Crocs vs Wildcats

For the full recap of the Crocs win over the Wildcats in the first NBL sudden-death quarter-final, there can be no better person to tell you all about it than the game winner, John Rillie himself.

Click on the title below to read his full recap and to check out some footage of the post-game antics. Russell Hinder at his entertaining best.

(PS. No, JR is not 48 years old ... yet)

JR, On Fire

Perth Wildcats coach Conner Henry said he was disappointed with the space his team afforded John Rillie.

'He was getting free and finding cracks and once he hits one 30-footer it's on,' Henry said.

'He's been doing that in this league for a long time.

'How old is he? He's got to be 48, and we got beat by a 48-year-old three-point shooter.

'Hats off to John. I like John and he's a good player, but I'm disappointed in how we defended him.' Courtesy of AAP.

NBL wrap - round 14

Here are the numbers that matter from a big round in the NBL:

Tigers 69 Taipans 63

For the Tigers:

Ebi Ere 19 points, 14 boards
Chris Anstey 18 points, 13 boards

For the Taipans:

Martin Cattalini 16 points, 9 boards
Ian Crosswhite 10 points, 9 boards

This is the lowest scoring game in NBL history and both teams shot under 35% from the field ... ugly. Both teams around 20% from downtown. Ian Crosswhite was the only player in the game to shoot 50% (or better) from the field. The less said about this one the better.

Blaze 91 Hawks 88

For the Blaze:

James Harvey 37 points (including 8 triples), 5 boards
Luke Whitehead 20 points, 14 boards
Justin Bowen 15 points, 4 boards, 3 steals

For the Hawks:

Anthony Petrie 21 points, 5 boards
Dusty Rychart 16 points, 9 boards
Glen Saville 12 points, 13 boards, 4 assists

No Heal, no problems for the Blaze. Harvey shoots a red-hot 8 of 13 from downtown. Harvey's 37 points is the most by a Blaze.

Breakers 114 Spirit 70

For the Breakers:

Phull Jones 24 points, 3 boards, 3 assists
Kirk Penney 19 points, 8 boards
Tony Ronaldson 18 points, 7 boards, 4 assists

For the Spirit:

Matthew Knight 14 points, 6 boards
Jason Smith 14 points, 5 assists

Breakers smashed the Spirit in the second half 68 - 29. Breakers hit 14 of 25 from downtown while the Spirit made just 2 of 21. Spirit shot less than 30% from the field.

Breakers 118 Wildcats 94

For the Breakers:

Kirk Penney 32 points (including 6 triples)
Tony Ronaldson 31 points (including 4 triples)
Rick Rickert 20 points, 7 boards

For the Wildcats:

Shawn Redhage 30 points (8 of 10 from the field, 12 of 12 from the line), 7 boards
Peter Crawford 29 points (including 7 triples)
Darnell Hinson 12 points, 8 assists, 6 boards

The Breakers again smashed up the second half 67 - 33 and held Perth to just 9 points in the 3rd term. The teams combined to shoot 29 of 65 from downtown and the Wildcats shot an un-Perth like 20 of 21 from the line.

36ers 107 Blaze 104

For the 36ers:

Julius Hodge 31 points, 10 assists, 4 boards
Adam Ballinger 22 points, 12 boards
Luke Schenscher 16 points, 8 boards

For the Blaze:

James Harvey 23 points (including 4 triples)
Daniel Joyce 22 points (including 4 triples), 4 boards
Luke Whitehead 14 points, 15 boards, 6 assists

Sixers come from behind at home to get the win. Again, no Heal for the Blaze and they almost win the game. Both teams shot just 60% from the free-throw line.

Tigers 128 Hawks 101

For the Tigers:

Ebi Ere 28 points (10 of 13 from the field, including 8 triples), 4 boards
Daryl Corletto 17 points, 7 boards
Chris Anstey 12 points, 9 boards

For the Hawks:

Glen Saville 25 points (including 4 triples), 4 boards
Kavossy Franklin 20 points, 7 boards
Cameron Tragardh 19 points

Tigers shoot a solid 14 of 29 from downtown and dominate the boards 49 - 27. Hawks slip-sliding away and have now lost 8 straight.

Dragons 88 Crocs 84

For the Dragons:

Mark Worthington 22 points, 10 boards, 4 assists
Tremell Darden 16 points, 7 assists
Joe Ingles 17 points

For the Crocs:

Corey Williams 27 points, 11 boards
Rosell Ellis 10 points, 12 boards

Crocs led by 8 after the first quarter but lost the next 3. Townsville shot just 13 of 22 from the line. I'm not sure what is more surprising, Corey Williams hit a 3 pointer or that he attempted 3 of them.

