NBL Wrap Round 23: Rock around the Croc

It was the battle of Kings of the NBL and the self titled Kings, well of Sydney anyway, although we sometimes wonder how they got the name in the first place.

As this will be one of the last regular round Wrap’s of the year, we thought we would use some ‘rap’ to describe one player, Trey Gilder, who played this game better game than most as he was in all 4 corners like butter on toast.

Without star player Julian Khazzouh, Gilder took it upon himself to play the NBL game of his life, but his efforts couldn’t get the Kings out of strife………..OK, that’s enough of that now.

Gilder had a game high 30pts to go with his 7reb 4ast and 2st, Ben Knight having one of his better offensive games this season with 12pts 5reb and 5ast and Luke Martin with 18pts 4reb and 6ast, that’s about the only positive things we can write about the Kings in this game.

The Breakers have locked up the minor premiership, so they can be forgiven for going into cruise control going into the playoffs, doesn’t make it an excuse for not dominating the game like they should have, but it is understandable.

Again it was Kirk Penney providing the type of performance which should put him high on the MVP candidates again to go with his great scoring average, Penney put up 26pts 5reb and 5ast, he is like the Andrew Gaze of New Zealand basketball.

Helping Penney was the Breakers high scorer for the game Gary Wilkinson who had another solid output with 28pts 5reb and 4ast and regular contributor Mika Vukona who put in another workmanlike effort with 16pts 8reb and 5ast.

The Breakers have top spot locked in going into the playoffs, but will they choke like Breakers teams before them, or will they finally have enough to make it to the finals for the opportunity to take the NBL trophy across the Tasman.

With the top spot in the NBL locked up, the battle for 2^nd place was on the line, with the win, the Wildcats could all but lock up the 2 spot, but the Crocs, who had been owned by the Cats all season in the series wanted to finish with the best home court record in NBL history, a shot to at least contend for spot number 2 and a chance for playoff home court advantage.

The game was live on OneHD and proved to be a great advertisement for the NBL, the epic battle was close and hard fought from start to finish and had everything a game could offer, hard defence, great offence and everything in between.

The Wildcats hoping to sweep the season series came out trying to make sure the Crocs did not get out to an early lead, and while their offence was not clicking like it had been in recent weeks, it was the defence keeping them in the game.

Only 2 players managed to score in double figures for the Cats in this game, and that was former Wildcat, then Croc, then former Croc and Wildcat again Cam Tovey.

Topsy Tovey is having a career year shooting wise and has shown the confidence to let go shots he wouldn’t have taken earlier in his career, Tovey jacked up 9 3pt shots but only made 3 for his 15pts 6reb and 3ast. Matt Knight had been playing well recently upon return of injury but suffered a horrific fall in the Croc keyway that had him carried off on a stretcher and ended his (K)night early, considering his form he could have been the difference in the final stretch, but it wasn’t to be and he had 11pts and 6reb before the injury.

The Crocs were lead by their own former Wildcats players in Luke Schenscher and former Croc, then Wildcat, then Croc again home town boy Peter Crawford.

The man known just as “P.C” had a good shotting night and was hitting tough contested shots and high scoring for the game with 17pts, the Crocs went to their big men to bring them home and on this night, they delivered, Captain Croc Russell Hinder had 10pts 8reb and a memorable post game interview but it was the Big Red Rocket Luke Schenscher who did the damage for the Crocs with 12pts 12reb and 2blk.

With the Crocs sitting now at number 2 but with some tough games still to come, can they hold onto 2^nd spot over the Wildcats and get that home court chance for the playoffs, or will the remaining top 4 spots come down to a crap shoot and a little bit of luck?

With their run for consecutive wooden spoons on the line, the 36ers came out with a fire to prove they were better than their record for the season, well at least one of them did.

With their big time player Adam Ballinger going down in the game with an injury, the 36ers rallied behind their young big man Daniel Johnson, and boy did he deliver with one of the best games of his young career.

