Basketball On The Internet.

ARE any of the last three teams on the NBL ladder really still in the top-four hunt?

It's a good question because, on one hand you have pundits saying Townsville (8-15) is now out of it, while others claiming Adelaide (8-16) is still a chance!

And Cairns (8-14) definitely likes it chances of dislodging either Melbourne (10-12) or Wollongong (10-14) from the current four, while leap-frogging Sydney (10-14).

Of the three teams with just eight wins, the 36ers finish against reigning champion and current leader New Zealand (away), Cairns twice (home & away) and Wollongong (away).

That's a pretty tough run and with a loss in there, that would make 17 in the "L" column and 11-17 doesn't look a top-four finish.

Townsville still has Sydney twice (away both times), Wollongong (home), Melbourne twice (home & away). For the Crocs it is pretty simple - beat the teams above you to catch them. And if they can't, they don't deserve playoffs anyway.

Cairns is home to Perth this week, then away to New Zealand. Ouch.

No-one has greater "true believers" than the Taipans but their record easily could be 8-16 in a heartbeat. Then it is Adelaide twice (away & home), Perth in Perth and Melbourne in Cairns. Unless the Taipans can chalk up a major run of upsets - and it will need to be seen to be believed - the orange army won't be peeling any game-time oranges for the post-season.

With four regular season games left, Sydney has its fate in its own hands, twice hosting Townsville, away to Perth and Wollongong. The Kings are definitely still breathing.

So too the Hawks, who are away to Melbourne and Townsville, home to Sydney and Adelaide. That run, with no match-ups against the Breakers or Wildcats, looks very do-able, barring accident.

Melbourne, like Cairns, has six games in hand, at home to Wollongong, home and away to New Zealand, then away to Townsville and Cairns, and home to Townsville.

On fluctuating recent form, it strongly looks like New Zealand, Perth, Melbourne and Wollongong will be active in the post-season, with Sydbney the main challenger. But, in the end, it doesn't make a lot of difference.

The best thing is we have a race still very much alive and no-one could have predicted that with four rounds left.
 

REVIEWS

Wildcats v Tigers

AFTER reading what surely must have been tongue-in-cheek or simply disingenuous remarks re physicality by The Sensei last week, Perth beat up Melbourne 78-58.

Jonny Flynn had some post-game comments regarding outside influences on the contest and there is not much doubt Bevo's comments in his regular column were read and digested by the officiating panel.

"I'm not going to comment on the referees, but I will be asking Chuck Harmison and Peter Carey a lot of questions on Monday. I'm not paying $1000 for this press conference, but it's a tough place to come and play at the best of times," Tigers coach Chris Anstey said.

Most people would be interested to know how those conversations went yesterday.

In the meantime, following Bevo's complaints about physicality, several pots have reportedly been calling kettles "black," Brian Goorjian is apparently writing a column about how tragic it is when clubs overspend to win championships and then disappear, and Gordie McLeod is penning one about how "injuries build character - who cares about championships"?

Hawks v 36ers

A MASSIVE three-point basket by Anthony Petrie to save the game and force overtime, then a match-winning free throw from Stevie Weigh at the death gave Adelaide back-to-back last-gasp wins when it escaped Wollongong 91-90.

As they have a few times this season, the 36ers rallied furiously in the final minute to over-turn an eight-point deficit and this time, got the win, leaving the Hawks still in a precarious position regarding the post-season.

Petrie was just peachy all game (26 & 8) and Adam Gibson rocked, with 19 of his 21 points after halftime. Tim Coenraad looked set to lead Wollongong to victory with a career-high 28 points but the Gold Coast component of Adelaide's three-year plan had other ideas.

In the end, Wollongong was happy to get through a big game without another injury.


Taipans v Crocodiles

LET'S be brutal here. Alex Loughton hasn't always performed like a franchise player for Cairns.

Granted, he has been nobbled by injury at times but at others, his love affair with the three-point line hasn't always ended in a honeymoon for the Taipans.

That changed here. With Cairns looking down the barrel of a 14-point halftime deficit, Alexander the Great put the Taipans on his back and led them to a season-defining 78-75 win over the arch enemy Townsville.

He hit 24 points, with 5-of-7 threes, Aaron Grabau with 4-of-4 from deep as Cairns moved its record to 8-14 to keep its dream alive.

For the Crocs, this may have been their death roll.

Kings v Wildcats

PERTH sent Sydney tumbling out of the top four with its 97-71 muscle flex to reinforce it is currently the No.1 form team in the iiNet NBL Championship.

The Wildcats opened with an 11-0 start which translated to a 20-2 blitz, Kings coach Shane Heal and his assistants having to now reconsider their game strategy of a team Sunday roast lunch before playing.

Shawn Redhage and Damian Martin - at opposite ends of the floor - got the Wildcats rolling and when you add that Perth centre Matt Knight played less than 18 minutes, there were a lot of reasons for Sydney to be unhappy with this performance.

"We're back to the straight-up barbie next Sunday," someone resembling Steve Dunn said.

 
BEEF of the WEEK

OK, it's an easy one and a tiresome one, but come on - the officiating is scarily poor.

Yes, the NBL Fine-Master and leading trouble-shooter Chuck Harmison will say clubs complain more when the run to the finals is close ... and it could not be much closer.

But at some point - a point we have reached and passed (long ago) - that becomes an easy crutch and even a cop-out to avoid having to deal with the real issue.

Umpiring in Australia is pretty good. Trust me on that. When you see first-hand how games are called overseas, you get a genuine appreciation for how good our officials are. That said though, it is only relative.

When a ball hits a ring but a shot-clock violation is allowed, when unwarranted unsportsmanlike fouls get whistled, or overlooked, when the complaints are so universal and NOT just the domain of losing coaches, then surely a league must take stock of how much money and resources are being siphoned into the development of more quality refs.

I'd say, at a guess, bugger-all.

And it shows.

It will, most likely, have to wait until after the season but clubs and the league must sit and devise ways for greater referee coaching and development. The clubs cannot continue to bitch and moan (even if rightly) if they are not prepared to be part of a solution, too.

And the league cannot continue to bury its head in the sand and claim "our refs are better than those in Micronesia" either.
 

Biggest Winners/Losers

ADELAIDE coming from behind to beat Wollongong at The Sandpit to keep the finals flame flickering for its truly faithful, makes it the biggest winner this round.

Townsville was the biggest loser, dropping a double-digit lead in the stronghold of its most ardent rival Cairns, to throw its flagging finals hopes back into jeopardy.


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 had to amend that again to the 2010-11 Sixers team.