Friday 30 March 2012

Townsville destroyed the Breakers

Townsville dis-assembled the New Zealand breakers tonight in game one of the 3 game series. The Townsville Crocodiles won a comfortable 99 to the breakers 82  Did the crocs throw them off with that given loss last week? that was not finals basketball from the breakers and they'll have to up the intensity next week. They have the skill but they were too confident with that.

Many people wrote off the Townsville Crocodiles going into this series and there victory has caused a big upset with New Zealands chances of winning back to back championships looking shaky. Only last week Shane Heal and Steve Carfino barely mentioned them in the playoff race but to beat the Breakers at home, says a lot.
Peter Crawford led the way for the Crocs with 26 points and the NBA veteran Eddie Gill tallied a tidy 21. Tom Abercrombie scored a team high of 21 for the Breakers.
Townsville played smart basketball limiting the impact key players like Cedric Jackson and CJ Bruton could make. They also rebounded well the Big Red, Luke Schencher had 9 points 6 rebounds and 6 assists and Jacob Holmes made 12 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. It was a well rounded effort from the Crocs with several players filling the stat sheet with points, boards and assists.
Townsville coach Paul Woolpert said his team executed the game plan as well as possible.
“We talked about the obvious things, like limiting them to one shot. They’re a great offensive rebounding team," he said.
"We needed to stop their transition game and the best way to do that is execute well offensively. You make a great team like the Breakers take the ball out of the net instead of turning the ball over ... you don’t want to feed the monster.”

The New Zealand Breakers lead going into the first break 21-19. And the second quarter saw both teams come out firing with the lead trading places on multiple occasions. Elvin Mims (13 points) completed a 3 point play going into half time break with the crocs taking the lead 44-41. Gill and Schencher took the lead to double figures with a 3 from gill followed by a nice hook from Schencher. And back to back threes from Holmes and Crawford had the home side chasing a 20 point deficit that was too much for the home side to reign in.
“That’s just a confidence factor,” said Woolpert. “We played well the first time we were here [at Vector Arena] and we like shooting in this gym. That confidence carried over to tonight."
The Townsville Crocodiles defied there critics and are looking good to take down the shaky Breakers at there home gym "the Swamp" this week. Thats if they can put up another performance like they did on Friday. But the breakers can come back they are a strong team and must stay confident. Wilkinson was still unflinching for the breakers, “We’re a team that, when the challenge is presented, we’ve stepped up and got the job done,” he said.
“All of us know that and we understand what’s ahead of us.”

Game two of the series will be a good game. I dont see the Breakers lyeing down on the job this time. They'll have something to prove, the minor premiors wont want to go down this easily.

Post Script:
And how good did was the television production compared to ONE HD. The shooting of the game and whole media aspect of it was far better then any game i have seen all season. Thats the first New Zeland game i have seen but one hd need to take a look at see how its done.


Thursday 29 March 2012

2012/13 NBL season, 5 team playoff series

Next season the NBL championship will change to a 5 team playoff series. The addition of the possible Knox "Bushrangers" will increase the league to 10 teams and will allow for a 5 team playoff series. The draft that has come out has included a second Melbourne team with a working name of the Knox "Bushrangers" but has not included a team from Brisbane. But this is great news for the post season extending it to 5 teams and hopefully as crowds grow maybe we will see a 5 game finals series. 

Gibson plays Perth Injured


Adam Gibson will suit up with an injured calf in the first game of the Perth wildcats vs Gold Coast Blaze semi finals series. Gibson sat out sundays game with some calf tightness but has recently been diagnosed with a tear in his calf. This injury would normally require a three week lay off but Gisbon is going to defy medical advice and take to the court on sunday night. The Blaze need Gibson on the court to slow down the league MVP Kevin lisch. Adam Gibson was awarded the runner up defensive player of the year and his defensive intensity will be required in what is going to be a hard fought game for both teams. Gibson will play reduced minutes but hopefully he'll still hit that jumper of his and keep up with the speedy Kevin lisch.

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Spurs vs Kings Game Mills Plays again



The San Antonio Spurs 117 take down the Sacramento Kings 112 in their 6th straight win. Also winning 9 from their last 10 games. Patty Mills was on the court and played 6min 28 sec and making 3 of his 5 field goals scoring 7 points for his limited time on the court. Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 20 points, Kawhi Leonard had 19 points and 9 rebounds, Tim Duncan had 18 points and 8 rebounds, Gary Neal had 13 points and Tony Parker had 10 points and 10 assists. But this is good for the young Australian Point Guard being part of a good winning team and will hopefully continue to get more minutes as he gets time to train with his team mates.

Gold Coast blaze vs Perth Wildcats round 1 playoffs

The Perth Wildcats take on the Gold Coast Blaze this weekend in round 1 of the semi finals in the IINet NBL Championships. This will be a very good game played at a very high intensity. The Perth Wildcats have the home court advantage for this game and the jungle has a huge affect on referees and traveling teams. Perth are in very good form going into the finals and will make it a hard fought path for the Gold Coast Blaze to win their first championship. The Blaze hold the advantage in games this season winning 2 of the 3 ealier in the season. These were tough wins for the Gold Coast Blaze though, as in 1 game the Gold Coast were down by 20 points at half time to come back and win it. Perth used to be slow starters going into the third quarter but of late seemed to have sorted that problem out. Perth will go in to the game as heavy favourites but keep an eye on a keen Blaze outfit, as they have really came together late in the season.