Johnson has at times been used scarcely this season, but with Ballinger going down, he got his opportunity to produce some good numbers, going for what is probably his career high Johnson dropped 31pts 13reb (7offensive) and 3st to keep the 36ers in the game.

Rhys Carter had 11pts and Aaron Bruce with 10pts were the only other double digit scorers but as we have seen all throughout the year, the 36ers at times just do not have the offensive production when it counts.

The Tigers were playing their first game of a 2 game round and may have been trying to conserve some energy for their Sunday game with the Blaze.

Lead by consistent bench producer Darryl Corletto who had a game high score for the Tigers with 22pts 4reb, he was helped out by Corey Williams who had 20pts 6reb 5ast 5st but the closest he got to a double double was his favourite statistical category, the turnover, and Williams had 8.

Two of the Tigers young guns were out in force and Bennie Lewis and Lucas Walker made a case why they should have perhaps got more court time earlier in the season, Lewis with 13pts and was 3/4 from the 3pt line and Walker with 10pts of his own.

Some of the other teams still in contention for the top 4 battled it out and another close game in the final rounds ensued.

The Hawks came out with a sense of purpose and were lead in scoring by MVP candidate Gary Ervin who had a team high 15pts but only 1ast, it was the play of savvy vet Glen Saville though (yes, we used Saville and Savvy in the same sentence, but you have to admit it was worth it) that was the inspiration for the Hawks to keep them in the game.

Saville returned to form of his younger days with 13pts 10reb and 5ast to lead the way for the likes of Matt Campbell and Oscar Forman to provide some helpful input, Campbell having 11pts but suffering from a bad shooting night, and the Big “O” having a solid 10pts and 8reb.

The effort though was not enough and the Taipans, who have been a tough opponent for most teams this year, just seemed to have too much, even though they only had 2 double digit scorers compared to the Hawks 4.

It was the re-emergence of Phill Jones for the Taipans that was the most welcome contribution of the night, Jones has been struggling to find form all season after suffering from niggling injuries and poor shooting but put in a veteran performance with a team high 19pts and 7reb, Ayinde Ubaka was the other double digit scorer with 10pts, but it was the hustle and defence that got the Taipans over the line in the end.

The win by the Taipans may be the deciding factor in solidifying their top 4 spot for the 2011 season.

After bowing out of the playoffs race the Blaze decided to finish the season with some dignity and went to work against the Tigers. Melbourne are just looking to see the season out without another mass exodus.

With the Blaze trailing by 1 point the ball found its way to veteran Steve Hoare who promptly but comfortably jacked up mid-range jumper, sinking it and giving his team the slight edge with 24 seconds remaining. 

The Tigers had one final crack at the game but their play was clumsy, Corey Williams showing off his safe hands on a drive not only lost the ball, but lost the game. The play wasn’t pretty, but then again, Corey is not a pretty man. 

Ira Clark continues his domination of the league shooting 10/12 from the field on his way to 23 points. Chris Goulding and Adam Gibson both chipped in with 12 points. 

Corey Williams continues to put up large numbers, but that probably happens when you get the sort of minutes he does, 25 points, 11 boards and 7 assists. Lucas Walker finished off a good week with another 18 points and Daryl Corletto had 13, though the 3/9 from downtown may have been a little much.

With over 4000 lucky punters at the Swamp and a rare live prime time TV gig on Friday night the Crocs were just ‘luvin’ life. Shame one of the Crocs had to embarrass himself. Part way through the third quarter the Croc (Townsville Mascot) decided it would be a good idea to give some simulated ‘luvin’ gestures.

Now whether you find these types of antics funny is beside the point. You can’t argue that jokes of this nature are appropriate for basketball, especially if its live on national TV.

Five games were played this week, all decided by a margin of 5 points or less (in a top vs bottom round no less) with a total margin of 11 points. Three games decided by one point. Sounds like the basketball fans have been spoiled by such a hard fought and contested round.