The League celebrates its community round this week. Players will rip the laces out of their little basketball booties and replace them with rainbow laces to raise awareness of the good deeds the clubs do to their respective communities. The league hasn’t seen this much rainbow since the Slam Dunk Contests in the early 1990’s.
Breakers defeat the Crocs, 81 – 70
The Breakers have further extended their lead at the top of the NBL ladder with this victory and have made the Crocs desperate to keep in touch with a playoff spot.
Lead once again by Brian Scalibrine’s (aka the White Mamba) doppelganger Gary Wilkinson, the Breakers keep going from strength to strength, Wilkinson having a double double to lead his team to victory with 18pts 10reb.
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| Wilkinson was happier than most about the rainbow shoe laces |
Cedric Jackson again playing the complimentary scorer’s role with 15pts 4reb and 7ast along with Thomas Abercrombie who chipped in with 13pts 7reb of his own, the other scoring was given by Alex Pledger who had 11pts and 3reb to round off the Breakers scorers for the game.
The Crocs were lead by import Eddie Gill who once again showed high scoring prowess with a team high 17pts and had 4 of the Crocs total of 6 assists for the game.
Usual suspect Peter Crawford was the secondary scorer for the Crocs with his 11pts but also committed a team high 4 turnovers, Jacob Holmes also had 11pts to go with his team high 7reb and Elvin Mimms had 10pts 6reb to be the other main contributor in the box score.
Lack of production from big man Luke Schenscher was the main key in this loss for the Crocs, a 7+ foot center in the NBL should provide matchup problems for most teams to exploit, but the way the Breakers have been playing of late, the only mismatch is any team that plays against them.
36ers go down to the Wildcats, 79 – 90
The 36ers season as we have said many times before is all but done for the 2011/12 season, but the rise of young big man Daniel Johnson is something they can be happy about moving forward into the future.
Johnson had a game high 24pts and a team high 8reb to dominate the battle against the feared front line of the Wildcats in Luke Nevill and Matt Knight.
Former Wildcat Steven Weigh once again provided the secondary scoring with his 12pts 6reb 3ast and was helped along by another former Wildcat and current team mate Everard Bartlett who had 11pts 3reb 2ast and 2st against his former team, Chris Warren was the last double figure scorer with 12pts 4reb but had zero assists and a team high 6 turnovers.
The Wildcats were once again lead by the sharp shooting and great road form of Kevin Lisch, who seems to lift his game to new heights as the man to count on when the Cats hit the road, Lisch had a team high 23pts and was helped by the form player of the week from the previous round in Jesse Wagstaff who had 17pts and 6 reb.
Damian Martin had been struggling offensively over the last few weeks but picked up his game to have 16pts 7reb 5ast and a block, numbers more likened to a 3 man than a point guard, Shawn Redhage was the last double figure scorer for the Cats with 13pts 2reb and 3ast.
The Wildcats had struggles recently with the 36ers and were looking for a little payback against the 36ers who beat them on their home court in their last match, this will make the Cats feel better and shake off the notion that the 36ers are the Wildcats hoodoo team.
Blaze to strong for the Hawks, 94 -86
You have to feel for the Hawks, after starting the year with such promise and always being a team who was going to give you a tough game, their struggles of late weren’t from a lack of effort, but with their season all but done, the Hawks are out to prove a point, a very dangerous thing for any team who has playoff intentions expecting to walk in and defeat them on any given night.
The Hawks battled hard against the Blaze, lead by recent import signing Ayinde Ubaka who top scored with 24pts 4reb and 4ast, Rhys Martin and old dog Glen Saville provided good contributions with Martin having 14pts 4reb 4ast and Saville bringing back some of the game from his younger days with 13pts 2reb 3ast and zero turnovers.
Joevan Catron also scored in double figures with 10pts but was ineffective on the boards with just 2reb, something that has to be remedied if the Hawks are going to control the glass and the tempo of the game.
The Blaze were once again lead by……………wait for it……………you guessed it, WORTHO!!!
