NBL9: Silly Sunday buzz for long shot punters
TweetHAS there been a silly Sunday like this one? It started in Adelaide where the 36ers, on a three-loss streak including on the road to Tasmania, ended Melbourne's winning run before Sydney whacked Perth, and the JackJumpers stomped on New Zealand's aspirations at an NBL Final Four run, Josh Magette presenting a masterclass.
For punters who like an underdog, all three got up and in fairly sensational fashion.
Adelaide nominated itself as the league's dumbest team when it wasted far too much time late instead of fouling when trailing Tasmania. It was a morale-busting loss but a hugely memorable win for the JackJumpers.
Late 36ers signing Cam Bairstow had 11 points and an NBL season-best 18 rebounds but after that, all the joy was with the home team. Just ask Scott Roth.
On the back of that, beating United did not appear an option for the Sixers but it turned into the only option, despite surrendering the lead late in regulation.
Melbourne appeared to then believe it had done enough but squandered the game before overtime, then had no answer to Dusty Hannahs and Kai Sotto, of all people!
Sydney was handing a drained Perth its head on a platter before centre Matt Hodgson lost control and not once but twice shoved mouthy Kings guard Dejan Vasiljevic in the face, setting off a minor melee.
Both coaches joined in to cool the player scramble over the baseline and into the first row of spectators before order was restored and Hodgson rightly ejected.
And Tasmania, after opening the round with an upset, concluded it tonight with an all-the-way win over a New Zealand which clearly is doing it tough right now. Here's what else happened:
ROUND 9: Definitely memorable
YOU easily could be forgiven if you thought you were suffering an extreme case of deja vu watching Perth again systematically dismantle Illawarra at the Sandpit.
In Round 8, Illawarra is ahead after one quarter. The Wildcats use their experience and core values to pull away for a 94-78 victory, Bryce Cotton with 24 points, Vic Law 22, Todd Blanchfield 20, Michael Frazier grabbing 10 boards, Mitch Norton with six assists.
Round 9, Illawarra is ahead after one quarter and Perth wins 94-80, Cotton with 28, Law 24, Blanchfield 14, Frazier with eight boards, Norton six assists. Look startlingly familiar? But hey, the Hawks were two points better than that first meeting.
That's the point worth mentioning again for those wanting desperately to write off the Hawks. They have a huge upside yet and the best coach we have.
Yes, they're a long way from where the Wildcats currently are but the Hawks have a benchmark to aim for and at least Antonius Cleveland gave fans a series of spectacular moves to enjoy and talk about on the way home.
PERTH WILDCATS 94 (Cotton 28, Law 24, Blanchfield 14; Frazier, Law 8 rebs; Norton 6 assts) d ILLAWARRA HAWKS 80 (Cleveland 22, Jessup 17, Harvey 16, Rathan-Mayes 10; Reath, Cleveland 7 rebs; Rathan-Mayes, S.Froling, Harvey 3 assts) at The Sandpit, WIN Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 2,240
* * *
MITCH McCarron or no Mitch McCarron, Adelaide's fadeout against the JackJumpers was unconscionable, the 36ers squandering a 12-point lead as coach Scott Roth drove his team to a gutsy victory.
Roth showed he is a coach of some talent and imagination, throwing in fullcourt zone defensive pressure and halfcourt traps, the double-teams causing Adelaide no end of issues and no end of turnovers - 24 in the end, the most by any team this season.
A lifeless Daniel Johnson led the way with six turnovers, the same amount of rebounds he snagged, to go with his paltry 10-point contribution in a lost cause.
Tasmania simply wanted it more, Roth exhorting his charges and Josh Adams showing that even though he is in the lowest tier of NBL import, he's still way better than Adelaide's dudley duo.
Dud No.1, Todd Withers again offered nothing - 33-plus minutes for three points, three rebounds an assist and a turnover, with two of his shots blocked. Dud No.2, Dusty Hannahs, had 22 points on 9-of-21 shooting, leaving no doubt he can be OK against the most mediocre of opposition.
Trouble is, there's not many more teams below Adelaide, and any there don't plan to stay.
Outscored an embarrassing 24-12 in the final period, the Sixers trailed 71-74 into the final half minute, time enough for Hannahs to launch a 3-point heave from the mainland and for Withers to also have a triple attempt that caught nothing but iron.
Your Americans aren't supposed to score in the clutch are they? (Thank goodness Hannahs revisited this before the round ended!)
TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 76 (Adams 24, Magette 16, Kenyon 9; Magnay 9 rebs; Magette 7 assts) d ADELAIDE 36ERS 71 (Hannahs 22, Sotto 12, Bairstow 11, Johnson 10; Bairstow 18 rebs; Johnson 5 assts) at The Anthill, MyState Bank Arena. Crowd: 4,632
* * *
WITH the continued absence through injury of Scott Machado, Mirko Djeric and now Kouat Noi, the growing danger for Cairns is it may soon find itself in a similar position to New Zealand.
