Basketball On The Internet.

A PAIR of wins again for Melbourne United, solidifying it at the head of the NBL ladder, held the club in good stead again as our NBL Team of the Week for Round 5. That is until the Bullets came out firing.

Beating the Wildcats in Perth, even though it now is a more regular occurrence as it was back some 30-plus years ago from 1982-86, still took some doing.

Remember, Brisbane was still minus suspended Olympian and NBA champion Aron Baynes, and was under pressure to save its season.

At the same time, Perth and its coach John Rillie, were under enormous scrutiny and pressure to perform, yet with two minutes left in the first quarter, had been contained to three points.

The Bullets gave up a total of 9 first quarter points, then withstood a Wildcats barrage to run out winners. Back on the plane and across the country home to Brisbane, the Bullets faced one of the league’s true yardsticks in Tasmania.

Just as Mitch Norton showed his value against Perth and how much they erred in releasing him, ex-JackJumpers Sam McDaniel and Isaac White had big moments against Tasmania as Brisbane locked away its second win of the round.

It is now 4-4, the same as Tasmania, a team it beat despite Nathan Sobey being on two fouls within the first 100 seconds of tip-off. He finished with 28 points.

Adelaide 36ers came under consideration for their win over the Breakers in New Zealand, though the home team losing star import Zylan Cheatham to a foot fracture during the game was substantial.

It’s also why South East Melbourne holding on to beat the undermanned Breakers by three did not qualify as sufficiently impressive for consideration.

Cairns’ win over defending champion Sydney and doing it without Tahjere McCall, Taran Amstrong and losing Patrick Miller in the first half after a hard foul brought him crashing to the floor, was a superb effort.

But allied to its dreadful road loss to Illawarra, that ruled the Taipans out. Similarly the Hawks’ win, backed by a gutsy road loss to Melbourne brought them into the conversation, but 1-1 is not as good as 2-0.

United minus Matthew Dellavedova but beating Tasmania in Hobart was a strong start. Staving off Illawarra? Not so dazzling. And this award is not voted on by umpires.

So Brisbane it is, after its best weekend in Justin Schueller’s reign. And although pathetic Perth gave it another nudge, it at least had a crack after quarter-time against Brisbane to narrowly avert it being our back-to-back Team of the Weak as Pi$$. Even if Mrs Cotton disagrees.

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

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