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ROUND ABOUT: NBL5/WNBL6
TweetTHE unease is starting to grow in New Zealand as the Breakers slump to a 2-5 record in seventh place on the NBL ladder.
It always was going to take a little time for the Breakers to find their groove under new coach – hiding-to-nothing Andrej Lemanis successor – Dean Vickerman, especially with a Tall Blacks and NBA summer league-disrupted preseason.
Let’s be realistic. You cannot lose a three-time championship coach such as Andrej, the league MVP in Cedric Jackson, plus a veteran locker-room presence such as Dillon Boucher and expect it to be “business as usual”.
Add the NBL’s tightening up on its officiating and it would be safe to say the Breakers haven’t adjusted nearly as well as their Grand Final victim Perth.
Darnell Lazare wasn’t working out, Gary Wilkinson was available and the club pulled the trigger.
With all due respect to Lazare, few would suggest it was a bad decision.
Yes, the Breakers have dug themselves a bit of a hole. But by no means is it a burial plot.
They’re not the team of 2012-13 but then, which team is?
While they find their new identity there will be a little more pain but writing them off is extremely foolish.
FOR the many people who have asked, the details of the funeral for Hall of Fame great Ian Davies are as follows:
Saturday, November 16 at 1pm at the Mornington Funeral Centre, 25 McIntrye Street, Mornington, Hobart.
And just a reminder too, the Adelaide farewell for Ken Richardson will be on Thursday, November 28.
Friends, teammates, players, fans and others are encouraged to gather from 6.30pm onwards at the Hackney Hotel for the type of storytelling evening over a few drinks which Ken himself would most have appreciated.
Basketball On The Internet’s Player of the Week
NOW I know how former league media man Marc Howard felt when he had to separate some terrific performances to find the NBL’s Player of the Week and why he often just gave up and mentioned any player with a vowel in their name.
Ben Madgen returned to his best with 31 points for Sydney against Cairns and AJ Ogilvy was a monster in the same game.
Adam Gibson appeared to have “burst the Bubbles” with his first-half defence on Chris Goulding. But The Unicorn cut loose with 10 points in 67 seconds, on his way to 23 in the three-point loss to Adelaide. He backed up with 29 points, including the winning shot, and 12 boards in the 81-76 win over Wollongong.
That’s an average of 26 points from 17-of-37 shooting, 7.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists.
Teammate Mark Worthington was unconscious after halftime in Adelaide en route to 28 points at 60 per cent which he then backed up with 20 against the Hawks. His round averages were 24.0ppg on 20-of-37 shooting, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
But Round Five’s winner of BOTI's PotW honor is Townsville centre Brian Conklin.
The big fella went off for 33 points at 74 per cent to set up the Crocs’ second win of the season and was working against an NZ frontline of Alex Pledger, Mika Vukona and Gary Wilkinson.
According to the extremely reliable @NBLfacts, Conklin's 33 points was the highest by any Townsville Croc player since Corey Williams had 37 against Gold Coast in October, 2009.
PotW Winners
Rd 1 Daniel Johnson
Rd 2 Shawn Redhage
Rd 3 Chris Goulding
Rd 4 Charles Carmouche
Rd 5 Brian Conklin
THE WNBL will reveal its PotW winner within hours but I have to like Natalie Hurst’s weekend.
Nat averaged 25ppg at 52 per cent, 8.0 assists and 1.5 steals as Canberra beat Dandenong AT Dandenong, and lost to the Spirit in Bendigo.
Reviews
Kings V Taipans (M)
AJ Ogilvy looked a man among boys and The Madge recaptured his best, shooting 31 points at 65 per cent. He was in a zone.
Unfortunately, Cairns was too, for way too long, Ogilvy’s 23 points in the 99-86 win coming at 91 per cent. For the Taipans it was a case of “fangs for nothing.”
36ers V Tigers (M)
ADELAIDE came out breathing fire while Melbourne wasn’t exactly listless but was individual. Couldn’t help feeling Wortho also didn’t want to pay former teammate DJ his due and the 36ers just generally took advantage to the tune of 51-25.
After halftime, Wortho was back to his focused, killer self in Adelaide, Chris Goulding broke the shackles and Nate Tomlinson wisely worked out he could have a career-high 15 assists if he just kept getting them the ball.
When the chips were truly down though, Gary Ervin, Anthony Petrie, DJ and Jarrid Frye came through for a 90-87 win.
Rangers V Capitals (W)
ABBY Bishop (ankle) had to sit out more than half of Canberra’s gritty home loss to the Rangers a week back but suited at Dandenong and delivered a 22-point, 15-rebound tour de force in an exceptional 93-85 road win.
Natalie Hurst was unbelievable with a 31-point (at 63 per cent), 10-assist double as the Caps proved last week’s fighting loss was no “one-off”, the Rangers now with back-to-back home defeats.
Crocodiles V Breakers (M)
ALSO showing their last performance against New Zealand was no fluke, the Crocs again sent the Breakers back to the drawing-board with a 91-78 win in Townsville.
