Derrick Rose ACL knee injury

Derrick Rose sustained an ACL knee injury in the Bulls game 1 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers. The bulls won the game 103-91 but the victory was spoiled with this injury as Rose will be out for the rest of the season.  Losing possibly the best player in the league will have an impact on the team and may hinder their championship hopes. But i guess we'll see how well they bounce back in game 2 of the series.

Metta World Peace Throws an elbow - will miss 7 games

Metta World Peace has been suspended for 7 games and showed a little of the Ron Artest of old with a big elbow after a strong break away lay up.

Patty Mills gets good minutes in a depleted Spurs Roster. Career high game's

Patty Mills had another career high game against the Golden State Warriors. In his second chance as a starter he filled the stat sheet with 34 points, 12 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block. The Spurs had an all bench starting 5 and Mills finished the night getting 43 minutes on the court. This was the highest score for any Australian in the NBA and the highest number of assists for an australian in one game. He really showed what he can do in this game and led the Spurs to the win with some big baskets down the stretch."Chances don't come up very often where you send your three big dogs back to San Antonio," Mills said. "I was very pumped to have this opportunity. I felt very comfortable to just slide in there and take it on with both hands."
Here is the highlights from the game. Lets hope after this performance he can get some playoff court time.

He has ended the regular season averaging 10.3 points per game and is not bad for a third string point guard.

The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Phoenix Suns 110-106 on April 25th. The Spurs have won 23 from their last 26 games and have guranteed the No.1 western conference playoff spot going into the finals. They played with a depleted line up to rest their stars going into the finals. They sent Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili home to rest as well as head coach Gregg Popovich. This gave assistant coach Brett Brown the ability to give some of the other players a chance off the bench, giving Patty Mills a big shot at showing what he could do as a point guard in the starting line up.
"It's one of those funny situations, end of the season and resting guys," Mills said. "As crazy as it is, it does make a lot of sense. I thought for the main guys to go back and recharge the batteries before the playoffs, that's a chance to give the other guys a great opportunity."
Mills was on court for 35 mins, scored 27 points with a low 9 of 23 field goals and 3 of 8 three pointers. He also finished with a decent 5 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 steal.
It may however have been Suns star point guard and 2 time league MVP Steve Nash's final game with the suns or final game in the NBA. The Crowd responded rising in the chant of "we want Nash" over and over till coach Alvin Gentry sent the 38 yr old back onto the court.
"It was obviously amazing to get that type of reception and support," Nash said. "It's very special because it's not something I asked for or imagined to get that type of spontaneous reaction. It means it's authentic, the relationship that I thought we had."
With just 17 minuts on the court Nash finished with 8 points 7 assists and 3 rebounds. Closing out the season second in the league for assists behind Rajon Rondo who is averaging 10.8 assists per game.
It will be interesting to see what Nash chooses to do next season as he is still playing some very good basketball.
Patty Mills had a good game as his first role as a starter but may have a second chance as the Spurs will continue to rest their stars for their next game against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.

Highlights from the game can be seen below.

New Zealand Breakers take back to back Championships

The New Zealand Breakers took back to back championships last night defeating the Perth Wildcats 79-73. It was an intense game that showed the closeness of these two fierce rivals. The production of the Sky Sports game was so much better then OneHD, it had more cameras, better lighting and sounds. Two words Slow mo.

The New Zealand Breakers came out with the lead and the Wildcats just stayed with them the entire game. Every player on the court stepped up and showed what they can do. I doubt if the Breakers will manage to hold  onto a lot of there players next season, with other teams looking to recruit them. C.j Bruton was the finals series Most Valuable Player and rightly so, as he is the embodiment of the word Clutch. For the Breakers Gary Wilkinson finished with a game high of 23 points, Bruton 16 and Cedric Jackson had an impressive 12 assists.

