Blitz Deja Vu: The Bullets are firing
TweetWHAT a fantastic finish it was yesterday to the Preseason Blitz, first with Townsville claiming the Loggins-Bruton Cup, then with confirmation Brisbane will have an NBL team in 2015-16.
The way Big-Joe Tertzakian and his polished crew of volunteers ran this Blitz for the NBL, the fact all four sessions at 1000-capacity Auchenflower Stadium in Brisbane either were sold-out or virtually so, speaks volumes for what the future possibly could hold for the game in south-east Queensland.
The fact the Loggins-Bruton Cup titleholder also is from Queensland - and the only other team which could have won it yesterday, Cairns Taipans is as well - surely paints a picture the future is (pine)apples in my favorite state.
I know I wrote about it in a separate blog yesterday, but Townsville winning its historic first piece of silverware after hovering near extinction for the past 12-18 months really does warrant celebrating.
Sure, it's preseason. But a lot of scribes already had the Crocs and Taipans pegged for the other end of the table this season so here's a sobering fact.
Not since Gold Coast Rollers won the 1992 K-Mart Aussies Preseason Classic, has a preseason title-winner missed contesting the playoffs.
History seems to be on Townsville's side.
On the Hardwood
So this was the equation, Cairns had to beat Sydney and win at least three of the quarters to take six points from the game and claim its first piece of NBL silverware.
The Taipans had six points from their win over Perth and six more (three for the win, one point for each quarter won so just three would be required) would take them to 12 points.
The Crocs had finished on 11.
Alex Loughton started aggressively in a 6-0 Cairns opening and the Kings, now also missing Tom Garlepp, looked likely to get swept.
But Kendrick Perry had other ideas and so did Daniel Joyce off the bench.
Joyce produced consecutive steals and when Perry added a third, Sydney was ahead 14-12, Loughton with eight points but two fouls and heading for the bench.
This was a different Sydney to the listless team battered by Melbourne, playing with great heart and energy.
Madol Chol blocked Mitch Young twice and sandwiched those around a block of Torrey Craig as the Kings, playing inspired, won the first quarter 22-19!
Can only imagine the folks back in Townsville watching on the live-streaming, barracking for Sydney. (How galling that must have been after all those great Rob Rose-Shane Heal trysts from the past, that situation offset by the more familiar joy of barracking against arch rival Cairns, of course.)
Craig threw down a big slam in a tight second quarter, Jason Cadee threes (X three) keeping pace with Cam Gliddon's 2-of-2 triples (and a long two) as this game really picked up as a contest.
Perry scored to close the half with Sydney ahead 49-47 but Cairns claimed the quarter (and its first point) 28-27.
Another Cadee three in the third gave Sydney a 52-47 lead and it was getting great effort plays out of Cody Ellis and Kevin White. But when Scottie Wilbekin iced a three, Cairns had produced a 7-0 run and had the lead back at 54-52.
Mid-quarter Chol, checking in for Ellis on three fouls, came out soon after with his fourth, Sydney staying ahead on heart and desire.
In a rarely before seen sight, Loughton, bleeding, looked likely to send as many Kings out of the game as possible, his blood popping up on a variety of Sydney players' uniforms.
Sydney closed the quarter ahead 74-68 and had stolen a second point, winning the period 25-19.
At this point, the Loggins-Bruton Cup was heading to Townsville.
Even if Cairns won the last quarter - which it would - and the game (which it did), it had only secured five premiership points for a total of 11.
That was the same as Townsville's total and on points spread, the Crocs were well clear.
They beat Melbourne by five (from 19 down at halftime), then smashed New Zealand by 27 to have a +32 points ratio. Cairns beat Perth by 10 so to catch Townsville's spread, had to win by at least 22 to even get to +32, let alone ahead.
(At this point, we issue the official "Guy Neville Challenge"! And if you're wondering what that means, I'll get back to it later.)
Cairns finally overwhelmed Sydney in the finish but the Kings left this game feeling much better about themselves than they had 24 hours earlier.
Perth and Wollongong fought out an entertaining "dead rubber" to close the Blitz, both much sharper than in their first outings but the Wildcats with way too much ammo for the Hawks.
Results and Table
Cairns 93 (Tragardh 22, Wilbekin 21, Loughton 13, Gliddon 12; Tragardh 12 rebs; Wilbekin 7 assists) d Sydney 87 (Perry 20, Ellis 18, Cadee, Madgen 15, White 10; Ellis 6 rebs; Perry 5 assists).
