.

Hey Martin, powdered or glazed?

Gimme My Change Award

Jerai Grant takes out this week’s award with a great displayof his improving game to go along with that tremendous athleticism.

Grant was a huge part of the win the Kings had against theTigers and even though in some early foul trouble against the Cats was dunking,rebounding and blocking shots all over the court.

Any time you can go on a road trip and come back with totalsof 39pts 16reb you know you had a good trip.

The fact that he was touted as being raw and a secondary,possibly 3^rd offensive weapon on the Kings any coach will take thatproduction, let’s just hope Grant can continue to improve, only problem is, ifhe does, he won’t be in the NBL for much longer.

NBL Wrap Round 7: The Heritage Dosage

2011-11-20T16:48:00.001+08:00

Round seven saw the NBL honour its heritage with all the teamsdonning uniforms reminiscent of yesteryear, prompting the masses to take a tripdown memory lane. There was no James Crawford, Ricky Jones, Butch Hayes orGrant Kruger. No Brisbane Bullets, no Geelong Supercats or Hobart TassieDevils. Instead we were treated to Andrew Gaze and Steve Carfino with theirusual blend of commentary righteousness. Bless the Carfino and Gaze tandem,never an off night, you always know what to expect.

CairnsSmash Sydney, 85-67

It wouldn’t be unwise to suggest that the Kings may have performedbetter fielding their early 90s regulars who were at the game to inspire. Aftera slow start the Kings toyed with the idea of getting back into the game butpromptly fell asleep.

Cairns seem to get going when their imports combine to become the‘dynamic duo’. Behind Andrew Warren’s 21 points and Jamar Wilson’s 18 pointsthe Taipans role players filled their roles perfectly. Alex Loughton chipped inwith 12 points and Jeff Dowdell spent some time away from the three point lineto grab six boards. What Cairns achieve they achieve quietly, make sure youkeep an eye on them, that way they won’t surprise you.

People are wondering which King will be
the first to be dethroned

Said Coach Robilliard “There’s an issue of team 'performance anxiety' playingat home and we have got to get over it, but it’s a characteristic of a youngteam building trust.” Absolutely right Ian, it must be hard playing in front ofthose supporters there to cheer you on. But it is these supporters that aregrowing impatient with the club that frustrates them so much. The core fanshave had enough and are calling for changes. Jerai Grant finished with 13points and 12 boards, Julian Khazzouh had 17 points and 11 boards whilst BenMagden ended the game with 13 points.

(Box Score)

Melbourne stun Perth, 87 – 82

Perth owned this game in the first half, totally schooling theTigers in every aspect of the game. There wasn’t a shot the Wildcats didn’tlike and there wasn’t a shot the Wildcats couldn’t miss. Heading into the mainbreak the Tigers were clearly outdone.

Almost in a twist of fate it was the Tigers who couldn’t miss inthe second half. The Tigers could only snigger as Wildcat shot after Wildcatshot rattled around the ring whilst theirs were hitting nothing but net. TheTigers the Tigers threatened to take this game from the Wildcats and theWildcats gave them every opportunity to do just that.

Perth where very uninspiring in the second half and we are certainthey will be the first people to tell you that. Looking a bit like RobbieDempster, Matthew Knight lead the way for the Wildcats, jump shooting his wayto 24 points, Brad Robbins was everywhere in his 13 point, 8 rebound and 5assist effort and Jesse Wagstaff finished with 13 points. Worrying signs forPerth is that Kevin Lisch and Shawn Redhage finished the game with a combined11 point effort at 4/20 from the field.

For the second time in as many weeks the Tigers mounted a secondhalf comeback. The good sign for the Tigers is that they managed this triumphwith little impact from Patty Mills, who has since abandoned the team to go andplay in China. Ayinde Ubaka took charge for 23 points, Cam Tragardh tookadvantage of Luke Nevill’s slowness for 22 points and Ron Dorsey put the gameout of reach with an alley oop and three ball to finish with 18 points.

Fans and fanboys alike will be discussing whether the Wildcatsdied in the second half, whether the Tigers are the comeback kings or whetherDorsey should have been pinged for the USF on Lisch (for the record, the rulebooksays yes). But to settle the score, the ring on the (TV) right side of the cageis ‘obviously’ broken, 66 points scored on that side of the court compared to102 on the left. Enough said.

(Box Score)

Blaze… erRollers too hot for the Crocs.. er Suns, 87-75

The Blaze continued their hot form into Heritage round, burningthe Crocs for 12 points. No team high fives like the Blaze, and that is wheretheir power comes from. Stop the high fiving and the Blaze will go cold.

Adris Deleon has changed the dynamic of the Blaze since hisarrival. Adris adds energy and dribble penetration to a team that loves toshoot from deep. Deleon lead his team with 21 points. Personally, I would liketo see a point guard get and assist. Antony Petrie scored 16 and Chris Gouldingfinished with 12.

The Crocs were no doubt upset with this loss, this is one gamethey are sure they could have won. Michael Cedar finished with 14, Jacob Holmesand Eddie Gill 13 apiece and Peter Crawford 12.

At a personal level, the Crocs won the retro jersey battle. TheBlaze’s Rollers get up just didn’t feel like the Rollers, the green wasn’t asvibrant as it should have been. The Suns kit looked great. They yellow come upa treat on the TV.

(Box Score)

Adelaidebeat Melbourne, 95-89

One day you are beating the highly fancied Wildcats, the next dayyou are losing to the bottom of the ladder 36ers. This is not to discredit the36ers, I truly believe they are better than their current position on theladder suggests, it is only a matter of time before they begin to climb.

In what is now a typical trait of the NBL both teams come out ofthe block running, gunning and putting points on the board real quick.Ironically, it was after half time when the Tigers began to slow down and withfatigue being a factor the 36ers came from behind for the six point victory.

Stephen Weigh had the type of game his skill set suggest, Weighfinished with 24 points and 7 boards. Diamon Simpson works well with DanielJohnson inside, Simpson grabbed 12 boards and scored 18 points and Chris Warrencontinues to his big shots, scored 16.

I think Patty Mills had already made his decision to ricochet toChina. This game was more for Mills than it was his team. Mills launched shotsas he was fit on his way to 32 points. Cam Tragardh had 18 and Ronald Dorseyscored 14. Rebounding has been a problemfor the Tigers all season long and it is worse when Matt Burston is sitting onthe sideline. The Tigers allowed 10 more offensive rebounds than the 36ers andgave up 8 more second chance points.

(Box Score)

Taipanshold on against the Breakers, 80-78

What can be said about this game that wasn’t already scripted andexpected other than the Taipans holding strong on their home court.

Abercrombie finally decided to grace the leagues fans with some ofthat splendid potential of his and had more than 20pts in a game with 21pts and8reb, Darryl Corletto was his sidekick for the night with 15pts of his ownseeing as CJ Bruton was having a rest night, the old fella just couldn’t get apoint on the board in his 25+ minutes of court time, not something you wouldhope or expect from one of the most potent scorers ever to play in this league.

Gary Wilkinson was mediocre by his standards so far this year andonly had 11pts and 5reb, Cedric Jackson was hampered by foul trouble andcouldn’t get into any kind of rhythm before fouling out of the game with 10pts5reb and 4ast.

The Taipans, known for at most time not being the most offensivelypotent team in the league could have played a 3 on 3 tournament and almost wonit.

Alex Loughton welcomed back some form with 22pts but only 4reb,Andrew Warren chimed in with 21pts of his own.

But it was Jamar Wilson who willed the Taipans to victory with his20pt 7reb 5ast game, when your 2 best big men have a combined 7 reboundsbetween them (Crosswhite and Loughton), it’s going to be a long night, luckilyCrossy had 7 assists to make up for his lack of any other kind of production.

The Taipans were lucky to hold on and need to thank their luckystars for this win.

(Box Score)

Hawks godown at home to the Wildcats, 70-86

The Hawks, well it’s hard to say this but they just didn’t decideto turn up in this game. If you looked at the box score in a black background with greentext, it would look like a feed of the matrix, you would know there was stuffthere, but you would just never be able to make anything out, apart from the11pts from Oscar Forman and the 12pts by Showron Glover, everything else lookslike there was a glitch somewhere.

The Wildcats, after the loss from the Friday night where they hadcontrol of the game for 3 quarters and let the game slip away were determinednot to let it happen again.

Matt Knight is playing some fantastic ball and again started offon fire finishing with 14pts and 7reb, Luke Nevill doing what is expected ofhim, rebounding well with 8 boards and Cam Tovey starting to come back intosome form.

Kevin Lisch has hit a little slump after leading the league inscoring so far this year and had a poor performance by his standards, but itseems Shawn Redhage is picking up the slack with 18pts and a return to form,Brad Robbins continuing to fill in well in the absence of Martin and JesseWagstaff proving to be a contributor off the bench.

The Cats can live with the 2 from 4 record after 4 games on theroad over consecutive rounds, 3 would have been preferable and was in reach,but it wasn’t to be, now it’s just a matter of making sure home court isprotected and a high playoff berth should be a given.

Did anyone else notice Showron Glover standing next to Luke Nevill? lol.

(Box Score)

Can’t buy a DamnThing Award

This week’s award goes to none other than Patty Mills andhis quick departure for greener pastures in China.

Patty in his time in the NBL brought with him hype thathelped to see new fans come out to watch games, the formation of the AmbushArmy and some much needed life into Melbourne Basketball.

What Patty probably doesn’t realise is that he is there forthe whole season unless he gets cut, so if the NBA comes back, there will be nomore 3 goggles in Portland for some time, and also China has a media ban ontwitter, what is he going to do in his spare time now?

Nothing could be finer than Patty playing inChina............. unless he feels like having a tweet.

Gimme My Change Award

This week’s award goes to almost all the east coast imports,who finally realised they are paid to play as import players and are meant toprovide more than just towel waving on the bench.

Everyone decided they would make sure they weren’t the firstimport to be given marching orders this year and gave great personalperformances.

Funny enough the only import to have an under producingweekend was Kevin Lisch, since he has long term contract, the memo that wassent to all the other imports must have been lost in the mail, never mindKevin, you’ll just have to get back to the top of the NBL scoring list nextweek.

No Patty, wrong China.

Special Mention

We’d like to make a special mention this week to our oldmate Wortho, and no Wortho, it’s not about the mo.

Wortho’s little man turned 2 years old and we just wanted tosay a quick congrats to the Worthington family and hopefully we will be seeinganother one in the league someday.

NBL Wrap Round 6- Caught up in the Mo-ment

2011-11-13T21:08:00.001+08:00

Mark Worthington and the rest of his Blaze cronies managed to finally play good for a mo-ment in time. More on that later. Though not quite 'Hulkamania', will 'Blazamania' finally set in on the Gold Coast?

Crocs steal game inOT. Townsville 95, Melbourne 88

With the game down the stretch, both teams hit big shotafter big shot, trying to shake the other team. Crawford, Mills, Gill, Ubaka,Greer all hitting shots when it mattered…. Greer? Yep its true, he did. With1.8 seconds left on the clock Eddie Gill is at the line after being fouled on agame winning drive. The ice cold Gill comfortably knocks down the first shotand rattles out the second. Bot teams looking stunned as the clock counts downto overtime.

NBA wash up Eddie Gill clearly got the better of NBAbenchwarmer Patty Mills, Gill not only winning the game but also the head tohead. Mills though is clearly winningthe referees hearts, some calls clearly stating that Mills is a protectedspecies in the NBL.

