Basketball On The Internet.

SORRY I'm running late but yesterday when I'd normally be writing this, I was spellbound at the TV watching Erin Phillips become the seventh Aussie to win a WNBA Championship.

It was damn stressful too, barracking for Indiana Fever to beat the defending champion Minnesota Lynx and to achieve it without star scorer Katie Douglas.

Then the Fever lost backup guard Jeanette Pohlen to an ACL tear in the second quarter of Game 2 of the best-of-five Final.

But so many players lifted around the unique and inspiring skills of Tamika Catchings, who is probably my favorite international women's player since Cheryl Miller knocked my socks off at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

And Erin was certainly one of those who lifted, with a career playoff high 18 points, plus eight boards in the tension-packed and series-clinching 87-78 Game 4 win and 3-1 championship success.

Cannot begin to tell you what a high-quality series this was and how nerve-wracking the finale turned out to be. Was really starting to identify with the Danny Glover 'Lethal Weapon' line: "I'm getting too old for this $#!+" as those final three minutes ticked away so desperately slowly.

Must have been the onions I was peeling when Catchings was named Finals MVP. What a great great champion and role model.

Erin now adds the WNBA championship ring to her 2006 Opals Gold Medal at the World Championship, her Beijing Olympics Silver, the 2008 WNBL title with Adelaide Lightning, while joining Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor, Tully Bevilaqua, Belinda Snell, Abby Bishop and Alison Lacey as a winner in The Show.

Again, apologies for the delay and for more on the WNBA, you can go to adelaidenow.com.au and check out these: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/opals-star-erin-phillips-stars-in-wnba-title-win-for-indiana-over-minnesota/story-fndekpx4-1226500790228 and http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/erin-phillips-ready-to-kick-back-after-clinching-wnba-championship-with-indiana-fever/story-fndekpx4-1226501036029 for a more comprehensive rundown.

REVIEWS

Breakers v Crocodiles (M)

Who knew the Crocs were going to bring close to their A-game for this one and give New Zealand an almighty scare?

Townsville went down fighting 71-73 after Cedric Jackson put away what would prove the winning bucket.

A parting Gary Ervin midcourt clash which saw the ball spill free was an interesting no-call, to say the least. It had to be something, surely? A charge? A block? A test of refereeing testes?

Ah well. Its nuts to that and New Zealand gets the W.

Flames v Boomers (W)

Sydney's latest import April Sykes tied the game at 79-79 before Bulleen's Tess Madgen hit the last of her 28 points for what would be the final 81-79 scoreline.

Not that the game was over at that point.

There still was time for Rachel Jarry to steal a bad Lauren King pass, then miss both free throws.

And for Madgen to grab the O-board, get fouled, and miss both free throws.

Actually, the Boomers were more the Bummers when it came to the free throw line, making just 3-of-14. If they'd lost, you just know there would have been a LOT of free throw shooting this week.

Fortunately as Bombers, the Boomers were pretty good, sticking 10-of-18 long-range missiles.

Sydney's: "Move the &@#$*% ball," may be this week's chant of the round.

Kings v Taipans (M)

Jamar and Alex made a welcome first real appearance for 2012-13 and that was all Cairns really needed to strike up some form and an 88-68 win over Sydney.

Shane Edwards even had some moments where he resembled an import as Brad Hill showed Shane Heal he should have had more court-time back when Heal was running the Dragons and Hilly was anchored deep to the bench.

Hill's 14-point, 12-rebound double-double would have put him into Player of the Week contention had he not followed up with a dud in Adelaide.

Heal copped his first official tech of the year - remember he was ridiculously tossed from a PSST game - as only Ben Madgen gave Sydney any offensive consistency.

Corin Henry and Darnell Lazare produced exquisite impersonations of Jason Forte and Curtis Withers, with four points apiece at a combined 4-of-18 shooting. Talk about a turnaround.

Worse still, Sydney lost James Harvey to a broken arm which will see him out for two months and only able to play voice-activated video games.

Thunder v Lightning (W)

No, this is not a weather report, though Adelaide sure rained on Logan's parade with superstar Suzy Batkovic having a 24-point, 17-rebound double.

With triple-Olympian Laura Hodges (ankle injury) missing the trip and recruit Molly Lewis tearing a calf during the warm-up, Adelaide winning 72-62 was one out of the box.

Bear in mind too, Logan contained Adelaide to seven first-quarter points.

Seven.

Sounds like a Cairns Taipans game.

Capitals v Boomers (W)

You know the time-honored theory for catching a team on Night Two of a two-game road trip, right?

Run them into the ground early, wrack up a massive score, then settle back and smoke a stogey while they wither away in their own yawning tiredness.

Well, that's the theory and when Canberra piled on 31 first-quarter points against Bulleen, it looked as if it had the right idea.

They just forgot to tell Rachel Jarry who had 25 points as Bulleen fought back, then outscored the Caps in the final quarter - you know, when they were supposed to be moping around with their tongues dragging along the hardwood?

Jarry's free throws put Bulleen up 74-73 with more than four minutes left. Then Jessica Bibby - who is having a quality year - gave Canberra back the lead 75-74 just inside three minutes left.

And that was the final score.

With almost three minutes left.

Sorry I missed that.