Spirit 101 Crocs 90

For the Spirit:

Matthew Knight 22 points, 11 boards
Jason Smith 20 points (including 6 triples), 8 boards, 4 assists
David Gruber 12 points, 5 boards, 4 blocks

For the Crocs:

Michael Cedar 27 points (including 7 triples)
Cameron Tovey 8 points, 9 boards, 3 blocks
Daniel Egan 13 points, 4 boards

Tough for the Crocs to back-up after the close loss to the Dragons the night before. Sydney dominated the boards 54 to 35. The teams combined for 42 turnovers. If Michael Cedar keeps this up he will be hard pushed not to win most improved player.

After round 14 in the NBL, the Dragons are still number 1, 1/2 a game ahead of the Breakers. The Tigers are in 3rd with Perth and Townsville tied in 4th. Blaze are still bottom with 4 wins and the Hawks have dropped 8 in a row and are 2nd last.

Player of the Week was announced earlier today as "The Bear", Tony Ronaldson from the Breakers. He averaged 24.5 points, 5 boards and 3.5 assists in two big wins for NZ. He shot 53% from the field and 55% from downtown. Runners up were apparently Julius Hodge and James Harvey.

Now to the Vlade Divac Flop of the Week. Dishonourable mentions go to Rod Grizzard from the Tigers (for shooting 1 of 7 against the Taipans), Dwayne Vale from Cairns (for shooting 1 of 7 from the field and 0 of 2 from the line against the Tigers) and Kelvin Robertson from the Crocs (for shooting 0 of 6 against the Dragons). The award however goes to funny-man Russell Hinder from the Crocs for his 1 of 7 from the field, 3 of 6 from the line and 6 turnovers in his return to Sydney. "That's what I do!"

Finally, our Shooter of the Week brought to you by Shooting Basketball Tips. There were a number of outstanding shooting performances this week:
* Peter Crawford (Perth) for his 29 points including 7 triples
* Shawn Redhage (Perth) for his 30 points, 8 of 10 from the field, 2 of 3 from downtown and 12 of 12 from downtown
* Ebi Ere (Melbourne) for his 28 points, 10 of 13 from the field, 8 of 10 from downtown
* Michael Cedar (Townsville) 27 points including 7 triples
The winner tho is James Harvey (pictured below) from the Gold Coast Blaze for leading his team to a very rare win against the Hawks with 37 points including 8 of 13 from downtown. He also had 23 points with 4 triples in their narrow loss to Adelaide.

Around the league

The underground media in the NBL continues to do a good job covering the league and keeping fans up to date. John Rillie and DJ Rod have just released the latest edition of the OT while Andrew Gaze and Mark Bradtke are up to Episode 7 of Gaze TV.

The OT's special guest this week is Corey "Homicide" Williams who is hilarious as always. He certainly lacks no confidence and his street-ball stories alone make this episode worth listening to. Yours truly also gets a mention right at the end.

Gaze TV is good also. Drewey's interview with Russell Hinder after the Spirit game is hilarious. Russell is in fine form as usual and I cracked up when he dropped the "its what I do" comment. Its good to see the boys are now filming indoors rather than in the car park outside Tigers training facilities ... next thing they need is a tripod. The OT has its "dodgy accent girl" announcer, Gaze TV has a dodgy camera guy with a shaky hand! Also, still no mention by them about the OT.

NBL wrap - round 6

Another big/busy weekend (fantasy draft Friday night, buck's day/night on Saturday, cash poker game all day Sunday) so I'm only catching up on all things NBL today.

Here are the results and the numbers that matter from round 6 in the NBL:

Crocodiles 103 Spirit 101

For the Crocs:
Homicide Williams 35 points (13 of 16 from the field), 7 assists
Russell Hinder 20 points (including 5 triples??!!), 5 boards
Rosell Ellis 14 points, 10 boards, 5 steals, 3 blocks, 3 assists

For the Spirit:
Julian Khazzouh 18 points, 14 boards
Derrick Low 18 points, 4 boards

I had to look twice, did Hinder really hit 5 triples in a game?? That's more than JR, B-Rad and Kelvin Robertson combined! Hang your head in shame Croc shooters. Low-lights from the game was Kelvin shooting just 2 of 12 from the field and youngster Cameron Tovey going 2 of 8 from the line.