It is apparent that the Crocs would have won this inregulation if Jacob Holmes didn’t fancy himself as a scorer, just stick to whatyou do best son. Rebound. Eddie Gill lead the way with 30 points and 7 dimes,no doubt he will be upset with himself over the 6 turnovers. Peter Crawford wassolid finishing with 23 points whilst Jacob Holmes jacked up 14 shots for his13 points and 13 boards.

Cam Tragardh has found some terrific form as of late,scoring 26 points and hauling in 14 boards against the Crocs. With thepossibility of a NBA season Mills might be heading to the US soon and theimpact of that will be nullified is Tragardh continues to be on fire. No doubtUbaka, who was quiet tonight will come alive when he gets the ball in his handsmore often Mills finished with 16 points and continues to try to silence hiscritics by passing the ball ten dimes for ten assists. Tommy Greer had acaptain’s knock, notching up 14 points and 9 rebounds.

(Box Score)

Breakers Belted byHawks. 81 – 63

Most consider the Breakers contenders but this week theylooked more like pretenders getting schooled by the tight knit Hawks. Thoughlike most Breaker games, this one started at a blistering pace however thatquickly changed. The Breakers game became just as ugly as their home court.

In a gritty game more suited to the Hawks style of playWollongong held true and showed the fewKiwi fans that turned up, their style of play that is so frustrating foropposing fans to watch. The Hawks ability to find the open shot time after timeis uncanny and they all play their roles beautifully. The longer the game wentthe more they looked a whole grade ahead of the Breakers.

Rhys Martin’s confidence has been sky high ever since hisBoomers campaign before the season. Martin added another 20 points to hisseason tally whilst the next best performer was Joevan Catron with 10. TheHawks don’t beat you individually; they beat you as a team. Larry Davidsonfinally got back out on the court with who knows how long out with concussion.Godd to see you back in the action big fella.

The Breakers aren’t really know for their stock exchange,but on this night they got to exhibit their ‘all ordinaries’. Bruton had 10 anda stack of other players had 8 apiece. Don’t fret too much Breaker fans, sometimesyour team just plays terrible. This was one of those nights.

(Box Score)

Kings beat 36ers inOT, 111 - 104

Not to be outdone for game of the round the 36ers and theKings decided to take their game to overtime also. Though this one was a littleless exiting than the Crocs v Cubs game. With just less than a minute to go inregulation Stephen Weigh buried a three pointer to even the scores. Both teamfrom there botched potential game winning shots until the buzzer sounded.

Adelaide promptly fell asleep in overtime allowing the Kingsto go on a 7 point run. Julian Khazzouh fouled out when his team needed himmost. In turn the 36ers nailed a couple to make it a game before both teamswent on a turnover parade to see the time down enough for Adelaide to beginfouling to draw the game out. Sydney held out for a 7 point victory.

Khazzouh can thank the 36ers for their clumsiness, theirturnovers costing them a shot at winning. The Khazz-man scored 27 points andgrabbed 8 boards whilst Kevin Ratzch scored 24, Ben Magden 20 and Aaron Bruce18.

Sometimes you feel if it weren’t for Daniel Johnson the36ers wouldn’t be able to put runs on the board. Johnson scored 25 points withhis 8 boards whilst Chris Warren fired 21 points and dropped 7 dimes.

(Box Score)

Blaze Bury Wildcats,107 – 92

Things change when you are hitting your shots. The smilewere back on their face, the fists were pumping in the air, a swagger in theirstep and basically thinking they are the best in the world. Yes, things aregreat at the Blaze camp as they put on an inhumane performance to outdo the Wildcatsby 15 points. It’s easy to forget that the Blaze were searching for their firsthome win and their second win for the season and as a group they need to make sure they don’tget ahead of themselves, after all, it’s only one game.

Adris Deleon waltzed into the team and took no time inadjusting to the Blaze’s unstructured offence. Deleon dazzled with his speedand uncanny ability to change direction on a dime and hit a multitude of hugeshots on various Wildcat heads. Deleon impressed with 21 points and 8 assistswhilst Mark ‘handle-bar electric’ Worthington went 4/5 from deep on his way to 22and Anthony Petrie was effective around the ring for 19.

Though the Wildcats were frustrated at times they didn’tplay bad, they just had no answer for the hot hands of the Blaze. Luke Nevillwas too tall for the Blaze on his way to 22 points, Kevin Lisch worked hard forhis 19 and Matthew Knight pounded away for 18.

Both teams like togamble from behind the arc, it paid off for the Blaze shooting 13/25 for 52%compared to 5/21 (24%) for the Cats. The Blaze were desperate and they found alittle something extra. The Blaze are looking great with their Movember effortsand it’s good to see a team dig together to fundraise but a loss here and theBlaze could have been fundraising for themselves (the depression, not theprostate cancer).

(Box Score)

Wildcatshold on against the Taipans, 70 - 64

To play 2 games in a week in theNBL is a tough gig, to play back to back without a day’s rest is the worstpossible draw any club could get, that’s what faced the Wildcats this round.

After the butt kicking dished outby the Blaze on Saturday night, the Wildcats had the 2^nd game of thetoughest round of their 2011 season still to go against the Taipans, a placewhere the Cats haven’t won in almost 3 years.

Expectations on the Wildcats arehigh with the personnel on their roster, they are regularly touted as finalsfavourites and expected to go deep into the playoffs, but even the greatest ofteams would find a back to back weekend a struggle.

The Wildcats came out and got offto an early start in much the same fashion they did against the Blaze, MattKnight taking the reins and getting off to good starts sets up the rest of theteam to get into a good offensive flow.

In what could prove to be fatigueand readjustment to the competitive game, Shawn Redhage had 2 less thanproductive outings by his standards scoring only 16pts for both weekend games,16pts is what you expect to get from Redhage on any given night.

Kevin Lisch was again the teamstop scorer and was also the teams leading rebounder, Lisch had a 14pt 7rebouting, less than what he also has been producing lately which saw him win theNBL player of the month award. Brad Robbins again produced wellin the absence of Martin and replacement Everard Bartlett showed he’s not justthere to make up numbers, Robbins having another decent outing and Bartlettshowing he has legit skills to be in this league joining Lisch on dropping 3from behind the arc and ending up with 11pts.

The Taipans threw the Blazestactics at the Wildcats and let their import point guard take it at the Catsbackcourt. Jamar Wilson did his thingagainst the tired guards of Perth, being only 2 rebounds off a triple doublehaving 18pts 10ast and 8reb. The Taipans kept the game closefor most of the first half, went down by 11 and then almost rallied back totake it from the Cats in the final period.

Ian Crosswhite took advantage ofthe defensive switches and ended p with easy baskets when the smaller playersended up defending him down low, Crossy had 15pts and a game high 11reb, afterhim and Wilson, no other Taipans player warranted much of a mention, so wewon’t mention them at all.

The Cats should considerthemselves lucky to have scraped out of Queensland with a win, something anyroad team would consider a good outing, and the best thing about it, theWildcats are lucky enough to get to do it all over again next round.

(Box Score)

Can’tBuy a Damn Thing Award

On a weekly basis this awardcould be given to OneHD for their absolutely disgraceful coverage of the NBL,but that would be too easy.

A nomination for anything otherthan our old mate Wortho’s moustache would be a crime to humanity.

Looking like construction workerfrom the Village People in a Blaze uniform, Wortho strutted his stuff on thecourt all night against the Wildcats and deserves the kudos he gets for thegame he had and for supporting the great cause of Mo-vember, but thosehandlebars with that hair do on national television is a fashion faux par ofepic proportions.

So everybody, let’s hear it for“Moustache moustache man, Mark Worthington is the moustache man”.

On a serious note, it is great to see Wortho and his men support a good cause. Although it is a good excuse to grow a funny looking mo and have fun with the boys in the process the money raised goes towards a good cause. A lot of men don't take their health and well being seriously, so to the men in the NBL taking part in Mo-vember, much respect from us at CBAB; and much jealously from Haggard who can't grow a moustache.

Gimmemy Change Award

If this were a statistical award,Eddie Gill from the Townsville Crocs would have this award on lockdown for thegame he had against the Breakers, but sometimes, stats just aren’t enough to beatout an amazing performance.

Adris Deleon, also known as@2hard2guard10 on twitter gets this week’s award for carving through the fearedWildcats backcourt defence like a hot knife through butter.

Not only does Deleon have aseriously awesome name to match his New York City streetball cred, the newBlaze point guard has the game to make his twitter handle seem like more thanjust a catchphrase.

Deleon crossed up Kevin Lisch,shot turn around fade away jumpers over Brad Robbins and ran around Matty Knightand Luke Nevill like they were planted to the ground on his way to 21pts 8reband 5ast.

It’s hard to remember the lasttime a player has had that wow factor from his hoop skills, everything fromsilky smooth handles to blistering speed, this guy has it all and should be anexcitement machine that all fans in the league should love to watch.

NBL Wrap Round 5: More bad diamond puns

2011-11-06T23:05:00.000+08:00

Breakers defeat 36ers, 99 - 90

The 36ers seem to have found a Diamon in the rough, and boy are they happy about it.

Diamon Simpson, the new import for the 36ers is proving his worth and with a few games under his belt is feeling more comfortable in his new surroundings and with his new team mates.

The former St Mary’s College all time leader in almost every statistical category has brought his polish to the NBL, and with his 20pts and 8reb lead the way for the 36ers against the dynamic and league leading Breakers.

Daniel Johnson after his player of the week performance against the Wildcats was again an integral part of keeping the 36ers in the game but was less than impressive after the show he put on last week and had 10pts 4reb but also dished out 3ast.

Spot the difference

Stevie Weigh continued his form with his new club and again put up double figure points with 12pts and Chris Warren with his 17pts was the other player to light up the 36ers offence but also had a team high 4 turnovers.

The Breakers, well they played exactly like everyone expected them to and were again dominant, lead by the Brian Scalabrine’s doppelganger Gary Wilkinson.

Wilkinson has been the driving force behind the Breaker machine with his play and has lead the Breakers to their number 1 spot on the ladder, in this game he announced he too deserves to be included in the MVP race with another great performance of 29pts 9reb.

Cedric Jackson is proving he could be the import pickup of the year and seems to be getting better the more he adjusts to his new team mates and the NBL style of play, his 16pts and 11ast was only bettered by Thomas Abercrombie points wise who had 17 of his own and allowed a spread of scorers for the Breakers including Darryl Corletto with 14pts and big man Alex Pledger with 10.

Probably the most amazing stat for the game was the fact that CJ Bruton, once the most prolific scorer in the league had zero, we repeat zero points for the game, not something likely to happen often or even again, but it is proving the veteran is slowing down and can be held to a low score.

The Breakers are legit again this year, after getting over the choker hoodoo that has hung over their heads for many years after being held as title favourites many times before, winning the title last season it seems the taste of winning hasn’t worn off and the boys from across the pond are ready to ask “please sir, can I have some more”.

(Box Score)

Tigers demolish the Kings, 94 - 76

Its official, Julian Khazzouh is human, maybe not on the boards, but offensively, he can be held to under 20pts a game, and the Tigers on this night were JK’s kryptonite.

Even with two superheroes the Kings have struggled

What most fail to realise is the impact of his front court counterpart Jerai Grant and his pairing with Khazzouh has provided, Grant, while not an offensive juggernaut just yet is locking down the low post area and creating mismatch problems for opposing front lines, not only do you have to deal with his athleticism, rebounding and shot blocking, but you have to deal with it on top of what Khazzouh already provides, scary front court duo, you better believe it, it’s like having to play against Superman and Batman on a nightly basis.