Gold Coast Blaze

The Gold Coast Blaze seem to change from one game to the next and even from one quarter to the next, so which team will show up on Sunday? The offensive and defensive powerhouse we have seen they can be or the slow cant be bothered team that sometimes shows up.
Adris Deleon aka "2hard2guard". This guy is a straight up baller and if he feels it, he will tear the game apart. In his first meeting against the perth wildcats he scored 21 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 blocked shot. But Perth now know what he can do and will do anything to stop him from repeating that performance.  He will have to come out firing to get that confidence up as sometimes he wont score a point till the second half and often finishes with 16 points. Deleon will have a tough job defending Kevin Lish or Damian Martin, but he needs to not give Kevin Lish any room for a shot as he will hit it given the chance. Damian Martin is the opposite, as he can not let him drive as he will rarely take that shot.

Adam Gibson needs to be hitting that jumper that he was getting only a couple of months ago and also needs to be aggressive and drive to the basket when able. The few times he has its been a big game for him. Gibson also needs to be very aggressive on defence and give just as good back, as the full court press Perth are famous for.


Will Hudson of late has been a demon on the boards. Standing at 6'9" he isn't huge but the Gold Coasts Centre is a work horse, who picks up everywhere that the team needs him. Playing against Perth he will have a tough job ahead of him against the bohemeth Luke Nevill. Hudson will have to box out hard and protect the paint and this will be a grueling game for Gold Coasts big man.

Mark Worthington was recently awarded as forward to the IInets NBL 1st team and will have to prove it going up against Shawn Redhage, who on all accounts is nearly Wortho's equal. This will be a great match up as two of the most players in the league face off and I for one hope Wortho stops Redhage the chump.

Anthony Petrie will also have his hands full up against Matt Knight who again is a force on the inside. Petrie needs to use his skill with the ball and make some strong drives and assists but also box out and keep Gold Coast alive with some second chance shots.

Chris Goulding needs to hit that 3 ball like he did last week; 3 from 3 in the first 5 minutes. If he can play a game like last week and the rest of the team are on, the Blaze can take this from the Wildcats.

Perth

Kevin Lisch was just awarded the IINets NBL MVP for the league and runs that team very efficiently. He often makes some big clutch plays and can drain the 3 ball given the chance.

Damian Martin was awarded the defensive player of the year award and if you watch the game you will see why. He is a mongrel dog after the ball and is relentless. But he will have his hands full guarding the Blaze's 3 point guard rotation of Adris Deleon, Adam Gibson and Jason Cadee.
Shawn Redhage against Mark Worthington will be a close match up, the one who hits more jumpers and plays harder will help his team to the win.

Luke Neville is huge standing at 7'2" and is a force in the paint, which will be very difficult for Will Hudson to match up against him. It will be a fight off of muscle and who can get the better position, but they will look to Neville a lot through the game to post up and get some cheap baskets.
Matt Knight has had several injuries through the year but looks fit take the finals. He will be a defensive stopper against Anthony Petrie but will definitely have some trouble with Petrie's speed.

The match ups in this game are very close but the Perth Wildcats are going into this one as the favorites, sitting at $1.35 for the win and the Blaze at $3.20. I think it will be a close one but Perth have the advantage on height and you will see its effect through the game. The home crowd is also very vocal in Perth and watch out for some bad calls. But Gold Coast will be in with a chance if they can keep their head up and not get so pissed off at the referees. Its a bad call move on don't get caught up in it. This has often lead the blaze to form slumps. If they can get out of this im going to tip them for the close win by 2. However if they let the bias reffing get to them, look for a 12 point loss to the blaze.
Townsville Crocodiles vs New Zealand Breakers game 1



The New Zeland Breakers host the Townsville Crocodiles for game 1 of the semi finals. The Breakers are too strong I do not see the Crocs getting a single win on them. However people wrote off the Cairns Taipans last year and they nearly won it all. So given they play the best ball they have and they know how the breakers play to a T they could get a win or even 2 if there lucky as well.

Townsville:
Eddie Gill really needs to step up and be the superstar the crocs need. At the moment no one is out and out leading that team to a win. Gill has not yet been the driving force that people expected from an NBA veteran. And in the league of amazing import guards we have this year he just blends in. For Crocs to get up he definitly needs to make some plays happen and hit that jumper consecutively. Gill recently injured his hand in practice tearing the webbing in his hand but by now that should be about healed.
Peter Crawford will have to be draining the 3s from the arc and bringing out vukona and abercrombie away from the basket so the big man Schencher can pull down some rebounds.
Holmes will also have to be on his game hitting that jumper he never was last season and pulling down some rebounds that he has been quite consistent with of late.
Elvin Mims needs to increase his defensive effort and use that atheltic ability to pull down some rebounds for some second chance shots.
And the big red Shencher will have to be a force on the inside. The crocs have been going to him more and more this season and has been putting up some decent numbers. If he can contain Wilkinson and actually dunks that shit it could be a good game and closer then people are expecting. But of a huge point they will have to box out on every single shot. The Breakers are leading the league in offensive rebounds and with a team that has so many offensive threats they cant be allowed second chances.


