Can Breakers pluck plucky Hawks? Questions, questions
IS there enough petrol left in the NZ Breakers' tank to take down Illawarra tonight in Wollongong and then actually give regular season NBL champion Melbourne anything of a semi final series? The answer lies in two hyphenated names - Jackson-Cartwright and McDowell-White.
Ta-ta Abdelfattah, as Hawks waive Patty
WHEN large numbers of your home crowd stick around to chant "sack the coach" and your team is eliminated by an under-strength but hardy foe in the playoffs first round, saying you're already planning for next year was a stretch for cut Kings coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah, waived the same day as Aussie icon Patty Mills.
Unbreakable, NZ the lionhearts and Ants on the march
NO Anthony Lamb. Will McDowell-White playing hurt and fouling out. Zylan Cheatham hurt, then rolling an ankle, then returning to play hurt, Mantas Rubstavicius tossed out of the game. Finn Delany a shadow of himself. Jaysus. What else did these careless Kings need to show heart? Didn't matter. Parker Jackson-Cartwright had all the answers.
Jackies-Hawks, Kings-Breakers launch playoffs tonight
WATCHING Tasmania and Illawarra do battle in the 3rd v 4th NBL "play-in" playoff today is going to be difficult because both are favourites, competing in the way basketball should be contested and featuring sideline mentors Scott Roth and Justin Tatum who actually know what they want from their teams.
Brad&Boti: Scotty on the 36ers and the future
FRIEND of the show and now Adelaide 36ers' NBL coach for the next two seasons, Brad Rosen and I were pumped to welcome back Scott Ninnis for this week's Brad&Boti podcast, and if you're a long-suffering Sixers fan - that last championship was 22 years ago - this is an interview you will want to hear.
Honeymoon period over for Ninnis at 36ers
SCOTT Ninnis at Adelaide 36ers has finally been allowed to shred the word "interim" from his extensive coaching resume, the Sixers this week confirming a new two-year deal for the only man to play an intimate role in all four of the club's NBL championships and much better equipped to improve on his previous stint as head coach.
Brad&Boti: Mercury rising for NBL champ Fleur
WE succeeded! If at first you don't succeed, try, try again ... so goes the old saying, so Brad Rosen and I persisted and yes, we landed a big scoop with Sydney Kings assistant NBL coach and soon-to-be Phoenix Mercury WNBA assistant GM, Fleur McIntyre for this week's Brad&Boti podcast.
NBL TotW20: Coaches to the fore closing reg season
THAT was one hell of a close to the NBL regular season, only Cairns, Tasmania, Sydney and Adelaide escaping Round 20 with a clean slate, while Melbourne, Illawarra and New Zealand contrasted great home wins with very interesting road defeats. Our Team of the Week was a tough call, last week's winner Perth this round going 0-2!
It's Bryce time: NBL Rd 20 Wrap
YES, you've found it. The NBL Wrap of the Round with every game reviewed is all right here in one place for your viewing pleasure, or otherwise. The playoffs are set, 2023 Grand Finallists Sydney and New Zealand in the KO "play-in" and Tasmania hosting Illawarra. And Bryce Cotton should tonight be named MVP.
United finds it, Breakers lose it: NBL
A FRUSTRATED Chris Goulding sparked NBL leader Melbourne to life over Illawarra before Adelaide consigned NZ to a KO road "play-in" against Sydney - can we not just call it a "top six" and not blindly and blithely copy the NBA all the time? - in what remarkably will rematch last season's Grand Final - oops - "Championship" Series.