Basketball On The Internet.

SENSATIONAL. It took until the third game of the NBL’s new season, but fans finally saw a cracker, Perth Wildcats staving off Tasmania JackJumpers 101-95, Jordan Usher delighting the 12,000-plus at RAC Arena with a club record 35-point debut at 65 per cent.

This was the match we’d been waiting for after two duds served up by Melbourne-SEM and Brisbane-Adelaide where 36 per cent shooting accuracy was the peak performance.

In Perth we saw a bunch of genuine stars playing like them, from Usher and Bryce Cotton, to Next Star Alex Sarr all in red, or Milton Doyle, Jordan Crawford, Jack McVeigh and a cast of characters such as Anthony Drmic and Majok Deng looking their best past versions of themselves.

Thank goodness. It was a short wait, admittedly, but we finally saw quality basketball.

Maybe some of us just got spoilt watching Germany, Serbia, Latvia and Co at the FIBA World Cup.

LAST NIGHT:
JUST for a few minutes in Brisbane, Adelaide 36ers fans could enjoy the ecstasy (fantasy?) of vaguely believing the preseason form of their NBL team was an aberration and now the real team was standing up.

A 15-0 start in the opposition’s building will do that for you. But just as being the first NBL club to beat an NBA team with last year’s preseason win over the Phoenix Suns ultimately amounted to nothing, so did that great start.

Once the tentative Bullets started firing - ex-36er Nathan Sobey and South Aussie junior Sam McDaniel factors – Adelaide quickly devolved, Brisbane orchestrating an 86-71 rout.

Down by 15, win by 15 – doing the math(s), that’s 30 unanswered points Brisbane manufactured and should truly indicate what this looked like after quarter-time at Nissan Arena.

Adelaide’s erratic subbing pattern didn’t hurt Justin Schueller’s NBL head coaching debut, the best moments in the game occurring with 28 seconds left.

That’s when he inserted 220cm, 17-year-old rookie Rocco Zikarsky. All he did in his less-than-half-minute was grab two rebounds, block a shot and slam dunk his way to 2 points.

Brilliant. Do that math(s) over a 40-minute game and they are even better than Wilt Chamberlain numbers.

But a quality game? Brisbane shot at (so far) a league-best 36 per cent, Adelaide at 35. Thank goodness for all this abundant and overwhelming talent.

BRISBANE BULLETS 86 (Sobey 18, Smith 15, McDaniel 13, Baynes 12; Baynes 13 rebs; Scott 7 assts) d ADELAIDE 36ERS 71 (Humphries 17, Wiley 15, Dech 13; Wiley 9 rebs; Wiley, Kell 5 assts) at Nissan Arena. Crowd: 4,996

IT finally happened at The Jungle. The NBL’s first real spectacle of the summer started with Tasmania bursting from the blocks and boasting a 12-0 opening, an offensive explosion backed by an almost fanatical commitment at the defensive end.

Jordan Crawford ignited his team and it took some amazing play by Jordan Usher to steady a wobbly Wildcat ship.

Once Cotton and Corey Webster also got going, the Wildcats were off, Usher unstoppable and Alex Sarr also bringing fans to their feet.

Leading by 16, Perth looked home, but that’s not how Scott Roth’s JackJumpers roll. They clawed it all the way back to 93-94 on a McVeigh trey before Usher’s crusher sealed it.

Perth shot it at 56 percent and Tasmania at 50. This was more like it.

PERTH WILDCATS 101 (Usher 35, Cotton 21, C.Webster 16, Pinder 14; Sarr, Pinder 5 rebs; Cotton 6 assts) d TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 95 (McVeigh 22, Doyle 18, Crawford 13, Drmic, Deng 11; Lee 98 rebs; Doyle 8 assts) at RAC Arena. Crowd: 12,361

TOMORROW
THE Adelaide 36ers have missed the playoffs for five straight seasons and now open their home season hosting Melbourne United, the club which beat it for the championship back in those heady days of Joey Wright and Co.

Jacob Wiley’s return from Wright’s era was a bright spot in the Sixers’ opening road loss, the star forward pairing a team-high nine boards with 15 points.

Isaac Humphries started well against Brisbane but now runs into a Melbourne team well across his strengths. Plus Chris Goulding, who was a non-factor in the win over South East, has a love-hate relationship with 36ers fans.

If he gets going, it’s lights out. That’s without wondering if Matthew Dellavedova has two good halves in him, Luke Travers can continue on his merry way and Melbourne waltz out of Adelaide Entertainment Centre with Round 1, Win #2.

SOUTH East Melbourne will need Mitch Creek at his best or Jordan Usher will make Mike Kelly start wishing he’d hung on in Perth.

On what both clubs showed in their opening outings, it would be almost impossible to lean toward the Phoenix. But there’s a lot of pride (and talent) in this group.

If they can sort out their offensive priorities and actually leave some sweat at the defensive end, they are a chance.

Travelling after playing last night will impact on the Wildcats, but they still must start clear favourites.

MODERN JOURNALISM (News Corpse today)

PS
Few injury absentees today from the Taipans, RB reliably informs me. That could alter today’s outcome in Auckland.