Monday, December 29, 2008

NBL wrap - round 15

Not surprisingly being the festive season, round 15 in the NBL was one of the shortest you're likely to see. Here are the numbers that matter:

Dragons 117 Blaze 87

For the Dragons:

Adam Gibson 18 points
Nick Horvath 16 points, 5 boards
Joe Ingles 17 points (6 of 8 from the field including 4 triples)

For the Blaze:

James Harvey 25 points (including 6 triples), 7 boards
Luke Whitehead 19 points, 8 boards

This game wasn't ever close with the Dragons up by 15 at the first break and then 29 at the half. All 12 Dragons that stepped on court scored ... even Tariq Naqqash (development player maybe?) who played less than 4 minutes but scored 5 points. Dragons welcomed new import Donta Smith. Shane Heal returned for the Blaze ... it didn't help.

Wildcats 97 Crocodiles 76

For the Wildcats:

Isiah Victor 23 points, 6 boards (in just 25 minutes off the bench)
Peter Crawford 19 points, 7 boards
Shawn Redhage 15 points, 11 boards

For the Crocs:

Corey Williams 21 points (8 of 11 from the field)
Cameron Tovey 13 points, 6 boards

When things go bad for the Crocs they go very bad. Townsville shot just 36% from the field, 10% from downtown and 57% from the line. The foul count favoured the Wildcats 23 - 35.

36ers 109 Tigers 91

For the 36ers:

Julius Hodge 31 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists
Luke Schenscher 21 points, 15 boards, 4 blocks
Brett Maher 19 points, 7 assists
Adam Ballinger 18 points, 7 boards
Jacob Holmes 13 points, 13 boards

For the Tigers:

Rod Grizzard 25 points, 6 boards, 3 blocks
Ebi Ere 20 points, 10 boards
Chris Anstey 12 points, 12 boards

Adelaide jumped Melbourne early leading 62 - 38 at the half. 36ers shot 50% from the field while holding the Tigers to less than 40%. This win on the road stamps the 36ers as serious contenders in the league.

Hawks 121 Spirit 117

For the Hawks:

Cameron Tragardh 25 points, 4 boards
Glen Saville 22 points (including 6 triples), 7 assists, 6 boards
Lindsay Tait 20 points, 5 assists

For the Spirit:

Matthew Knight 23 points, 12 boards
Blagov Jenov 21 points, 4 boards (in just 19 minutes off the bench)
Jason Smith 15 points, 7 boards

The Spirit stormed home in the final quarter but it was too little too late. In a high-scoring game, both teams shot above 50% from the field. Good to see the Hawks finally get a win again.

After round 15 in the NBL, the Dragons still lead the league 2 wins (having played 2 more games) ahead of the Breakers in 2nd place with 3rd to 7th pretty tight. Blaze still stuck on the bottom.

I'm in early again so my pick for Player of the Week (if they have one for such a small round) is Julius Hodge for his game against the Tigers. If you picked him up in your fantasy league you must be killing it now!

Now to the Vlade Divac Flop of the Week. The nominations this week go to David Barlow from the Tigers (3 of 14 from the field in the loss to the 36ers), Jason Smith from Sydney (4 of 15 from the field and 5 turnovers in the loss to the Hawks) and I hate to say it ... my boy John Rillie from Townsville (1 of 9 from the field in the loss to the Wildcats). The award however goes to Justin Bowen from the Gold Coast for his 0 of 10 from the field and 3 turnovers in their flogging by the Dragons. Yes, Bowen has won this award before and his 0 of 5 from downtown proves that he still thinks he has an outside shot.

Our Shooter of the Week as always is brought to you by Shooting Basketball Tips. The runner-up on a countback is the red-hot James Harvey from the Blaze. Harvey shot 50% from the field including 6 of 10 from downtown but his team lost and he only hit 3 of 6 from the line. Honourable mention goes to Blagov Jenov from the Spirit from his shooting explosion off the bench against the Hawks (6 of 7 from the field, including 4 of 4 from downtown). But the winner is Glen Saville from the Hawks (pictured below when he played for the Sydney Kings) for leading his team to their first win in 9 games thanks to his 22 points, 7 of 14 from the field, 6 of 9 from downtown and 2 of 2 from the line. As a shooter, Glen is streaky to say the least ... he can either be good or very bad at times. Thankfully for the Hawks, this week he was on, especially from downtown.


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