The New Zeland Breakers
The Breakers are the favourites by far in this series and with a record of 21:7 with 13:1 at home you can see why. After losing Kirk Penney after last season many people wrote of the breakers. But after recruiting american Import Cedric Jackson the Breakers are still just as strong.
Cedric Jackson is an amazing court general he leads that team perfectly and has become more and more confident with his jump shot nailing some threes of late. When he and Tom Abercrombie team up it can be a night of big alley oops and dunks.
Tom Abercrombie has really stepped up this season and has show how incredibly athletic he really is. He's been draining threes, pulling down rebounds and throwing down some flashy dunks. But he will have a tough match up with Peter crawford or Jacob holmes who will draw him out from the inside and make him work for those rebounds.
Gary Wilkinson is a massive presence inside and out for the Breakers. He consistently hits the 3 ball and standing 6'8" can muscle out nearly any big in the league. He will be a tough match up for Schencher, holmes and crawford, he cant be left open on the outside and often double teamed on the inside.
Mika Vukona is a straight up work horse. He works harder then anyone I'v seen on the court. If the team is lacking on rebounds he'll step up and box our hard. Crawford will have to ensure he contains Vukona and tries to keep him on the perimter when a shot goes up.
CJ Bruton has been a bench player of late having Darryl Corletto filling the starting position but in a finals game there is no one el's I would want on my team then CJ. He has played in 4 championships winning teams and keeps his cool like no one els in clutch situations. Down the stretch he will likely be leading the team to the win when the game is on the line.

The New Zealand breakers are the heavey favourites at $1.18 with Townscill Crocodiles at $4.80 by centrebet but I think this game will be closer then people think. Townsville can play very well when they work as a team and get there plays and rotations working. However the team New Zealand have a so strong and with CJ to lead them down the stretch Iv got the Breakers up by 6. Either that or it will be a blow our with NZ up by 22.

Andrew Boguts talks about his recent Trade and injuries


Heres a great interview with Andrew Bogut about leaving the Milwaukee Bucks, his injuries and that injury prone tag his been given by the fans and media. It a great read and he's very open about everything. Looks like Bogut is out for the rest of the season and will most likely miss the Olympics for Australia. I'd doubt if Golden State would allow him to play internationally after all the money there spending on him just to get re-injured without playing a single game for them.  But hope you guys enjoy it

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/sam_amick/03/28/bogut.warriors/index.html

Looks like Bogut has just opened a new basketball training facility in South East Melbourne. May be opening a basketball academy. Dont know if thats saying something about the AIS but anyway. Here's a link to a clip of the facility and its equipment for those in the area super keen and think they can go somewhere in the sport.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvCm1YJj-OM

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Brisbane Bullets may miss another year


The draft of the 2012/2013 NBL championship schedule came out recently with no mention of the new Brisbane based team. The Draft did include however a new melbourne based team with the working name the Knox Bushrangers. Why they choose to call a victorian based team the same as another victorian based cricket team is beyond me, but it is a working title. NBL Manager Chuck Harrison is still hopefull that brisbane can get a team together for the 2012/13 season however it is looking doubtful. ``We're not going to speculate, (the draw) is just a draft at this stage,'' he said.
But Allan Ladewig Southern Districts Basketball general manager was more blunt on Brisbane's chances.``The Brisbane community won't come together and there's no direction from Basketball Queensland,'' he said

On top of this it looks like the sunshine state challange pre season games will not be re-occuring this year and brisbane will not hold any pre season games. However we can still hope for BRisbane team to reform as the statement claimed ``The game schedule for the 2012/2013 National Basketball League (NBL) Season is not yet finalised, and the inclusion or absence of a Brisbane-based team cannot be confirmed at this point in time."

Shawn Redhage wins Round 25 player of the week


Shawn Redhage has won player of the week for round 25 of the IINet NBL Championships after helping the Perth Wildcats win a close game over the Melbourne Tigers. The Perth Wildcats won by one point against a tight Melbourne outift that looked like it had finally gotten its shit together. Perth won 72 to 71 with Shawn Redhage scoring 19 points 7 rebounds 2 steals 1 assist and 1 blocked shot. Redhage led the team to victory with a high scoring 12 points in the final period shooting at 62% for the game. Jamar Wilson was unlucky to not get the weekly award for round 25 with his 17 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in Cairns' win over Adelaide. Chris Goulding of the Gold Coast blaze was another runner up with his 20points and 4 rebounds in the Gold Coasts win over New Zeland. Rookie of the year Anatoly Bose also just missed out with a tidy double double with 21 points and 10 rebounds in the Sydney loss to Wolloongong.

Daniel Johnson in Adelaide for 3 more yrs

Daniel Johnson has just been confirmed to be playing for the Adelaide 36ers for another 3 years. This was DJ's break out season and has seen him awarded the NBL's most improved player award as well as the Adelaide 36ers MVP. This conract has secured him a job in Adelaide for another 3 years and is something that adelaide can build around for a better season next year. Adelaide 36ers CEO Leeanne Grantham said
"Signing key players is a priority for the 36ers, it ensures that the team is strong and capable of producing the results that the Club and its supporters expect."
Johnson has produced strong statistics this season, averaging 16.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game compared to last season where he averaged 9.9 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Lets hope he continues to sustain this good performance into next year.

Patty Mills to the Spurs














Patty Mills is finally getting to play again. He's been recruited by the San Antonio Spurs and should be playing when he can get his visa sorted. The Spurs star point guard Tony Parker injured his hamstring in the recent game against Minnesota and if the move works out Mills should be on the court in the coming games. The assistant coach of the Spurs is Brett Brown the Australian coach. Patty Mills plays under Brett Brown with the Boomers which probably got him the job.

