Basketball On The Internet.

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

The NBL Bulletin was a weekly guide to what was happening in the league. These are excerpts from the May 23, 1983 edition.

FINALS VENUE

The Final Weekend (1st and 3rd July) will be held at the Kilsyth Stadium, 30k from the centre of Melbourne.

The stadium seats 1,800. The loss of the Melbourne Entertainment Centre has been a very severe blow to the NBL as it appears to be completed and a combination of union bloody mindedness and public service bureaucratic approach has prevented it opening on time.

The League would have preferred to go to the luxurious National Indoor Stadium in Canberra but the ABC were unable to arrange a live national telecast at such short notice from Canberra.

Details of ticket prices and availability will be announced on May 31st.

REGIONAL FINALS

The Regional Finals will be held on the weekend of June 24th, 25th and 26th.

They will be held on a round robin basis over that weekend. The top four teams in each division will play off against each other and the top two teams will go forward the next week to the NBL Finals.

RESULTS OF NBL GAMES FOR WEEKEND #14

The Sydney City Supersonics equalled the longest winning streak record for the NBL when they won their 14th straight game by defeating the Devonport Warriors in Sydney on Sunday.

Owen Wells scored 32 points, took 12 rebounds and blocked six shots to be judged man of the match. Robbie Thompson played well to score 24 points and was assisted by very accurate shooting by Trevor Matthew.

The Bankstown Bruins returned from their away trip with one win and a loss to keep themselves in contention for a final four spot in the Western Division.

On Saturday night they challenged the Geelong Great Shape Cats by maintaining a lead until the last few minutes. Geelong were able to pass and win by 10 points, 78-68, when Tony Barnett was able to restrict Cliff Martin's game. James Crawford of Geelong was man of the match with 24 points and strong rebounding.

Next day the Bruins stunned a good sized Adelaide crowd by defeating the Adelaide 36ers 80-79 in a thrilling finish. The 36ers had been 16 points up in the first half but were slowly pegged back. Adelaide scored to lead by one with just seven seconds to go and Bankstown replied through a long shot by Cliff Martin to win the match.

Wayne Ricarte was man of the match with 23 points for Bankstown and David Winslow hit 25 for Adelaide.

The Brisbane Bullets succumbed 83-82 in a very close finish to the Perth Wildcats in Perth on Friday. Hickert 23, Jones 16 and Small with 15 were scorers for Perth while Holland 21, Sengstock 18 and Radliffe 16 were top scorers for Brisbane.

On Sunday the Bullets endangered the St Kilda Pumas' final four chances by winning 83-80. Olympian Larry Sengstock was best player with 19 points and some good rebounding. Brisbane had led for most of the game and were able to withstand the sustained St Kilda comeback from 10 points down with five minutes to go.

The Illawarra Hawks also had an eventful one and one record on the road. On Saturday night they led the Spectres 51-47 at halftime and only faded in the last few minutes to lose 85-81 at Nunawading. Mike Jones 38, and Gerry Steurer 29, were top scorers for Illawarra.

Dean Uthoff 19, Chuck Harmison 17, and Damien Keogh 14 led the Spectres.

Ron Lemons, outstanding Nunawading forward, had a disappointing night. His parents are in Australia to visit him and were seeing Ron play for the first time in years. The fifth foul came up on Ron 13 minutes into the first half and he had an early shower.

On Sunday the Hawks travelled to Hobart and found the Tassie Devils still down after last week's severe battering by West Adelaide and Coburg. Illawarra won 89-79 and again sharpshooter Mike Jones topscored with 36 points.

The Devonport Warriors shot well at Newcastle on Saturday night and were only three points behind the Falcons at fulltime, 97-94. Ian Davies 26 and George Morrow 25 were top scorers for the Falcons and Steve Lankton and Mark Leader both scored 29 for the Warriors.

Frankston Saba Bears travelled across town on Sunday to meet the Coburg Giants at Coburg and went down 84-78 in a fairly close game. Ray Borner hit 20 points and dominated the centre for Coburg.

REMEMBER! NBL action, every Wednesday. ABC-TV

 

TABLES AFTER #14

Eastern Division

Sydney Supersonics 15-2

West Adelaide Bearcats 13-4

Coburg Giants 12-4

Newcastle Falcons 10-7

Brisbane Bullets 7-11

Frankston Bears 6-11

Illawarra Hawks 2-16

Devonport Warriors 1-18

Western Division

Geelong Cats 13-4

Canberra Cannons 12-5

Nunawading Spectres 12-5

St Kilda Pumas 10-8

Adelaide 36ers 9-8

Bankstown Bruins 9-8

Perth Wildcats 4-11

Hobart Devils 2-15

 

TRADE CREDITS TROPHY FOR MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

Owen Wells (Sydney) took the lead last weekend in the Trade Credits competition with a maximum three votes against Devonport. James Crawford has joined Al Green on 39 points, just one behind Wells.

Owen Wells (Sydney)  40 points (17 games)

Al Green (West Adelaide) 39 (17)

James Crawford (Geelong) 39 (17)

Mike Jones (Illawarra) 35 (18)

Phil Smyth (Canberra) 30 (16)

David Winslow (Adelaide) 29 (17)

Leroy Loggins (West Adelaide) 24 (17)

Eric Bailey (Hobart) 24 (17)

Tom Holland (Brisbane) 24 (18)

Matt Waldron (Coburg) 22 (16)

 

BITS & PIECES

SA's two NBL coaches - Mike Osborne and Ken Cole - believe this year's attendance record could go in the forthcoming Adelaide-West derby game.

The Bearcats will be striving to even their career 1-2 record against the 36ers while for Adelaide the result could clinch or crush its playoff hopes.

Adelaide "did the impossible" again when it came from behind to beat St Kilda - its major rival for fourth place in the Western Division - 94-93.

The Adelaide-West showdown at Apollo Centre on Sunday should be a sell-out.

This year's league attendance record of 2,490 was set in Canberra on March 27 when the Cannons hosted Sydney.

West's Eastern Division playoff spot is assured but it has a minus career history against only two clubs - Nunawading and Adelaide. 

Last year it split 1-1 with the 36ers, losing the first 74-83 and winning the second 96-94 with a sensational Ken Richardson buzzer basket.

Earlier this year, Adelaide took an edge when it beat the Bearcats 96-95 in the Cathay Pacific Classic after turning back a 22-point deficit.

"I think the game could draw a record crowd to Apollo," Osborne said.

"Darryl Pearce is getting back to his very best and if he maintains his present form, he'll develop into a superstar in the Andris Blicavs/Werner Linde mould."

Cole said his Bearcats would "take it easy" with this week's bye, after their comfortable 121-62 win over Hobart.

"I think if all our supporters come out for the game and those that don't like us show up to barrack for the 36ers, we'll probably break the record."

GEORGE Morrow (Newcastle), 1982's top rebounder, still holds his lead in this year's competition, with 240 at an average of 15 per game.

Second is Dean Uthoff (Nunawading) with 226 (average 14.1 per game).

ILLAWARRA's Mike Jones has taken the lead in the Holden Hotshot Competition for the top scorer in the NBL.

He shot 36 and 38 points in his last two games and now has 601 at an average of 33.4ppg. Second is West Bearcats' Al Green on 547 points at 32.2ppg.