Basketball On The Internet.

TORREY Craig take a bow. That was one hell of a shot to end the first quarter in Cairns.

With 0.8 of a second left and the Taipans with the ball at the baseline, Cameron Tragardh threw a pass which Craig leapt to catch in the centre cirle and in the same motion, somehow hook-hurled it at the basket and the ball banked straight in!

You have to see it to believe it (and you can find it at Basketball On The Internet's Facebook page, the NBL wesbite, News Corps online, youtube and a bunch of other places so definitely track it down if you haven't seen it ... it is worth the effort) but it was the freaky shot of the season, no question.

Craig was there in the clutch too, making big free throws to secure the win and keep the Cairns playoff candle alight.

"We’ve talked to him a lot this year about being focused in the clutch, especially on defence," Cairns captain Cam Gliddon said.

"He made some huge plays tonight – he played really well. I’m proud of him."

NO WORRY TORREY: Torrey Craig drives on NZ's Reuben Te Rangi.

TOWNSVILLE's hopes of a successful WNBL title defence have suffered a cruel blow with Canadian import Tamara Tatham injured and gone for the rest of the season.

Prior to the Christmas break, Tatham, who was averaging 11 points a game, was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her left shin.

She has returned to Canada to continue her rehabilitation ahead of the Rio Olympics.

Is it too late to play the "compassionate leave" card?

 

BASKETBALL ON THE INTERNET PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

RARELY has it been easier to award the B.O.T.I. PotW award than for Round 16 of the NBL's classic 2015-16 season.

Adelaide 36ers guard Jerome Randle wasn't only the talk of the town, he was the talk of the NBL-following nation after producing 41 points at 76.2 per cent, with five rebounds and three assists in the 96-89 win over Sydney Kings. His tally was a single-game high this season. His percentage was the all-time high for anyone with more than 20 shot attempts. Incredible stuff.

He then backed that up with a game-high 26 points, five assists and one rebound as Adelaide ended Melbourne's second winning streak at five, winning 90-81.

Over the round, the man who floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee averaged 33.5 points at 62 per cent, 4.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds as the 36ers won their fith and sixth straight games.

If he doesn't deserve a jumbo pack of Fruchocs, I don't know who does!

NBL PotW
Rd1 Todd Blanchfield
Rd2 Kirk Penney
Rd3 Jerome Randle
Rd4 Corey Webster
Rd5 AJ Ogilvy
Rd6 Al Harrington
Rd7 Corey Webster (2)
Rd8 Kirk Penney (2)
Rd9 Tom Abercrombie
Rd10 Jermaine Beal
Rd11 Kevin Lisch
Rd12 Corey Webster (3)
Rd13 Daniel Kickert
Rd14 Daniel Johnson
Rd15 Kevin Lisch (2)
Rd16 Jerome Randle (2)

FOR the WNBL's PotW, we had no end of candidates, starting with SEQ playmaker Lauren Mansfield's career-high 33 points, plus eight assists against Canberra.

In the same game, Rachel Jarry had 31 points at 72 per cent!

How about Kelsey Griffin's 28-point, 15-rebound haul for Bendigo against Sydney? Or how about Betnijah Laney's near triple-double for Perth against Adelaide with 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists?

All of them was masterful performances but when your team loses a key import, it needs someone to step up and the WNBL's Player of the Month for December, Suzy Batkovic, did just that for Townsville.

The Batgirl went off for 37 points at 64 per cent to steer the Fire home over Canberra, for her fourth B.O.T.I. PotW accolade.

Unfortunately, her previous sandwich wins have gone a little mouldy (you must collect your prize within 24 hours Suzy) so this time it's a Magnum ice-cream we will keep in the freezer.

WNBL PotW
Rd1 Tess Madgen
Rd2 Suzy Batkovic
Rd3 Sami Whitcomb
Rd4 Suzy Batkovic (2)
Rd5 Gabrielle Richards
Rd6 Carley Mijovic
Rd7 Katie-Rae Ebzery
Rd8 Cayla George
Rd9 Leilani Mitchell
Rd10 Suzy Batkovic (3)
Rd11 Sara Blicavs
Rd12 Cayla George (2)
Rd13 Gabrielle Richards (2)
Rd14 Suzy Batkovic (4)

 

YEAH, NO KIDDING

IT was another mostly good week for our men on the microphones, Andrew Gaze opening the round producing some commentary gold in his co-call of the 36ers-Kings game when he said Marcus Thornton "would rather pass a kidney stone than the ball."

Nice one.

Derek Rucker threw in an amusing retort when Cedric Jackson fouled out in Townsville. As is customary, the fans waved off the Breakers' import, in Derek's words, to the familiar tune of "Hit the Road, Jack ... son."

Sharp work by Fox Sports to then catch Cedric flipping GreenArmy fans the bird as he sat on the bench in one of his least classy moments. Worth some official NBL admonishment perhaps? Not a good look.

Brad Robbins continued his improvement in Perth to leave us wondering why other voices occasionally have "been needed" to be flown west when he's already getting it done.

Fast forward to Friday and, of course, to Corey Williams in Adelaide to see his favourite team Melbourne, and to regale us all about CG43's unlimited abilities, along with United specialist Tommy Greer.

Williams on Todd Blanchfield: "He's one of the best Aussie 3-men in the league."

Let me see now ... Casey Prather (Perth) is American, Josh Childress (Sydney) is American, Tom Abercrombie (NZ) is a Kiwi, Kirk Penney (Illawarra) is New Zealand-born and Torrey Craig (Cairns) is American. The remaining current 3-men starters are Lucas Walker (Adelaide) and Clint Steindl (Townsville) so for once Corey was correct. Just not sure it was overwhelming praise then.