What is the best sign for the Kings is the play of Aaron Bruce as their starting point guard, Bruce is playing to the level hoop fans expected after a stellar career at Baylor in the NCAA.

Bruce lead the team offensively with 25pts on the night, outscoring even the Tigers scoring machine and league leader in points per game Patty Mills.

Bruce was helped by 13pts and 16 big rebounds from Julian Khazzouh, of those 16reb Khazzouh didn’t discriminate between offence and defence, grabbing 8 on each end, Kevin Ratzsch was solid in this game with his 14pts and 8reb to provide a total front court rebounding number of 33 between him, JK and Grant, not bad for any front line.

Signs are good for the Kings, all that is needed now is to get those wins on the board, its coming, just give it time Sydney fans.

The Tigers played how everyone expected, lead in scoring by Patty Mills along with contributions by Cam Tragardh and Ayinde Ubaka, not much more can be said that hasn’t already been said in the wrap up of previous weeks, it’s almost like a script of Neighbours or Home and Away, you know what to expect every week.

Regardless of that though it doesn’t make them any less exciting to watch, you know who the ball is going to, and you know who is going to do the scoring, Mills had a team high of 20pts and funny enough showed he may have the point guard skills everyone has hoped for and had 8 dimes, you heard right, he had 8 dimes, more than Ubaka which is a rare occasion.

Ubaka did what he does well and plays a combination in the back court of ball handler and off ball shooter with Mills and he swapping those roles as the game dictates, he had 12pts and 6ast of his own and was the 3^rd double digit scorer along with Mills and Tragardh who also had 15pts of his own.

The Tigers are now solidly entrenched as equal second with the Wildcats on the ladder, how long and if they can stay at that level is questionable, but after last year’s debacle of a season, Tigers fans have positive signs that this season will not be a repeat of the last.

(Box Score)

Wildcats take down the Hawks, 87 - 71

It was a tale of triple 13’s for the Hawks, 3 players equal top scored with 13pts a piece for the Hawks, not a set of numbers we have ever seen on a scoresheet, why is it significant, well it isn’t, we just sometimes like to point out the obvious, it’s how we roll.

The play of the man with probably the best hoop name in the NBL this year Joevan Catron was what Hawks fans were looking forward to, along with the inclusion of new import point guard Showron Glover into the regular rotation.

Glover has some of the best handles of any player seen in the NBL for many years and has the speed and control to make you say “wow, those are some sick handles” when watching him live, he and Catron give the Hawks a good import combo to be excited about.

Catron and Glover were 2 of the players in the 13pt club along with the Hawks veteran Matt Campbell, what was amazing for Catron though was that after last weeks showing, he unbelievably had zero rebounds and was having a hard time against the Wildcats frontline, who threw Luke Nevill, Matt Knight and Jesse Wagstaff at him, not something any frontcourt player would hope to see on any given night.

Sav did most of the rebounding for the Hawks and lead the team with 9 for the game, but the amazing stat of only 8 assists for the Hawks as a team was the most shocking considering how well they were moving the ball around the perimeter and getting open looks.

The Wildcats, after last week’s shock loss to the 36ers had something to prove and wanted to show they were still one of the teams to be considered for the spot in the finals, and while in the first half their execution wasn’t what was hoped for, they did control the game and kept the Hawks from getting settled.

The loss of Damien Martin seemed to have rattled the Cats the week before, but no longer, with training player Everard Bartlett elevated to the playing roster as another ball handler and guard, the youngster didn’t disappoint and was given some good playing time.

Kevin Lisch was almost back to his usual self, and while 17pts 6ast is a good night for most players, for Lisch it at times can seem subpar considering the level he has been playing at, what was a rare occurrence was the 6 turnovers he had, for a player who is known for his ball security and poise under pressure, the stat is not something he will be proud of or something likely to be seen again.

Brad “Angry Ant” Robbins, or Robbo for short was the motivator of the team in this game, perhaps inspired by the release of the new “Angry Ant” comic T-Shirt which he rocked during the week, Robbo brought his offensive production to a new level with Martin out and had 16pts 6ast and a Martin like 6 steals.

The big men up front controlled the game though, Matt Knight was superb defensively and on the boards, something that proves what he can do when healthy, he and Luke Nevill controlled the game and Nevill showed great hands around the rim getting hold of pin point passes and executing down low, Nevill had a season high 13pts to go with his 5reb, and Knight, while not producing his usual offensive numbers was big on the boards with 10 and provided the block of the night.

The Wildcats were not executing offensively as well as what fans at the jungle expect, but came out with a solid win against quality opposition, is this something that the rest of the league should be worried about, more than likely, because when the Cats get it together, you can believe they are not someone you want to be seeing as an upcoming game on your schedule, this is a warning to the league, the Cats are coming and they are only getting better.

(Box Score)

Tigers tame Taipans, 80 - 63

Showing no signs of fatigue the Tigers got to work against the Taipans, essentially stopping them in their tracks. Maybe more true to the fact is that the Taipans unit flew south and put up a very lacklustre performance against a team who had played on the road two nights ago and headed home. Either way this is an embarrassing result for the snakes.

Some Tigers were flopping like it was a poker table

Fans got to see the other side of Patty Mills tonight, the side that requires a lot of shots but with no streak. Shooting a meagre 25% the Patty Mills happy fun time hour failed to show and in its place the fans were treated to The Tonight Show with Cam Tragardh. Tragardh scored an efficient 17 points and grabbed 9 boards, Lucas Walker and Tommy Greer were the live band to support host Tragardh, Tommy and Lucas finished with 13 points apiece. Mills had to settle for a secondary role with 10 assists, enough to silence his critics for a week or two. Aussie talent got the Tigers this game with the imports responsible for 11 points and 7 turnovers.

Cairns did themselves no favours scoring a weak nine points in the first quarter though more alarming is that the Snakes defence allowed 29 points, and it could have been worse if Bennie Lewis wasn't missing everything at the end of the of the first. By the time the Taipans had kicked into gear the Tigers had eased off, the game had already been decided.

Jamar Wilson continues to make strides in the leagie. J-Will scored 19 points and grabbed six boards, Alex Loughton fumbled around for 12 points whilst Andrew Crosswhite managed 10. Cairns are making a habit of visiting the stock exchange.

(Box Score)

Can’t Buy A Damn Thing Award

Cairns were terrible from the floor managing 32% as a team shooting 23 from 73 from the field. The top three scorers mentioned earlier weren’t overly efficient but the rest of the team were disgraceful. The Taipans not names Jamar Wilson, Alex Loughton or Andrew Crosswhite combined for 8 from 39 from the field, a crummy 20%. Basketball is a team game and when the team puts up this sort of junk, it just stinks. Get this trash out of our face.

How opposing point guards see Robbo

Ubaka's dismal performance in this game should not go unnoticed either. 2 points, three assists and four turnovers in 22 minutes is unacceptable for a top tier import.

Gimme My Change Award

Brad Robbin’s had the kind of game no one ever expects him to and he did finish with 6 assists, 6 steals and 16 points at 88% from the field, but the Angry Ant gets the nod this week for a particular passage of play.

With the game within two points almost midway through the final quarter Robbo unleashed. In a three and a half minute passage of play Robbo ignited for three steals, three assists and two points, blowing the lead out to 14 in that time. The Hawks were frustrated by Robbo’s pressure and it took them out of the game.

NBL Wrap Round 4: Pushing and Shoving

2011-10-30T22:18:00.002+08:00

36ers stun Wildcats,100-92

Bottom of the ladder Adelaide 36ers ventured west to take onthe yet to lose a game Wildcats. From out of the blocks the 36ers set the pace,the Wildcats on the back foot. Simpsonand his donkey set foot on Australian soil to assist his battered team, onestill reeling the 36 point shellacking in round one, but tonight was going tobe different with the 36ers boasting not only Simpson but Adam Ballinger (thedonkey??) and the Wildcats without the smiling assassin in Damian Martin.

Things got heated when Steve Weigh gave Shawn Redhage a shove;coincidently it was the exact same shove Weigh served upon Bubbles Goulding onthe same court a few seasons back. Nathan Herbert also gave Red Dawg a furthershove for good measure before the usual chesting up occurred. The aftermathgave the Wildcats six consecutive free throws and possession, a situation wehave not seen in professional ball.

It is a cliché to say that it is ‘not your night’ but theWildcats could put up an argument that it in fact wasn’t their night, a fiveminute patch in the first quarter returned one basket, two turnovers, twoconsecutively missed free throws and 12 missed field goals which really set thetone for the Wildcats for the night.

This is not to discredit Adelaide, they came in with a planthat upset the Wildcats from the start and matched the usual Wildcat up-tempostyle of play and beat them at their own game, often waiting for the press toover-commit before pushing the ball up the floor quickly. Good work on the winboys, too bad it still keeps you in last position; however when you continue toplay like that your rise up the ladder will be a quick one. 60% from the flooras a team is huge. Daniel Johnson scored 22,
Steven Weigh had 16 points, 10 boards and three blocks in his return to theJungle and Crosswell played well for 15.

The Wildcats will obviously learn from this game and areexpected to unleash in their next game, Watch out Wollongong. Redhage scored 21and dished 6 dimes, Lisch scored 15 and Greg Hire welcomed himself to the NBLas a fully contracted player with 12 points. Keep an eye on Hire, his energycan create some awesome things out on the court.

(Box Score)

Hawks pip Taipans,69-64

After a slow start the Hawks finally got into gear, it was aslow one but it was enough to get them over the line against the CairnsTaipans. The game was scrappy but that is probably how both teams like it. TheTaipans were bolstered with the return of Alex Loughton who was good at freethrows but offered little else. We are certain Alex’s workload will pick up ashe is eased into full time duties.

On the other end of the court the Hawks were having freethrow problems of their own. First was the issue of getting to the line, thesecond issue was the percentage and even then it was only two players. GlenSaville’s one from two and Catron’s 2 from 6 the only free throws for Hawks inthe whole game combining for a lousy 38%. It was outside where the Hawks weremore effective going 10 from 20 from deep.

For the Hawks, Timmy Coenraad led the charge with 16 pointsand Joevan Catron scored 15 whilst
Rhys Martin scored 12 and had 9 assists.

Last week’s hero Andrew Warren was MIA having a shockingnight with stats so bad we cannot talk about it. In a characteristic result sofar this season Brad Hill was surrounded by the stock exchange. Hill ended thegame with 19 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks.

(Box Score)

New Zealand 76,Sydney 59

At least Sydney are getting better, right? A fortnight aftergetting decimated by the Breakers by 37 points the Kings effectively halved it,this time losing by 17 points. After a disappointing start and losing by 12 atquarter time the Kings managed to pull within two points which turned out to bethe Breakers teasing the NBL’s royalty, the Breakers from there ran away withthe game.

Playing for the first time at Vector Arena the Breakers puton a show. The court looked good, the crowd was large and the Breakers had abig win. No doubt the boys are drooling at the mouth just thinking aboutplaying their next game there.

A police escort would sort the King's turnover woes

Sydney have had problems looking after the ball and thisgame was no exception. With 24 turnovers to the Breaker’s 12 Sydney were givingthemselves reasons to stay out of the game. Things could have been worse forthe Kings if the Breakers mustered more than nine points off those turnovers.

Who woke CJ Bruton back from the dead? Bruton put on avintage performance finishing the game with 21 points and 8 boards, almost onefor every three point shot he missed. Gary Wilkinson pounded away for 20 pointsand thieving Cedric Jackson ended with 6 steals and six assists. Cedric shallgiveth and Cedric shall giveth away.