Brian Conklin was a monster for 33 points at 74 per cent, and Josh Pace gave solid support with 21 at 54 as Townsville found winners while NZ found sinners, chalking up 29 fouls. Come on now guys.
How long is it going to be before the Breakers take a leaf out of Bruce Hornsby’s playlist and realise “That’s The Way It Is?”
Boomers V Lightning (W)
REBECCA Allen had a second quarter field day and Chelsea Poppens fired up against Adelaide in a 29-14 period which meant lights out for Lightning.
Laura Hodges fought a lone hand for a strangely energy-free Adelaide group which had the deficit back to eight late in the third before making some diabolical decisions that opened the door for Bec Cole to set up the 75-53 final score.
Waves V Flames (W)
MELISSA Marsh’s 150th game and the Alice Springs location was supposed to add something to this for West Coast but again it could barely muster a state league score as Sydney, on a six-game losing skid, comfortably prevailed 75-38.
In a game which sadly did precious little to promote WNBL basketball in The Alice, Renae Camino, Alicia Poto and Ro Cox spread the scoring load, their combined 45 points already more than the Waves could summon.
Tigers V Hawks (M)
CHRIS Goulding made the game-clinching shot but Melbourne had Mark Worthington, Owen Odigie and Scott Morrison all making big plays in an 81-76 win at The Cage which was much harder-fought than anyone in Tigerland had anticipated.
Down Larry Davidson and battered on the boards for long spells, Wollongong slowed the game to keep the Tigers from racing away, Rotnei Clarke with one of the shots of the year to close the first half and Dave Gruber fouling out on one of the softest calls in a year full of them.
Spirit V Capitals (W)
KRISTI Harrower’s WNBL life membership was a highlight here – does BA remember Sam Woosnam crossed over 300 games before her retirement? Just asking… - as Bendigo had too much firepower for Canberra, winning 84-68.
It was still an excellent road split for the Caps, who were seeing 20-20 - Sara Blicavs with 20 points, Kelsey Griffin with 20 rebounds.
Thunder V Fire (W)
TOWNSVILLE jumped out to a 9-0 start, then the torrential rains damaged the roof, made the court unplayable and had the WNBL reassigning this game to the “postponed, to be played later” basket.
Maybe instead of Ruth Riley, Logan needs a roof tiler.
BEEF of the WEEK
YEH, it’s the floor-wipers again.
My hardy annual moan about the fact we consign little kids to run out and wipe up sweat and wet spots on the court at our elite levels.
They’re kids. It is really a job for adults or older teenagers.
On Friday in the 36ers-Tigers NBL game, Lucas Walker slipped in the keyway and the play swept to the other end. He left a wet patch no-one noticed for several plays and, must confess, I sat there cringing wondering which player might have his season prematurely ended before attention was drawn to the spot.
Sure, consider it a minor concern but if it’s a player on your team or a marquee name who slips and gets hurt, who would be liable?
This cannot be so hard to rectify. Will it really take an injury?
CARFI-NOS
STARTING an irregular new item this week, Carfi-Nos, where we might quickly look at a few of those comments made by ONE-Ten anchorman Steve Carfino that you wish he had kept to himself.
In the Sydney-Cairns showdown he twice in the opening minutes called Taipans guard Demetri McCamey “Demetrius”.
You know, repeating a mistake doesn’t make it right.
Then, my weekend favourite occurred at the end of the match when he interviewed new NBL CEO Fraser Neill and complimented him on the good work he’d done with the V8 Supercars.
Um. Really?
Would that not maybe be Tony Cochrane?
Maybe if Steve had asked Fraser about his Davis Cup career – confusing Fraser Neill with Neale Fraser is more obvious, surely? – it might have made some semblance of sense.
And another great Carfi-No came on Sunday when he remarked to co-caller Andrew Gaze how Drewy had never played at The Cage. Wow.
Twitter ran wild on Sunday remarking about the genuinely lack-lustre nature of Steve’s call and, to his credit, Andrew picked up on it and tried hard to compensate and generate the enthusiasm lacking in his cohort.
BIGGEST WINNERS/LOSERS
TOWNSVILLE tends to float between the biggest winner and biggest loser but after beating the reigning triple-champs for the second time in two tries, it has to be this week’s NBL winner.
Conversely, another loss has dented New Zealand’s hopes and must have rookie coach Dean Vickerman scratching his head, the Breakers this round’s biggest losers.
CANBERRA may have split its road games but fighting efforts against the WNBL’s two leading clubs only further enhanced the Caps’ reputation after a battling home loss to Dandenong the week before. Beating the Rangers at Dandenong and competing well with Bendigo made Canberra the biggest winner.
Anytime you lack energy and enthusiasm, you are heading for the biggest loser precinct and that’s where Adelaide lobbed after being thumped by Melbourne in Melbourne. To call it a disappointing effort includes the word “effort” in the description which was a definite no-no.
Online
PS
Sydney Kings coach Shane Heal is on the record saying of import Jesse Sanders: “I think Jesse rebounds and defends like Damian Martin.” Did he maybe mean Damien Oliver?
