36ers stun Wildcats, 100-92
Bottom of the ladder Adelaide 36ers ventured west to take on the yet to lose a game Wildcats. From out of the blocks the 36ers set the pace, the Wildcats on the back foot. Simpson and his donkey set foot on Australian soil to assist his battered team, one still reeling the 36 point shellacking in round one, but tonight was going to be different with the 36ers boasting not only Simpson but Adam Ballinger (the donkey??) and the Wildcats without the smiling assassin in Damian Martin.
Things got heated when Steve Weigh gave Shawn Redhage a shove; coincidently it was the exact same shove Weigh served upon Bubbles Goulding on the same court a few seasons back. Nathan Herbert also gave Red Dawg a further shove for good measure before the usual chesting up occurred. The aftermath gave the Wildcats six consecutive free throws and possession, a situation we have not seen in professional ball.
It is a cliché to say that it is ‘not your night’ but the Wildcats could put up an argument that it in fact wasn’t their night, a five minute patch in the first quarter returned one basket, two turnovers, two consecutively missed free throws and 12 missed field goals which really set the tone for the Wildcats for the night.
This is not to discredit Adelaide, they came in with a plan that upset the Wildcats from the start and matched the usual Wildcat up-tempo style of play and beat them at their own game, often waiting for the press to over-commit before pushing the ball up the floor quickly. Good work on the win boys, too bad it still keeps you in last position; however when you continue to play like that your rise up the ladder will be a quick one. 60% from the floor as a team is huge. Daniel Johnson scored 22,
Steven Weigh had 16 points, 10 boards and three blocks in his return to the Jungle and Crosswell played well for 15.
Steven Weigh had 16 points, 10 boards and three blocks in his return to the Jungle and Crosswell played well for 15.
The Wildcats will obviously learn from this game and are expected to unleash in their next game, Watch out Wollongong. Redhage scored 21 and dished 6 dimes, Lisch scored 15 and Greg Hire welcomed himself to the NBL as a fully contracted player with 12 points. Keep an eye on Hire, his energy can create some awesome things out on the court.
Hawks pip Taipans, 69-64
After a slow start the Hawks finally got into gear, it was a slow one but it was enough to get them over the line against the Cairns Taipans. The game was scrappy but that is probably how both teams like it. The Taipans were bolstered with the return of Alex Loughton who was good at free throws but offered little else. We are certain Alex’s workload will pick up as he is eased into full time duties.
On the other end of the court the Hawks were having free throw problems of their own. First was the issue of getting to the line, the second issue was the percentage and even then it was only two players. Glen Saville’s one from two and Catron’s 2 from 6 the only free throws for Hawks in the whole game combining for a lousy 38%. It was outside where the Hawks were more effective going 10 from 20 from deep.
For the Hawks, Timmy Coenraad led the charge with 16 points and Joevan Catron scored 15 whilst
Rhys Martin scored 12 and had 9 assists.
Rhys Martin scored 12 and had 9 assists.
Last week’s hero Andrew Warren was MIA having a shocking night with stats so bad we cannot talk about it. In a characteristic result so far this season Brad Hill was surrounded by the stock exchange. Hill ended the game with 19 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks.
New Zealand 76, Sydney 59
At least Sydney are getting better, right? A fortnight after getting decimated by the Breakers by 37 points the Kings effectively halved it, this time losing by 17 points. After a disappointing start and losing by 12 at quarter time the Kings managed to pull within two points which turned out to be the Breakers teasing the NBL’s royalty, the Breakers from there ran away with the game.
Playing for the first time at Vector Arena the Breakers put on a show. The court looked good, the crowd was large and the Breakers had a big win. No doubt the boys are drooling at the mouth just thinking about playing their next game there.
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| A police escort would sort the King’s turnover woes |
Sydney have had problems looking after the ball and this game was no exception. With 24 turnovers to the Breaker’s 12 Sydney were giving themselves reasons to stay out of the game. Things could have been worse for the Kings if the Breakers mustered more than nine points off those turnovers.
Who woke CJ Bruton back from the dead? Bruton put on a vintage performance finishing the game with 21 points and 8 boards, almost one for every three point shot he missed. Gary Wilkinson pounded away for 20 points and thieving Cedric Jackson ended with 6 steals and six assists. Cedric shall giveth and Cedric shall giveth away.
Slow starts have dogged the Kings. It is always going to be hard to get back into the game when you let it slide from the tip off. Julian Khazzouh scored 16 points and grabbed 12 boards, Jerai Grant is becoming the beat the purple army were hoping for, Jerai scored 12 points and grabbed 6 boards whilst Aaron Bruce added 11 points, 7 assists and still has not missed a free throw winning the CBAB FTW challenge.