The Taipans boast some solid talent and decent direction but, like the Breakers who have been beset with similar problems, the numbers in the Loss column have continued to build.
The further that goes, the harder it becomes to dig out and losing again at home, this time to Illawarra, is another blow to this team's psyche.
Jumped at the outset, the Taipans never led in this, despite tying it up a couple of times and being within three at 56-59 late in the third.
Harry Froling, Tim Coenraad and Tyler Harvey's 3-pointers in a 9-3 run - Harvey's from the backstreets of Townsville - gave Illawarra back a healthy buffer 68-59 with a period to play.
When Tahjere McCall (19 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks) fouled out midway through the last quarter, Cairns was out of answers to stop the late avalanche.
Harvey continued on to a game-high 24 points, Justinian Jessup paired 17 points with 10 rebounds, Sam Froling had 11 points with 12 boards and Antonius Cleveland threw down a rim-rattling smash dunk in the last which registered on the scale at the Queensland Seismic Laboratory.
ILLAWARRA HAWKS 94 (Harvey 24, Jessup 17, Cleveland, Reath 15, S.Froling 11; S.Froling 12 rebs; Harvey, Jessup 2 assts) d CAIRNS TAIPANS 75 (McCall 19, Pinder 15, Ngatai 12, Deng 10; Pinder 10 rebs; McCall 6 assts) at The Orange Grove, Cairns Convention Centre. Crowd: 3,095
* * *
PHOENIX phenom Mitch Creek looked on course for a career night when he took 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting into the halftime break in Brisbane, nursing a 50-39 lead.
Lamar Patterson led a spirited Bullets fightback to drag a deficit which blew out to 15 back to six. He would finish with 26 points but had no-one scoring with him.
Nathan Sobey's interest appeared to wane with his lack of shot opportunities and Robert Franks endured his most dismal night on an NBL court.
South East applied the defensive screws in the final quarter but holding the Bullets to a six-point period had as much to do with their lack of interest or application as it did Phoenix's fierceness.
With Cam Gliddon filing one of his "alternative game" performances - 0-of-5 in 19:12 and all triples, the keyway apparently a huge "no-go" zone - Kyle Adnam picked up some scoring in a game Brisbane could have won, had it just wanted to make a contest of it
SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 88 (Creek 22, Adnam 16, Munford 14, Broekhoff 11; Ashley, Broekhoff 7 rebs; Munford 5 assts) d BRISBANE BULLETS 73 (Patterson 26, Sobey 9, Deng, Harrison, Drmic 8; Deng 11 rebs; Patterson 5 assts) at The Armoury, Nissan Arena. Crowd: 2,552
* * *
ON a day when your backs are firmly against the wall, your reputation and heart are on the line, your home fans have fingers crossed and are willing the best from you, that's absolutely the day you MUST show up.
Adelaide, humbled by Tasmania and facing league-leading Melbourne on an eight-win streak, really needed a lot to go right today and, incredibly, it did.
For starters, forward Todd Withers, who has been giving under-performing a bad name, finished with 17 points at 63 per cent, including 3-of-4 threes to strongly resemble an average import.
Trust this. Average is way better than he's been and it's a little debilitating to get too excited about a 17-point game when a long-lost local like Mitch Creek had 20 in the first half the previous night.
But this was a focused Adelaide, out to a double-digit lead, Cam Bairstow again working his butt off for 16 points, 12 boards and four assists before fatigue infected his final few flings.
It also didn't hurt Adelaide that Chris Goulding did not make a single basket for the night, was 0-of-11 from range and 0-of-16 overall. Matthew Dellavedova also had the more customary long-range yips, 0-of-5 from outside the arc.
And Caleb Agada was 0-of-2 from distance before fouling out a non-factor, Melbourne 4-of-32 from beyond the 3-point line.
When it took the lead on a 10-0 run in the last, this looked over. But this time, luck played a part when Adelaide trailed 71-74 with heartbeats left. In Tassie on Friday, the Sixers blew it from here.
But this time Sunday Dech took the ball to the hoop, only to have his shot rejected out of court by Jo Lual-Acuil. It was a big play because instead of Melbourne conceding a layup and retaining the ball and the lead, it gave the 36ers enough time to get the ball inbounds and for Dusty Hannahs to sink a corner 3-pointer for the tie.
Dellavedova's shot for the win missed, United starting overtime with a lob dunk. But Hannahs was brimming with confidence, making some big shots before Kai Sotto sank a keyway jumper for the 88-83 buffer, sealing the win.