Perth 79 (Martin, Wagstaff, Hire 11, Redhage 10; Hire, Redhage 7 rebs; Jervis 4 assists) d Wollongong 60 (Coenraad 21, Gruber, Forman, Ervin 8; Forman, Ervin 5 rebs; Coenraad, Ervin 5 assists).
Final Table
Team - P - W - L - QtrsWon - Pts
Townsville 2 - 2 - 0 - 5 - 11 (+32)
Cairns 2 - 2 - 0 - 5 - 11 (+16)
Melbourne 2 - 1 - 1 - 5.5 - 8.5
Adelaide 2 - 1 - 1 - 5 - 8
Perth 2 - 1 - 1 - 4.5 - 7.5
New Zealand 2 - 1 - 1 - 4 - 7
Sydney 2 - 0 - 2 - 2.5 - 2.5
Wollongong 2 - 0 - 2 - 0.5 - 0.5
News Corp Saturday reports: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/adelaide-36ers-shine-but-townsville-crocodiles-rocking-as-new-zealand-crashes-out-of-nbl-blitz/story-fnii09ki-1227065351888
What We Learnt
*That the opening night's national anthem singer was Tony Doevendans.
*That when an opposition coach has a sideline crack at an opposing player, he is stepping over the mark, or in Aaron Fearne's case when he chose to address Kings guard Ben Madgen after an on-court clash with Torrey Craig, frustration at your team's play can manifest in illogical behavior.
*That your team never should be measured by who is missing but always represented well by who is there - a lesson the Kings learnt overnight and put to good use against Cairns.
*That winning a game and three quarters can be tougher than it first appears.
*That Ray Borner Medallist Mickell Gladness is not actually "Marcus".
*That Cal Bruton likes the microphone. No. Wait. We already knew that. Scratch this one.
*That Leroy Loggins likes the microphone.
*That Josh Childress' favorite Simpsons character is Sideshow Bob.
*That despite the excitement and positivity about Brisbane having an NBL team in 2015-16, details (consortium, support, sponsors, venue, team name?) still remain disturbingly thin on the ground.
*That the off-court events - coaches clinics etcetera - were very well done too.
*That live-streaming co-commentators Bruce Bolden and Brad Rosen paid their own way from Sydney to Brisbane to provide the coverage, with Matt McQuade and James Bowman donating their time and energy and yes, it was actually largely a volunteer-driven escapade.
*That the NBL now has had 18 officially recognised Preseason Tournaments.
The "Guy Neville Challenge"
NBL Operations Manager and all-around good guy, Guy Neville was quickly over to me at three-quarter-time of the Cairns-Sydney match when I tweeted out the following:
"Super gutsy @SydneyKings effort at @NBL Blitz has just clinched Loggins-Bruton Cup for @TsvCrocs regardless of result v @CairnsTaipans now!"
"You know Cairns can still win the Cup," he informed me.
I told him yes, if they could win by 22 or more but they were trailing by six at the last break and I wasn't seeing any signs of a miracle.
"Stranger things have happened," he said.
"Can you name one?" I wondered, and he admitted that no, he couldn't.
Me neither.
Was Townsville coming back from 19 down at the half to beat Melbourne stranger, for example?
I don't think so. But there is the challenge.
What can you think of which would have been stranger than Cairns winning the last quarter of a preseason game by 28 or more points to claim the Loggins-Bruton Cup?
If you have got one, trust me, I will forward it on to Guy.
MEMORY TESTER
EACH day of the Blitz, I threw out a challenge from the NBL's past. The idea was to test your memory, not your Googling skills and it seemed to go over well.
For those who played, file these facts into your memory banks with my last answers.
Day 3, Answer Q1: Peter Vitols scored the match-and-championship winning basket for St Kilda Saints to beat Canberra Cannons 94-93 in the league's inaugural Grand Final in 1979. Incredibly, it is the only time an NBL championship has been decided on the last shot and trust me, little-known and long-forgotten Vitols has dined out on that for 35 years ... so far. Unless you're Robbie Cadee (who made the pass), teammates Larry Sengstock, Steve "I Should Have Been the MVP That Day" Breheny, Andris Blicavs or coach Brian Kerle, you did very well if you remembered that one. (Unless Peter called with his DVD of the game.)
Answer, Q2: Of the 17 sanctioned NBL Preseason Tournaments so far, no less than eight have been staged in Sydney, including the first and again last year.
TOMORROW: Brian Kerle is in the house, Mark Worthington will be repping players to Team 9 and what did the NBL do about that FIBA Oceania eligibility conundrum in the end?