Patty has been in limbo since his controversial dismissal from the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in China and has been itching to play some ball. There were even rumours of him suiting up in Australia's South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) but that was exaggerated hype there is no way a NBA player would play a bush league like the SEABL. It will be good to see Mills back on the court. Hopefully he'll stay a regular member this time.

UPDATE:
The San anotonio Spurs announced today that Patty Mills has got his Visa sorted and will be playing tonight. Mills will be wearing the No. 8 jersey and is expected to get some court time in todays game against the Phoenix Suns. Heres some highlights of his time with the Portland Trailblazers.

The San Antonio Spurs got up over the Pheonix Suns today 107-100. Patty Mills played just under 5 min and got 1 rebound and 1 foul. Was put in just to put some extra pressure on Steve Nash and give Tony Parker a few minutes rest. Mills wasnt able to train with the Spurs as his visa was still not sorted. Hopefully once he gets some training in with his new team he will get some more minutes on the court and maybe rack up some better stats.



Monday 26 March 2012

2hard2guard may play another year



Gold coast import Adris "2hard2guard" Deleon has expressed his interest to stay in the NBL for another year. Deleon is one of the most if not the most exciting player to watch in the league. His speed and skill is a sight to be seen and worth the ticket cost alone and he earns his name as 2hard2guard.

Deleon has flown his agent Marquis Taylor from Mogul Sports Group, out from America to help secure a spot. The gold coast blaze CEO Paul Pamenter however has stated that no new contract will be made until after the finals series. Taylor said "He's definitely looking to come back, it's just a matter of it being the right fit." DeLeon has put his future in the hands of Taylor but said money would not necessarily be the driving force for the deal. Blaze chief executive Paul Pamenter also told local rag the Bulletin earlier this month the Blaze would entertain the idea of retaining DeLeon and fellow import Will Hudson after their efforts this season.

Hopefully we'll see Deleon in a blaze jersey again next year. Here's a clip of 2hard2guard vs Brandon Jennings.


2011/12 IINet NBL Championship awards


The annual NBL and WNBL (huh?) awards took place in Melbourne on Monday night. It's basically one giant circle jerk tinged with washed up stars dressed suits getting wasted on free champagne and telling long boring stories of their glory days to the poor sonofabitches who happen to be stuck at their table. After the ceremony the winners all chip in for coke and hookers and get a room at the crown casino. We don't actually know because we weren't invited, but we assume that is what happened. Here are the results...


MVP: Kevin Lisch - Perth Wildcats


Kevin Lisch took out the Andrew Gaze trophy most valuable player award for this years iinet NBL championships. The stocky American took out the award with 105 votes just ahead of cairns taipans guard Jamar Wilson on 97, with Julian Khazhou coming third and Cedric Jackson in fourth. Lisch has played well all season and made his team far better with his contribution. He has recently married an Australian girl and is contemplating becoming an Australian citizen. He has also spoken of wanting to play internationally for Australia so we may see him suiting up for the boomers in the not too distant future. Lisch led the NBL in scoring at 17.6 points per game and also averaged 3.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game, appearing in all 28 of the Perth Wildcats matches.

However I still think Cedric Jackson deserved the MVP award but when your surrounded by a team that is as talented as the NZ Breakers it makes the system a bit tough.


Coach of the year: Andrej Lemanis - New Zealand Breakers



Coach of the year went to Andrej Lemanis. Andrej was unfortunate to not get the award last year but really shows his great coaching ability making that team so good even after losing Kirk Penney.


Rookie of the year: Anatoly Bose - Sydney Kings



Rookie of the year was awarded to Anatoly Bose. After returning from college in America Anatoly really blew people out of the water with his speed and surprising height and athletic ability. A lot was expected of Anatoly Bose coming out of impressive college career but few expected he was as good as he is. He averaged 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists for the season. He took out the award as a clear winner with 68 votes, to finish a full 30 ahead of second-placed Everard Bartlett (Adelaide) with 38. More can be expected from Anatoly Bose if he stays in the league but there is no doubt the rookie will have caught the attention of clubs overseas.

Most Improved: Daniel Johnson - Adelaide 36ers (no photo, apparently too ugly)
The Most improved player went to Daniel Johnson with the Adelaide 36ers. Daniel Johnson had a break put season with  averaging 16.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.0 blocks. People were even throwing his name around for MVP but don't think he played that well was just on a less talented team. Johnson won the award narrowly from Perth’s Jesse Wagstaff and Townsville’s Jacob Holmes, who finished in a tie for second.  Johnson polled 40 votes, while Holmes and Wagstaff each had 38.

Defensive player of the year: Damian Martin - Perth Wildcats



Damian Martin took out the award for best defensive player for the Perth Wildcats for the second year in a row and once again narrowly beat out New Zealand's Mika Vukona. Gold Coast's Adam Gibson came in third. Damian Martin is renowned for his full court high pressure defence and causes frustation for point guard's across the league. Apparently he can take a punch to the schnoz like a champ too (see picture).

Sixth man award: Jesse Wagstaff - Perth Wildcats


Jesse Wagstaff was awarded the best sixth man award. Wagstaff was the clear winner with 67 votes in front of New Zealand’s Alex Pledger in second place on 20.  Aaron Grabau of Cairns polled third with 15 votes.  The Wildcats star averaged a career-high 11.6 points per game in his reserve role, as well as 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists.