Starting, both teams missed a couple shots until Tom Abercrombie drained a 3 followed straight after with Wilkinson getting one from the perimeter to give the breakers a 6 point lead, but the Wildcats fought back. Bruton gave the breakers a quick 5 off the bench and finished the quarter at 21-22.
Going into the second quarter, Matt Knight stepped up by draining some mid range jumpers giving the Wildcats a 5 point lead. The Breakers looked stagnant and the crowd could see it. Few plays were run and the skill of each player kept them close. Until Wilkinson drained a 3 followed by a huge alley oop by Alex Pledger. The crowd had become tense with that 5 point lead, but the dunk got them to their feet. The next possession Pledger again goes for the dunk, but was fouled hard by Matt Knight. It was a good foul if he had of dunked it, the crowd would have been at a frenzy. Knight had an impressive second quarter and couldn't be stopped without a double team and he finished the half with a quick 3 point play. But Cedric Jackson destroyed the defence with some excellent penetration to get to the basket and repeated it with the last play of the first half keeping the breakers close 41-39.

Wilkinson reclaimed the lead after the break but couldn't make a layup missing 3 easy ones. Cedric Jackson missed 3 of 4 free throws and the Wildcats stay within striking distance. I'm not sure if I heard it right, but i think Coach Beveridge said to the Wildcats at the time out "If you don't foul them your coming off". I do not like how that guy coaches. Robbins gets a lucky call from the refs as he smashes into Wilkinson, dropping the shoulder and drawing a foul. A dirty play that refs fell for as Wilkinson goes sprawling across the floor. I think the referee thought he was reffing in Perth. Tom Abercrombie  then tips in a big alley oop pass from Cedric Jackson, to close out the 3rd quarter with the breakers taking a 58-54 lead. The Alley oop from the injured Abercrombie was a huge lift for the crowd and the team going into the final break.

Going into the fourth the margin grew to 8 points, the biggest of the game until Cam Tovey and Kevin Lisch drained some big 3's to level the score with 7 mins left. Gary Wilkinson's little mid range jumper is a force that cannot be stopped and this was followed by a 3 pointer from CJ Bruton, that gave the breakers some space. Shawn Redhage nailed a quick 3 to keep the Wildcats in the chase, but only down by 3. Redhage again looked like he was going to make the big plays at the end of the game, going up for a lay up to take them down by 1. But Tom Abercrombie came from nowhere to block Redhage's layup pinning the ball to the backboard. CJ followed this up with a big 3 pointer in front of Lisch and with a final foul on Cj bringing the ball up the court, he made the free throws and the game was over 79-73.

The New Zealand Breakers had an excellent team this year and are well deserved champions. It was an epic finals series and some say the best in NBL history. CJ Bruton at 36 years old, took out his 5th NBL championship ring and I would say most of those players will be looking for another contract next year.

If you missed the final series games, I suggest watching them.

New Zealand Breakers 79 (Wilkinson 23, Bruton 16, Pledger 13, Abercrombie 12)
Perth Wildcats 73 (Redhage 18, Knight 17, Lisch 15)

Perth Defeat New Zeland 87-86

The New Zealand Breakers fell to the Perth Wildcats with a huge block on CJ Bruton by Shawn Redhage in the final seconds of game 2 in IINet NBL championships. With 9 seconds left on the clock CJ Bruton opts to go for himself shaking one defender lay up a soft floater when Shawn Redhage Flies out to block the shot. This would have been even more spectacular had the refs not decided the game by stopping play twice during break away run for the breakers within the the last 1min 30 seconds.

This was a very tough game and was another classic for the series. The New Zealand Breakers led for the majority of the game going into the first quarter break at 28-26.It was tight close game that showed who in each team would really step up and play there part. The first quarter saw 6 lead changes. In the second quarter the breakers stepped the game up a level. CJ Bruton was the man in the first half. He couldn't be stopped whether he was draining 3's from the perimeter, Shaking defenders and driving or making the pass for the assist. He was everywhere. Perth Quickly upped the defensive pressure going into the second half on CJ, he finished with 20 points at 63% from the long range.
A minor scuffle between Kevin Lisch and Dillon Boucher brought Wilkinson in on the action and the refs responded with a tech foul on Wilkinson. This turned onto a 6 point play from Kevin Lisch and may have been the start of the Wildcats come back. But Wilkinson scored a quick 4 points going into half time with the breakers up by 8 points.

