NBL wrap - round 8

I just noticed its been 6 days since I posted last ... yes, I'm in shock too! I have a good excuse tho ... I was actually out of the office from Thursday for a wedding/long-weekend in Byron. So no laptop and I didn't get back until Sunday and work has been flat-out this week.

Anyway, enough of the excuses, let's wrap up the numbers that matter from Round 8 in the NBL:

Blaze 115 Crocs 106

For the Blaze:

Shane Heal 26 points (including 6 triples), 7 assists, 7 turnovers
Luke Whitehead 19 points, 10 boards

For the Crocs:

Rosell Ellis 23 points, 8 boards, 4 steals
Russell Hinder 18 points, 9 boards, 4 blocks
John Rillie is the devil!! 6 points, 6 boards, 6 assists ... SPOOKY

Congratulations to the Blaze on their first win, it had to happen eventually, its unfortunate the Crocs were the victim. The Crocs came out of the blocks SLOW and were down by 27 at the half. They charged home in the second half but it was too little too late. JR only had 6 shots in 34 minutes ... get him the ball people! B-Rad even jacked up 11 in his 16 minutes. Townsville shot a horrific 20 of 40 from the free-throw line and that was with Kelvin Robertson hitting 8 of 9.

36ers 96 Breakers 86

For the 36ers:

Adam Ballinger 22 points, 9 boards
Mark Tyndale 21 points, 9 boards, 4 assists
Luke Schenscher 20 points ... not much else

For the Breakers:

Kirk Penney 24 points (an unfortunate 7 off 22 from the field), 10 boards, 6 assists
Tony Ronaldson 23 points, 6 assists

With no CJ Bruton and no Phil Jones ... even the 36ers can beat the Breakers. Penney tried his best but had an off night from the field while the 36ers dominated the boards 51 to 38.

Tigers 98 Spirit 80

For the Tigers:

Chris Anstey 20 points, 17 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals
Rod Gizzard 14 points, 7 boards but 7 turnovers
David Barlow 16 points, 4 boards

For the Spirit:

Julian Khazzouh 16 points, 5 boards
Matthew Knight 12 points, 10 boards
Liam Rush 14 points, 5 boards

The game was close early but the Tigers dominated the second half 54 - 36. Is David Gruber really an import playing just 15 - 20 minutes a game??

Taipans 71 36ers 70

For the Taipans:

Ian Crosswhite 16 points, 8 boards
Aaron Grabau 17 points

For the 36ers:

Adam Ballinger 17 points, 12 boards
Jacob 15 points, 6 boards
Luke Schenscher 11 points, 9 boards

The Taipans won the game despite shooting just 33% from the field (36ers were 38%) ... UGLY! The 36ers lost the game at the line hitting just 13 of 23 and were just 3 of 17 from downtown.

Wildcats 115 Crocs 78

For the Wildcats:

Shawn Redhage 18 points, 9 boards
Isiah Victor 15 points, 6 boards

For the Crocs:

Rosell Ellis 17 points, 5 boards
Cameron Tovey 14 points, 6 boards

I can only assume the Crocs were shattered from their loss to the lowly Blaze. The score at half-time was 60 - 32 ... ouch! Perth exposed the vertically-challenged Crocs winning the boards 59 - 35. Not a good weekend for Townsville fans.

Breakers 86 Tigers 84

For the Breakers:

Kirk Penney 25 points (including 4 triples)
Tony Ronaldson 13 points, 5 boards, 4 assists
Oscar Forman 12 points, 9 boards

For the Tigers:

Chris Anstey 19 points, 11 boards
Sam Mackinnon 12 points, 11 boards, 4 assists

CJ back in the line-up for the Breakers and despite losing to the 36ers they turn it around to knock off the Tigers. Bruton obviously helps Penney get better looks (than Henare) with a much improved shooting performance in this game. Ebi was just 2 of 11 from the field and Barlow was 0 of 7.

Dragons 95 Blaze 83

For the Dragons:

Mark Worthington 18 points, 8 boards, 5 steals
Matt Burston 11 points, 10 boards

For the Blaze:

Justin Bowen 26 points, 8 boards
Shane Heal 13 points, 5 boards

The Blaze started the game well after their win against the Crocs but lost every quarter after that. A nice introduction to the NBL for new-import Justin Bowen.

After Round 7, the Dragons continue to lead the league with 9 games 2 losses. One game behind are the Breakers and one behind them are the Tigers. Despite their first win of the season, the Blaze are still on the bottom of the ladder 3 games behind the Spirit.

Announced yesterday was that one of our favourites, Kirk Penney was named Player of the Week. Its not as prestigous as our Shooter of the Month award but I'm sure Kirk was pleased all the same. Penney is the first player this season to win the award for a second time and had averages over the 2 games of 24.5 points, 7 boards and 3.5 assists.

Now to the Vlade Divac Flops of the week. The runners-up are the Townsville Crocodiles for being the first team to lose to the Blaze and then getting spanked by the Wildcats and Kelvin Robertson (from the Crocs) for shooting 1 of 9 in the Perth loss. But the winner this week is almost everybody's pick for Rookie of the Year, Aaron Bruce of Adelaide for his woeful game against the Taipans. Bruce was 0 of 9 from the field with 5 turnovers ... the only positive for him was the 8 assists.

Shooter of the Week goes to Shane Heal (below) of the Blaze for his 26 points including 6 triples that led his team to their first victory of the season. Love him or hate him (and most choose to hate him), he still demands attention from opposing defenders.