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Rankings #8 ... and some pfft
TweetTHE NBL is heading into one of its toughest rounds of the season and Townsville doesn't even have to shed a crocodile tear, sitting back having a bye.
Yet Melbourne, the team Townsville conquered last round, is at the crossroads, needing a win across the Tasman against a New Zealand team trying desperately to string a couple of wins together.
Then the Tigers come home to face Sydney which will be desperate for a huge turnaround after last week's devastation at the hands of a fairly merciless Perth machine.
Those games are massive.
So too is Wollongong's second trip into Adelaide Arena where it lost 91-97 to the 36ers in Round 2.
After putting a further dent in Cairns' hopes and lumping the Taipans with their sixth straight loss - the longest negative streak during coach Aaron Fearne's tenure - the Hawks won't be wanting to take a backward step against the Sixers.
And Adelaide, after enthralling a loud, energetic crowd last week while inflicting Perth's first defeat, is equally assuredly not planning on a home reversal.
As for Cairns, every week is the "must-win" game and, like last season, the season is starting to slip on by a little.
The good news? It's only Perth coming into town.
SURE hope for the Sydney Kings' sake new import Sam Young isn't believing everything being written about him.
Adrian Proszenko, apparently a "chief rugby league writer" with The Age, this week dubbed Young as "the best basketballer to step foot on to an Australian court" (sic) which surely must mess with your head a little.
Especially after getting pantsed in Perth.
I mean, let's see now. How many different ways can we come at that absolutely absurd claim?
Shall we start with the Hall of Fame and trot out Leroy Loggins, Al Green, Cal Bruton, James Crawford, Mark Davis et al?
Or Andrew Gaze, Luc Longley (that's 3 NBA Championships as a starter there Adrian, not 249 games), maybe Andrew Bogut (NBA No.1 draft pick), Patty Mills et al?
How about the players who "stepped foot on to an Australian court" during the Sydney 2000 Olympics?
You know, guys such as Yao Ming, Andrea Meneghin, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Steve Nash, Andrei Kirilenko, Juan Carlos Navarro, Predrag Stojakovic and, oh yeah, some USA guys such as Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter...
Talking Olympics, way back in 1956 the USA had a fairly handy basketballer step foot on an Australian court, guy named Bill Russell.
Shall we mention the big names from 20 Harlem Globetrotter touring teams? Or the key players on the USSR 1987 and 1988 touring teams?
Maybe Adrian just meant "step foot on to an Australian NBL court"?
You know, only ignoring players such as Dwayne McClain, Todd Lichti, Kevin Brooks, Doug Overton, Acie Earl, Adrian Branch, Darnell Mee, Lanard Copeland, Rob Rose, Owen Wells, Ray Owes, Rick Brunson...
Like everyone who supports Sydney and for the betterment of the NBL, I truly hope Sam Young lives up to his billing as a highly-credentialled NBA player.
I can't wait to see him at his most spectacular best.
But let's not let our enthusiasm cost us our grip on reality.
WHOEVER makes the final decision on the WNBL’s Player of the Week award this round fell into the same trap former NBL media guru Marc Howard often tumbled into by only taking one game of a two-game trip into account.
Had Bendigo’s only road game last round been against Adelaide, the Spirit’s WNBA import Kelsey Griffin would have been a monty for PotW honors.
Griffin destroyed the Lightning in Bendigo’s 84-76 win, matching Adelaide’s 13 first-quarter points with 13 of her own in a 26-13 lead and her final 29-point haul came on 11-of-17 shooting.
She also grabbed 10 boards and blocked a couple of shots for good measure.
If that was all she did for the round, she should have been PotW, with daylight to the next challenger.
Ah but Bendigo played two games and in the 81-54 West Coast demolition in Perth, Griff didn’t need to do much because Elyse Penaluna was getting 18 points at 62 per cent and Gabe Richards pairing 16 points with 14 boards.
Kelsey had seven points on 3-of-8 shooting, five rebounds and two blocks to rank fourth in efficiency on her own team.
It also means for the weekend she averaged 18 points on 14-of-25 shooting (still pretty decent), 7.5 boards and 2.0 blocks.
Of course, NONE of that was mentioned in the WNBL announcement, which went on to wax lyrical about KG’s finals last year and her 2013 WNBA form.
Sorry, but that’s irrelevant in selecting PotW.
Either Kelsey gets the nod for averaging 18 points at 56 per cent, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks - which again, I have no real issue with - or Canberra's Natalie Hurst gets it for her two-game averages of 20.5 points at 50 per cent, 3.0 assists and her 5-of-9 threes and 8-of-8 free throws.
Just don't hand the gong over for a 29-point, 10-rebound game in Adelaide. That's Player of the Night, not of the week.