36ers v Taipans (M)

Cairns again threw out the time-honored theory for teams on the second night of a two-game trip (See above for an in-depth theory analysis worthy of Steve Carfino) to lead by 13 during the second quarter at Adelaide Arena.

Then, as can often happen for the Taipans, their offence went off the boil to the point of stone cold as Adelaide rattled up a couple of 10-point leads, largely on the back of Adam Gibson.

Jamar tried hard - maybe too hard - to get his team up, having copped a first half technical for a referee collision which Trevor Gleeson would have waved away as not even noteworthy.

Jason Cadee had a memorable 50th - game, not birthday - as the 36ers held on 85-81 in front of 4,331 fans mystified why Mitch Creek didn't play more.

Spirit v Waves (W)

The trouble with being a hero at home and a zero on the road is every now and then, you're going to lose at home too.

Do the maths and it inevitably means the season ends for you with the last game of the regular season because your W column is on the deficit side of your L column.

And so to West Coast which ran into a Bendigo feeling very good about itself after four road wins and happy to be at home for a comfortable 74-51 victory.

Gab Richards followed up her PotW win with a 23-point, 13-rebound double and Kristi Harrower maintained her PotW form of Round One with 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Tigers v Wildcats (M)

The upside of this for Melbourne was having the game scheduled at Hisense Arena meant more people could come along than the capacity at The Cage. And they did, all 5,256 of them, even though the game was being televised live on TEN, too.

The downside of this was 25 turnovers which set Perth an easier task and a 74-65 win.

Another upside for the Tigers was Adam Ballinger taking his first tentative steps of the season.

And Perth had an upside too - apart from winning its third road game - and that was the return of Captain Silverbeard's favorite pirate, Aar Aar it be Bradley "The Buccaneer" Robbins.

That headband thing and brandishing his cutlass made him look like he was heading to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride post-game.

Aar aar, it made me heart warm, me hearty, to see the little fella back in full bloomin' bloom again.

The game started at a cracking pace, Melbourne hitting six of its first seven shots and Chris Goulding with 10 of the Tigers' first 14 points. Even then, Perth led 24-19 at the break.

"We be sailing a steady ship there boyo," Captain Silverbeard was overheard saying.

Fire v Lightning (W)

This loss will haunt Chris Lucas and Townsville when the season comes down to its business end.

For Adelaide to come into town without Laura Hodges and Molly Lewis and then to have The Batgirl stay in her civilian clothes with a foot injury, meant the match was ripe for the taking for the Fire.

Instead, Jenni Screen stroked it for 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting and Adelaide's kids rallied to secure a stunning 80-65 upset.

Never under-estimate the heart of a champion, or so the saying goes. Don't count your chickens til they hatch, there's another good one. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. A fool and his money are soon parted. A rolling stone gathers no moss.

OK.

I have completely lost my train of thought and have no idea what I'm doing now.

Hawks v Crocodiles (M)

All right then. Yes, the theory finally worked as Townsville took an 84-66 Wollongong beating in front of 3,836 at the Sandpit.

Oscar Forman, who, as the Hawks' captain can feel very alone for that all-important coin toss, said Dave Gruber was inspiring with 14 points, four boards and two blocks in 18 minutes as Wollongong seized this game and rarely relented.

In his return to the place where he won a league MVP award, Gary Ervin went for nine points and six assists, while Ben Allen was his former self for much of this trip, looking more like a potential Sookie of the Year than the Most Improved Player I tipped him to be. 

Wollongong had contributions across the board but the Big O's 15 rebounds (and 10 points) included a milestone for him. Those 15 rebounds included three offensive which is as often as he has strayed into the paint since Axel Dench warned him of its potential hazards.

Zac Delaney was allowed to keep his Sunday play date with Mitch Norton too.

Rangers v Waves (W)

Here's a good rule of thumb. If you give up 32 points in the first quarter of the second game of a two-match trip, and only score 13 yourself, chances are you are going to get a mother of a hiding.

Dandenong actually doled out a 103-71 beating to West Coast after Jenna O'Hea and Steph Cumming got the ball rolling.

For the Waves, it was a wrecking ball and they will be glad to get back to Perth and regroup for Saturday's home match against Adelaide.

BEEF of the WEEK

It's a bit of a disappointment NBL.TV didn't stick with a policy of hiring only new young guns and maybe one or two quality "oldies" - Andrew Johnstone come on down! - to call their games.

And it's a pity no-one identified any of the shameless self-promoters who, unfortunately, also are amid the calling teams.

Guess you can't have everything.

The Big Winners/Losers

Cairns was the big NBL winner of the round, despite going 1-1 on the road. Smacking the Kings was a solid performance, then losing to Adelaide by four after backing up within 24 hours and still down two main players, left much to like. Sydney was the biggest NBL loser of the weekend, not only copping a blast at home from Cairns but tragically losing James Harvey to a broken arm for eight-to-10 weeks. Ouch.

Adelaide was the WNBL's big winner, able to claim the two big Queensland scalps and achieve it without Laura Hodges against Logan, then Hodges, Suzy B and Molly Lewis out against Townsville. West Coast was the big loser, getting creamed on the road twice after showing so much promise at the PSST.

PS

ADELAIDE icon Brett Maher, who before the NBL season tipped-off said the 2012-13 line-up was the best 36ers team since the 1998-99 champion, has amended that again to 1979 West Adelaide.