Basketball On The Internet.

EVEN Brisbane import James Batemon himself had never seen anything like it in his career than the 51-point tour de force he performed today in a 105-84 rout of Perth at Boondall, the scene of some the great exploits of legendary Bullets' championship winners such as Leroy Loggins and Cal Bruton.

His amazing and at times breath-taking display, shooting the ball at 68 per cent - 60 from beyond the arc off 9-of-15 - was even better than those numbers suggest, a couple of tired late misses dropping him from 70-plus per cent.

To score his 50th point on a drive with 4.0 seconds left, then top it off with a free throw meant Batemon, who a resounding chorus of so-called experts wanted sacked weeks ago, delivered the highest individual score in this second 40-minute era of the NBL.

That record previously belonged to Chris Goulding for his 50-point haul for Melbourne Tigers a decade ago, which he almost revisited last week with his 46-point game against this same Perth outfit which had no idea how to contain Batemon either.

Let's just say the decades old hallmark of "Wildcats basketball" - namely relentless and stellar defence best exemplified by hard-nosed, no-nonsense players such as Andrew Vlahov and Damian Martin - is well and truly dead in the John Rillie era.

But the NBL's social media monitors need to, just for once perhaps, keep it real.

This table (right) represents their 40-minute records, apparently. And yes, if the NBL went to 40-minute games in the 2009-10 season FOR THE FIRST TIME, these assuredly would be the records since then.

But before the league reverted BACK to 40s, after playing 48-minute games from 1984-2009, the NBL began as a 40-minute league in 1979. Those seasons - 1979-80-81-82-83 were ALL 40-minute games.

And do you know what else? There was NO 3-point line either.

So when then Brisbane import Cal Bruton, en route to leading the league in scoring that season,  shot 53 points in a game, that was the first individual scoring record. (If there had been a 3-point line back then, you could probably add at least another seven points to that.)

Bruton lost the scoring record to West Adelaide Bearcats player-coach Ken Richardson, the NBL's inaugural Most Valuable Player in 1979, because Kenny posted a 56-point haul.

And that stood the test of time until Reg Biddings - more widely known as the charismatic Sir Reginald - scored 63 points in 1981. And remember, it was without a 3-point line.

When the NBL's recency bias flairs, as it inevitably does in these situations, it not only disrespects its own history but also the extraordinary feats of some of our game's true greats. 

And if anything, it even mildly tarnishes today's achievements instead of allowing them to stand on their own for the magnificent performances they are.

Batemon may have saved Brisbane's season today, saved Justin Schueller's coaching job and given Bullets fans a reason to find optimism for what is left of NBL 2024-25.

The 6,086 fans at Boondall today could easily double for Brisbane's next home outing if such individual efforts stay a possibility. 

The venue already has a statue out front of Leroy Loggins, reminding those of us who can recall beyond the past five minutes that there was life in the NBL before the RETURN to 40-minutes in 2009-10.

Leroy played in the inaugural 40- minute era as well as the 48-minute phase.

And all of that happened BEFORE Chris Goulding set the 50-point mark in 2014 which Batemon today relegated to second place ... in the second era.

For Perth, maybe this week the Wildcats should spend some time re-learning how to defend the 3-point line after giving up 97 points to two players in two rounds.

Maybe run some plays to get Bryce Cotton open and see if anyone can do a job on him.

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THE spectators who incited a near seriously ugly situation at 9:11 of the last quarter of Melbourne's ultimate 113-93 home rout of Adelaide today should simply be banned by United.

It doesn't matter if they are corporate sponsors or wannabe celebrities. It is a privilege to be seated so close to the action and team benches. Inciting potential violence not only crosses the line but leaps over it. When you need to don your hoodie to hide your head, you have something to be ashamed of.

It would be appropriate never to see you again.

That said, 36ers import Montrezl Harrell wildly over-reacted to United's Rob Loe bringing him to the floor after the Sixer star barrelled into him for a charge.

Seeing Harrell's over-reaction, Shea Ili jumped in, a minor melee occurred and both Harrell and Ili ejected. If either of them subsequently is fined or suspended, the league must never use the footage of the incident as a promotional vehicle.

But just like recency bias, hypocrisy also is rampant in this era.