Townsville break Gold Coast, 78 – 70
Queensland clashes involving the Blaze don’t seem to have the stigma a Crocs v Snakes game has but this does not mean that they are any less intense. The Crocs rallied hard to head into the major break with a five point lead only to be rewarded by having five fouls called against them two minutes into the third and nine fouls in total for the quarter.
Despite every effort and surge the Blaze put up trying to inspire the win, their score was always going to be south of Townsville’s, just like their geographical location and just like their current place on the ladder. Many predicted the Blaze to be contenders this season however we are yet to see that. Mark Worthington finished with 13 points and 8 boards including a wide open dunk late in the game which poses a question. Does Wortho dunk often? James Harvey dropped 17 points but had no support from his bromancer.
As for Townsville, they will not be happy with their reckless turnovers late in the game, particularly Elvin Mims (17 points and 9 rebounds) who injects energy into the Crocs had four of his five turnovers down the stretch. Michael Cedar who managed to bank a three ball off the glass finished with 12 and Holmes, PC and Blanchfield rounded out the double digits scorers with 10 apiece.
Hawks go down to the Tigers, 74 – 82
In the last game of the round the Tigers travelled to the “Gong” to take on the Hawks, who were dealt an early blow by having reliable big man Larry Davidson ruled out of the clash. The Loss of Davidson was going to have the Hawks playing small ball for the game and relying on import Joevan Catron to fill up the middle.
Catron didn’t disappoint top scoring with 18pts and grabbing 6reb and dishing out 3ast, rotating the ball well on the perimeter creating open shooters, he would have had more than the 3 assists on the stat sheet were it not for the dismal 28% shooting from 3pt land from the Hawks on this night.
Helping on the scoresheet was Tim Coenraad who had a serviceable 13pts and 6reb and Tyson Demos with 10.
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| Showron was kept in the showroom |
What could have had more impact on the scoreline was the Hawks reluctance to use new import PG Showron Glover who seemed to make plays every time the ball was in his hands and in his 4 minutes on the court managed 2pts and 6ast. The Hawks controlled the game for the first 3 quarters, at times hold a lead of 12+ points, but the comeback from the Tigers was lead by none other than Patty “Skills” Mills.
Mills was carving up the Hawks defence, splitting double teams like Dwayne Wade and getting to the rim, hitting spot up 3’s like Reggie Miller and showing why he is the fastest player up the court in the NBL since Ricky Grace. Mills had 20pts for the game and was efficient in his shooting going 4/8 from beyond 3 and was 7/13 for the game.
The rebounding and general dirty work down low was handled by Matt Burston who along with Lucas Walker had 6reb each, but the scoring load was handled by the usual suspects for the Tigers offensively.
Cam Tragardh had 12pts, which is a little below his usual scoring average, but he did actually play some defence and had a tough battle with Catron down low, Ayinde Ubaka had 14pts and was 4/6 from beyond the 3pt line Daniel Dillon also had a decent night offensively with 13pts.
The only worry so far for the Tigers is the total irrelevance of Ron Dorsey and his inability to produce anything more than a “Also Played” on the stat sheet, with so many small forward wing players on the Tigers, if he fails to start to produce could he be the first import to go, or is his contract to bad to see a buyout happening, the Tigers want to see you do something Ron, they do Ron Ron Ron, they do Ron Ron.
Can’t Buy a Damn Thing Award
This award was close to going to Luke Nevill of the Wildcats for his 0pt 1reb 1ast and 2 turnover game and a “Luke Who” type of performance against the 36ers.
But it was actually a 36ers player who gets the award this week, and if you remember your CBAB terminology this player went all “Krispy Kreme” on us this week.
We present this week’s award to Darren “The Dr” Ng who had an almighty donut on the stat sheet and didn’t register anything other than 3 or so minutes on court.
Here in WA we don’t have a Krispy Kreme donut franchise store, and we thought Adelaide didn’t wither, but it seems the Dr brought his own dozen with him.
Gimme my Change Award
There were no real outstanding candidates for the award this week, a lot of great performances by many individual players, it seems the real winners were the hoop fans who managed to catch a glimpse of their team.
But this award should go to the 36ers this week, getting back their franchise player Adam Ballinger inspired the team to come out and defeat the highly favoured Wildcats on their home floor deserves respect.
It seems the 36ers are the Cats bogey team and maybe that the old school rivalry may be heating up again to go back to the days of old, well done Adelaide, enjoy it while you can.
