Basketball On The Internet.

OH MY. The NBL's Round 8 was chock full of great performances, magnificent fightback victories and some outstanding individual efforts. It has made our Team of the Week a truly difficult call, especially with Illawarra as well breaking out of its funk to score a road success across the Tasman. 

But when taking into account that win was over a very tired Breakers team - with its best Australian player (Will McDowell-White) and key import (Zylan Cheatham) out injured - then a little of the gloss does come off.

Having beaten Tasmania in a tough start to the round, New Zealand was vulnerable and full credit to the Hawks for seizing their opportunity and playing so well in the debut of interim coach Justin Tatum.

Did they turn the corner? Time will tell but right now, weighed against the merit of Perth staving off Cairns, then coming from behind to beat Brisbane, Illawarra falls out of contention in the Team of the Week stakes.

So too Tasmania, despite its thrilling overtime last-shot win in Cairns. The JackJumpers fall out of this week's contenders as it was a 1-1 round for them.

Ultimately, it came down to selecting between Adelaide, which came from 18 down to beat a paralysed South East Melbourne, and Melbourne, which was 19 in arrears before dethroning the catatonic Kings.

In each case, there was a stand-out shooter who brought the home team's home, firstly Dejan Vasiljevic (29 points) in Adelaide, then Chris Goulding (35 points) in Melbourne.

And in each case, there were great cameos from supporting casts - Jacob Wiley, Trentyn Flowers, Kyrin Galloway, Isaac Humphries for the 36ers, Luke Travers, Shea Ili, Jo Lual-Acuil, Flynn Cameron for United - to underpin unexpected comebacks that rode on the wave of raucous crowd support.

Melbourne's win was one for the ages, again reflecting what we wrote last week to never under-estimate the heart of a champion, even against the defending champion.

But the manner in which United ultimately crunched the Kings by double-digits (105-93) almost turned it into a cakewalk.

It was anything but for the 36ers who needed a succession of big shots and big plays to stifle South East 96-93. And remember, they gave up 34 first quarter points!

To win it from there was an extraordinary effort and one worthy of our Team of the Week accolade. More worthy than Melbourne? Not sure about that, but then United did claim our award last round so we can live with it.

Plus it marks the third week in succession the same city has provided our NBL and WNBL Teams of the Week since the women launched their season. Three weeks ago it was Perth Lynx and Perth Wildcats as our stand-out teams, then Melbourne Boomers and Melbourne United, now Adelaide Lightning and Adelaide 36ers!

Our Team of the Weak as Pi$$ falls to Brisbane after the Bullets yet again choked, losing from a winnable position in a solo home game against an opponent playing its second match of the round.

Come on now Bullets. You should be better than that.

BASKETBALL ON THE INTERNET TEAM OF THE WEEK
Round 1  Sydney Kings
Round 2  Tasmania JackJumpers
Round 3  Melbourne United
Round 4  South East Melbourne Phoenix
Round 5  Brisbane Bullets
Round 6  Perth Wildcats
Round 7  Melbourne United
Round 8  Adelaide 36ers

BASKETBALL ON THE INTERNET TEAM OF THE WEAK AS PI$$
Round 1  No Nominees
Round 2  No Nominees    
Round 3  Illawarra Hawks
Round 4  Perth Wildcats
Round 5  No Nominees
Round 6  Adelaide 36ers
Round 7  New Zealand Breakers
Round 8  Brisbane Bullets