The Wildcats came out fast in the 3rd quarter and went on a 7 point run till wilkinson responded. Wilkinson had a huge game leading all scoring with 28 points 7 rebounds and 5 assists. The score going into the final quarter was 76-71 going to the breakers. Cedric Jackson drained a 3 pointer and Luke Neville slammed down a dunk. The final quarter was intense both team were giving it there all to get the win. This was when the refs decided to step in and take the game. with the breakers up by 1 a quick play of the ball off the sideline saw Cedric Jackson running the court when the ref blows the whistle to clean up the sweat on the other end of the court. A very bad time to stop the play for the breakers and a lucky break for the Wildcats. Then with 40 seconds left on the Clock Abercrombie makes a steal and the ball hits the ref, he gets the ball and has an open break away to the basket when the ref accidentally blows the whistle the players are confused he blows it again and stops the play. It was a guaranteed 2 points that were stolen by the ref. As Wilkinson and Matt Knight are competing for the rebound wilkinson inadvertently tips it in the wildcats end giving them the Lead by 1. With 9 seconds on the clock CJ's floater is blocked buy Redhage and the Wildcats get the win.
The Refs decided that game and its sad to see. Because i think the wildcats still may have gotten up without the refs help but now we will never know.
The final game is on tonight at 10.30 on oneHD. As Cal Bruton said this is shaping up to be one of the best NBL Championships of all time. I just hope the refs let the players decide the game not the bad calls.

Boomers coach Brett Brown interview

Just a good interview with Brett Brown about the Boomers going into the olympics

Perth Wildcats vs New Zealand Breakers Grand Final Game 2

The Perth Wildcats take on the New Zealand Breakers in game 2 of the NBL IInet Grand final series. If New Zeland get up it means back to back championships for the team which is huge for the franchise and backetball in new zealand. The breakers have had an unbeleivable season even without there star player from last season Kirk Penney. But the team they have this season could be said to be even better then what they won with last season. They play well as a team and have offensive throughout across the board.

A lot of people are picking the Perth Wildcats to take this one making a third and final game back in New Zeland. The breakers have a had unlucky run going into the this series with players suffering from a sickness and injury (Abercrombie, Jackson). But they managed to get the job done at home but can they in probably they hardest away venue in the league. The Perth fans are knowledgable, loud and belligerent. They make it hard venue and the refs in most cases make it harder on that court. From the games iv seen the Wildcats are also probebly the most aggressive team in the league and arent afraid to foul, in fact the way they play it looks like they straight out foul and hope they dont get called.

In the first game Damian Martin did a good job to contain Cedric Jackson but he managed to make a few when he got the switch on some good screens from Dyllon Boucher. If they can minimise they effect of these screens and martin can stay on Jackson it will greatly hinder his performance. But going into overtime MArtin was fouled out and Jackson was able to make some big assists to CJ Bruton to knock down the big three's he's so good at late in the game.

If this was NBA Jam cj's clutch would be at least a 9 or possibly a 10. He is that player you want shooting the ball going into a close game with seconds left on the clock. I dont know how they stop him late in the game without opeing other player for the breakers for easy baskets.

Can anyone stop the forcxe that is Kevin Lisch? He was the top scorer last game with a game high 27 points. Last time the breakers played the Wildcats he also had 23. He is the man for the Wildcats but they cant put to much defense on him as this will open the copious amount of other offensive threats the Wildcats have. Whether its Jesse Wagstaff draining that 3 ball or Matt Knight and Luke Neville under that basket, then theres also the player I love to hate Shawn Redhage who is another threat inside and out.

This will be another great game which i beleive and hope will again go into overtime. The refs did a very good job in New Zealand probably the best reffing iv seen all season and if they can maintain that it will be close one going in New Zealands favour by 3 in my humble opinion. But if the crowd sways the refs as iv seen so many times in Perth the wildcats will have it by 8.

