NBL Wrap Round 24: And then there were four

With the number 1 spot done and dusted for the 2011 season, the Breakers solidified the minor premiership, but the battle for spots 2 – 4 were up for grabs, the Hawks were trying to keep their playoff hopes of alive, while the Wildcats and Crocs were battling each other for the all important 2^nd seed and home court advantage in the playoffs, who would succeed, who would go home unhappy, let us recap for you………..

While this was one of the games of the round that had no impact on the playoff seeding, pride was on the line for the 36ers not to be in the running for consecutive wooden spoons, and without their star player Adam Ballinger, the battle for the 36ers was an uphill battle as well as the biggest of game of their year.

The Blaze didn’t want to make it easy though, with 6 players scoring in double figures, including the entire starting 5, the Blaze wanted to end off on a good note and provide some positives to go into the offseason with.

With Ater Majok leaving to prepare for the NBA draft, the Blaze were a little short handed in the size department and possibly a little short changed in the lending money department, but the inclusion of Stephen Hoare in the starting 5 proved to be a good move.

Ater owes you

 With James Harvey coming back into top scoring form going for a team high 20pts and Ira Clarke again producing the solid number with 19pts and 8reb, the Blaze seemed to be getting the production they have been wanting from their players all year. Stephen Hoare having 11pts and a team high 11reb, Chris Goulding and Tom Garlepp with 13 a piece and Adam Gibson with 18pts and 7assists.

The 36ers also had 6 players in double figures but it seemed pride was more the driving force to produce than actual offensive firepower.It was veteran Rhys Carter leading the surge and playing like a youngster all over again with 20pts and the game winning shot to boot.

Joining him in the stat sheet was Jacob Holmes 14pts and a game high 12reb, Daniel Johnson with 15pts 9reb, Brad Hill with 17pts, Eddie Shannon with 13pts 8ast and Jeff Dowdell with 11pts.

The 36ers showed the heart to pull through in this massive game for their respectability and it’s a pity they didn’t have the ‘Balls’, the only we ask is, where has this sense of urgency been all year?

In the first game of the round with playoff implications, many fans of other teams saw themselves barracking for teams they normally would not have a kind word for, including us, we admit, we were backing the Tigers for the win hoping they could beat the Crocs to make the race for 2^nd place between the Crocs and the Wildcats a little more nail biting.

All game the Tigers looked they had the Crocs number and were going to hand them a costly defeat, but the Crocs rallied and wanted to make sure their battle for 2^nd place stayed alive.

Youngster Lucas “Sky” Walker had a great game going for a double double with 14pts 10reb and 4ast and a solid contribution from captain Cam Tragardh who had 14pts 7reb kept the Tigers rolling along and hoping for an upset, the only problem was nobody else seemed to be matching their intensity and putting the points on the board when it mattered the most.

The Crocs however had a final quarter to remember outscoring the Tigers 29 – 12 in the final period with production coming from most of their usual sources, we said most, the only player who failed to provide the dominant impact seen for most of the Crocs season was surprisingly none other than big man Luke Schenscher, who did have 7pts and 7reb but hardly the production expected from him.

It was a balanced double figure scoring line up for the Crocs, with no individual player scoring more than 15pts, five players in double figures compared to the Tigers three.

Ben Allen, who has struggled all year in his adjustment to the NBL as well as only playing minimal court time provided some unlikely but most welcome scoring punch with 12pts and 3reb, Michael Cedar top scoring for the Crocs and shooting an amazing 80% (4/5) from the 3pt line had 14pts, Nathan Crosswell and Will Blalock both had 12pts and Peter Crawford had 11pts of his own.

The ‘Wortho’ is strong in this one

 With the hurdle of beating the Tigers done, all the Crocs had to do was sit back and do the unthinkable, that was pray for the Taipans, their North Queensland rivals to beat the Wildcats and solidify their place as the number 2 team.

Would this happen, stay tuned………………………………………………………..

It all boiled down to this game, which held the balance and fortunes of the makeup of the finals on the road to the championship, win, and 2^nd place was still achievable for the Wildcats, lose and 2^nd spot goes to the Crocs and the result of the Taipans last game dictates a finish in 3^rd or 4^th, talk about tension.

And the game did not disappoint, with scores being close all the way, big time players hitting big time shots, overtime, heartbreak, this game had it all.

The Wildcats knew what had to be done, and they came out with the sense of urgency and the defensive pressure that is expected, lead by last season’s grand final MVP Kevin Lisch, the Wildcats were looking like they could pull out the victory, Lisch going for a game high 19pts 8reb 5ast competing on every possession, he and back court partner Damian Martin combined for 15 of the Wildcats 46 total rebounds, not bad from your starting back court where no player is over 6’3”.