The big fella was again dominant and had a game high 26pts and 7reb to steer the Blaze to victory, he was also efficient shooting 77% from the field and 50% (2/4) from 3pt land, but then again, with a player of his ability you would expect these types of numbers on a weekly basis.
Wortho’s front court team mate Anthony Petrie had a night out of his own, the hard working Petrie who plays against bigger opponents on a nightly basis had his way with the Hawks for his 19pts and team high 8reb, Adris Deleon continues to produce numbers and had 15pts 5reb 4ast and 3st, Will Hudson and Adam Gibson were the other two double digit scorers with 14pts and 10pts respectively.
A tough night out for the Hawks against the high powered offence of the Blaze, they really did catch them on one of those nights you wish not to see from the Blaze as their opponent and definitely one of those nights when Wortho is just unstoppable.
36ers get up to beat the Tigers, 92 -83
The 36ers were fired up after a disappointing lost against the Wildcats and were out to find some redemption against the lowly Melbourne Tigers who continue down the path of demise like a bad soap opera.
Cam Tragardh once again showed why he is the leading scorer in the league with 19pts but was again missing on the boards with just 4reb, Ron Dorsey is playing more like the player the Tigers thought he would be when they signed him with a 16pt 5reb outing and once again to our amazement Mathew Burston was only again played sparingly with just under 4 minutes of court time, what are the Tigers coaching staff thing, seriously??
Tommy Greer and Daniel Dillon were the only other Tigers players to put up double figure scoring games with 14pts and 10pts respectively and Dillon had just as many assists as turnovers with 5 of each.
The 36ers Chris Warren was dominating the tempo of the game with his game high 26pts and 8ast all while going 90% from the floor including 5/6 (83%) from beyond the 3pt arc.
Daniel Johnson was again dominant with an 18pt 6reb outing making him a contender for player of the week honours again and a probable lock for most improved player of the year, Darren “The Dr” Ng was a spar off the bench with his 15pts as was Everard Bartlett who once again had an 11pt game to match his previous games point total, but it was the return of decent stats from Diamon Simpson with another double double that proved to be the key to victory for the 36ers, Simpson having 13pts and 10reb.
With both teams on a downward spiral this year, it was a matter of who wanted it more, the 36ers just seemed to will themselves into the winners column and continue the woes of the Tigers campaign.
Kings grind out win against the Crocs, 71 – 69
This would have been a better TV game than another Hawks v Blaze game.Where there is a will there is a way, and the Kings sure found a way.
With new coach and former club legend Shane Heal taking the helm of the once great club, spirits are high at the Kings for the future.
The Crocs however are hoping to find a magic lamp to rub and get 3 wishes to take back the results of this round, with the 2 losses in short succession the Crocs find themselves clinging onto dreams of a playoff spot.
Lead by a name you don’t often see as a leading scorer in the box score in Todd Blanchfield, the Crocs came out of this game with their tails between their legs, Blanchfield had a team high 15pts to go with his 5reb.
Luke Schenscher finally found his wake up alarm and produced some decent numbers to show that the Crocs do have some form of inside game to battle the likes of Khazzouh and Grant in the paint, Schenscher had 11pts 7reb and 3ast and if not for the contribution of the only other double figure scorer Jacob Holmes who had 14pts and 9reb, it would have been extremely ugly.
The Kings were running on pure inspiration since the signing of Heal as their new coach, lead by big man Julian Khazzouh who again had another double double to add to his season tally with 15pts and 13reb, his front court team mate Jerai Grant wasn’t as prominent on the scoring end but also helped control the glass with 8reb.
Ben Madgen and Luke Martin must have conspired to score the same amount of points before the game and had 15pts a piece, Martin also adding 5ast to his scoreline but it was again the front runner for the rookie of the year and serial flopper Anatoly Bose with his 14pts 6reb and 2ast that helped seal the Crocs fate, Bose shot horribly from the field but was at 50% from behind the 3pt line.
So with the Kings all but out of the playoffs they thought that they shouldn’t make it easy for any other team to make it either, and with the fire that Heal will bring to try and get the kings back to at least a shade of their former selves, you know the kings will come out and play hard every week.
