NBL Road Trip part Two

Wollongong Hawks vs. Adelaide 36ers – 25^th March 2012

Moving down the state, my travelling partner and myself descended onto the city of Wollongong to see the Hawks battle the 36ers in the much publicised last game of Mat Campbell.  Before the game we were walking past the stadium and saw that Geordie McCleod was being interviewed for the local radio station and after that had finished I was able to corner him into a photo and a chat.  He is a great guy, and even though he looked to be in a rush he was still able to talk to us about the Hawks and gave us a standing offer for next season to join in on a shoot around!  Pretty awesome indeed.

Onto the game proper, the crowd was ten times better than the Sydney crowd.  These guys actually cared about the game and especially the team and desperately wanted a win to send off Mat Campbell.  The announcer and the overall non-basketball related workers were very well versed in what goes into making a good basketball game and they didn’t disappoint.  I will definitely be going back to Wollongong next season.

Wollongong

-This game was over at half time, heck even at quarter time as the Hawks totally blew out the 36ers so it didn’t really give me much information about how the teams play properly.

-The Hawks still shot way too many three pointers but were again on target so it didn’t hurt them this time but I would still like them to go inside a bit more.  Having said that, I do love that their bigs can shoot which opens up the court for their slashers and guards to get into the key.  Having opposing centres guarding Larry Davidson on the perimeter would be much more enticing for a point guard than a big body clogging up the paint.

-For such a big man who has put on weight by the looks of it, Joevan Catron has really skinny legs.  I was debating during the Hawks’ warm-up that 165cm Zac Delaney has bigger legs than 198cm Catron.

-Oscar Forman’s defence is underrated.  I have heard that he is ‘soft’ on defence and is a one dimensional player and only plays offence.  What I saw on Sunday begs to differ.  Sure he will never be up for Defensive Player of the Year but he held his own against one of the best front lines in the league.

-Every successful team needs that one guy who doesn’t mind getting down and dirty.  New Zealand has Dillon Boucher while Damian Martin has no qualms about harassing opposition players for Perth.  In my opinion, Larry Davidson is the perfect brawler for Wollongong.  He gets in the paint and battles for rebounds, goes for big blocks and just makes a nuisance of himself.  Not in a bad way but in the way where he play elevates the entire team.

Adelaide

As they were completely blown out, they didn’t show me what they can do when they play properly so this section will be smaller than the others.  

-They didn’t give up.  Being down by over twenty points at half time they could have laid down and taken the loss and move onto the off season.  What they did was outscore the Hawks in the second half as well as the individual quarters, putting up 25 points in the last to only go down by 12.

-Daniel Johnson has a surprising post game.  His shots weren’t falling for most of the game but his footwork and soft hands in the post made me sit up and take notice.  His drop steps and post shimmys looked very good so hopefully he continues his training and hard work to become even better.

-Stephen Weigh was decent but he needs to be able to take games over.  Much taller than the usual shooting guards/small forwards Weigh needs to be able to take his man to the post or blow past bigger opponents.  He is that awkward size for opposing teams and he needs to use that to his advantage instead of being a spot up shooter.

-I would have liked to see Diamon Simpson have a big game but I guess no-one plays at their best 100% of the time.

-Strange to see Jan Warbout not getting on the court.  For the last game of the season and down by double figures you would think that Marty Clarke would have found some court time for the development player.

General thoughts

-I saw an actual Hawk (or other type of bird of prey) flying around the stadium which is one of the best omens I have ever seen.  I should have put some money on the Hawks because that was definitely a sign.

-Every time Mat Campbell touch the ball the crowd went ballistic was fantastic to see a whole city embrace one player so passionately.  He was given the keys to the city by the mayor and I wouldn’t be surprised if the court was named after him like Adelaide did for Brett Maher.

-I don’t know if it was just because it was a beautiful day but what I saw of the city of Wollongong was great.  It seems like a really nice city to live.

-The after game celebrations and ceremony of Mat Campbell was also fantastic and made for some great photos.  If anyone wants me to put them up on a photo sharing website just give me a message in the comments section.

After that game was a tiring five hour drive to Bombala and a fantastic weekend stored in my memory banks.  I will make it a point of interest to schedule in more NBL games in the next season.