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

A new season falls upon us as quickly as it left. Last season’s heroes no longer matter. New players have come, players are gone, Kirk Penney has left for um, er.. greener pastures and Billy 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 starts of the NBL this season is going to go off. We just need stay up real late to watch it and avoid social media if we don’t want to know the outcome of the game before we watch it.  

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

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

On paper the Blaze seem to pack as much offensive punch as any team in the league. Though without James Harvey who seems to never be fit when the season starts, Gold Coast still put a health total on the board. It is great to see Anthony Petrie back on the court as he eases his way into full time duties. Mark Worthington wasn’t so much playing ‘Where’s Wortho?’ 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 talk about.

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

currency in Auckland?

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

Melbourne’s offence stagnated during the second period and those problems continued through the third allowing Sydney to set up a double digit lead. The Tiger’s began to apply the pressure through the final stanza and began the close the gap, hoping that the Kings are in fact a royal purple on the outside and a golden honeycomb on the inside.

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

Without their big man firing on cylinders 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 the boards. As Sydney stalled Melbourne took the lead behind a series of Patty Mills and Ayinde Ubaka three pointers and held out for the six point win.

Patty Mills welcomed himself to the NBL taking 18 shots to get himself 28 points whilst Ubaka took 11 for his 22 points. With the Tigers starting back court accounting for 50 of their 83 points there was little else to be done. Cam Tragardh scored 14 and new captain Tommy Greer was the only Tiger with court time who failed to score. Doing the team thing hey Tom?

With the irony in Shawn Redhage’s return game in the very venue he sustained the sickening hip injury the Wildcats, coming off recent success at the pre-season Blitz got to work against long-time rivals, the Adelaide 36ers. Although both teams have found themselves at different ends of the ladder in recent years it hasn’t stopped some really intense encounters. Heck, even Adelaide won the series last season, but this is a new season.

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

The irony seemed lost on Redhage who after a slow start found his shooting touch. Going 6/9 from the land of plenty Redhage not only scored 26 points, he cast aside doubts that he might not be the type of player he was pre-injury. It is still early but this game is a good indication. Kevin Lisch started white hot and finished with 23e points and 6 assists whilst Jesse Wagstaff who spent the offseason growing his hair scored 22.

Although Chris Warren was shipped to Australia as Adam Ballinger’s hand luggage this little mans has a big basketball heart. With a few more games like this one Warren is going to earn the respect of players and fans alike. The little man, although frazzled by the Wildcats pressure finished with a team high 17 points whilst Daniel Johnson, as silky smooth as ever around the ring finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Ex Wildcat Stephen Weigh saw nine points and ten boards in his new get up.

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

To say Jamar Wilson was excited to be playing for Cairns in the NBL is an understatement. Wilson led his team with 23 points despite turning that ball over six times. Dusty Rychart, now a savy vet scored 16 points and grabbed 14 boards whilst Brad Hill had 11 boards to go with 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 minutes of 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 hip Townsville are still trying to adjust their game plan. Relying on their imports the Crocs were competitive but always a step or two behind, they did come charging home but it was too little too late. Elvin Mims finished with 17 points and 9 rebounds and ex NBA journeyman Eddie Gill scored 13. Benny Allen is going to need to grab some boards if he wants to get some serious court time whilst the Crocs main tall timber is out of action.

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

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

In effectively the eighth quarter the Breakers have played this weekend, behind Cedric Jackson and CJ Bruton the Breakers 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 and finished with 28 points and 6 steals. Gary Wilkinson added 16, Mika Vukona finished a good scoring week with another 13 and CJ Bruton had 12.

Although the Wollongong crowd got behind their home town heroes the Hawks could not take it to the next level tonight. Although Larry Davidson scored 19 points he grabbed one rebound. Ehys Martin benefitted from increase court time with 16 points and 7 dimes whilst Mat Campbell who is still showing signs of life scored 14.

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

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

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

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