Taipans 101 Breakers 92 (in OT)

For the Taipans:
Ian Crosswhite 19 points, 10 boards
Dave Thomas 17 points, 7 boards, 3 steals
Larry Abney 13 points, 8 boards

For the Breakers:
Kirk Penney 21 points
CJ Bruton 15 points, 7 assists, 6 boards

The foul count went against the Breakers 28 to 11, giving the Taipans 34 shots from the line compared to just 6 for NZ.

Hawks 98 Blaze 96

For the Hawks:
Kavossy Franklin 26 points, 9 assists
Cameron Tragardh 22 points (8 of 11 from the field)
Dusty Rychart 21 points, 13 boards

For the Blaze:
Greg Vanderjagt 23 points, 12 boards
Shane Heal 20 points (on 6 of 20 shooting), 8 assists

The Blaze dominated the last quarter 28 - 15 but it looks like it was too little too late (just).

Wildcats 104 36ers 93

For the Wildcats:
Shawn Redhage 25 points, 10 boards, 4 assists
Darnell Hinson 21 points, 7 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals

For the 36ers
Luke Schenscher 33 points, 20 boards!!
Jacob Holmes 16 points, 10 boards

Tigers 110 Crocs 97

For the Tigers:
Ebi Ere 32 points, 9 boards
Chris Anstey 29 points, 16 boards
David Barlow 13 points, 10 boards

For the Crocs:
Homicide Williams 21 points, 7 boards, 4 assists
John Rillie (WELCOME BACK!!) 18 points, 4 assists
Rosell Ellis 12 points, 10 boards
Kelvin Robertson 17 points (including 5 triples), 6 assists

Tigers dominated the boards 59 - 43. Low-lights, Townsville shot just 12 of 27 from the line, Cam Tovey repeated his performance from earlier in the week again going just 2 of 8 from the stripe. Free-throw expert John Rillie was 0 of 2 ... very un-Rillie like ... but he had 18 points (his season high) so we'll not focus on the negative.

Dragons 94 Taipans 65

For the Dragons:
Tremmell Darden 19 points, 6 boards
Matt Burston 16 points, 16 boards

For the Taipans
Larry Abney 14 points, 10 boards
Dave Thomas 11 points, 11 boards

Low-lights ... umm, the Taipans final score? Cairns shot just 33% from the field and 15% from downtown.

Breakers 116 Blaze 113

For the Breakers:
Kirk Penney 30 points, 7 boards
Oscar Forman 24 points (including 6 of 8 from deep), 5 boards
CJ Bruton 17 points (including 12 of 12 from the line), 6 assists

For the Blaze:
James Harvey 30 points, 6 boards, 4 assists
Casey Frank 18 points, 6 boards
Shane Heal 16 points, 8 assists

Breakers win on the road ... but against the winless Blaze does a 3 point victory really count as a W? Blaze are 0 - 9 this season but are getting close to winning their first game (2 point loss to the Hawks, 3 point loss to the Breakers).

Spirit 99 Hawks 86

For the Spirit:
Derrick Low 24 points, 4 assists
Liam Rush 22 points, 7 boards
Matthew Knight 15 points, 10 boards
Julian Khazzouh 13 points, 7 boards

For the Hawks:
Dusty Rychart 22 points, 11 boards
Kavossy Franklin 15 points, 7 assists


At the end of round 6 in the NBL the Dragons are in first spot with 7 wins 2 losses followed by the Breakers with 5 wins 2 losses. Everyone's pick for the title, the Melbourne Tigers are currently 3rd with 5 wins 3 losses. The current streaks in the league ... Dragons have won 5 in a row, Perth 3 ... 36ers have lost 5 in a row and obviously the Blaze 9.

Before we get to our Shooter of the Week, we're going to name and shame the Vlade Divac Flops of the Week. There are two recipients this week, Cameron Tovey for shooting 2 of 8 from the line TWICE in one week and "shooter" Mat Campbell for going 1 of 11 from the field against the Spirit.

Now, Shooter of the Week was close to going to bigman Russell Hinder for shooting a surprising 5 of 7 from downtown but the winner this week is Breakers forward Oscar Forman (below). Forman gets the nod mainly for his 6 of 8 from downtown against the Blaze but he also had 4 triples against the Taipans earlier in the week.

(Yes, I couldn't find a decent action photo of Oscar)