All-NBL First Team
Kevin Lisch (Perth) Cedric Jackson (NZ) Julian Khazzouh (Sydney) Mark Worthington (Gold Coast) Tom Abercrombie (NZ)

All-NBL Second Team 
Jamar Wilson (Cairns) Adam Gibson (Gold Coast) Cameron Tragardh (Melbourne) Gary Wilkinson (NZ) Peter Crawford (Townsville)

All-NBL Third Team
Daniel Johnson (Adelaide) Eddie Gill (Townsville) Damian Martin (Perth) Adris Deleon (Gold Coast) Jesse Wagstaff (Perth) Referee of the Year Michael Aylen

Referee of the year: ???
Nobody actually stuck around to see that award because lets face it their all corrupt cheating bastards who call the most ticky-tacky fouls yet turn a blind eye to something so obvious even Helen Keller would have seen it. No wonder we get our asses handed to us in international games when the ref's actually let the teams PLAY BALL.

WNBL MVP: 
two words: BUSH LEAGUE

Sunday 25 March 2012

NBL Playoff game changers

There is often a player on a team that on their night can completely change the game. Each team in the playoff series has one and in my opinion its the import point guards in each team. The guards and imports in the NBL this year are of amazing quality and i think any given the opportunity could play in the NBA.

Gold Coast Blaze: Adris "2hard2guard" Deleon


Adris Deleon is a straight up baller. Im not sure if i have ever seen a player - in the NBL at least - that has as much skill with the ball. He's a dominican player who has gained the name 2hard2guard in the new York streetball scene where he has taken down NBA players on Dyckman court. Brandon Jennings wanted the name 2hard2guard but was bested by Adris and since coming to the NBL has been tearing the league apart. His first game in the NBL against Perth. 21 points,8 assist, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.


New Zealand Breakers: Cedric Jackson


Cedric Jackson has been playing in the NBA D league and i think deserves a chance in the NBA. Standing 6.4' he has the best chance as a lot of guards this season are short in the 6' range. His high basketball IQ and skill with the ball has filled the enormouse space left by Kirk Penney when he left the Breakers this year. I picked him as MVP of the league the first game of the season and still think he deserves it. The best player on the best team. And when he teams up with the exceedingly athletic Tom Abercrombie they can own a game and be unstoppable.




Townsville Crocodiles: Eddie Gill


Eddie gill has played in several NBA teams and can lead his team to beat any team in the league on the right night. His extensive experience and calm nerves will be required going into the finals. But up against New Zealand in the semi's it will be a difficult challenge for the cagey NBA veteran.




Perth Wildcats Kevin Lisch

Kevin Lisch has been in the NBL for a couple of years now and has been a consistent star for the team. He is the current leading point scorer for the league and any given night is the man to stop. He often makes clutch threes and is not a player you want with the ball as the shot clock is winding down, cause he will find a way to score.

 

But for all these players the key would be to not allow them the ball at the start and end of a shot clock. Thats when they are most dangerous.

NBL Round 25 weekend Wrap up



This weekends Round 25 NBL action finished off the regular season with most games having little to no effect on the ladder or playoff contention.

New Zealand Breakers 76 def Townsville Crocs 69
This game actually effected where townsville finished on the ladder, where a win may have taken them to 3rd place if Gold coast lost on sun but since New Zealand won the stabalised the ladder and held 4th place going into the playoffs. Townsville played well but just came up after managing to take a narrow lead in the going into the last break. However the minor premiors were to strong and recaptured the lead early in the final period to never look like faltering. Townsville will have to up there game to stand a chance next week in game one of the semi finals at Auckland.
New Zealand Breakers 76 (Abercrombie 20, Wilkinson 16) Townsville Crocodiles 69 (Mims 14, Gill 11)

Cairns Taipans 79 def Adelaide 36ers 75
The Cairns Taipans managed to finish the season on a high getting a win at home agains the Adelaide 36ers on Friday night. Still missing big men Alex Loughton and Ian Crosswhite Cairns ended there losing streak with some big plays by Jamar Wilson (17 points) and a well rounded effort from Aaron Grabau (13 points, 75% three-point shooting, 7 rebounds, 3 assists)who has recently started playing some good solid Ball. Adelaide utilised Diamon Simpson well racking up some good numbers with solid double double with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Chris Warren had solid game mainting adelaide at a close figure throughout the game. However Cairns remained composed throughout the game finished on high for the season.
Cairns Taipans 79 (Wilson 17, Warren 17, Grabau 13) Adelaide 36ers 75 (Simpson 20, Johnson 15)

Perth Wildcats 72 narrowly def Melbourne Tigers 71
A game that would have been great to see however was not shown this week with perth just getting up against a Melbourne team that must finally been able to work well together. Myron Allen played well across the board 13 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds but missed the game winning basket with 0.4 sec on the clock, missing a fadeaway that hit the shot clock. Trevor Gleeson was happy with how his team played against an extremely strong in form Perth outfit going into the playoffs.“I wish we played like that all the time," he said. "We finally got it right but it took 28 games to get there. A couple shots here and there, that’s how close it was. But I was proud of the effort." Dorsey had a big game to account for his lack of game the last few weeks leading the scoring with 22 points. But Kevin Lisch 19 and Shawn Redhage 19 led the Wildcats to another victory going into semi's.
Perth Wildcats 72 (Redhage 19, Lisch 19) Melbourne Tigers 71 (Dorsey 22, Burston 15, Walker 13)

