New Zealand Breakers 97 defeat Cairns Taipans 76
Cedric Jackson, Cedric Jackson, Cedric Jackson is all everyone can talk about. Just days after being suggested as possible relief for the gaping hole at the Laker’s point guard slot, Jackson came out and tore the Snakes a new one. Scoring 32 points, dropping 8 dimes and thieving the ball thrice, What makes Jacksons effort remarkable is that he required only 13 shots, shooting the ball at 85% from the field.
Jackson’s game was infectious; the shooting bug spreading to everyone with no one on the Breakers roster who made a field goal shot lower than 50% and collectively the Breakers shot 61% from the field for the game.
Though Jamar Wilson scored 18 points and Shane Edwards and Dusty Rychart had 15 apiece, The Snakes just don’t seem to be gelling, at times looking lethargic and just going through the motions of basketball. Look back a season or so when they were winning and what was different? Back then you could see the enjoyment on their faces, the passion. The Snakes need to find that again.
Wollongong Hawks 78, Perth Wildcats 75
Part way through the second quarter most of the Wollongong faithful had given up on their team. The crowd was silent and almost uninterested and the Wildcats were outplaying the Hawks easily. Come the third quarter and Wildcats stopped in their tracks, the Hawks starting stringing together a few baskets in a row, Jesse Wagstaff gave up an unsportsmanlike and before they knew it they had a chance to win it. Kevin Lisch could not repeat the heroics form last week and they Hawks run away with a sneaky three point win.
There is something about now notorious third quarter funk. When the Cats are on they are beautiful to watch, but when they aren’t (usually in the third period) they are the most frustrating to watch execute, almost to the point of smacking them upside the head, but juke like their sponsor says, you “think again” and decide to vent your frustrations in a more constructive manner. A five and a half minute patch without scoring is simply inexcusable.
You can’t help but be disgusted at the rebounding disadvantage, the Wildcats grabbing 43 to the Hawks 24 but what the Hawks lacked on the boards they made up for in forcing 20 turnovers to eight, winning the points off turnovers battle 16 to 4. That is the difference right there. The Hawks played the team game with every player taking the floor scoring points, Lance Hurdle had 18, Rhys Martin 16 and Auryn MacMillan scored 12.
Townsville Crocs roll Adelaide 36ers, 80 – 75
The Crocs are now 3-0 AL (After Larry). A 26 to 17 first quarter set the tone for the Crocs, showing the 36ers they mean business.
Hearts stopped when Mitch Creek went down with what appears to be an Achilles injury. The poor fella looks set to be out for the remainder of the season. Peter Crawford, who had been non-existent until the fourth quarter suddenly caught a hot hand but it was Jacob Holmes who essentially put the game out of reach by collecting the huge offensive rebound and nailing the free thows on the foul thereafter.
In front of another disappointing crowd, Adelaide looked inside to score their points. Luke Schenscher scored a team high 18 points whilst Daniel Johnson scored 16. If these big fellas put a little effort in to playing defence their team may have racked up a block or two. For the Crocs, Luke Nevill had no problem blocking shots, swatting away four of them but the points came from their back court. Gary Ervin, who banged his knee, finished with 21 whilst the fast finishing Crawford had 15 whilst rookie, Mitch Norton finished with 12 points.
As sad as the injury is, Creek still managed a Gangnam Style moment
Kings overthrow Hawks in OT, 70 – 63
With no time to celebrate their sensational win over the Wildcats the Hawks took a road trip north to take on their bigger city rival, the Sydney Kings. Part of us was hoping that the Hawks travelled by Toyota Prius convoy so not only would that be a smile making scene they would be keeping fuel consumption down.
Anyone who watched this game was treated to a beauty, albeit the lousy shooting. The Hawks making the right passes to find the right shots, Darnell Lazare Playing like he meant it, taking it to the hole strong, the speed of Lance Hurdle and Adris Deleon being matched by Corin Henry. Yes, things were good at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.
The Hawks made a final quarter comeback before Adris Deleon was gifted an opportunity to win the game but went one from two from the line forcing the game to go to overtime. The extra period was all Sydney’s as they ran away for the seven point win. Lazare was the best he’s been in some time, making some great plays inside on his way to 14 points and grabbing 9 boards along the way, Ian Crosswhite also added 14, including some crucial shots in OT and grabbed 11 boards whilst Corin Henry finished with 13, though not at the clip he would be hoping for.
The Hawks finish their double 1 and 1 against two top four teams, so things aren’t all that bad. Rhy Martin finished with a game high 16 points, Oscar Forman had 14 and Lance Hurdle and Dave Gruber both finished with 10 points each.
Tigers beat Taipans, 83 – 77
With the Crocs win shafting the Tigers to last place on the ladder the Tigers said “Not tonight, baby, not tonight” and went to work against the Cairns Taipans. Tiger Chris Goulding went into ‘He’s on fire’ mode in the second period firing, dunking and doing whatever he wanted for 17 points in the quarter. Cairns had not match for Goulding’s raging and headed into the main break down by nine points.
A few heat checks in the third showed Goulding was no longer on fire, but then again, no one was. The third was a quarter that most people would want to forget. Any charge the Taipans tried to make in the fourth was easily counteracted by the Tigers, Adam Ballinger coming up big late in the game, the Tigers winning by six points.
Goulding finished with an impressive 27 points with his partner in crime, Jonny Flynn finishing with 20. Ballinger steadied the ship with 14 points. For the Taipans, Jamar Wilson scored 26 points, grabbed 7 boards and had 5 assists, Cameron Tragardh had 14 and Aaron Grabau played well for his 13 points.
Can’t Buy a Damn Thing Award
If the Perth Wildcats didn’t win this it would be a travesty, accordingly they take out with little to no competition from anyone else. Dropping a lead in the third quarter against the Hawks whilst going scoreless for almost half an quarter (that’s an eighth 😉 ) and only amassing a mere 9 points, making only 1 field goal, going 0/7 from within the key. It was not only a bad quarter for the Cats, it was a bad quarter for basketball
Gimme My Change Award
No Surprise Chris Goulding takes this one for his purple patch in the second quarter on Sunday’s game against the Snakes. It was purely visual poetry on the court. Everyone who witnessed it is a better person for it.
