Crocs defeat 36ers, 75 – 61
If they say a season is all about peaks and troughs then the 36ers peaked early and troughed late, the Crocs troughed early and have peaked just now. They way the Crocs have been playing you could almost forget that they dropped what felt like 47 straight games at the beginning of the season whilst they 36ers have seemed confused and have lacked direction in the last few weeks in particular.
A trough for the Crocs came in the second quarter where they amounted only 8 points, the peak same straight after where they attacked the rim and piled on 32 points, they just couldn’t miss from the field.
Whilst the Crocs, who through Luke Nevill found it easy to power away from inside with Daniel Johnson having the propensity to stand at the perimeter and Luke Schenscher providing marshmallow like resistance inside. Things weren’t all that bad for Schenscher though, his fast break dunk did bring a smile to my face.
Schensher’s dunk was the only given on the night for the 3ers as they made a meal of oevery other shot, finishing with a terrible shooting percentage of 30% from the field, and 19% from far. Scott Christopherson, in his first game showed that there will be some adjustment to the NBL, the rings weren’t forgiving for him. Adam Gibson finished with 22 points whilst Daniel Johnson finshed with 13.
Pint sized Gary Ervin managed to pull down 9 boards to go with his 20 points whilst Luke Nevill cemented inside scoring a team high 21 points.
Wildcats thump Taipans, 85 – 66
A 19 point shellacking would usually be surprising in the NBL, but not on this occasion. You could even sense that Coach Fearne was ready to wave the white flag in his pre-game interview. A Wildcat 10-0 start re-affirmed that this was going to be a long night for the Snakes.
Now the Wildcats are no strangers to giving up a big lead, particularly on the road, but you could just tell this wasn’t going to happen, the Taipans were as dead as my laptop battery but unlike the battery, you can’t order a new team on eBay.
Matty Knight’s return bought an end to Mike Dunigan’s time as a Wildcat. Dunigan had instantly become a fan favourite with his athletic play, hustle and fantastic demeanour. Knight’s impact on the team was instant though, amounting 11 first half points and finished with 13 points and 7 boards. In typical Kevin Lisch fashion, Lisch went on a tear after I traded him out of my Dream Team roster, finishing with an electric 26 points. Early into the new year and the Wildcats are looking good with most of their travel out of the way and 10 home games left.
Jamar Wilson looked good for 17 points off 9 field goal attempts but 6 turnovers negated that efficiency, the rest of the Taipans were very stock exchange (that means ‘all ordinaries’ for those with short term memories). Sitting on the bottom of the ladder at 4-10, the season’s end could not come quick enough.
Kings edge 36ers, 86 – 82
After losing on Friday night at home the 36ers headed to Sydney straight away to take on the Kings, though for Shane Heal this is only a problem if it happens to the Kings. Nevertheless, the 36ers made it on time and made it two loses for the weekend. This defeat didn’t come without a fight though, the 36ers managed to trim a 12 point deficit to three points, enough for most in at the Kingdome to clench up.
Adam Gibson finished a good week stat-wise adding 19 points and dishing 5 assists. Stephen Weigh, Luke Schenscher and Daniel Johnson added 16 points, 18 points, and 16 points respectively. The 36ers are clearly in a funk, tough a funk might be an understatement. After starting the season 5 and three they now find themselves at 5 and 11 and on an e3ight game losing streak.
Ben Madgen piled on 30 points, the Mad Man was simply on fire shooting 65% from the field, Darnell Lazare collected 8 boards and 12 points, Whilst Aaron Bruce added another 14 points to the Kings tally, but those poor Kings, they have to travel to play a back to back.
Breakers edge out the Hawks, 78 – 76
It just seems that in close games the Breakers have what it takes to get over the edge, countless times this season they have gone to the wire with teams and just pipped them at the wire to claim victory.
This game was no exception, the Hawks were looking to regain some lost form recently and took it to the defending champs lead not by Oscar Forman, Adris Deleon or Lance Hurdle, but by Rhys Martin, yes, Rhys Martin.
Martin had a career night with his 28pts including 6/7 from 3pt land and included 3ast and 5st and was helped by the recently out of form human pogo stick Lance Hurdle, Hurdle managed to finally break the double figure scoring mark, something he hadn’t achieved a lot of recently to lend a helping hand.
Unfortunately though it wasn’t enough with the Breakers getting input once again from their bench with Will Hudson having another double double with 14pts and 10reb, big man Alex Pledger was a co-conspirator with Hudson in taking advantage of the undersized Hawks frontline.
Cedric Jackson again was once again stat sheet stuffer but struggled shooting from the field, what continues to be worrying for the Breakers though is the continued absence of production from Thomas Abercrombie, once again providing minimal impact on the game in 27 minutes of court time, is he in a funk or is he carrying an injury, something has to be wrong for him to suck so bad so consistently for so long.
Tigers defeat Kings, 74 – 71
The Kings were the form team of the league for quite a few rounds at the end of 2012, but going into 2013 it seems like they’re not having the happiest of new years.
Ben Madgen once again lead the Kings in scoring, albeit it in a way that is more from volume shooting than scoring efficiency, if it weren’t for Aaron Bruce also coming into some scoring form the only thing that would be memorable from the Kings side of things would be the fantastic form Madgen showed in his chair throwing technique.
The guards for Sydney provided most of the scoring punch, something to be expected from a Shane Heal coached team but it was Darnell Lazare representing for the big guys with a double double, other than Lazare though it was all left to the guards to share the scoring burden.
The Tigers again were held together by the consistent performance of Seth Scott who was one rebound off another double double, but the recent form of Chris Goulding with his team high scoring performance and the return to form from injury of Adam “Balls” Ballinger that has the Tigers firing and putting wins on the board.
Are the Tigers finally getting it together to set up a run that could see them scrape into the playoffs? Has Chris Anstey finally got through to his team?
The next few weeks will be crucial for the Tigers, a few wins could see them claw their way back into contention for a playoff spot.
Gimme My Change Award
There are a few things that get etched into a NBL fan’s memory over time. Andrew Gaze being bandaged up, Julius Hodge stamping the court, Patty Mill’s flop, the Wildcats Rap, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Robery Sibley’s huge screen on Trevor Torrance, the 10 second shot clock warning buzzer.
Well, Ben Madgen’s chair throw will be added to that list. It’s not something that will be forgotten soon. Though not overly aggressive or spiteful, the chair throw was outright funny and Madgen’s moment will forever be remembered. Tell us in the comment section what your unforgettable NBL moments are.
Can’t Buy a Damn Thing Award.
There’s some air up there
And a chair as well
There’s commentary with Gaze
And stories to tell
A baseline drive, a defensive slide
It’s Madgen, and his chair throw
What makes Madgen’s chair throwing perplexing is why there even a lone chair on the baseline to begin with? Pretty stupid place for a chair, so this week the chair takes out the award.
