Basketball On The Internet.

FOUR NBL games at NSISC and five WNBL games at Dandenong was a lot of elite basketball happening around the country today.

The Blitz opened in Sydney with Adelaide-Cairns shooting 75 free throws, the referees just a little trigger-happy - more on that in a minute - before the Perth-Wollongong game provided a much closer exhibition of how the NBL wants its product to look this season.

It looked good too, or maybe that was just Wildcats import James Ennis showing off his NBA bona fides and Hawks guard Rotnei Clarke blowing out to a sizzling start.

But tonight, some of the calling went over-the-top and the grey area of what's allowable, what's incidental, what's irrelevant and what's beyond-physical became a chasm.

 

BRING it. Referee Toni Caldwell certainly did, calling her first foul in the Adelaide-Cairns game at 9:58 of the first quarter.

Yes, the quarter started at 10:00!

But from the tip, Anthony Petrie, trying to save the ball, was called for a totally meaningless alleged infraction.

Quickdraw McCaldwell also nailed Petrie for another one at 7:28 when all he appeared to be doing was contesting a rebound.

And thereby hangs the issue right now. The NBL has been running with overt and barely restrained physicality for decades. Let's call those the "black" years.

Now the officials are trying to clean the game up by calling all hands-related fouls and favoring the offence in all 50-50 calls. So let's call that "white" season.

Going from black to white is an extreme and right now the three teams on the court at any one time - the two protagonists and the officiating crew - all are adjusting to how the game will go.

What can be allowed physically is the "grey" area because in some instances, it is virtually zero.

Don't get me wrong. Unlike "basketball" fans who cannot handle teams playing zone, I love the zone as a defensive tactic.

Hell, D-Mac and his 1994 North Melbourne Giants under coach Brett Brown played zone all year and won the championship and no-one thought they weren't fun to watch.

But when zone isn't being used as a game-strategy but instead as a survival tactic to protect all the players in early foul trouble, then we have the potential for a problem.

That said, if a team has legit shooters, an interior target and can move the ball quickly, forcing a team out of a zone should be relatively easy.

So what should the upshots be?

More zone? Improve your shooters.

Improved shooters? Got to play better D.

Net result? Great shooting and legitimate defence being played in man-to-man.

Cleaning up the hands fouls and eliminating the brutal bumping and holding is in everyone's interest. Killing all physical play isn't. It just has to be legal and finding where that line is will take all three teams on the floor a while to figure out.

Thank heavens for preseason, eh?

 

BLITZIN'

Anthony Petrie finished with a flourish, nine of his 19 points in the final 210 seconds as he preserved Adelaide's 105-101 win over Cairns.

Camerons Tragardh and Gliddon were huge for the Taipans, the latter looking like a Boomer-in-waiting, making some big shots down the stretch, in particular.

While free throws marred the game, it still had plenty of great action. Alex Loughton driving to the hoop through traffic for the jam was damn fine.

Jarrid Frye rejecting Demetri McCamey's dunk attempt and saving the game for the 36ers was also breath-taking. The young man was virtually horizontal when he hit the floor. Hard.

ADELAIDE 36ERS 105 (Petrie 19, Johnson, Frye 18, Ervin 16, Gibson, Anthony 11; Petrie 7 rebs; Gibson 6 assts; Creek 1 stl) d CAIRNS TAIPANS 101 (Tragardh 22, Gliddon 20, Loughton 14, McCamey 13, Mitchell 11, Wilson 10; Tragardh 8 rebs; Wilson, gliddon 4 assts; Loughton, Gliddon 2 stls). 36ers - 5 pts. Taipans - 2 pts.

IT was all Rotnei Clarke hitting shots and James Ennis putting on a show in the opening of the Wollongong-Perth clash.

When Ennis pinned Tyson Demos' shot against the backboard, sprinted up the floor and stroked a three from the corner, Perth had hit the front 16-15 and it wasn't going to change from there.

Ennis had 16 in the first quarter - the same as the Hawks - Perth away 25-16.

Shawn Redhage continued to produce, Ennis had some spectacular aerial feats and Oscar Forman had a tip-in basket of a Demos miss to close the third quarter, forever ending speculation he would not enter the offensive keyway this tournament.

In contrast to the earlier game, there were two free throws per team in the first half, these teams quicker to adjust, Perth in its third game and Wollongong a disciplined outfit anyway under Field Marshall McLeod.

PERTH WILDCATS 95 (Ennis 26, Redhage 23, Burdon 13; Wagstaff 7 rebs; Beal, Redhage 4 asts; Ennis 2 stls) d WOLLONGONG HAWKS 75 (Davidson, Clarke 18; Coenraad, Demos, Clarke 5 rebs; Demos 4 assts; 0 stls). Wildcats - 7 pts. Hawks - 0.

KERRON Johnson did about as much as one man could to try and get his Breakers home against the Kings but in a crunch finish, it was Sydney on the money.

There was some frustration with the Breakers bigs but having Alex Pledger (ankle) playing meant Dean Vickerman had a deeper rotation at least.

