Basketball On The Internet.

PERTH Wildcats wizard Bryce Cotton is going through an almost unbelievably extraordinary scoring phase, following last week's 59-point haul against NZ with a cool 40 in the loss to Illawarra, then another 49 in the road win at Adelaide for 148 points (average 49.3) in his past three games.

Three consecutive 40-plus games hasn't been done since the GOAT, Andrew Gaze, had a similar three-match 40-plus return for Melbourne Tigers in 1991. 

And not since Al Green went off for West Adelaide Bearcats in 1984 for a three-match return of 46 against Bankstown Bruins, 32 on Melbourne Tigers and 71 - the most points scored in an NBL game - over Frankston Bears (right) has anyone even come close.

Green, a scoring machine, had 149 (average 49.7) in three consecutive games, but let's put it all into some perspective.

Bryce's 148 tally came in three 40-minute games, over two rounds and included two wins.

Green's 149 came in three 48-minute games BUT, they were all on the same road trip - against Bankstown in Sydney on Friday, the Tigers in Melbourne on Saturday and then, his biggest return of the lot, on Sunday at Frankston.

An amazing almost Herculean effort, for sure, but West Adelaide did lose all three games.

Bryce's Wildcats went 2-1 and the loss was a cracker of a game against a championship contender in Illawarra.

By any standard, what Bryce Cotton currently is doing is as good, if not better, than anything we have ever seen before.

He is amid the cream of the crop and, in fact, must be seeing the hoops like those legendary crop circles.

His calculated halfcourt swish to close the third quarter against the 36ers was a heart-breaker for the home team but just another example of how well he is seeing the basket and the outrageous level to which his confidence has risen.

But while current scribes rush to add justifiable accolades to Cotton's other-level heroics, it's not as if long-term NBL followers have never seen anything like it.

When Green did go off for 71, it was only after a 60-point game two rounds earlier in a win over Sydney and an "off night" 37 points against Brisbane. Andrew Gaze averaged 44.1ppg in 1987 with a 60-pointer in there, a 59 in 1991 and a 58 in 1986; Green averaged 39.5 in 1984, with another 59-point return in there too. Both, admittedly, posted those figures in the 48-minute, 3-point era.

But Cal Bruton led the league at Brisbane with 33.2ppg in its historic inaugural 1979 season, Rocky Smith in 1980 was delivering 33.4ppg for St Kilda, Michael Jones 30.5ppg in 1981 for Illawarra, Reg Biddings 30.1ppg in 1982 and Jones again in 1983 with 32.7ppg.

Those were all 40-minute game seasons. So has defence improved so much in the interim, is it the multiple-subbing, or much of the one-on-one emphasis robbing us of seeing more regular performances such as those Bryce Cotton, Jim Batemon and Chris Goulding have delighted us with this past month?

That's for wiser minds to determine.

Cotton is out of contract at season's end and while it's difficult to see him leaving Perth for a rival NBL club, it is much easier to imagine him joining former Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson in Japan for two years on megabucks.

That's why we should simply relish every moment we have of this playmaking/scoring genius.

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IT being Heritage Round, it was great to see several clubs recognising their pioneers.

A cluster of North Melbourne Giants were conspicuous at Melbourne's loss to Brisbane, 1983 36ers players were rolled out in Adelaide, and the once-dominant South East Melbourne Magic memory was rejuvenated and celebrated by SEM Phoenix as it whipped past Cairns.

The 40th anniversary of the Bullets' 1985 championship also was acknowledged in Brisbane, appropriately in the win over the 36ers, just as it was back then.

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FLASHBACK: While searching my archives for accurate recollections of Al Green's memorable record-making weekend, the NBL Bulletin for 1984's Round 15 review also included these random delights:

Ah yes. The good old days.