Basketball On The Internet.

SO there you have it. It's just as we suspected and by "we" I mean many of us, probably you too.

For all the belly-aching and whining clubs do to explain poor attendances, the truth is as we always suspected.

In general, tickets cost too much.

It's not the fact crowd numbers were down because:
a) it was a junior night;
b) there's a Test match/soccer match/Cirque Du Soleil/race meeting/Grand prix/tennis on;
c) the match is on TV replay;
d) opponent A, B or C is "traditionally a poor crowd puller";
e) the team isn't doing well and the crowds are reluctant to show if we're not winning;
f) any and all of the above, and variations thereof.

It's this simple.

Tickets are too expensive.

You want proof?

Here it is.

For Saturday's game against Townsville - on a big sporting weekend, in the middle of festivities, with their team "not going great" and against a team which "traditionally is a poor crowd puller" Adelaide had a sell-out!

You think the $10 tickets had anything to do with that?

The 36ers put social media to great use and flogged the fact $10 tickets were available and despite all other protestations, they had 7,443 people roaring for the Sixers against the Crocs.
  
It was a sell-out.

Yes. There were a few empty seats. But those belong to season ticketholders who obviously had some good reason not to be there.

You can't re-sell those seats.

So you can tell yourself it is a coincidence Adelaide Arena was sold out and jumping, that it was a one-off amazing aberration.

FAN FAVOURITES: Fans were there in droves to see Mickell Gladness and Adam Gibson. For $10

Or you can just concede patrons cannot afford to pay the price of tickets some people ask across our great unseen league.

The formula was there to behold, Adelaide with its best home crowd since last season's Grand Final.

No coincidence. None at all.

 

MELBOURNE United continued its history-making run yesterday by becoming the first NBL club to play three consecutive overtime games.

They previously set a record by winning two in a row, others to have played twin overtime games unable to come up with both Ws.

Now they have a new benchmark as the first club to play in three straight games to go beyond regulation.

I'm hearing some of the players are now revisiting their contracts to see if there's any additional overtime pay.

WILDCAT CELEBRATIONS: Perth gets home in o/t over Melbourne.

 

REFEREE Brad Giersch issuing Luke Schenscher with a "flopping" warning against Townsville was one of the game's most incongruous sights.

No question. Schensch definitely went down while being backed down in the low post but if Giersch really understood more about the NBL players under his whistle, then the warning should have been for "tripping over your own two feet".

Or for "over-balancing".

Or for "being clumsy".

Or for "being unable to quickly manouevre a 214cm body backwards with the same lateral quickness as a Damian Martin".

But a flop?

Seriously Brad.

There was one at the other end very soon after that which made Luke's look as goofy as it was.

 

Basketball On The Internet, Player of the Week

NEW Zealand caused a stir when it recruited Guam-born Tai Wesley in the preseason, utilising an Oceania ruling which wasn't actually on the NBL's books anywhere.

He looked a million dollars at the Blitz too, but it was only this week he did enough to capture his first B.O.T.I. Player of the Week award.

Wesley had 23 points at 84 per cent, plus eight boards, two assists, two blocks and a steal, stepping up after Mika Vukona suffered a shot to the head which required stitches. Wesley's efforts ensured the Breakers beat the Kings in Sydney 97-85 ... though Josh Childress didn't play, apparently.

PotW Winners

Rd1 Scottie Wilbekin
Rd2 Brian Conklin
Rd3 Scottie Wilbekin
Rd4 Adam Gibson
Rd5 Josh Childress
Rd6 Jordan McRae
Rd7 Josh Childress
Rd8 Tim Coenraad
Rd9 Brian Conklin
Rd10 Josh Childress
Rd11 Jordan McRae
Rd12 Tai Wesley

 

YEAH, NO KIDDING

GUESS what?

Josh Childress didn't play for Sydney Kings in their televised NBL game against NZ Breakers.

No. Really. He didn't.

Bill Woods told us Josh would be sorely missed and Brad Rosen said he was one of the game's best dressed players so, you know, we kind of got the message as the camera flashed to Captain Goose-step in his street clothes on the Kings' bench.

But fortunately, Bill and Brad made sure none of us viewers had any chance to forget by reminding us continuously, incessantly, obsessively that, well, Josh Childress wasn't playing.

Did that mess with the Breakers preparation?

Oh, and by the way, Josh Childress wasn't playing.

Not only that, he wasn't suiting up.

