Basketball On The Internet.

DIDN'T 2012 end on something of an amazing note with fouls, free throws and form flows?

For starters, I cannot help feeling the pre-game comments of Sydney coach Shane Heal negatively impacted on either a couple of his players or the three officials calling the Kings-Perth game.

Otherwise, how else can you explain an experienced vet such as Ian Crosswhite fouling out in 9:24?

Or Kevin White in 20 minutes?

How about Cam Tovey in 3:26? Ben Purser in 6:21? Michael Dunigan in 22:30?

That's three players fouling out in less than 10 minutes. Surely that is some sort of record?

In the build-up, Heal rightly drew attention to the physical nature of Perth's teams.

"I've said get ready for a fight," Heal told the Daily Tele. "It's going to be the most physical game we've played. I don't think they are going to like a team giving it back to them."

Referencing the recent loss to the Wildcats in Perth, Heal was adamant.

"We have to come back and I think this game could get ugly because we're going to do the same thing to them that they do to everyone else," he said.

"We're not going to be bullied in our own stadium.

"There's no way we're going to allow that to happen again."

As a journalist myself who constantly craves coaches actually saying something - "We have to take it one game at a time...blah blah" ... yawn - I am pretty sure colleague Tyson Otto would have been rushing to his keyboard when Shane spoke out.

Yeah. Sadly, there are no Ken Coles anymore - "We will set a record in their building!" - and the game is poorer for it.

So many insecure coaches are terrified a minor comment misconstrued will give their opponent motivational ammunition - as if a story in a newspaper is what a professional sporting team needs to get it over the line.

I am not saying a random story cannot have an impact - as I believe this one did - but coaches who fear a mispoken word may be the key to helping an opponent, truly must have fallen short in their on-court preparation to be that tentative.

So all I can say is bravo to Shane Heal for speaking his mind.

But I do think the refs for this game read the article - as did a player or two - and reacted accordingly. And that, I am afraid, speaks more to their abilities (or otherwise) than to anything which was said or written.

SO who doesn't yet recognise free throws win (or lose) matches?

Apparently the boys up north in Cairns where 15-of-36 FT shooting in a 61-66 loss to New Zealand stands out like Nathan Jawai in a Barcelona blizzard.

That said, the Breakers were an equally feeble 11-of-23.

So that's a game of professional basketball where its paid fulltime participants have delivered 26-of-59 from the stripe?

That's just embarrassing.

TOWNSVILLE would like more games against Adelaide.

The Crocodiles were 0-10 before finally finding the 36ers on their schedule and are now 4-0 since (three of the wins against the Sixers) with another game against Adelaide to come this week.

Who knew the Crocs would be riding the seesaw upwards as the Sixers were taking the down slide?

Can someone in the Adelaide office please sort out Scott Christopherson's paperwork too, by the way?

The import has only sat out two games so far since arriving.

REVIEWS

36ers v Breakers (M)

ANYONE who doesn't believe basketball is a game of two halves, or has never seen the movie or read the book about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, immediately should go to nbl.tv and check this game out.

Despite strong advice to the contrary (thanks for the warning @36ReasonsBlog), I did so myself and watched, dumbfounded, as Adelaide played an exceptional half of basketball to lead 49-28 at the main interval. Daniel Johnson had started like a house-on-fire, and Luke Schenscher then became a bushfire as New Zealand had no answer.

So they found some during the break and that was the end of Adelaide.

"The guys serviced Luke well and got him the ball. But somewhere, somehow something changed," 36ers coach Marty Clarke said.

Checking the black box on another crash-and-burn may help solve the mystery.

Cedric Jackson (17 pts, 7 assts) and Will Hudson (23 & 11) took over, and defensively, the Breakers held Adelaide to 12 and five-point quarters.

"Five?" asked a couple of recessing WNBL coaches.

On a positive note, former 36ers coach Mike Dunlap this week also saw his Charlotte Bobcats cough up a 21-point first-half lead for a 95-98 loss to the New Orleans Hornets.

There's hope yet!

Kings v Wildcats (M)

THERE'S still a long way to go yet for Sydney, and I don't mean out to the State Centre at Homebush-league.

Perth is the benchmark of the NBL for a reason.

The Wildcats made the Kings projectile-vomit up the ball 22 times - double their season average - creamed them on the boards and kept them shooting at a puerile percentage.

Perth coach Captain No-Beard even revealed post-match he now wished to be known as Sensei Bevo, remarking: "It does help that we've been teaching our guys karate.

"We've (also) been teaching them wrestling."

Clearly, without The Buccaneer, the wild westerners are moving away from their pirate roots and embracing the martial arts.

Ah-so.

A 29-11 first quarter at Sydney Ent Cent was a big statement by the Wildcats.

But the fact Sydney would be outscored in each subsequent period and finally pantsed 95-61 said much about the distance between championship contenders and playoff wannabes.