DIFFICULT news to relate here but this could be my very last blog.
I just got an email from ananya.adhikari informing me I am the beneficiary of $5.2 million so hey, it's been fun but I just have to take a breather here to send him (her?) my complete bank details.
I'd love to stay and chat but as I am about to move into a significantly improved tax bracket, my time suddenly became precious...
Online
NBL Rankings
This Wk - Prev
8 (5) TAIPANS - How the mighty have fallen. And now Perth arrives on the doorstep!
7 (8) HAWKS - Got the win in Cairns and will be "up" for their second shot at the 36ers.
6 (6) CROCODILES - Such a good win in Melbourne, Townsville can sit back and go bye bye.
5 (7) BREAKERS - A stepping-stone win over the Crocs or a flash in the pen? Tigers will tell.
4 (3) KINGS - Oh dear. Back to the drawing-board and a tough day in Melbourne.
3 (4) TIGERS - Went up despite losing but this two-game round could be decisive.
2 (2) 36ERS - Above expectations for this time of the year and should continue rolling.
1 (1) WILDCATS - That's how you bounce back from a loss! But is foot off the accelerator?
WNBL Rankings
This Wk - Prev
9 (9) WAVES - The only light at the end of the tunnel is the Queensland Sugarland Express.
8 (8) THUNDER - A loss at home to West Coast effectively kills their season. Can't happen.
7 (4) LIGHTNING - Were awful against Bendigo at home, now face road to Bendigo.
6 (7) CAPITALS - Defining game coming up. Win and move forward. Lose and ...
5 (6) FLAMES - A 3-0 run sure beats a 0-6 and Canberra is well within their scope.
4 (5) FIRE - Chugging along and no problems repeating road win over Coast in Townsville.
3 (3) RANGERS - Much tougher when playing as a team than when stars are trying to shine.
2 (2) BOOMERS - What happened? This weekend can right the ship or sink it.
1 (1) SPIRIT - Taking care of business, every day. Taking care of business, every way.
THIS WEEK'S TIPS
MELBOURNE has needed this week to properly settle in Mustapha Farrakhan in what is a huge game for the Tigers in Auckland. It is just as big for New Zealand though, as the Breakers can take a serious step forward, building on their Townsville win. And the Crocs beat Melbourne. Hmm. Home court will be an advantage here.
FLYING into Adelaide feeling good about themselves will make the Hawks tough but the 36ers are on a roll and chasing their last run of consecutive home victories (9 in 2009). Rotnei Clarke will lead Wollongong from the front but the Sixers' size will be telling.
SORRY, I have lost faith in Cairns now and will only get it back when the talented Taipans beat a team like Perth. Hosting the Wildcats after they have just smacked Sydney by 43 while the Taipans are still licking their "oh that was such as bad call" wounds is nothing to fill fans with confidence.
THERE'S nothing surer than Sydney stepping up against the Tigers in Melbourne after last week's humiliation in Perth. Having already surprised Melbourne once, this becomes significant in the season-series and while the Kings can sit back and wait as the Tigers play in NZ, that advantage did them bugger-all good last week. Melbourne to win this narrowly.
HAVING now strung together a host of home losses, West Coast is on the road to drop a few more, starting at Logan. The Thunder are within reach of the Waves at their best but West Coast can only put together single quarters or halves at best. That will never do in Queensland.
ADELAIDE has a surprise or two in store for Bendigo in Bendigo but then, let's be blunt, it needs to come up with something after Kelsey Griffin scolded it like a freckle-faced red-headed step-child last week. Griffin doled out the full Nanny McPhee and there are no Poppens on the Lightning.
ARGUABLY one of the two or three really key games of this round, Sydney is on a mini-roll and its past two scalps have been signficant. That said, Canberra got Dandenong IN Dandenong and is a game behind the Flames as the Caps, too, try to ignite a run at the four. Think Sydney, but only just.
WITH The Batgirl finding the basket last week, Steph Cumming getting to be a bit of a big deal and Townsville inside the four for the first time this season, expect it to treat West Coast without a great deal of sympathy.
WHEN Melbourne and Dandenong first met this season, they both were unbeaten and figuring to be prominent at the season's business end. They're still around the mark, to be sure. But any air of invincibility has assuredly dissipated and this time, maybe it's the Boomers' turn to get the W.
WITH Adelaide facing Bendigo and Melbourne first facing Dandenong, the Lightning-Boomers game could ultimately be a war of attrition. (Bet ABC wishes it was covering this so it could regale us with "fatigue" theories...) Melbourne won this handsomely a few weeks ago but why not an upset on Sunday?
DEAR Yahoo,
I've never heard anyone say: "I don't know, let's Yahoo it..." Just saying...
Sincerely,
Google
