Basketball On The Internet.

NIGHT 2 of the NBL's rebirth again had many positives but it also had a few less thrills and spills compared to opening night.

For starters, while the game opened at a good pace, early fouls by A.J. Ogilvy immediately hurt Illawarra's chance on the road in Cairns.

Then the amount of offensive boards the Hawks allowed in the second period meant they were going to be chasing their tail feathers at some point.

Markel Starks had a forgettable debut, but that can happen.

And Kevin Lisch being taken out by a solid (and legal) back screen by Alex Loughton also robbed the game of one of its superstars.

(Lisch was a sore man today, Illawarra planning to have him fully medically checked upon arrival in Melbourne.)

In the end, Cairns was too composed but hats off to Hawks replacement Jarrad Weeks.

A week can be a long time in sport and it certainly was for Jarrad, without a gig back then, joint topscoring with Kirk Penney last night for Illawarra.

My (e)mail is he'd been driving to Wollongong from Sydney with no guarantees of anything but it certainly paid off with his efforts against the Taipans.

Weeks is on a four-game contract while starting playmaker Rhys Martin recovers from a knee complaint.

TO the Fox game coverage and  I was pretty impressed with Matt Russell's first turn behind the anchorman mike.

He's an NRL guy and yes, he had a few slips. The early "handover" by Lisch was a gem, yes.

Matty, it's a turnover.

You can't confuse your turnovers with your hand-offs cause it ends up being a turn-off.

Matt had another fun moment when he said: "Lisch shoots himself. He's short!"

Well exactly. Anyone short in a big man's sport SHOULD shoot himself, right?

In fairness (I did warn I was trialling fairness throughout October) and in context, Lisch was looking to pass when he decided to take the shot so "Lisch shoots himself" was a fair call. As was "He's short" which, indeed, the shot was.

Not quite as great a debut as Anthony Hudson but certainly positive for a first-timer who knew enough about the game to occasionally call the Hawks "Wollongong".

That said, I am an unabashed CJ Bruton fan. A six-time NBL champion, future Hall of Famer and one of the great personalities of the sport and league, I love him.

But sadly, commentary just ISN'T his gig.

He made a hash last season of his shot at it with SKY on a Breakers-36ers call and was no better last night.

Marcel Marceau could have offered more insight.

I'm paraphrasing here but "How have you enjoyed coaching CJ?" getting back "It's enjoyable", or "Both coaches have headaches now CJ" ... "Absolutely" is not going to make any highlight reels.

CJ - colour guys have to provide colour. And insight. Talk. Or walk.

SOCIAL media complaints came in thick and fast about the music at Cairns Convention Centre with diehard OrangeArmy fans saying even some of their time-honoured chants were drowned out.

Hmm. Again, FOXSPORTS may be our saving grace and saviour here because if their callers cannot hear over the rock concert, there will have to be changes.

Tonight: Melbourne United is in Townsville and I'm tipping the first road win of the season.

Last night: TAIPANS 79 (Gliddon 19, Weigh 15, Loughton, Worthington 12; Worthington 7 rebs; Worthington, Loughton, Gliddon 4 assts) d HAWKS 74 (Weeks, Penney 12, Demos 10; Ogilvy 9 rebs; Coenraad 4 assts) at Cairns Convention Centre.

MASTER CLASS: Slammin' Sammy Mackinnon still has the hops, throwing this one down from a Chris Anstey lob at Titanium Security Arena. Even the curtain-raiser had highlights!

Online:

Ebi was ready: http://bit.ly/1PkhOjx  

Sixers V Wildcats and The Beast: http://bit.ly/1R21GSd

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