Slow starts have dogged the Kings. It is always going to behard to get back into the game when you let it slide from the tip off. Julian Khazzouh scored 16 points and grabbed12 boards, Jerai Grant is becoming the beat the purple army were hoping for,Jerai scored 12 points and grabbed 6 boards whilst Aaron Bruce added 11 points,7 assists and still has not missed a free throw winning the CBAB FTW challenge.

(Box Score)

Townsville break GoldCoast, 78 - 70

Queensland clashes involving the Blaze don’t seem to havethe stigma a Crocs v Snakes game has but this does not mean that they are anyless intense. The Crocs rallied hard to head into the major break with a fivepoint lead only to be rewarded by having five fouls called against them twominutes into the third and nine fouls in total for the quarter.

Despite every effort and surge the Blaze put up trying toinspire the win, their score was always going to be south of Townsville’s, justlike their geographical location and just like their current place on theladder. Many predicted the Blaze to be contenders this season however we areyet to see that. Mark Worthington finished with 13 points and 8 boardsincluding a wide open dunk late in the game which poses a question. Does Worthodunk often? James Harvey dropped 17 points but had no support from his bromancer.

As for Townsville, they will not be happy with their recklessturnovers late in the game, particularly Elvin Mims (17 points and 9 rebounds) whoinjects energy into the Crocs had four of his five turnovers down the stretch.Michael Cedar who managed to bank a three ball off the glass finished with 12and Holmes, PC and Blanchfield rounded out the double digits scorers with 10 apiece.

(Box Score)

Hawks go down tothe Tigers, 74 - 82

In the last game of the round theTigers travelled to the “Gong” to take on the Hawks, who were dealt an earlyblow by having reliable big man Larry Davidson ruled out of the clash. The Loss of Davidson was going tohave the Hawks playing small ball for the game and relying on import JoevanCatron to fill up the middle.

Catron didn’t disappoint topscoring with 18pts and grabbing 6reb and dishing out 3ast, rotating the ballwell on the perimeter creating open shooters, he would have had more than the 3assists on the stat sheet were it not for the dismal 28% shooting from 3pt landfrom the Hawks on this night.

Helping on the scoresheet was TimCoenraad who had a serviceable 13pts and 6reb and Tyson Demos with 10.

Showron was kept in the showroom

What could have had more impacton the scoreline was the Hawks reluctance to use new import PG Showron Glover whoseemed to make plays every time the ball was in his hands and in his 4 minuteson the court managed 2pts and 6ast. The Hawks controlled the game forthe first 3 quarters, at times hold a lead of 12+ points, but the comeback fromthe Tigers was lead by none other than Patty “Skills” Mills.

Mills was carving up the Hawksdefence, splitting double teams like Dwayne Wade and getting to the rim,hitting spot up 3’s like Reggie Miller and showing why he is the fastest playerup the court in the NBL since Ricky Grace. Mills had 20pts for the game andwas efficient in his shooting going 4/8 from beyond 3 and was 7/13 for the game.

The rebounding and general dirtywork down low was handled by Matt Burston who along with Lucas Walker had 6rebeach, but the scoring load was handled by the usual suspects for the Tigersoffensively.

Cam Tragardh had 12pts, which isa little below his usual scoring average, but he did actually play some defenceand had a tough battle with Catron down low, Ayinde Ubaka had 14pts and was 4/6from beyond the 3pt line Daniel Dillon also had a decent night offensively with13pts.

The only worry so far for theTigers is the total irrelevance of Ron Dorsey and his inability to produceanything more than a “Also Played” on the stat sheet, with so many smallforward wing players on the Tigers, if he fails to start to produce could he bethe first import to go, or is his contract to bad to see a buyout happening,the Tigers want to see you do something Ron, they do Ron Ron Ron, they do RonRon.

(Box Score)

Can’tBuy a Damn Thing Award

This award was close to going toLuke Nevill of the Wildcats for his 0pt 1reb 1ast and 2 turnover game and a“Luke Who” type of performance against the 36ers.

But it was actually a 36ersplayer who gets the award this week, and if you remember your CBAB terminologythis player went all “Krispy Kreme” on us this week.

We present this week’s award toDarren “The Dr” Ng who had an almighty donut on the stat sheet and didn’tregister anything other than 3 or so minutes on court.

Here in WA we don’t have a KrispyKreme donut franchise store, and we thought Adelaide didn’t wither, but it seemsthe Dr brought his own dozen with him.

Gimmemy Change Award

There were no real outstandingcandidates for the award this week, a lot of great performances by manyindividual players, it seems the real winners were the hoop fans who managed tocatch a glimpse of their team.

But this award should go to the36ers this week, getting back their franchise player Adam Ballinger inspiredthe team to come out and defeat the highly favoured Wildcats on their homefloor deserves respect.

It seems the 36ers are the Catsbogey team and maybe that the old school rivalry may be heating up again to goback to the days of old, well done Adelaide, enjoy it while you can.

NBL Wrap Round 3: De Ja Vu and De Ja Me

2011-10-23T19:33:00.002+08:00

Kings royally destroyAdelaide, 94 – 71

It was looking like a familiar scene in the old kingdom ofthe Kings, a 0-2 start to the season when expectations were high and the hopesof being competitive in season 11/12 were looking more like a pipe dream thanreality (This pipe dream is different to Corey Webster's. More on that later).

Chants around the Kingdome to “fire Moose” are not thesounds any team want to be hearing in the 3^rd round of the season,but a message to the Kings from a band known as Queen, if you “Fire Moose, FireMoose......will he do the fandango”, not likely, and it’s not likely to be yoursaving grace either.

We see a little sihouletto of a man

The 36ers at 0-2 were also having a feeling of De Ja Vu(yeah we rhyme good here) and were looking at a bottom of the ladder spot againif a W was not put on the board. A return to the 36ers of their Red Headed Rocket, Captainand inspirational leader in Adam “Balls” Ballinger was a positive sign ofpossible things to come, but alas it was not meant to be.

With 4 players in double figure scoring it was just notenough on this night, Ballinger struggled after a long layoff and only went4/11 from the field but did have 7 rebounds to provide another presence on theboards.

Daniel Johnson produced the numbers more expected of aplayer of his size and skills, DJ having 14pts 9reb and 3blk’s but using 15shot attempts to get those 14pts is not the type of efficiency coach Clarke wouldbe looking for from him, having Diamon Simpson there to help on the boards andbe a post help defender should help DJ for his reported on lack of post defence,Simpson also had 10pts and 9reb but only took 6 shots to get those 10.

Chris Warren and Stevie Weigh were the other double digitscorers for the 36ers, Warren with 14pts 3reb and 2ast but also 4 turnovers,not the kind of assist to turnover ratio hoped for from your starting importpoint guard, Stevie Weigh also had 4 turnovers to go with his 11pts and 3reb.

But this was the night of the Kings, and the first Knight inSydney can only be one man, and we dub thee Julian Khazzouh, the only otherplayer to be considered other than Kevin Lisch as a candidate for MVP, and withnumbers like 26pts 13reb and 2blk’s, it’s hard for anyone to disagree, go on,we dare you.

It was also the coming out party for Anatoly Bose in frontof his home crowd Kings supporters, Bose turned it up louder than the speakersthat are his namesake and had 14pts and 10reb, Aaron Bruce showed he is alsonot one to be forgotten as just another player on the team with 18pts and 6astand Kevin Ratzsch probably saved his job with a decent showing of 12pts 7reband 3ast.

(Box Score)

Blaze light up theHawks, 83 - 58

OH MY...........................................what morecan be said here about this game, with all due respect to one of our twitterfriends Mili Simic, the Hawks were just flat out bad in this game, and that’sletting them off lightly.

The Hawks had 20 turnovers, 7 just from Rhys Martin who wasshowing signs of stepping up a level with his recent play, Zac Delany had 1minute of court time and had one turnover to go with it, Demos and the Sav alsocaught the turnover bug.

Only 2 players scored in double figures for the Hawks,import Joevan Catron who looks more out of shape than Eddie Curry after he leftthe Knicks was the Hawks top scorer with 13pts, but at least he didn’t have asingle turnover all game, Tyson Demos was the only other scorer in doublefigures with 10, even Big O Oscar Forman was mediocre with only 3pts and 3reb,and with the way Oscar has been playing since becoming a Hawk, with those typesof numbers it just wasn’t a good night for anyone in a Hawks uniform.

For any of our long time readers and fans, we used to have asegment called “Where’s Wortho”, well we had been considering revamping it fora return to CBAB, only this time it’s going to be called “Where’s Wortho’sOffence” after another mediocre offensive night by his standards.

As one of the elite players in the NBL for many years,Wortho has been the measuring stick for production for many players as far asoffensive production is concerned, what could possibly have happened toWortho’s offence, at least he still rebounds well which is a bonus.

Luckily for Wortho his team mates decided to help the oldfella out (we know Wortho, you’re really not that old), Chris Goulding,probably inspired by the return of his life partner James Harvey took thescoring reigns and had 16pts on the night and even almost shot 50% from thefloor, something he isn’t known for being more a volume shooter than anefficient one.

Gibbo, Will Hudsonand young star Jason Cadee all had 11pts a piece, wily veteran Stephen Hoareproved he is still a veteran who can produce with 10pts and the resurgence ofpreviously injured big man Anthony Petrie back into game shape with 13pts and5reb is a good sign for the Blaze who expect to be up there fighting for aplayoff spot at the end of the season.

Don’t worry Wortho, we got a case of beer with your name onit for when you come back to WA, but the only case you need to concentrate onright now is the “Case of the missing offence”.

(Box Score)

Tigers hold onagainst the Breakers, 67 - 64

Not a term we like to use at all but this game deserves itand that term is SLOBBERKNOCKER!!

While both teams are known more for their offensive prowessrather than defensive intensity, it could only be a defensive battle that keptthese 2 teams to less than 70 points each. The Breakers have the usual horror opening schedule reservedfor the Wildcats and have been on the road to open their campaign.

They seem to have found a great back court mate for CJBruton after losing Kirk Penney to the European leagues, allowing Bruton toplay more off the ball and be a spot up shooter than a creator, Cedric Jacksoncompliments CJ well by being a penetrator, and while he wasn’t quite at hisusual production level against the Tigers, he did create for CJ and carved upthe Tigers D like a freshly sharpened ginsu knife.

Bruton had a fair outing with 11pts and nothing else to addto the stat sheet, Gary Wilkinson is playing like a man possessed and islocking down the low block for the Breakers, he lead the team with 19pts and13reb.

It was also the return home for Daryl Corletto, back to theteam he had played for since he was 14 years old and who he left in mysteriouscircumstances, after a few tense moments early on all was forgiven and even hada mid court embrace with Seamus McPeake pre game.

It was much the same for the Tigers, only 2 players indouble figures and a usually potent offensive team struggling to score, unlessyour name is Cam Tragardh or Patty Mills that is.

Mills used his speed to cut through the Breakers defence likea ninja and made it seem at times as if it wasn’t there, Tragardh is doing thework down low and even though undersized has been locking down the starting 5spot.

The baller who refers to himself as Patty Cakes and selfproclaimed leader of the Ambush Army did his duty and produced a decent 19pts3reb and 2ast but also once again had a high ratio of turnovers with 5,Tragardh dropped in 18pts but only pulled down 2reb, not something you wouldexpect from the man starting at centre for your club and getting out reboundedby the point guard off the bench is something that needs to be changed if theTigers intend to compete for a playoff spot.

The game was close for the duration with no more than 5points between the teams at any given break, a style of game loved by fans ofthe NBL, only with a few more points on the board.