The Crocs however need to take stock and make the decision if they are going to play hard to compete for a playoff spot and have any hope of again being involved in playoff basketball in the 2011/12 season or continue to mail in their effort on a weekly basis.
(BoxScore)
Cairns steal one from the Wildcats, 83-78
Luke Nevill got off to a fast start and no doubt the Taipans were thinking it was going to be a long night. Jess Wagstaff then manages to put a driving Ian Crosswhite square on his backside and whilst both parties were cool about it Brad Hill wanted to make something of it. A quick word from the ref cooled Hill down.
In the week Matty Knight wrote an article about wanting/needing to stay healthy Knigh found himself again heading to the change rooms and taking no further part in the game.
Cairns got themselves back into the game with a 15-0 run heading into the third period, the Wildcats, at times looking like they were never going to score again.
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| Wilson was quick… Road Runner quick |
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The Snakes broke this game open by beating the Wildcats at the Wildcats style of play, that is transitioning into offence quickly coming out of defence. The Snakes ran; and ran quick in the second half causing the Wildcats to not only try to catch them on the court, but also on the score board.
The Snakes finished the game hot, moving the ball around and finding the open shot. Shooting the ball at 49% from the field they were always going to be a hard act to catch. Alex Loughton jumpshot his way to 20 points, Jamar Wilson drive his way to 15 and Andrew Warren and Aaron Grabau made the most of open looks to finish with 10.
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Kevin Lisch was aggressive offensively on his way to 21 points, hawn Redhage added 19 and Luke Nevill 12. The Wildcats not find themselves two games behind the leading Breakers and the Snakes find themselves in fourth.
Blaze beat Hawks (Again), 85-72
If you flicked on Sunday’s NBL broadcast you could be excused for sensing déjà vu, didn’t we already do this one on Friday night? In fact the NBL and ONE HD could almost be excused for playing Friday night’s game. In both games the Hawks were winning after the first but lost the game. Two things that was different were Husdon giving Glen Saville a facial and Jason Cadee getting a fast break dunk; you don’t see Cadee dunking that often.
Never far from the action is CBAB endorsee and toilet training teacher, Mark Worthington, but htis time he let Hawks import Joevan Catron push him around. The reason the Blaze run was two fold, they hit the boards harder and were able to get to the line. The Wollongong Hawks jumpshot style of play, though text book doesn’t draw a lot of fouls.
Something has gone awfully odd for the Blaze who as a team have been turning down the three ball. We personally checked them for fevers but it turned out all were cold, going 1/10 from outside. To put it into perspective the Blaze fired up 22 three balls in two games over the weekend, an amount the Blaze aren’t opposed to shooting on any given night. Wortho led the way with 17 points, none of them coming from outside. Ardris Deleon scored 16 and Will Hudson makes an appearance adding 15 points and grabbing 9 rebounds.
This is the second time in a week the Hawks have come up short against the Blaze. Ayinde Ubaka was inspirational but his 18 points was almost dwarfed by his 6 turnovers. Oscar Forman added 12 but his 2 rebounds are a cause for concern and the rest of the Hawks were pretty stock exchange.
Can’t Buy a Damn Thing Award
9 points, 16 points, 10 points, 15 points, and 10 points. What is this? The points scored by the Perth Wildcats in the third quarter over the past five games. Over the many fine teams the Wildcats have fronted in their strong history, a strong third quarter has been more a myth; but the third quarter stretch of late has been a shambles, what makes these numbers worse is the lengthy passages of play where they don’t put the ball in the hoop, this time taking six minutes and three seconds to score points after half time at the same time allowing Cairns to score 15 straight. Why did you lose the game, that is why!
Gimme my Change Award
Ironically, this week’s award goes to a Wildcat from something they did during the terrible third quarter.
It is a travesty that this game didn’t get the time to make it to the small screen and as a result most people won’t get to see it. Hot on the heels of a Jamar Wilson fast break was a gunning Cam Tovey and as Wilson’s fast break layup goes up, Tovey launches with one hand in the air, pins the ball against the backboard, cups the ball and comes to ground, ball still in the hand. Let the stat sheet show one super-awesome block to Cam Tovey.
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