Breakers defeat 36ers, 71 – 66
Once you see the Breakers coming up on your schedule, you know you need to bring your A game that night, unfortunately for the 36ers, the Breakers game was just a little better on this night.
Even with Luke Schenscher having a night out on the pine to rival any big man so far this season the 36ers just didn’t have enough firepower to take out the defending champs, Schenscher providing a solid 25pt 16reb effort, the only thing that soured his performance was his 6 turnovers.
MVP candidate Cedric Jackson was in his usual form of producing in all aspects of the game, his 17pts 5reb 7ast 3st and a block overshadowed only by the game had by Will Hudson who had 23pts and 11reb off the bench, giving well needed resting time to the Breakers starters who still had another game ahead of them this round, bench production is one aspect the Breakers will need going into the 2nd half of the season to keep them in the top 2 on the league table.
The 36ers were thought to be a contender early in the season but their recent losses have them lingering in between the top 4 and 5th position regularly.
Wildcats hammer Kings, 95 – 61
The Kings were the form team of the league recently and were looking to take care of the Wildcats on their home floor to keep their momentum going, only thing was nobody told the Wildcats they had to play up to that story line.
The Cats came out with reckless abandon and took the lead from the tip off, opening up large scoring gaps throughout the game, the kings pushed back but never lead throughout the whole game, the Cats dominated from tip off to final buzzer.
Ben Madgen had a hard night from the floor early on and was shut down initially by the dynamic defence of the Cats backcourt duo, but he eventually managed to find some of his stroke getting his numbers up to 22pts and top scoring for the Kings, in doing so probably taking one step closer to the Most Improved Player Award for the season.
The Cats were once again lead by reigning MVP Kevin Lisch who was nothing short of scintillating, Lisch with a team high 22pt performance including 4/9 from downtown, Everard Bartlett providing scoring punch off the bench which has been expected of him but so far lacking this season as did Greg Hire who claimed the start at the small forward spot in favour of Cam Tovey and rewarded his team with his contribution, hustle and grit.
Breakers hold on against Taipans, 66 – 61
The second game of the Breakers round came up against the struggling Cairns Taipans, a team who many expected more from this season considering their signing of Cam Tragardh to combat their lack of offence and the continued stellar play of MVP candidate Jamar Wilson.
Thing was that in this game, Jamar Wilson showed up, the rest of his team left their game back on the team bus, Wilson being the only player to score in double figures for the entire Taipans team, for a team with such high expectations and playoff aspirations, this is totally unacceptable.
Cedric Jackson and Will Hudson once again lead the Breakers charge, Jackson having a game on the stat sheet that almost mirrored his performance of the previous game against the 36ers and Hudson once again providing valuable minutes off the bench.
With Thomas Abercrombie playing mediocre but the Breakers still getting wins on the boards, the Breakers look like the usual threat for the number one spot to remain with them for the foreseeable future, the scary bit is, what happens when Abercrombie gets his act together and gets back to his regular form, we fear to think how this will go come playoff time.
Tigers take down Hawks, 80 – 72
My how the mighty have fallen, the Hawks at one point this season looked unbeatable, right now it looks like they could barely beat an egg for a morning omelette.
Oscar Forman and Adris Deleon provided the only real production worth mentioning in this game, even the staggering vertical leap of Lance Hurdle couldn’t get him high enough on the scoresheet to register double figures in scoring, consistency from someone who isn’t named Oscar or Adris seems to be the Hawks Achilles heel, if they are to remain in the playoff hunt this needs to be rectified quick smart.
The Tigers however are getting better, slowly, but they are getting better, Chris Goulding becoming a consistent scorer on a nightly basis is one of those reasons, as is the consistent play of Seth Scott, the big man providing his usual rebounding and stretch shooting touch to keep his numbers around his season averages.
Jonny Flynn continues to be, well, Jonny, and seems to be enjoying his time playing here as he gets to talk a whole lot more trash than he probably would if he were riding the pine on the end of an NBA bench somewhere.
All in all it was the play of Lucas Walker and his big double double off the bench that sparked the Tigers win, Walker showing some of his well documented hops and the hardnosed play and skills Tigers coaches hoped he would provide on a regular basis.
Chris Anstey appears to be getting them back on track to attempt a playoff run.
Crocs grind out win against 36ers, 86 – 82
The Crocs were the hard luck story of the first half of the season, but it seems they have found the magic lamp and got a wish or 2 out of the genie that popped out, the genie obviously granted them a productive big man, they got in Luke Nevill which allowed them to put Ben Allen back on the bench where he belongs.
This has rejuvenated Gary Ervin and Peter Crawford back to their best and they even got a glimpse of the old Russell Hinder this week with his 17pts and 9reb, Ervin top scored with 23 and Luke Nevill is providing much needed floor spacing and inside presence that is allowing Ervin to go to work penetrating defences, after going winless for most of the first half of the season, things are looking up for the Crocs.
The 36ers however, as we mentioned before are quickly starting to slide down a razorblade into an alcohol filled river, when you have a line up that includes names like Weigh, Gibson, Johnson and Schenscher, production is expected, as is wins, the production is there, but the wins recently seem to have been lacking.
Even though the 36ers only just lost this game, it’s still a loss, is it time for a change in coach perhaps, we believe it could be, when you have significant firepower like the 36ers have and can’t put wins on the board, something is wrong and change needs to happen, only question is, how long until it does?
The clock is ticking and the season is counting down with it.
Gimme My Change Award
While Lucas Walker had a great game, it was really a one off, so he gets an honourable mention, but the award really needs to go to the player in our opinion is the front runner for this year’s MVP Award, that player is Cedric Jackson.
Jackson’s consistency week in and week out is nothing short of phenomenal, his point guard skills, defence, rebounding are nothing short of spectacular.
How he is in this league and not the NBA is a question we cannot answer, but let’s enjoy him while we have him, he deserves this award and has probably deserved it much more, maybe we have become accustomed to his consistency that it has become and expectation, regardless, congrats Cedric, well deserved.
Can’t Buy A Damn Thing Award
It’s been a long time coming but it has to be given, this week’s award has to go to NBL TV for their continual use of baseline camera angles on their game night production schedule, and this issue is becoming so bad that we overlooked Cam Tovey’s foul out in less than 4 minutes of action.
Many on twitter have voiced their disgust of its use and so far no response has been given, even out of courtesy or some explanation as to why.
While NBL TV was thought to be a step in the right direction for the fans to view all the games the NBL has to offer, they are doing a disservice to the game and it’s legions of regular fans who paid money to watch these games be televised, if this is not corrected, the fans could start leaving in droves, leaving the NBL right back where it started as far as televised games are concerned.
We hope this issue is rectified as soon as possible to allow the fans and supporters to watch their teams in the way they have become accustomed to.
