Basketball On The Internet.

INTERPRETATIONS of the "Unsportsmanlike Foul" have ended any semblance of commons sense officiating in the NBL. A referee seeing something he/she deems as in any way untoward flicks that USF switch so fast, the mind boggles. Never mind if it's just incidental or accidental, that shrill whistle is blowing.

Did Sydney Kings have a case for anguish at Xavier Cooks' early expulsion in their fadeout loss to the Bullets in Brisbane?

You bet they did and just how big an impact it had was reinforced when the two clubs met again less than 48 hours later.

A 96-87 Brisbane win was turned into a 97-73 Kings' rout. Case closed.

Far be it from me to suggest the NBL adopts an NBA-type stance where it goes out of its way to protect its stars but there are people I know who attended that Brisbane-Sydney game to see Cooks play. You think they felt they got bang for their buck?

So what did he actually do? His fingers or hand may have got caught in an opponent's shorts as he rolled to the hoop. There was zero intent to retard the roller and defenders often "feel" for an opponent with their hand in the manner Cooks did.

It's not a foul. It's not even a call. It's just an incidental basketball play.

But Cooks cops a USF for that - for nothing. Then he repeatedly is manhandled for no calls - the FT disparity was 23 to Brisbane, 10 to Sydney ... and they say Perth is a tough place to win - and frustrated, he finally says something he shouldn't.

Bang! Tech foul! Goodnight and an early shower. It is rubbish and makes our league look amateurish, just as it did when Jesse Wagstaff was called for a USF for slipping and falling under Majok Deng in Cairns a while back.

I know. It's crazy to expect common sense when it is so rare generally, let alone in our officiating ranks.

 

 

 

   ROUND 8 (A)

 

 

JAYLEN Adams, en route to a career-best 33 points with 7-of-14 triples and seven assists, had Sydney's first seven points in Brisbane as the Kings charted a course for victory from the get-go.

Xavier Cooks also was off to a sizzling start. OK. Leaving him alone outside the 3-point line was a strong strategy for the Bullets but he threw two wicked passes for dunks and he had five rebounds and five assists with his two points and block in 10:34 of action.

That was before he copped a technical foul for having too much to say, which followed long after an absurd USF in the first quarter for "grabbing an opponent's shorts". 

Cooks obviously said something he shouldn't have but he had a case, being brutalised on a couple of his moves for no calls, yet having to wear a USF on a basic run-of-the-mill basketball defensive play.

His early exit didn't slow the Kings immediately as they motored to a 19-point lead, Dejan Vasiljevic hitting 5-of-10 threes and Jarell Martin playing above the rim for four vicious dunks.

But once Jason Cadee started rocking (5-of-10 threes) and Nathan Sobey began connecting for a 30-point haul, Brisbane's recovery was on in earnest. 

Robert Franks' 16 and 12 double also was huge and the Kings again fell apart as the Bullets fired up a 31-15 final period - the exact opposite of the first where the Kings led 31-15.

Watching the Kings fall apart, lost, not knowing where to turn, body language of the (soon-to-be) defeated was like a bad dose of deja vu.

BRISBANE BULLETS 96 (Sobey 30, Cadee 18, Patterson, Franks 16; Harrison 13 rebs; Cadee 5 assts) d SYDNEY KINGS 87 (Adams 33, Vasiljevic 21, Martin 18; Martin 12 rebs; Adams 7 assts) at The Armoury, Nissan Arena. Crowd: 2,574.

* * *

THOSE hoping for a Mitch McCarron-Matthew Dellavedova "High Noon"-style gunfight at the PG Corrall suffered a huge disappointment on that count, but there was much to like about how United went about its business.

With Adelaide relegating under-perfoming import Dusty Hannahs to the bench - then hopefully next to an international flight home - it looked good early, Cam Bairstow en route to a 14-point first half and Sunday Dech's less-regulated minutes another bonus.

But Brad Newley, as he often has done in the past, relished returning home to Adelaide and set off on a 10-point first half in front of friends and family, Melbourne ahead by the first break and calmly winning every quarter.

