Basketball On The Internet.

LOOK out! 2016 is here and what a year we have ahead.

For starters, we have the business end of the best NBL season in years, while we also will see the WNBL season conclude with its historic first best-of-three Grand Final series.

There's a brief WNBL season-recess coming up too when the Opals head to Rio for a pre-Olympic test event before the domestic seasons reach their pointy ends.

Then there's the Olympic Games where the Boomers and Opals both have their sights set on Gold.

Considering the Boomers have never medalled in 13 Olympics and the USA for example has 14 Olympic Gold Medals, it may seem a lofty goal.

But then, what's the point of a lowly goal?

The Opals bronzed at the FIBA World Championship with a very young team so expectations rightly should be high.

Then let season 2016-17 roll around for the NBL, with Brisbane Bullets back and our league also dipping its toe into Asia.

Last night, 2015's playing commitments concluded with three New Year's Eve fixtures, NBL in Cairns and Townsville and WNBL across the country in Perth.

DOWN import Markel Starks and regular swingman starter Stephen Weigh, Cairns needed someone to step up against the reigning champion Breakers.

Shaun Bruce (below) certainly did that with a career game, playing a team-high 36:40 for 17 points at 85 per cent, five rebounds, four assists and a steal.

Mark Worthington was huge too and when Cam Gliddon closed the third period with a 3-point buzzer beater, New Zealand looked beaten.

The Breakers, who were down starting swingman Tom Abercrombie, drew 24 points from the WMD Corey Webster but no-one took up the challenge of providing Abers' points.

THE Hawks continued their push for first place with an all-the-way 98-74 road win over Townsville, disappointing for the Crocs with their best attendance in three years of 3,234.

Whether that many supportive faces startled the home team is up for discussion considering it had 10 turnovers in the first quarter to help give Illawarra its match-winning 32-14 start.

Townsville got caught in the LOOP - that's Lisch-Ogilvy-Oscar-Penney - and it's like being in the middle of groundhog day, as they fire in threes or dominate the paint.

Mitch Norton battled gamely all night and the Crocs showed plenty of ticker, but it's numbers in the W column that lead to finals.

Last night: CAIRNS TAIPANS 73 (Craig 21, Bruce 17, Worthington 16, Gliddon 12; Craig 12 rebs; Worthington, Bruce 4 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 66 (Webster 24, Ch Jackson 16, Ce Jackson 8; Ch Jackson 12 rebs; Ce Jackson 6 assts) at Cairns Convention Centre. ILLAWARRA HAWKS 98 (Penney 23, Ogilvy 18, Lisch 17, Forman 16; Ogilvy 6 rebs; Ogilvy, Lisch 4 assts) d TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES 74 (Norton 18, Steindl 16, Henry 11; Kay 7 rebs; Jett 5 assts) at The Swamp, Townsville Entertainment Centre.

BACK in 2001, the NBL launched its first nude calendar, massaging the project's name from the much-used "nothing but net" basketball term to "Nothin' ... but skin".

Yeah, you guessed it. Starting my 2016 cleanup, I came across my copy of this masterpiece which featured not 12 but 13 of our game's superstars of that era - you'll see why when we reach February.

But here's our January 1 starter on this trip down memory lane...

Apparently January was Hammer time...

Online

NBL 2015 review: http://bit.ly/1Jiy8RA

Boomers & the NBA, 2015: http://bit.ly/1JN9gMx