Wolloongong Hawks 77 def Sydney Kings 68
Woollongong Hawks managed to hold onto their lead and defeat the Sydney kings in Sydney on sat in front of 7282 home crowd. The hawks had a 16 point lead which was cut back to 2 in the final quarter where Sydney were looking to take the win. But back to back 3's from Ayinda Ubaka clinched the win for the Hawks. “It was really disappointing tonight,” Kings coach Shane Heal said Anatoly bose was sensational with 21 points and should easily be rookie of the year. Especially in a sydney team thats missing real point guard to injury and have undergone several changed through the season. But they werent strong enough to stand up to the hawks pressure and with some bad shooting from the sydney side couldnt get the win at home.
Wollongong Hawks 77 (Catron 15, Ubaka 13, Martin 12) Sydney Kings 68 (Bose 21, Khazzouh 18, Madgen 15)

Wollongong Hawks 92 def Adelaide 36ers 78
Woollongong got to send Mat Campbell off in style after a huge defeat of the Adelaide 36ers at home. Mat Campbell retired after 17yrs in the league all at the Woolloongong Hawks. He kept the team alive through financial difficltires as most teams were going under and woollongong reamins the only founding team left in the NBL. Campbell was given a key to the city by the lord mayer prior to tip off. A crowd of 5032 flocked to the Sandpit to celebrate the career of their iconic leader and club saviour, he reciprocated with the six points and four assists, his final score coming off a trademark fallaway jumper. Adelaide never lead the scoring with Woollongong to strong in the battle for the wooden spoon. Oscar Foreman had another big night of shooting leading all scoring with 22 points as the 36ers were never able to challenge the lead. Mat Campbell was subbed out with under 1 min to play was saluted by a deafening standing ovation as he exited the floor for the final time.
Wollongong Hawks 92 (Forman 22, Davidson 16, Martin 11) Adelaide 36ers 78 (Weigh 15, Johnson 14)

Gold Coast Blaze 94 destroy an undermanned New Zealand Breakers 71
The New Zealand Breakers already have the minor premiorship already wrapped up and with the table stable going into the playoffs rested his top players CJ bruton, Gary Wilkinson, Darryl Corletto and Cedric Jackson. WHile the Gold coast blaze rested Adam Gibson with some calf tightness. Lacking their star players the blaze destroyed them with a huge start going 7 from 7 3 pointers in the first quarter. Chris Goulding as a starting player with gibson out was white hot with the first 3 from 3 3 pointers to take the lead at 6-9 in the first. He finished with a game high 20 points. The first quarter was very high scoring at 31-23 going to blaze. But scoring slowed in the 2nd half with the breakers chipping away at the lead till gold coast blew it out in th 4th quarter with a 9-0 run. Both teams had 5 players in double figures giving good minutes to bench players. But the gold coast were to good for a very undermanned New Zealand outfit.
Gold Coast Blaze 94 (Goulding 20, Deleon 14, Worthington 12, Hudson 10, Garlepp 10) New Zealand Breakers 71 (Abercrombie 15, Pledger 12, Henry 11, Vukona 10, Bloxham 10)

Gold Coast will need to be in form as they go to Perth for the first round of the playoffs next week.

Saturday 24 March 2012

Ohio defeat Syracuse for Final Four birth


The Ohio State Buckeyes managed to keep a pesky Syracuse offense at bay and win the East Region finals 77-70 today. As predicted earlier, the inside domination of Sophomore Jared Sullinger was the key difference in the Buckeyes victory.

Despite playing without star Centre Fab Melo, the Orange was fielding one of the best teams in years and managed to stay within striking distance for most of the game. After Sullinger found himself in foul trouble early in the first half, Syracuse had a chance to make the most of the situation - but could only manage to finish the half in a 29-29 tie.

This proved fatal as Sullinger came out in the second with a vengeance, scoring 15 points and 9 rebounds as well as being instrumental in almost all of the Buckeye's offensive plays.

Ohio State now go to New Orleans for the Final Four to take on the winner of the UNC-Kansas match in the Mid-West bracket. For Syracuse, it was a valiant effort after many had wrote them off early in the tournament and they can return to New York with their heads held high.

The North Carolina-Kansas game will be live on ESPN tomorrow morning.

Louisville make late comeback to defeat Florida



With only eight minutes left in the game Louisville looked to be in serious trouble. Down by 11 points at 65-54 and facing foul trouble it looked glim for the Cardinals. But sixth man X-factor Russ Smith took to the floor and managed to be the crucial difference maker when it mattered most. After star guard Peyton Siva fouled out with four minutes left in the game, Smith took over the point and it was all downhill from there. Leading the team to an amazing comeback and pull an improbable 72-68 victory over the Florida Gators.

Florida played mean for 30 solid minutes, but in the final ten the wheels seemed to fall off on both ends of the court. After a solid offensive effort in the first half - which included hitting 8 of 11 threes to take a 41-33 halftime lead - the Gators struggled to find a way around Louisville's man to man defence. This inevitably shut down their three point scoring, going 0 for 9 from beyond the arc in the second half.

Louisville now go into the Final Four to face off against the winner of the Kentucky-Baylor game which takes place tomorrow morning on ESPN.