ADELAIDE 36ERS 88 (Hannahs 19, Withers 17, Bairstow 16, Sotto 14, Johnson 12; Johnson 14 rebs; Bairstow, McCarron 4 assts) d MELBOURNE UNITED 83 (Lual-Acuil 23, White 18, Peatling 11; Lual-Acuil 12 rebs; Dellavedova 8 assts) in O/T {74-74} at the Temple of Doom, Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 4,590
* * *
SYDNEY was in the throes of delivering its finest performance of the season, ahead by 19 over the wilting Wildcats when Perth centre Matt Hodgson had his sudden brain fade.
Clearly miffed with Kings guard Dejan Vasiljevic jawing at him, he forcefully pushed him in the face and when an understandably irate Vasiljevic stepped back up to him with more to say, Hodgson shoved him in the face a second time, but with more force.
The incident sparked a baseline melee which had the coaches and several players involved, Hodgson ultimately tossed from the game.
What the incident did do was spark a lethargic Perth team into life, Bryce Cotton and Vic Law bringing it steadily back into the game.
Mid last quarter and Todd Blanchfield iced a perfect triple for Perth and had the deficit back to 76-80.
But that was all she wrote, import tandem Jaylen Adams and Jarell Martin steadying the ship and Vasiljevic also sticking a big 3-pointer to break Perth's spirit.
Adams went off for 30 points with six triples, seven rebounds and nine assists, one of them a lob for Martin to slam on the Wildcats who, by then, were looking for the showers.
SYDNEY KINGS 96 (Adams 30, Martin 22, Cooks, Vasiljevic 13; Cooks, Martin 8 rebs; Adams 9 assts) d PERTH WILDCATS 81 (Law, Cotton 20, Blanchfield 11, Norton 10; Law 9 rebs; Cotton 6 assts) at the Kingdome, Qudos Bank Arena. Crowd: 5,864
* * *
BEATING Adelaide on Friday sure lit a fire under the JackJumpers who gave New Zealand no quarter today, not until halftime anyway.
Tasmania led from start to finish, quarter-backed by Josh Magette's 22 points at 53 per cent, with 7-of-11 threes at an even better 63 per cent. Magette also dished eight assists as Tassie led 23-13 after one, then outscored the Breakers 30-14 in the second.
It was largely academic from there, Jack McVeigh finding his touch with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting, featuring 3-of-4 triples.
New Zealand looked very much a team which is broken, struggling with its circumstances as if now, finally, it has all become a little too much.
Let's hope that isn't the case, because when firing, the Breakers are extremely capable. But Tasmania already has exceeded expectations, its recycled team even leading NZ by as many as 29 points today.
TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 83 (Magette 22, McVeigh 17, Adams 11; Kenyon 8 rebs; Magette 8 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 59 (Besson 19, Wetzell 15, Dieng 9; Besson 8 rebs; McDowell-White 7 assts) at the Breakwater, Mystate Bank Arena. Crowd: 1,477
* * *
WHAT WE LEARNT
*That Illawarra can't (yet) hang with the big boys and will continue to struggle while Supercoach Brian Goorjian allows his imports to monopolise the ball and the playing time;
*HJ's cheeseburger lovers are the only ones thrilled at the mewest West Australian border restrictions, meaning Perth will perpetually be on the road. And they all know Matt Hodgson is extremely likely to get to the free throw line;
*Yes Dwayne Russell, Bryce Cotton taking the ball the length of the floor to score a layup on the bell to end a quarter was big but far from unbelievable. Any student of Shea Ili's game has seen him do this at least a half dozen times;
*When the NBL says "Next Level", in the case of Tasmania-V-Adelaide, that excruciating 11-12 third quarter was definitely next level down, maybe two;
*Scott Roth's post-win celebration should be compulsory behaviour for new franchise coaching wins;
*Dusty Hannahs looked like an NBL import - against Tasmania and for five minutes against United;
*Keanu Pinder will need to switch from an Afro back to dreadlocks to conceal the GNIDLAPS tattoo Antonius Cleveland left branded on his forehead with one of the season's most vicious dunks;
*Ash Barty took inspiration from Scott Roth for her post Australian Open women's singles championship win celebrations;
*It is uncanny how accurate TV caller Corey Williams is 100 per cent of the time - after the fact. Tell us something before it happens Corey, just once;
*Guess everyone now knows you just have to talk some trash to Matt Hodgson, then wait for the explosion;
*Congratulations to the JackJumpers winning the club's historic first road game ... at Hobart's MyState Bank Arena over New Zealand.
TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY: Yep, Keanu sure copped one but he slammed a couple of his own too.