It came down to a frantic finish and Sydney looked home, ahead 95-90 with 40 seconds left.

Daryl Corletto then swished a three from between the top of the 3-point line and the centre circle. It was a monster. Even Kings coach Shane Heal shook his head. As if he never did stuff like that.

CJ Bruton then took an elbow in the chest from Charles Carmouche, which Bruton turned into the death scene from Othello. (Wait. Was there a death scene in Othello?) When CJ got the call - not the casting call, the offensive foul call - he rose clapping and spaketh these words: "That's what I'm talking about."

Right. Of course. What else could he possibly have been talking about?

But 93-95 was as close as they came, their shot to win not quite good enough. (Then the foul, the free throws...you know the rest.)

SYDNEY KINGS 97 (Carmouche 20, Garlepp, Sanders 19, Hill 17; Ogilvy 6 rebs; White, Ogilvy 3 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 93 (Johnson 32, Pledger 16, Abercrombie, Lazare 10; Abercrombie 7 rebs; Johnson 3 assts). Kings - 5 pts. Breakers - 2 pts.

THE worst thing you would want to see in a preseason tournament is one of your main men getting hurt so it was bracing to see Melbourne's star swingman Chris Goulding - who probably had one of the best off-seasons in recent memory - crash to the floor clutching his ankle against Townsville.

With 7:37 left, Goulding went down after missing a three, his right ankle buckled beneath him and team medicos quick to react.

The frustration of many of the Tigers players with the officiating was evident, Mark Worthington even suggesting the letters N-B-L should now mean "National Netball League". (Wortho, that would be NNL mate, unless you meant National netBall League maybe?)

{He came over to clarify it as "National Netball-Basketball League cause that's what we just played.")

Townsville was minus Steve Markovic and Rusty Hinder so its 86-84 win was especially meritorious.

Nate Tomlinson's three with 42.5 seconds left cut the deficit to 84-85 and when Scott Morrison grabbed the defensive rebound after a Crocs miss, the Tigers had a chance to steal it.

But Tomlinson's drive fell short - did he get fouled maybe? - Melbourne fouled, and Townsville had it wrapped. Fouled immediately, the Crocs made just one freebie, giving Greg Page a chance to be the unlikely long-range hero.

Not tonight.

Josh Pace had a 22-point, 10-rebound double and Brian Conklin led all scorers with 24.

TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES 86 (Conklin 24, Pace 22, Djeric 11; Pace 10 rebs; Norton 4 assts; Djeric, Pace 2 stls) d MELBOURNE TIGERS 84 (Tomlinson 20, Goulding, Morrison 15, Dennis 13; Morrison 10 rebs; Dennis, Tomlinson 4 assts; Morrison 2 stls). Crocs - 5 pts. Tigers - 2 pts.?

 

LOVED the positive tweets NBL players and those associated with the teams here in Sydney sent out to their followers this morning. Wortho, Rusty, Micky D, Bubbles, Tiiim Cooeeenraaad, Hammer, Jako were just a few I picked up.

Whoa. Just noticed. Did I say we needed more nicknames?

Maybe Tim could be Mr Vowel.

That said, not sure tonight's tweets will be in the same positive vein...

 

WAS reminiscing today with a few bball identities, as you do at events such as these.

Yes, a lot of the great supportive media the NBL enjoyed back in the day - people such as Bret Harris, Mike Cowley, Grantley Bernard, Ian Cockerill, Stephen Howell, Dave Hughes (not THAT Dave Hughes but Perth's creative beat writer during one of the club's many glorious periods), Mike Horan, Chris Appleby, Peter Kogoy ... it's a pretty long list - are no longer still in the fray and the league is worse off for it.

Hopefully, more fresh talent is coming and ready to take the baton and keep moving the sport and its primary league forward.

But talking about Hughes reminded me of his entertaining turn of phrase. I am sure if he had seen Wildcats centre Tom Jervis endeavoring to gather control of the ball on the break yesterday, he would have described it as something like "watching an octopus trying to unravel a deck chair while running at full speed."

 

WHAT DID WE LEARN

*THAT no-one got confused when Adelaide (in blue) played Cairns (in orange), or when Sydney (in purple) played New Zealand (in black), or when Melbourne (in yellow) met Townsville (in green). And that it made perfect sense that when Wollongong (red) met Perth (red), the Hawks wore white.*

*THAT our friendly matinee court announcer today had some especially good moments. First, Cairns has a new centre, Matt Preston. That's right, when he's not cooking, judging Masterchef or wearing a cravat, he is smoking for those Taipans. Hey now - Burston? Preston? What's the difference?*

*THE Hawks too have a couple of new players, Rot-en-ey Clarke and Dave Goober. Rot-en-ey (apparently it rhymes with Botany), it can now be revealed, is actually Zac Delaney all grown up. And Mr Goober? Well, if the shoe fits...*