NCAA Tournament down to Elite 8


The sweet 16 round has just finished in the NCAA tournament as teams now prepare to go into their regional finals games, otherwise known as the Elite Eight.

In what has yet again been a very unpredictable tournament full of upsets and cinderella's, the big boys are beginning to put together their most complete games in order to make the coveted Final Four in New Orleans.

Here are the fixtures and my predictions:

South Regional Finals
1 Kentucky v 3 Baylor

Prediction: Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky once again has come into the tournament as the team to beat, after finishing the season as the number one team in the country, the Anthony Davis led Wildcats have been playing nothing short of amazing. After scoring more than 100 points against rival Indiana in their sweet 16 matchup, the Kentucky offense will be tough to contain. In saying that, Baylor has again proved that  they will be no easy feat as they rolled Xavier to get into the eight. This will be Kentucky's toughest matchup tournament but their talent is just too deep and will get them over the line.

East Regional Finals
1 Syracuse v 2 Ohio State

Prediction: Ohio State Buckeyes
I don't know how they've done it but Syracuse have managed to make a deep tourney run despite losing their star center Fab Melo a day before the tournament due to eligibility issues. Then in the opening round game they were almost embarrassed by 16 seed UNC-Asheville. Luckily they managed to pull the win and then have found a rhythm in playing without Melo. Despite this, Ohio State has future NBA star Jared Sullinger crashing boards for them and will prove far too much to handle for the Syracuse Orange.

West Regional Finals
4 Louisville v 7 Florida

Prediction: Louisville Cardinals
This is going to be the most interesting matchup of the round in my opinion, and possibly the closest. Nobody expected these two teams to get this far, but they have both been playing excellent basketball of late. Louisville has been on a streak since winning their Big East tournament, led by Junior Guard Peyton Siva, who can slash and drive like a demon. Florida can win this if they manage to slow the tempo down and get Siva in foul trouble early.

Mid-West Regional Finals
1 North Carolina v 2 Kansas

Prediction: Kansas Jayhawks
In my bracket I had picked North Carolina to go to the final four, but since then they have lost star guard Kendall Marshall to injury. Frankly the tar-heels are not the same without that guy and will be strikingly apparent when they play the red hot Thomas Robinson from the Jayhawks. Robinson has come from nowhere to be nominated as the player of the year in his Junior year, he will no doubt but at the pointy end of the 2012 draft if he declares, but he has more pressing issues to attend to right now.

Final's Schedule released



The NBL has released it's first round schedule for the 2012 playoff series. After the Townsville Croc's loss to the Breakers they have finished in 4th place and will face off against the minor premiers in a best of three (finally) semi final series starting Friday March 30. The Gold Coast blaze have finished in 3rd place and will be facing 2nd place Perth Wildcats starting Sunday 1 April.

It's about time the NBL got it's act together and introduced a 3 game series for semi finals instead of having the stupid 1 and done format of the past decade.


2012 iiNet NBL Championship Semi Finals Series (best of three – all times local)

Series 1 – New Zealand Breakers (1st) versus Townsville Crocodiles (4th)
Game 1 Friday 30 March   Vector Arena, Auckland  7:30PM
Game 2 Thursday 5 April  Townsville Ent. & Conv. Centre  7:30PM
Game 3 Saturday 7 April   Vector Arena, Auckland  7:30PM

Series 2 – Perth Wildcats (2nd) versus Gold Coast Blaze (3rd)
Game 1  Sunday 1 April   Challenge Stadium  4:30PM
Game 2  Wednesday 4 April   Gold Coast Convention Centre  7:30PM
Game 3 Saturday 7 April   Challenge Stadium  7:00PM

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Blaze vs Breakers thurs night

This weeks NBL action



Thurs: Blaze vs Breakers at NZ unfortunately this game isnt being aired on shitty one hd but is on skytv in nz. If i can find a live stream ill post the link. Otherwise i think this will be a big match with some very good match ups.
The Deleon vs Cedric Jackson match up will be worth watching the game alone. After first seeing these two play in their first games i picked them both to be MVP candidates but as it stands I think Cedric Jackson should get the league MVP for his amazing performance all season.
The Petrie vs Vukona match up will be fierce with a lot contact and physical play to be expected on the boards. Wortho has been down the last few weeks and i think Wilkinson will have the better of him. But if Will Hudson can combine to limit his inside performance Blaze are definitly in with a chance. But to be blunt the blaze can only win this one if everyone on the team turn up to play. Lately there has been a single or two standout players at each game for the blaze but to get the w all will have to show what they've got as genuine title contenders.

Sunday 11 March 2012

Round 23 NBL results



In round 23 we saw some excellent games. However missed prob the best game of the week the Blaze vs Crocodiles game in townsville with some fights and tech fouls through the game. But one hd does it again and screws over the NBL fans as much as they can.
Anyway here are the results from this weeks games.