(Box Score)

Wildcats out last theCrocs, 93 - 85

With the Cats undefeated so far this season and looking likethe title favourites as many tipped them to be before the season started, itwas still going to be a tough ask to go into a place where the home teamdoesn’t like to give away games.

The Crocs came into the game with the best intentions ofpushing the Cats hard without their starting point guard Damien Martin butafter being down 33-11 in the first quarter and then being down 34-57 at thehalf, signs were not looking good.

The Crocs however rallied back in the 2^nd half toget the game back to within 3pts with former Wildcat Peter Crawford leading thecharge. PC as he is known around the league dropped 21pts to leadthe Crocs and was helped on the score sheet and on the boards by Jacob Holmeswho had 17pts and 13reb and by import duo Elvin Mims and Eddie Gill who had 12and 15 points respectively.

With Holmes clearing the boards, nobody else on the Crocsgot so much as a sniff of a rebound in the comeback, but the Crocs dug deep andpushed the Cats all the way until the end where the Cats depth and scoringpower was just too much.

Perth was lead once again by the unstoppable Kevin Lisch whoshowed why he is the current league leader in scoring and who is also gettingin on the MVP talk. Lisch once again shot an unbelievable clip at 58% from thefloor including 4/7 from beyond the 3pt arc.

Jesse Wagstaff is proving the time spent with the Boomersthis offseason improved his game and contributed 14pts to help with theoffensive load and Drew Williamson saw more court time with Martin out andstepped up with a helpful 10pts off the bench.

Shawn Redhage proved that he doesn’t always need to scorefor the Cats to win, and even though he had an off night by his standards withonly 9pts, he dished out a team high 7ast to control the game in anotherfashion.

With the Cats now being 3-0 and showing they can dominateteams on any given night, this is a warning to the rest of the league that thePerth Wildcats like having the top spot on the ladder and are on the prowl, sowatch out if you’re in the way.

(Box Score)

Hawks succumb to theKings, 95 – 89

Round three wraps up with the two New South Wales teamspitted against each other in their second game for the round. This isn’t somuch a rivalry, but more the Hawks wanting to wipe that smug News SouthWelshman smile from off their faces.

In a usual trend forthe NBL this year the home team tears out of the gate at full pelt, a pace thatis matched by the opposing team. Wollongong even went to on to take the lead inthe second quarter. Behind Joevan Catron and the Big O the Hawks were beginningto find their stride.

A six minute dead patch by the Hawks at the beginning of thefinal stanza allowed the Kings to turn a six point deficit into a seven pointlead. Seriously though, a six minutescoreless epoch is pretty bad. Coach Macleod’s temper would have been as red asteam’s home playing kit.

When the Hawks managed to switch back on the Kings couldwithstand the surge, Sydney holding out for the six point victory. Can youbelieve the Kings have won two games in a row in the one round? I’m certainthings aren’t as now as they were last week at the helm of the Breakers heyMookie?

Anatoly Bose has showed this week the type of player thefans want him to be. Bose led the way with 24 points. Julian Khazzouh had 20, Aaron Bruce17 with 7 dimes and Jerai Grant put in the type of game he is expected of with14 points, 14 boards and 4 blocked shots. IS basketball alive in Sydney? Who knows?

Joevan Catron’s 23 points and 8 boards weren’t enough. TysonDemos was good for 20 and Oscar Forman 16. Wollongong’s 2011 campaign hasn’tbeen what they have expected. It’s a long season guys, heads up. Your offenceseems alright; once the defence is sorted you’ll be ok.

(Box Score)

Can’t Buy a DamnThing Award

It is true that Aaron Bruce lit it up from outside in theKings v 36ers game shooting 80% from deep; but it is his fellow sovereigns that failed to register one from outside.Outside of Bruce’s 4 from 5 the rest ofthe monarchs shot a ‘blistering’ 0 from 9.

Off the court Corey Wester has been handed a one year ban fromsport after testing positive to a synthetic marijuana drug known as Kronic.Webster who has tested positive for marijuana previously claimed that he wasunaware the cigarette contained substances other than tobacco at the time ofsmoking. Not only does this raise a question on why a man who relies on their athleticperformance would choose to smoke the odd dart but how could a man who hastested positive for smoking pot before not know that there was a similar substancein the (I assume handmade) cigarette. Anyone want to explain that?

Gimme my Change Award

Click this text to go to our FTW page

Games are won and lost at the free throw line. Not that the Wildcats have been relying on late game freethrows to win games but Kevin Lisch has gone 15 from 15 in the three rounds to date. Thomas Abercrombie is up there do with an equally impressive 14 from 14 as id Aaron Bruce who is 12 from 12.

This leads us to our new segment called “FTW” which isn’t anacronym for ‘for the win’. It is for ‘Free Throw Watch”. Who is going to missfirst? Are you ‘Camp Kevin’ or ‘Team Thomas’ or 'Band Bruce'? Share your thoughts.

NBL Wrap Round 2: Lighting up the Scoreboard

2011-10-16T21:34:00.001+08:00

What is happening to the NBL? five games played this round, 5 teams scored well into the 90s. Are the teams beginning to find the best way to handle a 40 minute game?

Perth Annihilate Melbourne, 96 - 72

If social media was the only gauge measuring the buzz andanticipation in the lead up to a basketball game this this one was certain offthe Richter. After Perth Wildcats owner Jack Bendat proclaimed Whos Patty? [sic]fans and comrades alike took to social media to release their thoughts to themasses. Whether you actually cared about this game or not (there was a derbygoing on in North Queensland) you certainly wondered how the NBL’s Round 1player of the week would fair against arguably the best defensive backcourt inthe league.

Welcome to the jungle ,we've got fun and games

The Tigers got off to a comparable start thanks largely tothe role players who made plays to keep the Tigers in the game early. TheWildcats looked good when their starters were on the court but appeared tostruggle with the benchies on leading in to half time.

By the third period the Wildcats had ironed out their kinksand established the game as their own and despite some Tiger bursts in thefinal term the game never really looked in doubt, the Wildcats holding out foran 18 point victory.

Tiger stars Patty Mills and Ayinde Ubaka we obviouslyfrustrated by the intensity of the Wildcats guards. And although Patty Millsended up leading the team in points (19) he did take a lot of shots to get here(7/19) including 3/10 from outside. Ayinde Ubaka completed a horror night forthe Tigers back court going 0/9 from the field and turning over the ball fivetimes. Cam Tragardh finished with 18 and Liam Rush’s return to Perth saw himwith 12.

For the second week in a row Perth stood behind Kevin Lischand Shawn Redhage. Lischy scored a game high 22 points at 9/13 from the fieldand Red-Dawg completing a fantastic homecoming netted another 21 at 9/14 from the floor. A definite‘Welcome to the Jungle’ For Patty Mills.

(Box Score)

Crocs destroyTaipans, 95-67

Before we get stuck into this game, why was Jamar Wilsonputting his short on half way through the first quarter? Does anyone rememberhim wearing shorts prior to the footage of hi putting them on? I don’t. Beingnew to the country Australian basketball haves have wanted to see more of Wilson,but not like this.

Cairns looked lethargic from the opening tip, it can’t bejet lag as they didn’t have far to travel. Although 22 points isn’t a bad effort for afirst quarter catch it was the Crocs that couldn’t be caught firing for 29.

Things didn’t get better for Cairns, losing every quartereventually going down by 28 points to the terriers of the salt water. Granted that Wilson and Andrew Warren areplayers who look to run the Taipans should be looking at last year’s book forinspiration. Cairns were more effective when slowing the game down. Maybethings will change when Loughton re-joins the team. Wilson showed he hasnothing to hide with this 11 points but it was Warren that led his team with 16points and 7 boards.

The injury depleted Crocs managed to snap up this ‘SunshineSwing’ with ease. Eddie Gill stamped his mark on the NBL with 21 points and 4assists whilst Jacob Holmes had 14 points to go with his 8 boards. PeterCrawford had 15 albeit it a terrible clip (5/14). The Crocs weren’t looking toobad without their starting bigs. One would think that Ben Allen would berelishing the opportunity that has been given to him but the big fella has failedto show any life so far this season.

(Box Score)

Breakers decimate theKings, 98-61

What do you call a group of Kiwi basketballers? Acollective. The Breakers collectively served the Kings behinds on a platter andalthough the Breakers are yet to play at home but they made themselves feel athome in Sydney against the Kings handing the Kings their biggest home lossever.

With six players in double figures (Pledger & Corletto16, Jackson 14, Wilkinson & Abercrombie 12 and Bruton 10) the Breakers alwayslooked in control against a disorganised Kings unit. Cedric Jackson also foundtime to drop 8 dimes, Abercrombie swatted 4 shots and Pledger hauled in 12boards to boot.

Sydney who scored a disgraceful 7 points as a team in thesecond period, currently find themselves at the same end of the table they didlast season. Aaron Bruce is showing himself to be a good pickup and with time Ibelieve the Kings will develop, it is a long season and things can change. Frommemory the Wildcats dropped their first few last season and they went on tobecome semi-finalists.

Jerai Grant is an active player who needs to start doingthe things that matter on the scoreboard and not those little things that gounnoticed. Bruce shot 5/13 for 13 points, Julian Khazzouh 3/13 for 12 points,in fact the quiet Magden was the only royalty to shoot higher than 50%. Boysget your suits out, this performance is the first stock exchange of the season.

(Box Score)

Taipansstrike at the Blaze, 91 - 82

Basketball came back to the homethat the Brisbane Bullets once patrolled, if only for one game and to only onceagain get shot down.

Last season’s grand finalistscame up against a team many thought would make a noise in this year’s finals.

In a game that had no more than a3 pt margin between the first 3 quarters, this match up seemed to be one thatwould get the blood flowing back in the hoops lovers in the biggest city inQueensland and hopefully once again raise the profile for the re-launch of oneof the stalwart teams of the NBL.

The Blaze, lead by Will Hudsonwith 16pts 8reb and having 4 other players in double figures looked to be theteam everyone thought they were going to be this year, and on any other day, itwould have more than likely been enough.

Wortho was his normal self with asolid 13pts 9reb, Gibbo had 15pts 7ast, Tom Garlepp had 13pts but only 2reb,which for a big man is hopefully just and off night and youngster Jason Cadeehad a solid 12 pt outing.

The Taipans bounced back after ashocking loss at the hand of their Northern Queensland rival Crocs on Fridaynight and gave the Blaze all they could handle.

Lead by import Andrew Warren whowas out to prove the nay sayers wrong after his horrible performance in Friday night’sclash and bounced back with a game high 28pts to go with his 4reb and 4ast.

Fellow import Jamar Wilson alsogave some much needed help with 13pts 6reb and 4ast, old faithful Dusty Rychartwas his usual workmanlike 14pts and 3reb and Brad Hill relishing his new rolewith 13pts and 7ast.

Play like this is not uncommonfor the Taipans, on any given night they can flat out light you up or flat outstink, you just never know which version of the team is going to turn up.

The Blaze got the version theyweren’t hoping for this night, and the Taipans doing it all without starforward Alex Loughton, can the Taipans keep up this form, or will they beflipping the coin to see which version turns up in round3..............................heads or tails?

(Box Score)

Hawks swoop onAdelaide, 97 - 89

In a milestone game for one ofthe favourite sons of The Sandpit, they wanted to get a win for the guy who hasbeen around since there literally was only sand in the pit.

The 36ers came into the Hawkshome court wanting to get a win on the special night of favourite son MatCampbell who celebrated his 500^th game for the Hawks.