Some nice work from Dwayne Russell when Mitch Creek stepped back to avoid Daniel Kickert's leaning contact and the Melbourne centre hit the floor. "He ripped the chair out from under him!"

Back to Williams who, late in the first quarter gave us: "One thing I'm liking about Demopoulos is that he's going with a short rotation. He's not playing around this time of year. He knows how important this win is."

When Williams made this particularly astute observation, Demopoulos was subbing out Kyle Adnam, having already played Stephen Holt, Chris Goulding, Todd Blanchfield, Majok Majok, Daniel Kickert, Nate Tomlinson, Hakim Warrick, Brad Hill, Owen Odigie and Adnam IN THE FIRST QUARTER. Maybe he'd shortened his rotation by not subbing in Mike Kelly?

So much for a TV colleague's observation Williams is a new type of commentator, one who tells us what we can already see. In this instance he was telling us something that was 100 per cent incorrect.

Finally to Cairns and again, some sharp commentary, wit and insight from the team of Derek Rucker and Matt Russell, completing what was a great week for the NBL on Fox Sports.

 

BIGGEST WINNERS/LOSERS

THE Adelaide 36ers were the round's biggest winners, taking out Sydney and Melbourne in classic come-from-behind performances in front of near 7,000-strong crowds both nights at a Titanium Security Arena resembling Staples Center. Adelaide was the place to be in Round 16, as you can see below.

NEW Zealand dropped both games of the Sunshine Swing to make it six straight losses as the quest to defend the championship becomes a longer shot each week. Tom Abercrombie had two good open looks to cement the win in Cairns where the loss burned even deeper, making the Breakers the round's biggest loser.

IN the quest for the WNBL top four, Bendigo took a big step by beating playoff rival Sydney, making it the round's biggest winner.

BY the same token, Dandenong dropping at home to lowly Adelaide, which it beat IN Adelaide in the previous round, seriously compromised its playoff chances, making the Rangers the round's biggest loser.

NBL Round 16

ADELAIDE 36ERS 96 (Randle 41, Ere 19, Creek 15; Walker, Petrie 7 rebs; Gibson 7 assts) d SYDNEY KINGS 89 (Childress 27, Garlepp 16, Cadee 14, Prewster 10; Brandt 7 rebs; Cadee, Garlepp 4 assts) at The Fortress, Titanium Security Arena. TOWNSVILLE CROCODILES 89 (Steindl 23, Samhan 16, Norton 14; Samhan 12 rebs; Norton 6 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 66 (Wesley 13, Webster 12, Ce Jackson 11; Ch Jackson 7 rebs; Wesley, Vukona 3 assts) at The Swamp, Townsville Ent Centre; PERTH WILDCATS 95 (Beal 22, Prather 20, Jawai 18, Wagstaff 14; 3 with 6 rebs; Martin 6 assts) d ILLAWARRA HAWKS 72 (Forman 17, Coenraad 16, Lisch 14, Ogilvy 12; Lisch, Forman 6 rebs; Martin 4 assts) at The Jungle, Perth Arena. ADELAIDE 36ERS 90 (Randle 26, Ere 16, Creek 15, Johnson 14; Johnson, Petrie 11 rebs; Petrie, Randle 5 assts) d MELBOURNE UNITED 81 (Blanchfield 15, Kickert, Goulding 12, Warrick 11, Holt 10; Goulding 9 rebs; Tomlinson 4 assts) at The Fortress, Titanium Security Arena. CAIRNS TAIPANS 90 (Gliddon 23, Starks 19, Bruce 14, Craig 13; Craig 8 rebs; 3 with 3 assts) d NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 87 (Abercrombie 23, Ce Jackson 20, Pledger 12, Webster 11; Vukona 9 rebs; Ce Jackson 6 assts) at Cairns Convention Centre. CAIRNS @ PERTH tonight.

WNBL, Round 14

BENDIGO SPIRIT 81 (Griffin 28, Richards 25, Harrington 11; Griffin 15 rebs; Snell 9 assts) d SYDNEY UNI FLAMES 66 (Ebzery 18, Wilson 11, Tupaea 10; Boag 10 rebs; Tupaea 5 assts) at "Whiskey Cabinet", Bendigo Stadium. ADELAIDE LIGHTNING 77 (Ruef 21, Mitchell 17,K Bowen 11; Ruef 14 rebs; Mitchell 5 assts) d DANDENONG RANGERS 63 (Pickrel 17, Kennedy 10, Cumming, Blicavs 9; Kennedy 7 rebs; 4 with 3 assts) at "The Park", Dandenong Basketball Stadium. SEQ STARS 115 (Mansfield 33, Jarry 31, Hooper 23, Ibekwe 14, Payne 11; Ibekwe 12 rebs; Mansfield 8 assts) d CANBERRA CAPITALS 75 (Bishop 23, Bibby 18, Montgomery 16; Bishop 7 rebs; Talbot, Montgomery 2 assts) at "The Galazy", Logan Metro Indoor Sports Centre. TOWNSVILLE FIRE 97 (Batkovic 37, Novosel 15, George 12, Garbin, Gaze 11; George 10 rebs; Novosel 6 assts) d CANBERRA CAPITALS 83 (Stallworth 26, Montgomery 20, Bishop 13; Stallworth 10 rebs; Montgomery 8 assts) at "the Fire Side", Townsville RSL Stadium. PERTH LYNX 76 (Laney 19, Mijovic 16, Whitcomb 9; Laney 11 rebs; Laney 8 assts) d ADELAIDE LIGHTNING 67 (Mitchell 19, Ruef 13, Dombkins 11; Ruef 14 rebs; Ruef 4 assts) at "The Rave", Bendat Basketball Centre. DANDENONG @ MELBOURNE tonight.

 

PS

FORMAN ... WITH OSCAR