Boti Nagy | FLASHBACK 48: March 29, 1982

FLASHBACK 48: March 29, 1982

*FLASHBACKS, my irregular "lucky dip" where I just reach into my drawers of old Australian basketball stuff and transcribe whatever I find for you.

THIS was the NBL Bulletin, as released on March 29, 1982.

And even way back in just the league's fourth year, it already was giving away promotional stickers for car bumpers, like the one below.

Ah, the good old days when the NBL was proactive! Let's hope that's where we're returning now.

Meanwhile, in 1982...

NATIONAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE, BULLETIN 10, March 29

WEEK Number 8 was notable for several reasons. Prior to the weekend, the Newcastle Kern Falcons sacked star American guard Rodney "Pop" Wright because the Directors felt he was not fitting in well with the rest of the team. Former star guard Dave Ankeney was brought back into the team to be point guard.

Also the NBL had its first experience of player power. The Directors of the Launceston Casino City team decided on a majority vote to replace coach Curtis Coleman with Max Pike, who helped Jim Ericksen coach the team previously.

The players met and decided they would not agree to the change and would only play under Coach Coleman. The club will advertise the position next week.

The West Adelaide Bearcats thrashed the Brisbane Bullets 109-89 on Saturday night at the Apollo Stadium in Adelaide to consolidate their position as leaders on 18 points.

The Brisbane Bullets redeemed themselves with an 82-76 win against the Adelaide City Eagles on Sunday afternoon. Brian Banks was on target for the Bullets with 24 and 27 points in the two games.

The Newcastle Kern Falcons visited Perth and went down 93-86 to the Westate Wildcats on Friday night to please the capacity crowd of 1500. George Morrow had the night's high score with 35 points for the Falcons.

On Sunday the Falcons defeated the Coburg Giants 92-81 in a tough match at Coburg. A notable feature of the match was the extremely accurate foul shooting by the Falcons, five players scoring 100 per cent.

Nunawading Hang Ten Spectres used their tough defence to score an 85-77 win against the St Kilda Pumas at Nunawading, top scorer being Chuck Harmison with 26 points. The Spectres are in second place on 14 points with St Kilda and Brisbane.

The Bankstown Bruins almost got past Launceston 81-80 in Launceston with the help of coach Rob Cadee who donned his playing gear for the first time this year. Next day at Geelong, the Great Shape Cats were waiting and had no mercy for the Bruins, winning 90-65 in a powerful display.

*****

Weekend 9 will find all clubs playing and there will be ten matches. (Home team first)

Friday 2nd April 1982: Launceston v Perth

Saturday 3rd April 1982: Adelaide v Perth | St Kilda v Brisbane | Geelong v Illawarra | Sydney v Canberra | Newcastle v Coburg

Sunday 4th April 1982: West Adelaide v Perth | Nunawading v Brisbane | Launceston v Illawarra | Bankstown v Coburg (Please note, Brisbane at Nunawading is the ABC-TV game)

*****

The Brisbane Bullets face a very exacting weekend and will be hard pressed to repeat their brilliant effort of 1981 when they defeated St Kilda 73-66 and Nunawading 67-63. The Nunawading Spectres are in fine form, playing excellent, tough defence and are extremely formidable opponents, particularly at home.

St Kilda have impressed everyone with their new type of game. They are playing good ball control basketball and strong defence. Mike Slusher and Bill Runchey lack the height and jumping ability of some of their opponents but are holding their own so far in all their contests. Steve Breheny, former Australian international, has returned to the Pumas and has given added support to Phil Smyth, Australia's top guard.

The Bullets are a top team and the two games in Melbourne should be great contests. They will probably be very happy if they can split these games to win one and lose one.

The Westate Wildcats have put together some good results at home before capacity Perth crowds. Next weekend they have an exhausting program, three games on the road. They will be at Launceston on Friday to meet Casino City, elated by last week's win but in turmoil because of management's expressed lack of confidence in their coach.

The Wildcats then return to Adelaide to play Adelaide City and West Adelaide. Both Adelaide teams are in fine form and will probably be too strong for the Perth team, improved though they are.

The Illawarra Harbison Hawks will play Geelong and Launceston on the road. The Hawks will be very confident after their fine win against the Chinese national team last Saturday. They have been unlucky on several occasions and will have a great contest with the Geelong Great Shape Cats who believe they can top the league table in their first year. The Illawarra frontline of Al Weatherly, Mike Jones and Jim Slacke will be a handful for Crawford, Miley and Manson.

Geelong player coach Cal Bruton is a tough nut and the result may well depend on how well the Illawarra backcourt of Gordon McLeod and Ray Hannett play.

Illawarra will probably win a close one in Launceston on Sunday afternoon.

The Coburg Giants travel to Newcastle on Saturday and Bankstown on Sunday. Last weekend the Falcons defeated Coburg in Melbourne 92-81 and one would expect a fairly easy win at home. However the Falcons are capable of great surprises and it will take them a while to shake down after their sacking of Rodney Wright.

The Giants should be too strong for Bankstown unless they have a dream game.

The Canberra Mazda Cannons clash with the Sydney Supersonics will be a tough one and the Supersonics should reverse their defeat in Canberra earlier in the competition.