Renewed by their new off seasonadditions and having a game under their belt (albeit at the hands of the redhot Wildcats) the 36ers are starting to gain team chemistry and believe theaddition of Stevie Weigh, new signing Diamon Simpson and Chris Warren give themthe firepower they have so sorely lacked in previous seasons.

Warren lead the way with 25ptsincluding 4/8 from 3pt range, he was helped by Mitch Creek with 18 who was alsoefficient with 7/9 shooting from the field and Stevie Weigh who had 12pts and 6rebounds.

New import and St Mary’s alumwith Patty Mills was Diamon Simpson, who in his first game for his new clubshowed his potential once settled in with 15pts and 6reb in only 20 minutes,looks like the 36ers have found a Diamon in the Rough.

This night though belonged to theHawks and their legion of loyal fans welcoming the milestone of their hometownhero.

And a fitting spectacle it was withCampbell as one of the 3 top scorers for the Hawks with 16pts, joining him wasRhys Martin and Oscar Forman, who seems to have picked up where he left offlast year in the rebounding stakes and had a game high 11 for the game.

We will have to see how the Hawksdo against some of the stronger opposition in the league, but as we have seenin years before, never under estimate a team coached by Geordie McLeod.

(Box Score)

Can’t Buy a DamnThing Award

People like Ayinde Ubaka and Ben Allen are spared from theshame of this award this week. This wee the award goes to the bright sparkscheduler who thought it was a good idea to give last year’s champs a four gameaway game start to the season. The good news is that the Breakers haven’t droppeda game yet despite not playing one at home yet. The bad news is that localpunters need to wait one more round before the get to watch their heroes in theflesh.

If the Breakers have been this good away then how good arethey going to be at home?

Gimme my ChangeAward.

Players come and players go, that the way of competitivesport, but Mat Campbell has been around since the dawn of time. Playing his 500^thgame this week, all for the Hawks the man known as “Soup” joins the likes ofBrett Maher, Andrew Gaze, Mark Bradtke, Leroy Loggins, Ray Borner and JamesCrawford to become the 11^th player to reach the 500 game mark (afeat that will take just over 6 full seasons in the NBA… if that was running, but a feat that takes eternity in the NBL).

Can you name any more of the NBL’s 500 gamers?

NBL Wrap Round 1: It Goes Off, We Go Offline

2011-10-09T23:09:00.000+08:00

A new season falls upon us asquickly as it left. Last season’s heroes no longer matter. New players havecome, players are gone, Kirk Penney has left for um, er.. greener pastures andBilly Mildenhall retired. Does anyone remember Homicide? I thought the NBL was ‘nothing’without him. With players such as Patty Mills, Jerai Grant and Chirs Warren pitted against the current startsof the NBL this season is going to go off. We just need stay up real late towatch it and avoid social media if we don’t want to know the outcome of thegame before we watch it.

Breakers scorch Blaze 102 - 87

The reigning premiers returned toAustralian terra firma to tip off the new NBL season albeit Penneyless. Hopingto continue where they left off the Breakers shot out of the gate at ablistering pace, but it was a pace the Blaze could match, if only in theinterim. With one point in it at three quarter time the Breakers kicked it intooverdrive and piled on 34 fourth quarter points to take a comfortable 15 pointwin.

Questions were raised on how theBreakers would cope without arguably the best scorer the league has ever seenin Kirk Penney and the instant offence Kevin Brasswell would supply from off the bench and if thisperformances like this become the norm then the Breakers have suitably answeredthem. Thomas Abercrombie was signalled out by Coach Lemanis as someone whoneeds to step up this season. Abercrombie went 8/11 from the field for 25points, Gary Wilkinson 21 points and 9 boards and Mika Vukona finally foundsome offence with 16 points.

On paper the Blaze seem to packas much offensive punch as any team in the league. Though without James Harveywho seems to never be fit when the season starts, Gold Coast still put a healthtotal on the board. It is great to see Anthony Petrie back on the court as heeases his way into full time duties. Mark Worthington wasn’t so much playing ‘Where’sWortho?’ but more a case of ‘Where’s Everyone Else’? Outside of Wortho’s 28,Will Hudson’s 18 and Adam Gibson’s 14 there isn’t a whole lot else to talkabout.

Should New Zealand continue toride hot and Thomas Abercrombie continues to lead the way, how long before theAbercrombie be the new

currency in Auckland?

(Box Score)

Melbourne Tigers 82 – Sydney Kings 76

The team who managed to land aNBA player up against the team that tried to. When coupled with a telecast thatwas delayed by up to six hours it was hardly the huge bonanza everyone wasexpecting a few weeks ago. Never the less, if you managed to stay awake thisgame didn’t disappoint.

Melbourne’s offence stagnatedduring the second period and those problems continued through the thirdallowing Sydney to set up a double digit lead. The Tiger’s began to apply thepressure through the final stanza and began the close the gap, hoping that the Kingsare in fact a royal purple on the outside and a golden honeycomb on the inside.

A criticism of Julian Khazzouh isthat he goes missing down the stretch and this game was no exception. Thoughthe big ‘Khazbar’ finished with a team high 18 points and 14 rebounds he wentmissing when it mattered scoring zero points and missing two free throws in thefinal quarter.

Without their big man firing oncylinders the Kings were never going to weather the Tigers surge. ‘Beastor’Jerai Grant finished with 16 point on 6/9 shooting but was a non-factor on theboards. As Sydney stalled Melbourne took the lead behind a series of Patty Millsand Ayinde Ubaka three pointers and held out for the six point win.

Patty Mills welcomed himself tothe NBL taking 18 shots to get himself 28 points whilst Ubaka took 11 for his22 points. With the Tigers starting back court accounting for 50 of their 83points there was little else to be done. Cam Tragardh scored 14 and new captainTommy Greer was the only Tiger with court time who failed to score. Doing theteam thing hey Tom?

(Box Score)

Cats trounce Sixers: 102 – 69

With the irony in Shawn Redhage’sreturn game in the very venue he sustained the sickening hip injury theWildcats, coming off recent success at the pre-season Blitz got to work againstlong-time rivals, the Adelaide 36ers. Although both teams have found themselvesat different ends of the ladder in recent years it hasn’t stopped some reallyintense encounters. Heck, even Adelaide won the series last season, but this isa new season.

Daniel Johnson worked hard tokeep his team in is early as did import Chris Warren and after a competitivefirst quarter things for Adelaide then went sour. Totally dumbfounded by the intensitythe Cats applied on both ends. Making stops and making the right plays theWildcats looked like a well-oiled unit making it hard to believe it was theirfirst game for the season. It became clear the Cats were going to win, the onlyvariable was by how much.

The irony seemed lost on Redhagewho after a slow start found his shooting touch. Going 6/9 from the land ofplenty Redhage not only scored 26 points, he cast aside doubts that he mightnot be the type of player he was pre-injury. It is still early but this game isa good indication. Kevin Lisch started white hot and finished with 23e pointsand 6 assists whilst Jesse Wagstaff who spent the offseason growing his hair scored22.

Although Chris Warren was shippedto Australia as Adam Ballinger’s hand luggage this little mans has a bigbasketball heart. With a few more games like this one Warren is going to earnthe respect of players and fans alike. The little man, although frazzled by theWildcats pressure finished with a team high 17 points whilst Daniel Johnson, assilky smooth as ever around the ring finished with 15 points and eightrebounds. Ex Wildcat Stephen Weigh saw nine points and ten boards in his newget up.

(Box Score)

Taipans edge Crocs: 81 – 76

The record books will show thatthe Taipans were the second best team last season but in North Queensland youare only as good as your last game against each other. Cairns had the energyleft to with stand a late Crocodile charge and hold out for a five point win. Bothteams were looking to win this one from the outside with a meagre 24 points inthe paint (14 for Townsville, 10 for Cairns) for the whole game.

To say Jamar Wilson was excited tobe playing for Cairns in the NBL is an understatement. Wilson led his team with23 points despite turning that ball over six times. Dusty Rychart, now a savyvet scored 16 points and grabbed 14 boards whilst Brad Hill had 11 boards to gowith his 15 points. Import Andrew Warren failed to impress and missed 4 shots,grabbed two boards, hand one assists, one turnover and one foul in 31 minutesof action. Makes me glad I picked the other Warren in my fantasy team.

Now things aren’t all that peachy at Camp Croc at the moment.Losing Rusty Hinder to a broken leg and Luke Schescher to a dodgy hipTownsville are still trying to adjust their game plan. Relying on their importsthe Crocs were competitive but always a step or two behind, they did comecharging home but it was too little too late. Elvin Mims finished with 17points and 9 rebounds and ex NBA journeyman Eddie Gill scored 13. Benny Allenis going to need to grab some boards if he wants to get some serious court timewhilst the Crocs main tall timber is out of action.

Interesting to note that theTaipans went 19/19 from the charity stripe. Townsville also had 19 shots fromthe line but sank 14. There’s the difference there.

(Box Score)

Breakers burn Wollongong, 98 – 82

New Zealand showed no hangoverfrom Friday’s game, again shooting out of the gate with great speed. In thesecond period Wollongong finally planted their heels and began to push back,chipping away at the score and taking advantage whilst the Breakers struggledto make baskets. Wollongong managed to tie the game at the end of the thirdperiod and even took the lead before the Breakers cocked their weapons and tookaim.

In effectively the eighth quarterthe Breakers have played this weekend, behind Cedric Jackson and CJ Bruton theBreakers piled on 40 fourth quarter points to bury the Hawks by 16 points.Jackson was the spark the Breakers were looking for down the stretch andfinished with 28 points and 6 steals. Gary Wilkinson added 16, Mika Vukonafinished a good scoring week with another 13 and CJ Bruton had 12.

Although the Wollongong crowd gotbehind their home town heroes the Hawks could not take it to the next leveltonight. Although Larry Davidson scored 19 points he grabbed one rebound. EhysMartin benefitted from increase court time with 16 points and 7 dimes whilstMat Campbell who is still showing signs of life scored 14.

The Breakers now find themselvessitting on top of the ladder with two away wins.

(Box Score)

Can’t Buy a Damn Thing Award

The first award for this seasongoes to a guy who hasn’t even played in the NBL (yet)... Andrew Bogut received thisweek’s award because although Andrew had publically stated that he wanted toplay in the NBL and had gone as far as committing to the Sydney Kings the dealfell through for the one thing that couldn’t be bought, being insurance. Nowthis is not to be taken the wrong way. We appreciate that things like thishappen and are just a disappointed as Bogut is over the fact that he can’tplay. I like Andrew’s passion for the game and his passion for Australia. It’snot every season the league toys with the possibility of having a genuine NBAstar take the court in a NBL game and this almost became a reality.

Gimme my Change Award

Six steals is a massive effort, ittruly is. As it 6/9 from down town, but it his Cedric Jackson’s and ShawnRedhage’s teams that takes the award this week. In the opening round we saw thescore eclipse the 100 mark twice. The Breakers hit 102 on Friday night againstthe Blaze and the Wildcats also hit 102 the following night.

Whether this is a sign of thingsto come, teams scoring hard and fast, an action packed league or whether it isa case of teams still adapting to the regular season is still to be seen. Onething is certain, it’s the NBL and it goes off!

If the NBL goes retro

2011-09-14T22:03:00.000+08:00

Yes, the league launched itself today. One of the many things the NBL announced was the introduction of the heritage round. Now this is something I have thought about and worked on for a little while but decent quality old school NBL pics are hard to come by but the heritage round announcement made me kick my tuckus into gear.