Patty Mills making a good start with the Spurs

Patty Mills has made a good start with the San antonio Spurs. It was a good pick for the spurs not spending much and picking up a good player who can hit the three and control the ball to the level of their star point guard Tony Parker. Patty Mills in his first 6 games is averaging 9.2 points per game at 54% from the field and 43% from the 3 point line.
On the defensive end his speed makes him able to pick up any player on the court but his diminutive size makes guarding bigger guards and mismatches that much harder.
His time in the NBL has increased his basketball IQ and shown what it takes to be a team leader. On the spurs he is bench player but that time in Australia increased his decision making abilities to not always go for the first shot and looking for a better play. He is no longer shooting to early in the possession unless its in transition and his open, but still racking up the points when he gets a chance
His had two 4 assists games so far and on his biggest game yet this season scored 20 points and 4 assists against the cleveland caveliers. His highlights from that game can be seen below. Even on off shooting nights as against Utah he still managed 9 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 steal stacking up the stat sheet. He still has 12 games left for the rest of the regular season and lets hope his consistency continues and he keeps getting the minutes to show what he can do.

Live NBL next season

Ten has announced that next season they will air live games on ten/one. With a possibility of live online streaming. Details from the NBL website are below.

One feature game will be broadcast live nationally every Sunday afternoon on TEN. During the months of October to the conclusion of February, the broadcast time will be live at 2:00PM nationally and live at 1:00PM nationally during March and April;

One game per week will be shown nationally on Friday evenings at the regular timeslot of 9:30PM on TEN's digital channel ONE;

All NBL Finals games will also be broadcast on both TEN and ONE under the new deal, with TEN maintaining access to rebroadcast coverage of New Zealand Breakers 14 home games into Australia.

Justin Milne said that a key component of the new agreement, which will still run the remainder of the original five-year term through until the end of the 2014/15 iiNet NBL Championship season, is the NBL reclaiming the rights to non-TEN produced games for subscription television, IPTV, on-line and mobile.

So theres a live game on sunday, a delayed game on friday and the NBL can do what they wish with the remainder of the games. Not sure if this means that ten will shoot and produce the games and just wont air them or what they plan to do. But this will open the NBL to a lot of people who wouldn't get to watch it.
But IMO the live game at 1or 2pm on a sunday is probably one of the worst time slot. How much do ten hate the NBL that even with a reduced contract they still cant give a decent time slot. People are doing things during the day and it is hard to find time to sit and watch tv or go to a day time game. So for me its still screw ten and oneHD give the NBL a chance and maybe they'll actually see a profit.

Diamon Simpson to the Rockets

Adelaide 36ers Diamon Simpson has been called up by the Huston rockets to play out the rest of their season with the #20 Jersey. This is a huge step for Simpson who made an impact for the injury impacted Adelaide 36ers throughout the season. He averaged 14.3 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks for the 36ers for the season.

Personally i'm surprised of all the players this year in the league that he got the call. He made a huge impact for the team, is big strong and athletic and an impressive baller but against other players this year he's far from the best. Thomas Abercrombie with the New Zealand breakers looked to be the next player to make the jump to the states but playing the finals maybe his timing was off. However I thought Jullian Khazzou would have been a better pick but he may be under other contracts with the Golden State Warriors. But during games Simpson was often not on the court when they needed him the most, this may have been coaching issues but Simpsons game fitness just did not look up to scratch.

Congratulations to Diamon Simpson and I hope he really has an impact on the NBA he is a good baller and with a chance he can show what his got. I think it also shows the high quality of players in the NBL at the moment for a player that was not an out and out star of the league (Cedric Jackson, Adris Deleon, Kevin Lisch, Jullian Khazzou, Gary Wilkinson)  to make the NBA. 

breakers defeat wildcats in a classic

The New Zealand Breakers took down the Perth Wildcats in game 1 of the 2011/12 IInet NBL finals 104-98. It was a close game going into overtime but the cool shooting from CJ Bruton and the out and out balling abilities of Cedric Jackson were too much for the foul impacted Wildcats.