RESULTS OF GAMES - WEEKEND 8

Perth Westate Wildcats 93 (T Evans 24, M Ellis 20, D Hickert 14, B Keys 11) d Newcastle Kern Falcons 86 (G Morrow 35, I Davies 26)

West Adelaide Bearcats 109 (K Richardson 22, A Green 21, P Ali 18) d Brisbane Bullets 89 (B Banks 24, L Sengstock 20, A Matthews 19)

Launceston Casino City 81 (J Ericksen 24, L Houston 15) d Bankstown Bruins 80 (D Cruse 26, K Henderson 17)

Geelong Great Shape Cats 90 (J Crawford 38, C Bruton 19) d Bankstown Bruins 65 (D Cruse 20, K Henderson 17)

Nunawading Hang Ten Spectres 85 (C Harmison 26, R Lemons 18, A Black 12) d St Kilda Pumas 77 (M Slusher 23, P Smyth 18)

Newcastle Kern Falcons 92 (G Morrow 28, M Johnson 22, I Davies 16) d Coburg Giants 81 (B Lewis 32, W Carroll 13, B Palmer 12)

Brisbane Bullets 82 (B Banks 27, A Matthews 16, L Sengstock 12) d Adelaide City Eagles 76 (D Pearce 22, D Winslow 21, R Biddings 14)

NBL LADDER AFTER WEEKEND 8

Team GP W L Pts

West Adelaide 11 9 2 18

Nunawading 8 7 1 14

Brisbane 10 7 3 14

St Kilda 12 7 5 14

Coburg 8 5 3 10

Geelong 8 5 3 10

Adelaide City 9 5 4 10

Newcastle 10 5 5 10

Perth 9 4 5 8

Sydney City 7 3 4 6

Canberra 9 3 6 6

Illawarra 7 2 5 4

Launceston 9 1 8 2

Bankstown 9 - 9 -

Trade Credits MVP Award (Pts for Wk 8)

Perth v Newcastle

3 D. Hickert | 2 G. Morrow | 1 M. Ellis

West Adelaide v Brisbane

3 A. Green | 2 R. Wood | 1 L. Loggins

Launceston v Bankstown

3 J Ericksen | 2 D. Cruse | 1 T Mathew

Geelong v Bankstown

3 J. Crawford | 2 K. Henderson | 1 B. Hope

Nunawading v St Kilda

3 C. Harmison | 2 M. Slusher | 1 R. Lemons

Coburg v Newcastle

3 G. Morrow | 2 B. Lewis | 1 M. Johnson

Brisbane v Adelaide City

3 B. Banks | 2 D. Winslow | 1 L. Sengstock

Trade Credits Award for the Most Valuable Player

After the eighth weekend of the NBL, Al Green of the West Adelaide Bearcats is leader with 23 points, followed by Mike Slusher of St Kilda Pumas and Brian Banks of Brisbane Bullets on 19 points, with Jim Ericksen of Launceston Casino City on 17.

Green is a dynamic guard and former star at Lousiana State University. He has great speed and jumping ability and currently is averaging 26.9 points per game.

Trade Credits MVP Trophy - Progressive Points

*****

Ray Borner has returned from his one year at Louisiana State University to play in the NBL. It had been assumed that he would play with his old club, Coburg Giants.

It is certain that Ray is talking to two other clubs, St Kilda and Newcastle, before he makes a decision. To confuse the issue a little more, there is doubt about Borner's clearance when he left Coburg to play in the USA. Certainly the Victorian Basketball Association gave him a clearance but there is no record of Coburg ever having issued one.

At time of writing, Coburg are determined to seek legal action to prevent Borner playing elsewhere. Some clubs are complaining bitterly that money shouldn't come into it and that the rich clubs will get richer and stronger at the expense of the smaller club.

*****

Illawarra Harbison Hawks were not drawn in the NBL last weekend and played the visiting Chinese national team at Wollongong on Saturday night. The game was a lightning fast affair with a minimum of defence and a lot of shooting. The Hawks won 123-113. Mike Jones and Al Weatherly were in great form, scoring 31 and 33 respectively and thrilling the crowd with some big dunks.

The Chinese are getting taller each time we see them and are fine athletes who shoot very well. Defensively, they push and hold more than teams here and will have to adjust to western officiating.

Their big man is at least 7'3" and while very young and inexperienced, is very athletic and will probably develop into a very good big man.

NBL Leading Scorers

Cal Bruton (Geelong) 30.0ppg

Jim Ericksen (Launceston) 28.5

Reg Biddings (Adelaide) 27.3

Lenny Houston (Launceston) 27.0

Al Green (West) 26.9

Leroy Loggins (West) 26.1

Bennie Lewis (Coburg) 25.7

Brian Banks (Brisbane) 25.4

David Winslow (Adelaide) 25.3

Kelvin Henderson (Bankstown) 24.9

Audie Matthews (Brisbane) 24.6

Rod Wright (Newcastle) 24.6

Al Weatherly (Illawarra) 24.3

Mike Jones (Illawarra) 23.8

Donnie Cruse (Bankstown) 23.3

Tad Dufelmeier (Canberra) 22.4

James Crawford (Geelong) 22.3

Curt Forrester (Sydney) 22.3

George Morrow (Newcastle) 21.4

Ian Davies (Newcastle) 20.8

Chuck Harmison (Nunawading) 20.8

Jun 28