So here is CBAB's visual representation of what the NBL's heritage round could look like (without todays sponsors on the jerseys, who wears Reeboks these days anyway?). Who doesn't love a good throwback.

Benny Magden looking like Damian Keogh in the Kings get up from yesteryear

Adam Ballinger may looking to offload the ball but he is looking good in pinstripes

Patty Mills is giving an old school look a fresh vibe, the only thing missing is the three pointer goggles

Kevin Lisch has to sub himself out to see how good he looks in the classic black and red get up of the Wildcats

New Zealand Breakers statement on Corey Webster

2011-09-09T08:32:00.000+08:00

New Zealand Breaker and Tall Black Corey Webster was sent home prior to the Olympic qualifiers against the Boomers. Much specualtion has been surrounding Websters return to New Zealand and the Breakers released a statement this morning.

The statement says that the Breakers were informed by Webster that he recieved advice from the Australian Anti-Doping Authority regarding a "positive test for a prohibited substance".

The Breakers understand that Webster tested positive to a synthetic form of cannabis which is not illegal in New Zealand and is not performance enhancing. Webster is currently seeking legal advice and is planning to present a detailed case to the Arbitration Court.

The full statement can be read at http://www.nbl.com.au/news/article/2011/september/breakers-release-statement-on-corey-webster

Andrew Bogut as a King

2011-09-07T07:50:00.001+08:00

I guess this is the next installment in our "Andrew Bogut as a" range. After seeing what Bogues may look like in a Wildcats uniform we now get to see what he may look like dressed like a Sydney King

Sydney Kings General Manager David Wolfe recently 'wolfed' himself as he told media that the self proclaimed "best" club in Australia were making a play for Bogut's signature. Wolfe also rest assured that by telling the media that this is being done on the low unlike the other teams who... err... went to the media. Should they actually get Bogut then the potent front court combination of Bogut, Grant and Khazzouh then the Kings might get to actually be the considered when a conversation swings towards the best club in the NBL.

Andrew Bogut as a Wildcat

2011-09-05T22:48:00.003+08:00

Talk is heating up with a possibility that former Aussie NBA number 1 draft pick Andrew Bogut might be suiting up in the NBL. Should the NBA continue to be in lock-out then the likelihood of Bogut playing NBL basketball increases. All a team needs to do is cough up the quids to cover his insurance.

But what would Big Bogues look like dressed in a NBL uniform. Below is an artists impression of what Bogut would look like as a Perth Wildcat. I'm sure this image gets many Wildcats fan excited. If you are on Twitter then get behind Andrew's own label #bringBoguesback and let him know who you think he should play for and why.

Majok gets drafted fittingly to LA LA Land

2011-06-26T22:28:00.000+08:00

It should come as no surprise that the only person not surprised with the Lakers decision to draft Ater Majok was Majok himself.

Majok has always been Majok's biggest fan and when Majok is happy Majok talks in Haiku's. To the doubters, this one if for you

Chur Bro............and a Whopper to go!

2011-05-02T23:31:00.001+08:00

Well the season is over and with much regret, we are doing our final wrap up for the season 2010/11.

We are happy to have been your source for NBL news, wrap ups of the weekly action and a little bit of comic relief, and we thank you for your loyal following and hope we continue to amuse you and keep you coming back.

Now that we got all that out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff, the hoops.

The Grand Final series between the New Zealand Breakers and the Cairns Taipans is a matchup many thought was not the final series that was expected, with the reigning champion Wildcats looking good going into the playoffs looking like a resemblance of the title team from last year, the Crocs looking dominant for most of the year.

But playoff basketball is a totally different thing, and after the breakers had their scare against the Wildcats, they looked like they were going to be unbeatable, nobody expected the Taipans to beat the Crocs for the right to face them as the team with home court usually takes out the series, but we did say playoff basketball is something totally different.

The Taipans were full of confidence coming into the finals with their upset win over the Crocs, the team most thought would challenge for the title this year, but the upset put them back into the spotlight, and for a team that almost didn’t exist and was on the brink of collapse, what a Cinderella story, could they pull off the biggest upset in NBL history?

Game 1 started at a frenetic pace, both teams getting used to the calls made by the ref’s early on in the game, but it was the Breakers who came out for one thing, and that was to assert their dominance, and Kirk Penney was the one man wolf pack leading the charge with a game high 25pts 8reb and 4ast.

And assert it they did, even though the game was low scoring in typical Taipans style, 5 Cairns players managed double figure scoring, 3 players scoring 12pts a piece, was it a conspiracy, who knows, but the Taipans came to play, defence that is, they tried to make the Breakers play a half court grind it out style, and it worked, just a pity they couldn’t put points on the board to match their defence, 67 points in a grand final game is not something fans want to see, not the best showing for the first game, but thankfully the series got better.

Game 2could not have been scripted better if it was a Hollywood Blockbuster, after the game 1 live TV fizzer, the Taipans, on the brink of being swept came out in front of their home town fans with supreme passion and intensity, matching everything the Breakers had to offer.

One man took it upon himself to will the Taipans to force a game 3, and that man was Ron Dorsey, Dorsey was criticised for his lack of production a great deal this season, but this game he earned his cheque and keeping the Taipans dreams alive.

Dorsey hit key well beyond the arc 3 point shots to take the game into the NBL’s first ever double overtime in a finals series, was it luck, skill, we don’t know, but Dorsey willed himself to perform and bring his team to victory, and what an effort for his 22pts 9reb and 3ast.

Kirk Penney was under extreme defensive pressure and held to under 20 points, only Kevin Braswell and Thomas Abercrombie bothered the score keepers, this was going to what all fans had hoped for, a Game 3.

The Breakers had been the league’s most dominant team the entire season, and to come all that way after a semi final scare, it was only fitting that they came out to prove they were the team to beat.

In what was a low scoring, foul riddled battle of the league’s best offence pitted against one of the league’s best defence’s, game 3 saw the Breakers dominate from start to finish, all players from Cairns tried to do what they could to keep it close, but the Breakers were too much keeping Cairns to 51 pts and only allowing 1 player to break the double figure scoring mark.

Finally breaking their hoodoo of previous playoff choke jobs, taking the title off the Australian mainland and becoming the first foreign team to win an Australian sporting championship in the history of Australian sport, the Breakers are your 2010/11 iiNet NBL Champions.

The Breakers were crowned the Champs. Wilkinson can taste the Whoppers already

Thomas Abercrombie was surprisingly named playoff MVP, Kirk Penney will remember this as the year of the snub, as he was snubbed for league and finals MVP, who would have ever seen that coming.

So get the beers from the chilly bin, slip on your jandals, grab yourself a choice feed of fush and get fully sick bro, because the title is in New Zealand, and for almost another 12 months, it won’t be coming back, NBL teams of the Australian denomination, we want it back, you are going to have to go across the Tasman and take it, so show no mercy.

Until the new season starts, this will be our last wrap for season 2010/11, but we will try and bring you some interviews and other interesting things we think you will enjoy, until then, keep hoops alive, keep following us and if you have anything you would like to see us do in the offseason, let us know.

Until next season, all the best from Haggard and R-Diddy.

We apologise for the lame Kiwi lingo also.

Breakers v Taipans Grand Final Preview

2011-04-19T16:04:00.000+08:00

The minor premiers disposed of last year’s champions in a heated three game series, After losing game one at home the Breakers clenched up a little and could only hope to face a complacent Wildcats team over in Perth. To their surprise the Wildcats were complacent and Kirk Penney free throw shot the Breakers to a game two victory. Game three saw the Wildcats run out to a quick lead but after making some changes couldn’t quite get it right and could only watch on as the Breaker’s ran away for the first home win of the series and a berth in the grand final.

Cairns did things a little tougher than they were hoping for. Ayinde Ubaka forced game one in overtime with a long range dagger but The Taipans couldn’t hold out. Game two was never in doubt and the Taipans made big plays at the right time to take game three on the road. Cairns could be Austalia’s proudest city at the moment and the Breakers are doing it for New Zealand. Either way the NBL is going to have a first time champion in around a week’s time.

This year we see the highest scoring team in the league going against the lowest scoring team (barring Sydney). Will the Breakers uptempo gunning style of play come the goods or will Cairns drag the Breakers down to their level with a slower grittier style of play?

Cairns want to make this a slow battle and grind it out but that is easier said than done. Outside of Ayinde Ubaka do Cairns have the back court skills to match shooters Kirk Penney, CJ Bruton and Kevin Brasswell?

New Zealand relies on their fast starts and live by the three ball. Game one of the semis showed that they can also die by the three ball. Do they have a backup plan if the long shot isn’t working? When the shots are dropping every Breaker is hitting them but when they are off, they are all a long way off. Can the Breakers frontcourt in Vukona, Boucher and Wilkinson keep their fouls in check to take care of Loughton, Crosswhite, Rychart and Dorsey?

This series is shaping up to be a corker, it’s the tortoise versus the hare, blue versus orange, the team that once wore pink vesus the team that is retiring the jersey of a bloke who averaged 5 points a game in his career. Who have you got?

CBAB’s Keys to the series

This could come down to the battle of the closers, Ubaka versus Brasswell

Will the referees be paying attention to players setting moving screens or holding the man on the screen?

Dorsey has come alive in recent weeks, playing with visually more energy and attacking the rim

Big men with range- Both Wilkinson and Loughton are capable of hitting the long shot

Why Marto deserves to be NBL Player of the month

2011-04-15T11:39:00.001+08:00

Whether Daniel Eade likes it or not Damian Martin is going to go down as the NBL’s Player of the Month for March 2011.

Eade’s article points out that Martin averaged “just” 10.3ppg, 6.5rpg, 3.8apg and 3.3 steals per game through the month of March. Really, “just” 3.3 steals per game and a point guard averaging “just” 6.5 boards per game?

3.3 steals a game saw Damo swiping the ball twice as often as his nearest counterparts in the league, Gary Ervin thieved the ball 1.6 times per game through March.

To put Damo’s rebounding into perspective Julian Khazzouh grabbed 7.6 boards per game through March whilst Wilkinson hauled in 4.6 boards.

Whilst I do not think it is fair to compare players who played against each other as a basis of this award it should be noted that despite Ubaka’s 14 points against the Wildcats on 6 March Martin attributed to Ubaka shooting 36% from the field including 3/10 form deep and in the game on 26 March Ubaka shot 18% form outside and 33% from the floor, hardly a valuable percentage.

Wil Blalock may have dropped 14 points and dropped 6 dimes against the Cats but also turned the ball over 5 times. In the Wildcats game against the Blaze Adam Gibson lost the ball 4 times. Martin turned the ball over 4 times in four games for the month whilst Kirk Penney lost the ball 3.8 times per game through March.

A bigger question to ask is why someone who loves the NBL would submit their votes 24 hours late then question why their votes weren’t counted. Sounds like someone wants to call the NBL out at the drop of hat but doesn’t want to be called out himself? It makes the entire article seem less credible.

But at the end of the day the award is for the most valuable player, not the highest scoring player. Points aside Martin is up there in matching it with those considered the best at their trade. Who can forget his near quadruple double night where he racked up 11 points, 11 boards, 8 assists and 7 steals.

Players turning the ball over or shooting at a lousy clip aren’t valuable to their team but the opponents that are forcing their match ups to lose the ball or force bad shots are valuable. Martin enforced through the month of March that he is one of the most complete players in the league, able to score, rebound, steal and pass the ball the ball. The guy can do it all and that is why he is valuable and that is why a jury of Martin’s peers voted him in.