*THAT when Jamar Wilson ordered his new playing shoes and was asked "what color", he said: "The North Queensland NBL colors of course man!" (Can't wait to see which Townsville player is running around in a pair of orange shoes. Wait. This just got better. Todd Blachfield is in orange shoes!)*

*THAT Ben Allen may look different since he shaved off the "Ned Kelly" beard of Tuesday's Blitz win over the Crocs but his game is still the same. In his 3:20 of the third period, he managed to go the distance without troubling the statisticians. He just must hate showering.*

*THAT North Sydney baller Jarrod Weeks, on a fast break for the Kings, knew exactly which board on the floor had the spring as he rose up for a wicked two-handed slam.*

*THAT Kings import Jesse "The Colonel" Sanders has recognised he can't be a pass-first, pass-second point guard.*

*THAT Steve "Mr Research" Carfino can not only not bother when he is doing a TV call but even when he is just acting as the evening match MC. Tonight he said if Sydney won over NZ, it would put the Kings "in a good position to play in the final tomorrow." Um. Steve? There's NO final. Nice work.*

*THAT Kings radio broadcaster Matt McQuade and his offsider Brad Rosen put in a huge day, calling four games at NSISC. That's about eight hours of nonstop talking. How hard would that be? ... I mean, if you're not a woman, of course.*

*TALKING legends, that Curt Forrester (star import for City of Sydney Astronauts and the Sydney Supersonics back in the day) was in the house.*

*THAT the jumpball won't be back this season. Why? Have you looked at the keyway lately? There's no circle inside the foul-line anymore!*

*THAT after reading yesterday's blog and doing the research - research, that's a word that's spelt xghytyzmlo to Steve - Perth's Greg Hire is considering changing his Twitter avatar to a pic of Richard Boone.*

*THAT flopping needs to be policed now. Not saying Cam Gliddon drawing Daniel Johnson's fifth foul wasn't perfectly executed - they sure both had a good laugh - but it was good the officials didn't buy his second attempt when Anthony Petrie stepped into the key and Glidds went down as if he had been shot by a blunderbuss.*

*STEVE did it again before the night was out, talking about the "Bruton-Loggins Tournament or the Loggins-Bruton Tournament depending on who you speak to"... Um, who the heck has he been speaking to? No-one obviously. It's the Blitz. And the teams are playing for the Loggins-Bruton Cup. Did he get paid for this gig?*

*IT certainly didn't even engage him. How can you say at halftime: "Melbourne is leading Townsville 47-37" before realising it's "the other way around"? Really into the game, clearly.*

*THE biggest thing today was the high volume of fouls/free throws. Fan and player/coach impatience is certainly understandable but the presumption the refs would have this completely right from Day One is somewhat naive. They have to find their way too. It would be like presuming every team has its rotations in place, their offences running efficiently etcetera. But I'd rather these teething issues now and not when the 2013-14 season tips off.*

*THAT it is, indeed, fortunate new Hawks "big" Shane Harris-Tunks can play a bit - he was 2-of-2 in 7:29 today against Perth - because he would hate to be known by his initials...*

 

SUMMER WINE FOR SPRING SHIELD WINNERS

OVER at Dandenong, the Spring Shield was in high gear tonight.

WNBL even tweeted: "Who the @loganthunder face in the big dance will be determined by the outcome of the @Adel_Lightning and @MelbourneBoomer clash right now."

The. Big. Dance???

Someone is twerking themself.

(By the way, it will be Logan versus Dandenong.)

TOWNSVILLE FIRE 77 (Cumming 20, Standish 19, Newley 15, Mangakahia 10; Wilson 10 rebs; Cumming 4 assts) d WEST COAST WAVES 67 (Garbin 14, Marsh, Edmondson 11; Wallbutton 11 rebs; Smith, Edmondson 3 assts).

LOGAN THUNDER 88 (Graham 21, Langford 18, Cunningham, Zavecz 16; Cunningham 8 rebs; Graham 6 assts) d VICTORIA SELECT 58 (Wehrung 16; Rogers 9 rebs; Probst, Wehrung 2 assts).

DANDENONG RANGERS 74 (Kunek 20, Mercer 15, Ardossi 13, Scherf 11; Clydesdale 7 rebs; Ardossi, Downie 3 asts) d SYDNEY FLAMES 70 (Ebzery 18, Cox 16, Poto 13; Kennedy 8 rebs; Poto 8 assts).

CANBERRA CAPITALS 75 (Bibby 20, Bunton 12, Strunc 11, Hay, Mijovic 10; Bunton 7 rebs; Mijovic, Bibby 4 assts) d BENDIGO SPIRIT 64 (Wilson 19, Harrower 15, Aubry 10; Oliver, Harrower 7 rebs; Wilson, Harrower 4 assts).

MELBOURNE BOOMERS 79 (Romeo 21, Cole 15, Madgen 14 Todhunter 12; Allen 6 rebs; Madgen, Romeo 2 assts) d ADELAIDE LIGHTNING 72 (Hodges 14, Marino 13, Stewart 10; Foley 7 rebs; Foley 4 assts).