Adelaide didn't fold along the dotted lines this time, but defensively had no answer for Chris Goulding outside (6-of-12 threes) or Jo Lual-Acuil inside (18 points, 7-of-11, eight boards, three blocks in 22 minutes). Ariel Hukporti was efficient and Shea Ili good for a generous seven-assist return in Dave Barlow's 350th game.

For the 36ers, CJ Bruton used Isaac Humphries' absence through injury as an opportunity for Kai Sotto and he responded with his best game, six points and eight boards in 16 minutes. But this one pretty much went to script.

MELBOURNE UNITED 97 (Lual-Acuil, Goulding 18, Hukporti, White 12, Newley 10; Hukporti, Lual-Acuil 8 rebs; Dellavedova, Ili 7 assts) d ADELAIDE 36ERS 78 (Bairstow 18, Dech 13, Hannahs, Withers 12; McCarron 10 rebs; McCarron 7 assts) at the Temple of Doom, Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 4,819 

* * *

THERE'S no question the Illawarra Hawks personnel this season is better than last season's semi finalist and that they are an exciting work-in-progress.

But the manner of the Hawks' demises to grand finallists Melbourne and Perth shows they are not yet ready to challenge for championship favouritism and have a lot of developing to achieve to reach the comfort zone in which teams such as the Wildcats operate.

Sure, Perth's first quarter wreaked of poor form, low interest and waivering energy levels. Guess what? COVID and learning your borders home are indefinitely shut can play on your morale like that.

Once Vic Law cut loose for a solo 15-point second quarter, Perth turned around what had been a 13-point deficit and a 13-23 interval scoreline to be back in it by halftime.

Then Bryce Cotton went to work and Perth's defensive resolve - coupled with an amazing amount of selfishness and ill-discipline from the Hawks' imports - produced a 30-16 third period and a 58-37 second half.

Todd Blanchfield found his stroke again and Perth was doing this very easily the further this game wore on. Again, not knowing who has been afflicted with COVID, it's wrong to judge Illawarra too harshly but once their imports devolve into I'm-not-passing mode, they aren't fun to watch.

PERTH WILDCATS 94 (Cotton 24, Law 22, Blanchfield 20; Frazier 10 rebs; Norton 6 assts) d ILLAWARRA HAWKS 78 (Rathan-Mayes, Jessup 17, Harvey 11; Cleveland, S. Froling, Rathan-Mayes 8 rebs; Rathan-Mayes, Harvey 4 assts) at the Sandpit, WIN Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 2,278

* * *

BE in no doubt. Sydney was making a statement from tip-off in this one and it wasn't only "look how much difference Xavier Cooks makes".

For the record, he had 13 points, 11 rebounds, a couple of assists and blocked four shots so yes, clearly he was a huge difference to Friday night's folly.

But Brisbane had to know this sort of statement was coming so to come out scoring 18-14-18 points in its first three quarters showed very little in the areas of resilience or fortitude.

Losing Tyrell Harrison to injury after just 2:37 certainly didn't help the Bullets' cause but it again opened the door for Jack Salt and Chuanxing Liu to seize their chance and they did not.

Dejan Vasiljevic unloaded on the visitors for 23 points at 50 per cent, with five 3-pointers, Jarell Martin (19 and 12) and Jaylen Adams (17 points, six assists) playing the way the Kings need if they are to do any damage.

That the Bullets, knowing such a Sydney response was incredibly likely, could do so little in response, and in Nathan Sobey's 200th game to boot, spoke volumes for who they really are and where they truly will sit at season's end.

SYDNEY KINGS 97 (Vasiljevic 23, Martin 19, Adams 17, Cooks 13, Glover 12; Martin 12 rebs; Adams 6 assts) d BRISBANE BULLETS 73 (Patterson 16, Sobey 12, Franks 11, Cadee 10; Patterson, Franks 8 rebs; Krebs, Sobey 3 assts) at The Kingdome, Qudos Bank Arena. Crowd: 4,237

* * *

YOU have to love the spunk Tasmania shows early in its home games to thrill its now very loyal fans. The JackJumpers looked good against South East Melbourne right until midway through the second quarter.

