Basketball On The Internet.

WHAT an outstanding way to honour the 400th game of the ultimate Breaker, Thomas Abercrombie, by opening New Zealand’s clash with arch rival Cairns running a sweet backdoor play for the lob and slam dunk by that nation’s greatest NBL stalwart.

It put NZ right on track for its 11-point win, though the Taipans, sorely depleted but always competitive, gave their fans plenty to feel good about, Sam Mennenga another exciting new face.

It was new Breakers playmaker Parker Jackson-Cartwright – with 25 points (at 58 per cent), four rebounds, eight assists and six steals - who set the game alight, another league first-timer impressing in his NBL debut.

New Zealand led 46-43 at halftime but uncorked a third quarter 3-point barrage – it was 12-of-28 for the evening from range – returnee Finn Delany en route to 18 points with 4-of-7 threes.

That 31-18 period sealed it, despite Cairns falling 21 behind but never giving up the fight, keeping it a contest throughout. Adam Forde has promised Cairns fans he will recruit someone named Sam every season he is in the role.

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 98 (Jackson-Cartwright 25, Delany 18, Jessup 15, Mathiang, Cheatham 11; Mathiang 5 rebs; Jackson-Cartwright 8 assts) d CAIRNS TAIPANS 87 (Mennenga 17, Miller 15, Waardenburg 12, Mayen 11; Mayen 6 rebs; Miller 6 assts) at Spark Arena. Crowd: 6,400

THE Hawks started like a house on fire which steadily burnt to its foundations as Kouat Noi blew them off their home floor with 23 points at 70 per cent, including 6-of-8 threes.

He was seeing the ring like a hula-hoop, even turning his back on his 3-point release at one point, that’s how much he was feeling it.

Illawarra coach Jacob Jackomas was getting so worked up, it would do well for the Hawks to have a defibrillator behind their bench at all games or he may not see out the season.

Kings forward Jaylin Galloway compiled his 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting, Jordan Hunter had 12 at 80 per cent and Denzel Valentine dished 10 assists as Sydney steadily pulled away.

Illawarra’s offence was a blaze of bad shots and teamwork-free offence – Tyler Harvey with a customary 19 points, sticking 5-of-the-10 threes he jacked up.

Sam Froling paired 11 rebounds with 12 points but was 5-of-12, many of his misses from point blank.

It took Dan Grida to get the Hawks going, a rapidfire seven straight points, great defensive hustle and activity in a reasonably successful fullcourt press meant Illawarra closed the third quarter only 10 points in arrears.

Grida finished with 14 on 6-of-8 shooting, sticking both his triple attempts and snaring seven boards in 14 minutes.

But Jaylen Adams (20 points) was having none of it, Illawarra falling back into similar hero-ball plays that undermined its 2022-23 campaign.

SYDNEY KINGS 96 (Noi 23, Adams 20, Galloway 18, Hunter 12; Hunter, Valentine 7 rebs; Valentine 10 assts) d ILLAWARRA HAWKS 81 (Harvey 19, Grida 14, Froling, Robinson 12; Froling 11 rebs; Robinson 4 assts) at WIN Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 4,322

IT was looking marginally better for the 36ers at home against United, but largely because Ken Cole, Mark Davis, Al Green and Jerome Randle were in the building.

Tied at 57-57 with a quarter to play, the Sixers pulled five clear and still looked a possibility ahead 64-60 early in the last.

But a couple of Matthew Dellavedova threes, an inspiring rundown chase by Shea Ili of an errant long rebound off a missed triple which took him into the stands and Melbourne was in the throes of a decisive 15-0 run.

From 64-75 down, Adelaide made a couple of minor noises but ultimately they sounded like the gurgle of a toilet as they flushed down another one.

MELBOURNE UNITED 82 (Goulding, Dellavedova 19, Travers 12, Hukporti 10; Hukporti 10 rebs; Travers, Dellavedova 4 assts) d ADELAIDE 36ERS 74 (Cadee 18, McCarron 12, Smith-Milner, Kell 10; Galloway 9 rebs; Cadee 6 assts) at Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 8,165

NOT completely unexpectedly, South East Melbourne bounced back from its shemozzle opener against Melbourne with an out-and-out rout of Perth, the final 11-point margin flattering the Mildcats.

Mitch Creek and Tyler Cook responded to their less-than-stellar openers with 23 points apiece, plus nine and 10 rebounds respectively, as the Phoenix turned back an early 10-point deficit and shut down Perth’s big guns Bryce Cotton and Jordan Usher.

Cook slammed a big dunk down on Alex Sarr and the feeling in this one was evident. Ben Ayre beat the third quarter buzzer with a monster 3-pointer to close a 38-12 avalanche that turned Perth’s 49-46 halftime lead into horse road apples.

The only good thing to come out of this for the Wildcats was the discovery Ben Henshall (24 points in 24 minutes at 64 per cent) is ready to be a rotation regular.

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 110 (Cook, Creek 23, Cummings 18, Browne 12, Ayre 11, Te Rangi 10; Cook 10 rebs; Cummings 4 assts) d PERTH WILDCATS 99 (Henshall 24, Pinder 14, Usher 12, Sarr 11; M.Harris, Pinder, Henshall 5 rebs; Cotton 10 assts) at John Cain Arena. Crowd: 6,641

EXIT, ROUND 1
A reminder to new courtside callers, LISTEN to the answer to your first question of a player BEFORE you blurt out your well-prepared second query.
A word to broadcast boffins (and not just at NBL level). You can’t just grab a past (or current) player, shove them a microphone and hope they work as professionally in their untrained capacity as they did (or do) in their playing one. Give them some modicum of media training. Trust this. It will be better for them and much better for us, the viewers.
Congratulations to Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas on getting 12 players on in the first quarter against Sydney. His manager, physio and two assistant coaches were ready to be subbed in during the second.