Well, there ya go. The Breakers were doing it too easily. But, well, I guess you could expect that somewhat because, you know ... Josh Childress wasn't playing.

Good news though. The Kings were making a game of this!

They were showing fight.

And how good is that? After all, Josh Childress wasn't playing.

In the end, it was a good win for the Breakers, considering Rhys Carter, Cedric Jackson and Mika Vukona were all hurt during this contest.

But you know what? Those Kings were pretty feisty ... considering Josh Childress didn't play.

 

REVIEWS

Kings V Breakers

APPARENTLY Josh Childress didn't play (who knew??) so the Breakers took full advantage and motored away to lead by 25 (54-29) before The Garfish and The Madge brought Sydney back to respectability, NZ winning 97-85. Tommy had 24 points at 72 per cent, Benny 25 at 60, while NZ coped with patching up Rhys Carter, Cedric Jackson and Mika Vukona in-game. Tai Wesley waved the flag for Guam with 23 points at 84 per cent, plus eight boards, two assists, two blocks and a steal.

Hawks V Taipans

CAIRNS' 28-15 second quarter set up its eventual 100-93 win, Stevie Weigh's 21 points at 75 per cent including 4-of-5 threes. Gary Ervin dragged Wollongong back to 85-88 inside the final 90 seconds but Cam Gliddon's triple was a captain's knock, sending the Hawks stumbling back to the drawing-board. Wollongong was 24-of-25 from the stripe, Cairns 25-of-31. For pro players, those are the types of numbers fans like to see.

36ers V Crocodiles

BROCK rocked and the Crocs were socked as Adelaide continued to try and save its season, winning 91-84. Mr Motum went for 25 points and had several allies, most notably Anthony Petrie, Adam Gibson, Mitch Creek and the hustling Brendan Teys. Townsville twice roared back from double-digit deficits, Brian Conklin with an 18-point, 10-rebound double. But Mickell Gladness fouling out in 18 minutes, 18 turnovers-to-six and giving up 17 offensive rebounds bit the Crocs on the bum-bag.

MOTUM MOMENT: Brock Motum slam dunks for Adelaide against Townsville

 

United V Wildcats

PERTH looked to have its three-loss run of road outs beaten before Stephen Dennis fed Daniel Kickert's cut and he tied the game at 71-71 to force overtime yet again. United fans are getting value-for-$$, though Shawn Redhage's three, plus a bonus free throw, set up the final 81-80 scoreline. It stayed the final score after Dennis missed the shot to win it, Matt Knight's big defensive presence on the switch a big factor in forcing Dennis to adjust his shot. Just FYI. Josh Childress didn't play in this game, either.

NOT THIS TIME: Stephen Dennis' shot to win was a toughie against Matt Knight's defence.

 

BIGGEST WINNERS/LOSERS

CAIRNS beating the Hawks in Wollongong - second topping eighth - may not seem cause for that grand a celebration but the Taipans are the round's biggest winner for two reasons. One, getting out of The Sandpit with a win is still a tough thing to do and two) the win ensured Cairns is still very much in the race for a first-placed finish.

MELBOURNE falling short so very tantalisingly still makes it the round's biggest loser because it had a chance to put some space between itself and Sydney but instead is still back in the dogfight. Maybe when Daryl Corletto gets cracking, continuing to find him with the ball might have helped.

 

BEEF of the WEEK

WHAT is the point of all this "flopping" scrutiny if our esteemed officials simply can so very rarely get it right?

In fact, more often than not, they are still sucked in and have to resort to idle warnings to innocents when the blatantly obvious passes with impunity, if not reward.

Good luck to Perth power forward Shawn Redhage for milking even the most minute of contact from innocent bystander Daniel Kickert as he released the three which eventually proved so important in the Wildcats' 81-80 road win.

Kickert floated past Redhage, doing his utmost to put off the shot while avoiding contact.

Unfortunately for Kickert, a second gunman on the grassy knoll took Redhage down and, as the only person in the vicinity, he paid the price.

Again, more power to Shawn if he can get away with it but when a night earlier a ref is warning Luke Schenscher for tripping over his own feet, you despair whether our referees will ever get this right.

 

PS

WHAT he said.

What he really meant.

Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson after a one-point overtime escape in Melbourne.

SAID - “We shot 58 per cent on free-throws and had 23 turnovers and you don’t win too many games doing that.”

MEANT - “Yeah. I can't work it out either.”

PPS
Just FYI. Josh Childress didn't play for Sydney against NZ.