The New Zealand Breakers came out slow in the first quarter with the wildcats up by 12. Kevin Lisch and Damian Martin teamed up to play some big defensive stops and produced good ball movement. But some big threes from CJ Bruton, Darryl Corletto and Gary Wilkinson brought the breakers back and finished the quarter on top 28-24. going into the third quarter the 3 point barrage continued with Cedric Jackson also stepping up to drain the long ball.“Our whole game plan was about defending the three-point mark and they hit seven threes in that half,” rued Perth coach Rob Beveridge. The Breakers played a big quarter going on a 15-5 run and finished the half 50-35. Both teams were shooting well at 50% but the longe percentage from the breakers gave them the advantage with 6 from 11. Kevin Lisch was also kept to 5 for the quarter as the leading scorer in the game at 27 points.
The Breakers were looking to take the game in a blowout but the Wildcats kept there heads and came back in the third. 

“We’re an aggressive team, offensively and defensively, but we weren't aggressive at all in that second quarter,” said Beveridge. “We had to up the ante and that showed in the third quarter.”
Going into the last break the breakers had a 2 point lead but the wildcats went on a 9 point run. things were looking tough for the Cedric Jackson stepped up and made the clutch plays to take it overtime.

CJ Bruton made the clutch plays he's famous for in overtime, taking the game into his hands. With 150 seconds left on the clock Bruton head faked Jesse Wagstaff to drain a 3 putting the breakers in front. then with 82 seconds left he nailed another. Then with 22 seconds left on the clock he evaded a triple team dribbling around 4 wildcats players to sink a hook shot putting the final nail in the Wildcats coffin.

The wildcats were impacted by foul issues again with Damian Martin being fouled out in the last quarter. The wildcats are the most physical team in the league and they kept that physicality going into the final. The refs did a good job throughout the game and kept the teams from starting a fight as tempers were rising. Dyllan Boucher had a big game and for while looked like he do no wrong. He put his body on the line the last quarter and made some big plays to help take the breakers into overtime. It was a classic game and hopefully the rest of the finals series will be just as entertaining.

New Zealand Breakers 104 (Jackson 25, Bruton 20, Corletto 16, Vukona 14, Wilkinson 12)
Perth Wildcats 98 (Lisch 27, Knight 17, Redhage 15, Nevill 13, Wagstaff 12)

Jamar Wilson re-sign with Cairns

The Cairns Taipans star point guard Jamar Wilson has resigned for another 2 years. This is a big signing for Cairns, Wilson has had a big impact on the league this year coming 2nd in the MVP race behind Kevin Lisch. He also lead his team in points and assists for the season. This was his first season in the NBL and is keen to stay on for another 2 yearsI fell in love with Cairns the first week I was here."
"The sunshine, the people, the place - and that was even before I got onto the playing court."
 Wilson has lead his team to many close games and is known as one of the best closer in the league.
At the back end of tight games, I knew we had the advantage of having him (Wilson) there," said taipans coach Aaran Fearne.
"He is our go to man in those situations and I feel more than confident to put the ball in his hands if the game is on the line."
Congrats on the Cairns taipans for signing there extremely talented young player Jamar wilson for another 2 years.

Breakers sustain big injury heading into game 2

New Zealand's star point guard Cedric Jackson has sustained an injury at training heading into game 2 of the semi finals series against the Townsville Crocodiles. NBL.com.au stated "Jackson reportedly took a bump from centre Alex Pledger on a drive to the hoop and appeared to land awkwardly on the left ankle that has given him problems all year." The injury looks to be serious as Cedric Jackson was reportedly writhing in agony and had to be carried from the court and was taken immediately to the hospital.
Andrej Lemanis was seemingly not upset about the injury and stated that Cedric would travel with the squad and depending on the outcome from the hospital whether he would play.We'll find out won't we," Lemanis said. "It didn't look good when he went down but Mika (Vukona) didn't look good last year either when he went down. So we'll see.
"You travel him, and if he's any chance of playing you make a decision five minutes before the game."

I hope there not trying to do some ploy to make Townsville unprepared for the match up and his not really injured. That would be a sad show for the Breakers.
But hopefully its not a serious injury and we'll see Cedric Jackson back on the court to finish off the series and maybe the finals. He's a very talented player and it will have a big impact on how the breakers play there next game, but having a backup point guard like CJ Bruton they are still a very talented team and i think can still take it to a third game. 

