NBL wrap - round 5

I know I seemingly went missing for a few days ... 4 or 5 days without posting, what's going on?? Ha ha ha, nothing serious, honestly. I had a massive weekend and just haven't had a chance. The weekend started on Thursday night with my regular APL poker game, Friday night I got an invite to a corporate at the QLD Roar, Saturday night I had a friend's 30th and then Sunday was spent playing in a State poker tournament.

Anyway, down to business and round 5 of the NBL season ...

Perth Wildcats 89 Wollongong Hawks 77

For Perth:
Alex Loughton 21 points (9 of 13 from the field)
Shawn Redhage 20 points, 8 boards, 4 assists
Stephen Weigh 15 points, 8 boards

For Wollongong:
Anthony Petrie 24 points 8 boards
Dusty Rychart 10 points, 7 boards

It really looks like the Hawks just failed to show up for this game. Glen Saville, Kavossy Franklin and Cameron Tragardh combined shot just 9 of 29 from the field.

NZ Breakers 120 Gold Coast Blaze 108

For NZ:
Kirk Penney 29 points (including 15 of 16 from the line)
Rick Rickert 22 points (9 of 12 from the field), 6 boards
Phill Jones 21 points (6 of 8 shooting, including 4 triples)
CJ Bruton 22 points, 8 assists, 7 boards

For GC:
Shane Heal 23 points, 7 assists
Luke Whitehead 22 points, 6 boards, 5 assists
James Harvey 17 points (including 5 triples)

Not too much D played in this one with both teams shooting around 50% from the field. The game was close for most of it but NZ pulled away when it mattered.

Wollongong Hawks 105 Adelaide 36'ers 95

For Wollongong:
Kavossy Franklin 24 points, 6 boards, 4 assists
Dusty Rychart 16 points, 12 boards
Glen Saville 14 points, 7 boards, 4 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals

For Adelaide:
Mark Tyndale 18 points, 8 assists, 6 boards
Adam Ballinger 17 points (7 of 9 from the field), 6 boards

Welcome back Kavossy! After a very slow start this is the sort of output the Hawks expect from him. Balanced performance from the Hawks, Adelaide started strongly but couldn't finish it off. Brett Maher continues to struggle for Adelaide ... 2 of 10 from the field.

South Dragons 106 Sydney Spirit 101

For the Dragons:
Tremmell Darden 22 points, 8 boards, 4 assists
Nick Horvath 17 points, 8 boards
Joe Ingles 17 points

For the Spirit:
Derrick Low 32 points (including 7 triples)
Julian Khazzouh 15 points, 11 boards

Sydney charged home in this one (outscoring the Dragons 23 - 14 in the final quarter) but it was too little too late.

Perth Wildcats 107 Townsville Crocodiles 93

For Perth:
Darnell Hinson 10 points, 10 boards, 9 assists
Shawn Redhage 15 points, 7 assists, 6 boards
Ben Knight 17 points, 5 boards

For Townsville:
Rossel Ellis 21 points (10 of 15 from the field), 10 boards
Homicide Williams 20 points, 4 assists ... 6 turnovers
Russell Hinder 16 points, 11 boards

13 days (the break between games that the Crocs had) is a long time in sport. 13 days ago they beat Perth by 17 and now they lose by 14. EIGHT Wildcats scored in double figures in a very balanced team performance. Apparently Perth's physical style of play knocked the Crocs off their game.

South Dragons 108 Melbourne Tigers 80

For the Dragons:
Joe Ingles 26 points, 9 boards, 8 assists, 4 steals
Tremmell Darden 18 points, 8 boards
Nick Horvath 17 points

For the Tigers:
Chris Anstey 27 points, 11 boards, 4 blocks
Sam Mackinnon 9 points, 8 boards,

Massive game from Joe Ingles, John Rillie said in his latest podcast that the game would be decided by the match up of Joe and Rod Gizzard. Joe wins hands down and so do the Dragons. Tigers shot just 32% from the field (without Anstey, they shot just 27%) and 17% from downtown. Its disappointing that this wasn't closer because there was a fantastic crowd of over 9300 on hand to see the local derby.

Cairns Taipans 102 Gold Coast Blaze 87

For Cairns:
Larry Abney 19 points, 7 boards
Stephen Black 18 points
Martin Cattalini 17 points, 7 boards

For GC:
Greg Vanderjagt 17 points, 8 boards
James Harvey 18 points

Cairns were too good and the Blaze continue to stink it up (0 of 7 so far this season) ... enough said.

For his outstanding performance in what should have been the game of the round, Joe Ingles was yesterday named player of the week.

For raining in 7 triples, our Shooter of the Week award goes to Derrick Low (below) from the Spirit. Considering no one is going to their games, I wasn't surprised that I couldn't find any action shots of him in the NBL. Nice shooting form in this photo tho.