2011 CBAB Awards

2011-04-09T20:45:00.003+08:00

The high-tops have been traded for crocodile shoes, the mothball smelling suits donned and the tartan ties our dads pre-tied for us put on. It’s time to get into the limo, pick up our dates, find baby sitters for the kids and party like its April 2011 because it’s the inaugural CBABies.

Enough about that, get to what is important… the free bar…. Err, we mean The Awards

The Ugly Ballroom Award

The ballroom is where it all happens, the lights are dimmed, the music turned up to eleven and blokes who are wearing the same outfit become best mates for the evening whilst the cheerleaders complain to anyone that listens “I can’t believe she wore the same thing I did”. Some people spike the punch, maybe it is to mask the ugly ballroom, but at the end of the day there is can only one winner of our inaugural Ugly Ballroom Award

North Shore Events Centre

Fan Vote: It comes as no surprise that the Breakers North Shore Events Centre was the clear runaway winner. With three in every four people voting for the not so iconic venue no other team’s venue realistically stood a chance

CBAB Vote: Much like the fans CBAB voted in the same way. Not having seen the events centre on the north shore we can only go off what it looks like on the television. The dark wood flooring with more courts mapped out than any other venue is not only unsightly, it’s also slippery (depending on who you ask). Also where do they put the crowd? On the TV you can only see a wall.

The Ugly Ball Dress Award

To go to the ball you must wear a dress. Your dress is a reflection on who you are as a person and what everyone else thinks of you as a player. So put your mouthguard in and pucker up, its time to announce whose ball dress is the ugliest.

Fan Vote: Edging out the Townsville Crocs uniform which had 21% of all the votes was the Melbourne Tigers get up which amassed 24%. Do you guys realise that the current Tigers jersey no longer has Asian writing on it? Sure they are an ugly team but that shouldn’t have any bearing on how you voted.

CBAB Vote: This season the uniforms have made a huge improvement when compared to last season. But this season the Gold Coast Blaze gets the nod. Now they aren’t the victors because of the teal colour scheme, we do realise the need for at least one team to wear teal in every professional sporting league. It’s the writing on the singlet that lets the Blaze down, “Gold Coast” is so tiny you need a microscope to read it and the “Blaze” text is so big it looks like it was

made for a uniform twice its size.

The Toasted Marshmallow Award

Everyone knows someone like this, and every team has at least one person like this. This award goes to the guy thinks they are tough (hard on the outside) but in reality they are soft. These type of guys will pretend they are ok with not winning an award but will cry to their mothers when the night is done.

Fan Vote: The Fans gave it to the ball thrower and the name caller. Brad Robbins led the way with 12% of votes tying with Tyson Demos who also had 12%. I get the feeling season 2010/11 is going to remembered for this and not for Ben Allen having one too many late nights or Wollongong dressing their assistant coach.

Matty Knight also gets an honourable mention for baking cupcakes; and no, that is not code for anything.

CBAB Vote: Trevor Gleeson, if you are going to knock over a referee, do it properly.

Don’t Fake the Funk Award:

Bring your ID to get in, this award goes to the highest of the high fliers in this league. Got Air? These guys certainly do.

Fan Vote: Thomas Abercrombie alley-ooped 33% of all fan votes making him the Sultan of the Slam this year. Now which voters wasted your votes on Rosell Ellis, Graham Dann and Andre Brown? I didn’t realise these guys were still capable of finishing above the rim.

CBAB Vote: The fans have spoken, it was either going to be between Abercrombie or Ron Dorsey anyway.

Tools are Useful Award:

The league has its villains and the guys you love to hate, but this award goes to the guy you hate but secretly want on your team.

Fan Vote: Mark Worthington had a relatively quiet season when it came to brain farts but that didn’t stop you guys from voting him as the biggest tool you want playing for you. Shawn Redhage came in second. Get well soon Red-dawg, the fans want you on their team. Mark we’ll send your award when we get your postcard from Puerto Rico.

CBAB Vote: As Wildcats fans we feel quite blessed with the talented roster we have. That doesn’t stop us from wanting a sniper with Kirk Penney range. As Penney isn’t a tool we have to pick someone else. Fans love to see the athleticism in Ater Majok, though this guy doesn’t pay his bills and has some serious tickets on himself we don’t mind the vibe the crowd gets when he is soaring looking to swat a shot. If any kinks can be ironed out of his game we are sure Bevo could do it.

Take Home to Meet Mama Award

Mama always said you were gonna meet a nice man and the guys you voted are are some of the nicest guys in the league. This was really a trick question as we now know which player you guys are crushing on.

Fan Vote: The fans obviously have a fascination with the Wild Wild West with resident cowboy Damian Martin taking out this award with an alarming 27% of total votes. Deputy Sherriff Steve Weigh came in second a long way behind.

CBAB Vote: When we think nice we think Kevin Lisch and we’ll give Kevin the award the season due to some interesting search engine searches that popped up in our website tools. Either Kevin googles himself or you guys have a serious fascination with him

Nacho Libre Award

We are certain this thought has crossed the minds of just about everyone who has watched any sport. Some guys are so ugly they should wear a mask. Not everyone was blessed with the pretty gene and here the results that suggest these guys weren’t.

Fan Vote: with one quarter of total fan votes Tiger Wade Helliwell wins. It may come as a surprise to James Harvey but his pool cleaning 2IC Chris Goulding came in second tying with Russell Hinder with a lazy 12% each.

CBAB Vote: The Melbourne Tigers take out the trifecta. Helliwell, Tragardh & Devendorf (remember him). Devendorf was a good signing for this league and we personally would like to see a few more college stars get signed in the league.

Resident Stockbroker Award:

Given to the player who by their standard had the most mundane season, their games were ‘all ordinaries’ and they are glad to see the season out albeit with a smaller portfolio.

Fan Vote: Kevin Lisch probably wasn’t that happy with his season and neither were the fans, they ranked Kevin the highest along with Tiger recruit Cam Tragardh with 9% each.

CBAB Vote: this one is close for us, Stephen Hoare had a sketchy season and Cam Trgardh was half the player he was at the ‘Gong. Russell Hinder is also slowing down at a rapid pace, this is one tough selection. Stephen Hoare is only a role player, Russell Hinder may have been a Boomer but that in some lean years and because he played for Gorj but as season ago Tragadh was the Hawks team leader and was spoken about in MVP talk, but look at him now, a very average season, but that will happen when your coach wants to play you out of position.

Been Short Changed Award:

Some players get looked after by the refs *cough- CJ- cough* others just can’t get a break and spend half their time on the court looking at their coach with a confused face wondering how they got whistled for that one.

Fan Vote: You guys thought that the Wildcats and Breakers are the hardest done by in the league with Brad Robbins, Andre Brown, Ater Majok, Shawn Redhage, Dillon Boucher and Mika Vukona all getting 6% of votes. Mika Vukona, seriously? Have you seen the amount of illegal screens he does that go unwhistled?

CBAB Vote: This is probably the hardest one for us this season. We have seen some terrible calls made all season but they have only affected a player of a team for that particular game. Reaching into the barrel Jeremiah Trueman take out this prestigious award. Why? Jeremiah is not one to make a scene or one to draw attention to himself and it goes unnoticed. Next time Jeremiah is on the court, watch him for a few minutes.

And the rest:

We promised @catsmedia that he was getting an award and here it is: Most likely to reply to a CBAB tweet

Mrs Haggard gives Kevin Lisch the “sexiest sexy award” because of the abovementioned internet searches (she swears it wasn’t her) and for the huge billboard on Nicholson Road

Jimmy gives Luke Schenscher the “Suddenly found some game award” because he “had none last year”. Jimmy is obviously a Wildcats fan.

Another award for Homicide is the “No ring circus award” which Jungle Welcome presents to the player who attracts the most attention for being a complete clown, yet will never lead his team to a championship.

Murray issues the “Boy that Cries Wolf Award” to Homicide, because of all the lies he has said on Twitter no one believes him anymore. In fact their were so many nominations that included the words “Homicide” and “Twit” that we can’t possible name them all. Amelia and Elphinkiller both had some good ones.

And lastly Adam presents the “Flush your money down the toilet award” to Wade Helliwell because the Tigers effectively wasted their money signing this player.

NBL Awards Night 2011

2011-04-06T23:08:00.001+08:00

Written by Haggard

Having the opportunity to experience the NBL’s night of nights I quickly pounced upon it. The next thing I know I am bumping in to Nick Marvin on the streets of downtown Melbourne pre rush hour. Later that day I am forced to actually dress down from my normal standard to meet the formal dress code for the night. When I rock up to venue I see cameras flashing and film rolling, none of it capturing my daunting stature.

I swiftly seek solace in nice glass of red wine. Guy Sebastian kicks the night off singing a tune or two, I can’t help but wonder if this is where the team’s bank guarantee has been spent on. Thankfully Julia Gillard sent her apologies for not attending.

Straight off the bat Ben Magden gets the nod for Rookie of the year. Now I wasn’t too sure what the score was on this, A few weeks back I hear that he isn’t eligible to win it, then I hear that he is. I was uncertain if the league had changed its opinion on it again and neither had Ben as he ran up to the stage to swipe the award before the league changed its mind. Either way though, Magden was the pick of a shallow rookie class.

Damian Martin has been stealing balls and stealing hearts this season and no one was really surprised that Marto took the defensive player of the year award (unless you are the Breakers who claim that Damo stole that from Vukona too).

Some dude won the award for NBL referee of the year but it was a quick up and down presentation for referee Mike. The masses were ‘Aylen’ to hear from long time and much respected NBL referee Billy Mildenhall who has hung up the whistle.

Ironically it was the beep test that Mildenhall battled to introduce that would call Billy’s fifth foul. After the first and only standing ovation for a league official at any level Billy wooed the crowd telling stories about former larrikins such as Ray Borner. Ray says to Billy “Hey Billy, Can I get a tech for things that I think” to which Billy replies “No”. Borner then quickly chirps “Great, cos I think you are an @$$hole”.

Most improved was taken out by Oscar Forman who silenced his biggest critics (us) with a huge season. Though we aren’t surprised he won this award I guess if one could put together a persuasive argument that you can’t win the MIP trophy if you once played good, then played crap then played good again we might listen but changing our opinion is something else. Steve Carfino is always one to steal someone else’s thunder and took the interview time here to tell the world how he would act if he won an award instead of letting Oscar speak.

Kevin Brasswell took out the sixth man award and they AV guy quickly played a pre-recorded interview with Lil Kev. One has to wonder why Damian Martin was not given this option when he was called upon for his award.

Coach of the year was a highly anticpated award, one in which everyone had an opinion and everyone wanted to express it on this night. Eventually Crocs sideline honcho Trevor Gleeson gets the award for ‘best coach’. Think what you will of that one, but if the award was for ‘angriest coach’ then Gleeson would definitely had been a shoo in.

The NBL First team wasn’t so much a starting five, more a dynamic two man team for some two on two tournament with Kirk Penney, Gary Wilkinson and Damian Martin not there to stand beside Julian Khazzouh and Gary Ervin.

Perhaps the biggest gaff of the night came last when they played the Gary Ervin highlight video before announcing the NBL MVP, effectively eliminating the guess work out of who won, that’s fine cos the fellas over on the Gold Coast Blaze table didn’t like surprises.

And that was it, the night was over except for those party boys that kicked on, Ian Crosswhite continually doing double takes and looking at me…. Awkward. I’m much smaller than him. One thing for certain was there were a few glassy eyed players and administrators roaming the hotel aimlessly the next morning. One thing to be proud of boys is that everyone behaved themselves. No Brownlow medal moments on this occasion, you are all welcome back next season.