The battle in the paint was tough, with normal producers such as Matty Knight who has been on a tear of late only putting up 9pts and 6reb and Andre Brown as well being limited to only 4pts 4reb.

It was the wing players providing the hustle, Stephen Weigh showing signs of earlier season form with 11pts and 7reb and Cam Tovey with 10pts 8reb, Jeremiah Truman and Jesse Wagstaff both having the same numbers with 12pts 3reb but it was Trueman doing it in only 12 minutes that proved to be the spark, the young big man earning his court time with pure hustle and determination.

The Taipans have been a solid team at home, not letting many teams come into their house and walk away with a victory, and even though they let a few travelling Cats fans into their house, they failed to offer them leaving happy with a Cats victory.

Serial Wildcat killer Ayinde Ubaka again was the instrumental figure in the win and had a game high tie with 20pts 6reb 6ast with Ron Dorsey, who has failed on previous attempts against the Cats who also had 20pts 8reb to lead the Taipans to victory.

Phill Jones seemed to wake up from his season long hibernation with 13pts 4reb and 4ast and Ian Crosswhite and Dusty Rychart made the battle of the men in the middle tough for the Cats frontcourt, Crosswhite having 11pts 7reb and Dusty having 11pts 9reb.

With the victory, the Taipans destroyed all chances of the Wildcats ending up in 2^nd place and playoff home court advantage, all that is left now is for them to battle it out for their final spot, which will either mean ending up 3^rd and having a North Queensland finals series, or facing the league leaders and minor premiers the Breakers if they end up 4^th.

The battle was won by the Taipans, but they still have the rest of the war to fight, all fans will be watching the last round to see how it ends up, including Wildcats players and fans, what a game, what a season, if only this game was live on OneHD, it could have been epic (but the radio coverage on Sport FM was appreciated).

With Cairns rolling the Wildcats in overtime the Hawks chances at playing finals basketball disappeared, but this game wasn’t about making the finals, it was about knocking over a rival team and having the New South Wales bragging rights. 

Sydney jumped the gun a little quicker than the raging Hawks before Wollongong stuck their claws in and pegged back the small deficit before taking a two point lead heading into the half. From there on the Hawks took a firm grasp of the game and just like the Liberal party in the state election ran away with a huge victory giving the Kings a royal flush. 

Gary Ervin finished his season staking a claim on the MVP trophy. Gary ran rings around scored a game high 20 points and dropped 8 dimes. Oscar Forman ripped in a terrifying 13 rebounds and added 17 points while Timmy Behrendorff who many forgot existed, piled on another 14 points for his team. Wollongong have had some ups and downs this season, who can forget the horrid stretch of injuries that led them to pack light on numerous occasions. 

After a few red hot weeks Trey Gilder looks like he has finally began to adjust to this league scoring a team high 18 points and seven rebounds, unlucky for Kings as the NBL season is winding down. Ben Magden scored 17 points and Julian Khazzouh dropped 15 points and hauled in 8 boards.

Sydney wrap up their season next week with a home game against the very beatable Gold Coast Blaze. The Kings season hasn’t seen a lot of joy and it will mean a lot to finish it off with a win. Those of you in Sydney, make sure you get to the game and sheer your team on.

Can’t Buy a Damn Thing Award

With so much at stake this late into the season there were some pretty mundane performances worth mentioning. Drew Williamson ran around aimlessly for 5 minutes, but he can be excused as his knee has been playing up. Jarrod Scoines racked up 1 assist and 1 foul in 7 minutes and Rosell Ellis, Tommy Greer, Daniel Dillon and Timmy Coenraad all played shockers and Brad Robbins managed to edge out his competitors by racking up 4 fouls and one assist in 8 minutes on the court.  

This week all teams that played who aren’t called Adelaide take out this award this week for their lousy free throw shooting. Gold Coast 10/18 (56%), Cairns 23/35 (66%), Perth 19/30 (63%), Melbourne 11/19 (57%), Townsville 7/14 (50%), Wollongong 5/8 (63%) and Sydney 6/11 (55%).

Although Adelaide shot an impressive 83% from the line giving them this week’s award would have been too easy. For that reason we will overlook Townsville’ s strong finish hitting 9/11 including 7/7 from the land of plenty in their come from behind victory against the Tigers. Although the Crocs deserve this week’s awards Adelaide get it because if it wasn’t for us, they wouldn’t win anything.