Well it’s that time again, the return of the NBL season means 2 things, basketball is back and so are your boys from CBAB with our weekly wrap ups and a few other new things for the 2012/13 season.
So without any further ado, let’s get back into the swing of things with our first wrap up of the new season.
Perth annihilate New Zealand, 93 – 72
Perth sent the league an early message with a 21 point thumping over the reigning NBL champs. Only moments after the 2011/12 Championship banner was raised the Wildcats went to work making a meal of the Skycity Breakers. The post championship hangover made worse when the Wildcats switched to a zone defence that totally stymied the home team.
Perth came to play and outside of Tovey was well oiled and drilled, asserting confidence on the champion’s court. This Perth team has let 20 point leads vanish on numerous occasions previously but it was evident this was not going to happen on opening night. Kevin Lisch was electric scoring 20 points, disappointed only with his five turnovers. Matty Knight bruised and bullied his way inside scoring 20 points and hauling in nine boards. Shawn Redhage kept the score ticking over with 19 and showing the naysayers that the Wildcat stalwart is back to the form which made him one of the toughest players in the league to guard.
What really did the Breakers in was giving up a 17 – 0 run. The zone adjustment left their offence as exposed as CJ Bruton’s hairline. Cedric Jackson didn’t see a shot he didn’t like throwing up eleven attempts form deep, his five makes from deep made better with some lucky banks and rolls off the glass, these types of home court rolls are normally expected though. No matter the rate of successful three balls, Jackson should not be taking eleven attempts, a man with his skill set needs to take the ball to the hoop for the drive or to hit the shooters for an open look. Will Hudson doesn’t have the Gary Wilkinson shooting range to extend the defence but adds a different dimension of interior toughness to the Breakers.
Jackson led the way for the Breakers with 19 points and six assists, Daryl Corletto with 10 but it was Dillon Boucher who was the pick of the bunch providing the intangibles that surely help a team including a Jordanesque over the shoulder scoop for the reverse layup. Yes it was a shocking loss for the reigning premieres but it isn’t time to press the panic button. They were caught napping, Lemanis needs to make the adjustments for next week, and hopefully one of them is for 7 Footer and Tall Black international Alex Pledger to grab a rebound.
Wollongong defeat Sydney, 79 – 76
The Mighty Mite Kings took the CityRail down the coast to take on the mighty tight Hawks, a squad that has largely been together for a few seasons and understand Geordie McLeod’s system. New import Lance Hurdle got the crowd going early on throwing down a perfectly weighted Rhys Martin lob for the alley oop.
The contest between neighbour cities was a nice honest battle. Darnell Lazare looks to be fitting into the league well, at times exploring the range expected from a big man in a jump shooter league, Corin Henry showed flashes of dazzling brilliance but made some foolish errors showing his eagerness and more than likely just first game jitters.
The electric back court of Lance Hurdle and Adris DeLeon gave the Hawks a double serving of supercharged heaven not seen since the Gary Ervin or Tywain McKee Hawk teams, but the night belonged to Glen ‘Gramps’ Saville. Saville was the reason the Hawks found themselves up by 12 early in the final quarter. Not to be outdone the Kings began their resurgence and for a moment they looked like a real chance to take the win, but not wanting to miss the last CityRail back to Sydney they ballsed up the last few plays then made a quick dash for the train station, the Hawks the winners by three points.
Saville led the way for Wollongong with a heartfelt 21 points and a hand full of everything else, Oscar Forman scored 13, DeLeon 12, and Hurdle and Larry Davidson both had ten. For the Kings, Lazare had 21, Henry 15 and Ben Magden finished with 12.
Cairns Taipans 84 defeat Townsville Crocs 72
The Snakes stamped out a late Crocs charge to win by twelve points in front of their home crowd taking out the first of this year’s “Reptile Rumble” matches. Feeling a bit thin in the transition between imports the Crocs put up good fight, for the first quarter. After a poor showing in the second they were more or less out of the game. Behind new recruit Cam Tragardh and Brad Hill, the Taipans went into the half with a healthy 14 point lead.