Sydney kings 92 def Woollongong Hawks 81
Sydney played well even without star centre Julian Khazzou. Gynes is really stepping up and sinking some big shots where there needed and madgen is falling into the point guard role nicely since losing Bruce to unjury. But overall Sydney are looking a different team with Shane Heal as coach. there more confident and sinking shots but still cant make any free throws. Grant has been a monster on the inside making some juge dunks and stacking up 20 points as the leading scorer for sydney. Woollongong just werent strong enough throughout the game. getting out hustled by sydneys strong defence and lacking on the boards. Ubaka was contained and was not the key presence of the Hawks that he usually is. Davidson had a great game stacking up 24 points as the leading scorer. With Foreman on 12.
Sydney Kings 92 (Grant 20, Bose 19, Madgen 17, Martin 17)
Wollongong Hawks 81 (Davidson 24, Forman 12, Coenraad 11)
New Zealand Breakers 91 def Adelaide 36's 76
This was a closer game then it looks at the final score. Adelaid did well to hang on throughout the game against the best team in the league. But New Zealand have too many offensive weapons and with a point guard like Cedric Jackson they will be a tough team to beat and deservedly the favourites for the championship. Going into hald time it was 47-45 with the breakers with the lead. However in the second half the breakers blew out the game final minutes
New Zealand Breakers 91 (Abercrombie 22, Wilkinson 21, Jackson 17 & 7 assists)
Adelaide 36ers 76 (Johnson 21, Simpson 19, Weigh 12)

Townsville crocs 88 def Gold Coast blaze 76
This game would have been the highlight of the week to watch. However wasnt televised. It was hard fought game for both teams with the crocs bringing in the goods in final quater. The Blaze lead early in the game with an 11 point lead but shencher inside and crawford on the perimter turned the game in favour of the crocs. The two sides almost came to a brawl when 6ft adris Deleon and 7 ft 1" Luke schencher had to be pulled off each other in a scuffle involving all players and their coaches. Would be awesome to see some footage of this as i have heard some talk that Deleon fought like a bitch agains the 7ft giant Schencher. But that is a tough match and would like to see the footage and not take the word of some angrey crocs fans. The tough play didnt stop there with Worthington getting called on a technical foul and a tech foul on gill taking out deleon. But the hard fouls didnt turn into points for the blaze. And the crocs took a decent lead that couldnt be taken back late in fourth. Gibson played well after a stint of low numbers over the past weeks scoring 21 and schencher was unsoppable in the post with 25 over the smaller blaze. If i can find footage of the fight ill post it later.
Townsville Crocodiles 88 (Schenscher 25, Crawford 20, Gill 13)
Gold Coast Blaze 76 (Gibson 21, Deleon 17, Petrie 12)

Perth Wildcats 94 destroy Cairns Taipans 59
The perth wildcats manhandled an undermanned Cairns taipans on sunday. Perth kept breaking out with a decent lead and Cairns would reign in back to a manageable number but after the 1st half perth just came out fiering in the third quater, which in the past few weeks has been their weekest quarter. The refs seemed spooked by last weeks comments on some bad call and at times seemed one sided with the home crowd advantage influencing the refs. Jamar willson was harrased and manhandled whenever he got the ball but still managed a decent 16 points. But it seems they way with Cairns if you can take out the impoirts Warren and Wilson then Cairns dont have enough other player that can bring the points and you'll get the win.
Perth Wildcats 94 (Robbins 16, Lisch 14, Martin 11)
Cairns Taipans 59 (Wilson 16, Brebner 11, Rychart 10)

Thursday 8 March 2012

Awesome Ira Clark dunk from 2010/11

Thought id share this awesome Ira Clark dunk from the 2010/11 season. Prob not best nbl dunk ever but pretty awesome none the less.



And a reason why all games should be televised. Pull your finger out oneHD. Your supposed to be a sports channel. Back to back episodes of cops. What the fuck!

Daryl Corletto signs 2 yr deal

Daryl Corlleto has signed a 2 yr deal with the NZ Breakers. Coming off a career season for him as a starting guard for the Breakers, even with CJ Bruton returning from a knee injury. This is great for his career as it starts to wind down. But did the release of corletto lead to the demise of the Melbourne Tigers. After releasing Darryl Corletto to sign Patty Mills the attitude at the tigers camp seems to be that players are despensible tools and has developed a low moral which may have been the main cause of there current dive in form. Especially after that chump seamus fired ubaka. Professional athletes demoted to disgruntled employees.

New Zealands 7th sell out of 2012



New Zealand sell out again. The new zealand breakers have sold out for the 7th time this season. wiht only one game not selling out. This is very good for the sport in NZ and AUS. May bring in some strong sponsorship and possibly another team in NZ in years to come if they continue to sell out.
The Breakers have a smart strategy to bring in enthusiasm to the sport.
"The players’ workload in the community is a testament to those objectives and club values. Every week if not most days the club is doing something with schools, community groups and clubs, either through visiting schools in the Auckland region or having them come to the club to experience training, work with the players and be encouraged to take on a healthy and active lifestyle through participation in sport. "
Australian teams need to do more of this. Actively increase crowds through schools and the community by having showcase events and getting the kids involved who make the parents take them to games.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Wildcats vs Breakers famous foul footage

This is the footage from the Perth vs NZ game from the weekend. The wildcats vs breakers famous foul footage where perth was fined $3000 for comments made after the game.



IMO perth were being whining bitches as usual. A soft foul followed by another soft foul that was called. Knight was out of position for that screen and was still moving. And on the other end it was just weak. If thats the worst call you've had at home then be thankfull, I've seen far worse calls this season. So again IMO Perth stop bitching, thats why no-one likes you.

But what are your thoughts and comments

Sup

This is my first blog. Hope you like it. Mostly on the NBL. But will try to add ball news and stuff from NBA college ball and social streetball around aus.