NBL Wrap Round 22: 3000 Reasons to Sigh

Not more than two weeks ago Sydney Kings CEO was reprimanded for making comments about the referees. Which coach got pinged for a $3,000 fine for doing similar this long weekend?

The two cities that attempt to lay claims as Australia’s unofficial capital city took to the hardwood, ready to put on a show, albeit not a high scoring one.

Although the Kings managed to keep the score board ticking over slowly it was the unlikely heroes in Bennie Lewis and Lucas Walker who kept the Tigers on track with the not so blistering pace.

It was the Tigers who had a purple patch, forcing the Kings to make multiple turnovers in their back court that led to easy Tiger baskets. Liam Rush sealing the run with a two handed slam.

Finding themselves behind at the main break the Kings dug as deep as their shallow pockets would allow. Trying to stay in the game late, Anatoly Bose, like an Urban Burger employee flipped and flopped his way around the court, the referees not buying in in the act failed to add the special sauce. Flopping aside, Bose’s 16 points was the perfect condiment to the meat in the middle, Julian Khazzouh who hauled in 16 rebounds and added 11 points. Ben Magden was the fries on the side leading the team with 20 points.

The Tigers output was a little more evenly spread, all ten players scoring points. Lucas Walker scored a team high 12 points, Bennie Lewis added 12 and Cam Tragardh scored 11. If this was a last charge for the playoffs this may of come a little too late.

With both these teams out of finals contention it was more a battle of late season pride, and the 36ers come out on top.

After a balanced opening quarter the 36ers took hold and asserted their authority on the game, Though the Hawks generally hung around you never felt like this game was in doubt.

And whilst the 36ers put in largely a team effort the Hawks had come to town with a two man show. Ayinde Ubaka turning back the clock with a vintage performance with 23 points, a zero assist tally is a little concerning for a star guard but with Oscar Forman (2/9), Glen Saville (1/6) and Dave Gruber (1/8) shooting woefully we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Larry Davidson added 17 points on 7/9 shooting and pulled in 7 boards.

Daniel Johnson led the 36er charge with 16 points but at a meagre 24%, Steve Weigh conteracted Johnson’s inefficiency with 12 points, Chris Warren added 11 and 5 assists and Darren Ng fired away for 10 points.

The Blaze have accomplished something of a rarity. That is not only beating the Taipans on their home court but also doing so in a high scoring affair.

The Taipans found themselves down by as much as 11 points in the second quarter but managed to pull back and take the lead, even if it was for 17 seconds. After a 31 second quarter the Taipans ran out of steam and could only muster 32 more for the reminder of the game, the Blaze fired off 47 and ran away for the comfortable 17 point win.

The Blaze shot an impressive 55% from the field which included an impressive 11/19 (58%) from outside. When the Blaze are shooting that hot there aren’t that many teams (if any) that can keep up with that pace. The secret is not to let them get open looks.

Ardis Deleon scored 23 points which included  some big shots from long range. Deleon has a knack for hitting these sorts of shots and you can only sit back and say ‘wow’, that little guy has a big game. Anthony Petrie scored 17 points but his 3 boards is probably not enough for a man of his stature. Chris Goulding added 14 points and little else and Mark Worthington relied on free throws to get him to 13 points.

The Taipans import guards were the stars on the losing side. Jamar Wilson matched Deleon’s 23 points and added 4 assists, Drew Warren scored 20 and Aaron Grabau added 15. This loss puts the Taipans in serious consideration to miss out on the playoffs, another shock loss like this one might just do that.

This game was touted as game of the round and had many punters wondering why this game wasn’t scheduled for TV; and we will tell you one thing, this game lived up to the hype. In a clumsy first few minutes the Breakers got off to a good start, after a few minutes the Wildcats steadied and made it a contest before running away with a bit of a lead.

The Cats had established a decent lead heading into half time and the fans were dreading the third quarter collapse (hmm, that is a good name for a spin off website, thirdquartercollapse.com.), but that didn’t come. Daryl Corletto began lighting it up from outside but the Wildcats counteracted it, much to the shock and amazement of the fans.

The Breakers came out and gunned from long range in the fourth and Kevin Lisch was unable to hit a game winner that forced overtime, The Breakers managed to get ahead before it appeared that Kevin Lisch got tripped to which the refs chose not to call, the Breakers able to hold out for the win.

If the refs are too scared to make such a big call in the final seconds of the game to the point where blatant calls aren’t being made then that is downright not in the best interest of the game.

When did Mika Vukona begin getting superstar calls? Vukona travelled and crab dribbled his way around the court. This win does make sealing the top spot on the ladder a whole lot easier for the Breakers. CJ Jackson was everywhere scoring 23 points, 6 assists and three steals, Gary Wilkinson added 18 points and Vukona added 12 points and 8 boards.

Kevin Lisch scored a game high 27 points and whilst Shawn Redhage added 16 and Matthew Knight added 15. Head coach Rob Beveridge was fined $3,000 by the league for making comments that disparage the referee.

The Tigers found themselves on the wrong side of another low scoring encounter, this time going down to the Townsville Crocs by three points.

A 10 point third quarter by the Tigers put them behind the ball so to speak, needing to come from behind to get the victory and although the Tigers made that charge for the win, time got the better of them after Myron Allen was pinged for an offensive foul. Townsville get the win and add some weight to their quest to play playoffs basketball.

Peter Crawford scored a team high 14 points, from 14 shots and collected 7 rebounds whilst Elvin Mims added 13 points and 10 boards and the Big Red Stick, Luke Schenscher scored 13 points, 6 boards and three assists.

Lucas Walker completed a good week for him adding another team high 13 points and pulled in 6 rebounds, a mantle he shared with Ron Dorsey who also scored 13. Cameron Tragardh scored 11 points.

Gold Coast rounded out a good week adding two notches to their belt, this time beating the Sydney Kings by seven points.

Out of the gate the Kings got the upper hand, thanks largely to Ben Magden and went as far to head into the half time break leading by two points, from there it became the Adris Deleon show. Deleon lived up to his Twitter handle, slicing and dicing any defence the Kings tried. Deleon making them could from long, far and close.

With Gibbo quiet and Wortho committing fouls as fast as Deleon was scoring baskets the Blaze had to push on with their usual stars contributing. Deleon fired away 33 points, each one as special as the one that preceded it. Will Hudson scored 10 and pulled in 12 rebounds and Anthony Petrie pounded away inside for 20 points. Watch out league, the Blaze are charging home.

What is odd about this game is that the Kings lost this game whilst shooting a considerable percentage better than their opponents (51% to 43%) it isn’t until you look further down the stats and notice that the Kings shot just 5/20 from the charity stripe. Ben Magden scored 30 points, Anatoly Bose scored 22 points and Jerai Grant added 19 points.

We had actually written a few paragraphs on the referees inconsistency down the stretch of games, missing blatant violations have make calls that both teams scratching their heads. There was even a paragraph about how when teams criticise the referees because they let the Wildcats bully them they get reprimanded but when the Wildcats make comment they get smacked up with a $3,000 fine.

But as soon as we saw the pathetic free throw shooting display the Kings put on, the award has to go to them. This isn’t the first time free throw shooting has cost the Kings a game (Hi Graeme Dann) and we are pretty sure it won’t be the last; they have a few more games left this season.

The Tigers shot 3/10 in one of their game, they can share this award. 

Umm, we’ll just show it with a picture.