That said, it's not as if that has happened to Sydney with any regularity this season so Perth may just simply be shaping as its bogey team.

Reigning MVP Kevin Lisch had a game-high 22 points.

Hawks v Tigers (M)

JUST when you think Melbourne is done-and-dusted, instead they are down-and-dastardly.

Just when you are still revelling in how well Auryn MacMillan played last round, Lucas Walker decides it is his turn to step up and rock the Sandpit.

Once again though, there was a scoreboard malfunction and it is high time the WEC made sure such amateurism was a thing of the past.

With almost 5,000 crazed Hawks fans there, they (not to mention the teams) deserve better than this.

It's not the first time this has happened - just ask The Sensei his views on it - and it is an issue which must be addressed and eliminated.

Following this game on Twitter, it got more exciting by the minute, Walker's exploits best described in this series of sequential tweets by AndTheFoul.net - someone else you should probably follow, if you do not already.

They went like this: "Lucas Walker with a big dunk... Then pushes Martin slightly.

"Walker stepping it up a little.

"Walker with the Tigers last 6 points!

"Then Walker comes up with a big block on Adris...

"Walker with the HUGE tip dunk!!!"

And so it went, Lucas with 13 of his 19 points in the last quarter and overtime, the game tied 66-66 at the end of regulation. He also had career highs in rebounds (13) and blocks (3).

Tigers' pilot Jonny Flynn, when he wasn't clearing MacMillan for take off over him for a screamer dunk, also played an important role, Oscar Forman carrying Wollongong for stretches.

So it's Happy Birthday today to Melbourne coach Chris Anstey, courtesy of the 80-72 road success. 

Taipans v Breakers (M)

YOU know, we've had this conversation before but if you're going to score 8 points in a quarter and 24 in a half, you're probably going to lose a lot more games than you win.

While 8 might looked good compared to 5, it still sucks when you are playing New Zealand and more than 5,000 Taipans true believers have crowded into Cairns Convention Centre.

They wanted to be loud and really only got the chance when Alex Loughton (6 pts, 2 rebs) and Dillon Boucher (3 pts, 2 rebs, 5 fls) tried to make themselves remotely relevant by coming to grips late in the game.

If Loughton is not nobbled, as he has been on-and-off for a while, then he is just having a stinker of a season which, when coupled with the under-achieving of import Shane Edwards (6 pts, 1 reb, 4 turnovers) goes further to explaining Cairns' 4-9 record.

The Taipans made a game of this after having to chase New Zealand most of the way but as mentioned earlier, Free Throw shooting should never be under-estimated.

Cairns is heading south on the ladder and the race appears to be on between it and Adelaide.

Did I mention Cedric was entertaining, as always?

Crocodiles v 36ers (M)

AFTER its Breakers' experience, Adelaide was determined not to squander a big lead in this one, so three was all it ever led by.

No Jacob Holmes meant someone had to stand up for Townsville and it was either going to have to be the very rusty Russell Hinder or Mount Gambier's boom SEABL recruit Ben "Ain't Been Ballin' " Allen.

It was Rusty who shook off the cobwebs, delivering a 17-point, nine-rebound, 3-assist performance, leaving Big Ben to regale teammates on the bench with stories, songs and legends of how he slew the game's giants back in those heady days of the pre-season.

Hinder connected on 4-of-5 three-pointers and STILL had half of the Crocs' offensive rebounds! (OK, two out of their four isn't really that big a deal.)

The 36ers came home strongly on the back of Stevie Weigh's 21 points, 13 of which came in the last period and it may have been more had he not been subbed out after hitting eight straight.

It was a 27-29 last quarter and exciting to watch, Townsville holding on to win again, 86-82.

It may just be a coincidence, or not, but the Crocs haven't lost since Luke Nevill was signed. Lurch had 19 points at 69 per cent.

Gary Ervin's 23-point, 10-assist double wasn't too shabby either.

BEEF of the WEEK

SO our professional NBL can have a series of matches played in Round 12 but not have the championship ladder properly upgraded on or by January 1?

Is it really that hard to have someone add in the Wollongong-Melbourne, Cairns-NZ, Townsville-Adelaide NYE results on the league's official web site?

Really?

Media man Marc Howard is barely lost a week and already it is evident how many little (but important from a credibility standpoint) things he did off his own back.

The Big Winners/Losers

NEW Zealand, collecting a pair of road wins, is the big winner of the final round of 2012.

In contrast, Adelaide lost another two this week and is now playing without the belief it CAN win. Any team facing the 36ers now has to go in believing their opponent will crumble and fall in a pastiche of self-doubt and insecurity.

OK.

I just wanted to use "pastiche".

Happy New Year!

PS

ADELAIDE 36ers icon Brett Maher, who before the NBL season tipped-off said the 2012-13 line-up was the best Adelaide team since the 1998-99 champion, has amended that again to the 1991-92 North Adelaide Under-16 boys team which won back-to-back Melbourne Junior Classics.