Shane Heal permanent Sydney Kings coach

The Sydney Kings have announced that Shane Heal will stay on for another 2 years as head Coach of the Sydney Kings. Since coming in to the team as the temporary head coach Shane Heal led the team to 3 wins and 3 losses. The team came together and actually managed to keep their heads and win a few. Something they were having trouble with after losing Aaron Bruce and lacking in a real point guard. Shane will get a chance to put a team together for next year and we will be able to see how he is as coach with his team, and not on while he's playing.

Perth Wildcats 85 down Gold Coast 70

The Perth Wildcats defeated the Gold Coast Blaze 85-70 last night at "the jungle" in Perth. The Wildcats man handled the blaze to cruise to a 15 point win. The first half saw both teams playing some good basketball but leading into half time the Wildcats took the lead 55-42 with 5 three pointers in 3 min. Jesse Wagstaff had another impressive game draining the 3 pointer on consecutive shots with 15 points 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Kevin lisch also played well although Gold Coast did all they could to slow his impact on the game finishing with 12 points and 7 assists and was a decent defensice effort to keep him to a lower number with his high scoring ability. But when the Wildcats have so many offensive threats its a tough team to beat, especially at there home court. They finished with 5 players in double figures and Gold Coast were lacking for players to step up. Luke Neville was a force on the inside the giant that he is had 14 points 6 rebounds and two decent alley oops. Damian Martin was fouled out it the second half with 11 points and 5 assists.

Anthony Petrie had a very good game and was a work horse on both ends of the court finishing with 20 points and 8 rebounds. For a large majority of the game he was there top point scorer while he and Deleon tried to keep the Wildcats still within reach.

Gold Coast just werent hitting a lot of there shots and giving away to many second chance points on the boards. Deleon tried to take the game into his hands in the second half as they fell to a 19 point deficit but wasnt enough with his 23 points 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Mark Worthington, Chris Goulding and Adam Gibson just looked nervous missing some open looks. What happened to the Goulding of last week he couldn't miss in that first quarter against New Zeland.

The second half the Blaze were just managing to stay within reach of the Wildcats but never threatening to come back. Adam Gibson played limited minutes with a slight calf tear and you could see the blaze needed him at his best. Cadee was getting man handled when Deleon got a chance for a rest. After Martin came out with 5 fouls the Blaze made a small run at it but were slowed down with some impressive three point shooting from Lish and Wagstaff. From there it was just a slow down to the finish half way through the last quarter. Perth played smart and held onto there lead. Wildcats Coach Rob Beveridge was happy with how his team performed."We had been tested throughout the year and once you experience being up by 20 and losing a game, you learn from it. We've had our ups and downs, we know that, but we are becoming a very consistent team now and for us to put four quarters together like that was pretty good."

It was a very intense and physical game. Im surprised there weren't more injuries with the amount of contact the Wildcats were getting away with. Adris Deleon came off with an injury to the head colliding with Cam Tovey and big man Will Hudson hit the floor hard after taking a hit and a rebound and looked to have injured his hand/arm. Hopefully it wasn't serious and will still play later this week. Stephen hoar also looked to have injured his hand in a rebound contest. All might I add without a whistle being blown.

But the Gold Coast should have expected this and played at a higher intensity, harder... It was finals basketball and both teams will play with everything. If Gold Coast stand a chance on Wednesday on the Gold Coast they will need to up there game. But Coach Joey Wright is confident of his teams chances
"I thought in the first quarter we came out and for most of that quarter we were stable, but we had way too many breakdowns defensively which caused too many open shots," he said.

"We play with a little more confidence when our crowd's behind us and they probably play with a little less when their crowd isn’t behind them.

"That's probably the difference. When you look at the team stats throughout the year we almost mirror Perth so that crowd is a difference."

Mark Worthington will really need to step up to lead his team if they hope to win a championship. Adam Gibson will still be hampered from an injury for game 2 but looks like it should be another physical great game.

Perth Wildcats 85 (Wagstaff 16, Nevill 14, Lisch 12, Redhage 12, Martin 11)

Gold Coast Blaze 70 (Deleon 23, Petrie 20)