But by halftime, they were clinging to a three-point lead and the inevitable looked, well, inevitable.

A 32-15 third period by the Phoenix made sure of it as SEM's new signing Brandon Ashley made a promising debut with 11 rebounds, two blocks and two points in 15 minutes.

Tasmania's import trio of Josh Magette, Josh Adams and Mikyle McIntosh combined for 22 points on 7-of-36 shooting to leave the 36ers thinking they may not have the league's worst Americans.

Zhou Qi was a huge presence for the Phoenix with 18 points, eight rebounds and blocking two shots, although Tassie's Will Magnay led the block party with five, to go with his eight boards and 10 points.

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 76 (Creek 19, Qi 18, Adnam 13; Ashley, Broekhoff 11 rebs; Adnam 5 assts) d TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 63 (Steindl 16, Magnay 10, Magette, McIntosh 9; Magnay 8 rebs; Magette 9 assts) at the Anthill, MyState Bank Arena. Crowd: 4,235

* * * 

HARRY Froling put on a show tonight with a career-high 27 points, off a career-best 8-of-10 threes to lead Illawarra to a 100-89 rout of Adelaide in Wollongong.

This was another case of "don't let the final score fool you" because the Hawks led by as many as 23 and withstood the best Adelaide had to offer, which, in the end, was largely Sunday Dech carrying the fight.

Ahead 23-19 after one, the Hawks had Sam Froling playing some inspired minutes before brother Harry went on a frenzied run with a perfect 5-of-5 threes to halftime.

Illawarra was cruising 45-30 before realising it hadn't yet put the 36ers to the sword, Kai Sotto with some positive minutes as Adelaide rallied to be at 45-50 by the interval.

But that was all she wrote, a definitive 31-14 third quarter by Illawarra putting this to rest, only some 3-point shooting byplay between Harry Froling and Dech (6-of-10 triples) keeping it interesting.

Relying far less on their imports, the Hawks looked better balanced, Antonius Cleveland with some spectacular moments and warhorse Tim Coenraad nailing his 400th 3-pointer for the club, continuing on to stick 3-of-4 for the evening.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 100 (H. Froling 27, Harvey 19, S. Froling 18, Cleveland 14; H.Froling 9 rebs; Rathan-Mayes 7 assts) d ADELAIDE 36ERS 89 (Dech 20, Withers 15, Sotto 12, Johnson 10; Bairstow 10 rebs; McCarron 5 assts) at the Sandpit, WIN Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 2,141

* * *

WHAT WE LEARNT

*Shaun Bruce is capable of playing almost 24 minutes for 0-of-4 from the floor, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals and 0 blocks. But he did accumulate two fouls and a turnover. Kym Taylor still would be jealous;

*Contributor Pat Whalen says the Kings plan to petition the NBL for games to be reduced to three quarters;

*Corey Williams simply is unable to admit Perth Wildcats are a great club and annually predicts their demise before having to eat his words;

*Three things evaporate as you age - your memory ... and I forget the other two. Trusting the memory caught up with John Casey when he spoke with Chris Goulding post United's win over Adelaide saying: "That's seven (wins) in a row. If we add on the four from the end of last season, that's 11 (wins) in a row." Yes, it certainly is. Provided you ignore the fact Melbourne started off this regular season 0-2;

*Harry Froling's eight 3-point makes from 10 tonight for Illawarra is the most triples in one game by anyone so far this season;

*Commentators still seem desperate to inform us that "we have a ball game" when a match tightens up. Obviously it's not a board game, a racquet game or a golf game. What they really mean is we have a contest but expecting our TV callers to break from cliche traditions is asking too much, I know. Let's instead cut to someone "downstairs";

*Talking commentary cliches, they also feel it compulsory after a player hits a big shot then misses a follow up bad one to say "that was his heat check", as if no other explanation is possible.

WHAT A FABULOUS VIEW THIS IS: Chris Goulding admiring Cam Bairstow's work.