Things didn’t improve for the Crocs in the third, making only four baskets for the quarter, Peter Crawford, fresh from riding the bench at the Olympics had a complete shocker. On the other side of the court the Taipans had gone into training mode, using the time to practice their execution. Coach Woolpert checked his team for a pulse at the final break and injected what life he could, but at the end of it all, it was all too late.
Tragardh has slotted nicely into his new team scoring a team high 20 points. The Taipans bought Jamar Wilson and his beautiful smile back for another season, Wilson added 17 points, whilst Alex Loughton put on a performance Jason Kidd would be proud of scoring 8 points, grabbing eight rebounds and dropping seven dimes.
The undermanned Crocs are still waiting on player clearances for Gary Ervin and Larry Abney and didn’t get the start they were hoping for, but when both are cleared watch out for the change in stature of Croc Nation. Ervin though small in size, has a big game and the Birdman… well he flaps his hands after he dunks, it’s kinda cute but so early 2000’s. In an eerie twist of fate, Ben Allen was the pick of the Crocs. Allen asserted his ‘authoritah’ and piled on 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, almost beating his season total from last season in just one game, Jacob Holmes added 14 and grabbed another 10 boards, etching his name in as the first double double of the season. Russel Hinder’s return to the hardwood saw a tidy 11 points and six rebounds.
36ers 84 demolish the Tigers 61
In the last few season the 36ers had been known as “Badelaide” but with a new revamped roster will probably go back to becoming “Radelaide” once again, and this win, albeit against the previously disorganised Tigers showed that they will be a force to be reckoned with once again.
With a team deeper than they’ve had for many years, the 36ers are just a matchup nightmare, 2 7 footers in the front court, Boomer squad members on the wing and at the point guard position who are deep shooting threats. The inside outside game plan worked well in this matchup, Daniel Johnson doing the work on the inside and Steven Weigh going 5/7 from the 3pt line, both players sharing the team high of 21pts a piece. Johnson also having 9rebs shows his game is evolving and he has been working on his previous known weakness. Adam Gibson put up almost triple double numbers with 12pts 7reb and 7ast, his inclusion to this team as well as Anthony Petrie is going to make them deep roster wise and a tough night out like the 36ers teams of old.
The Tigers are still getting their roster and their team strategy together, new coach and club legend Chris Anstey will probably have them into fighting shape sometime soon but with a depleted roster and only a short time together, the new look Tigers are going to take some time.
Scoring only 61 pts and still being very guard heavy without the flexibility, size and multiple position play of new acquisition Adam Ballinger the Tigers were beaten up like you would do to your little brother playing hoops in the driveway at home.
The only real highlight for the Tigers was what looks to be a return to health of big man Matt Burston providing them with some interior size and rebounding and the play of new import Seth Scott who lead the team in scoring for this game with 16pts, Anstey has a job to do to bring this team back to anything resembling their glory days of Gaze to Copeland but hopefully the big man can at least get the Tigers mentally on the right path out of mediocrity.
Gimme my Change Award
NBL.tv has been the talk of the past month and is now the toast of the town with many happy viewers across the country. The powers behind NBL.tv have provided a top notch high quality stream which we were very impressed with, comparable to the broadcasts on the almost comical ONE HD. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the future of watching digital sports broadcasts.
Can’t Buy a Damn Thing Award
Hard one to pick this week as many players were probably trying to make sure they didn’t end up like previous winners of this award in the not so cool kids part of the wrap, but this week there was a phoenix like resurrection of some Blaze flavour with Chris Goulding and Anthony Petrie both being ejected from their respective games.
If only James Harvey still had some resemblance of his former game and was relevant once again, he could have also garnered some attention from the refs and made it a 3peat of Blaze players ejected, but alas, he is no longer relevant so it’s only Goulding and Petrie who take it out this week.
