The 2012 NBL Blog “B” Grade NBL Championship

With the finals series underway and an upset in the making the pointy end of the season has started with a bang.  But what about the teams left out of these festivities, why can’t they have some glory.  The NCAA has the NIT and the NBL Dream Team has a minor championship (which I came runners up to in my league), so why can’t the NBL have a second tier trophy for teams to fight over.  As the NBL Finals MVP award is named after Larry Sengstock who won five championships in his career, the minor championship’s MVP award is named after Simon Dwight who took his West Sydney Razorbacks to one game of winning the championship in both 2002 and 2004, the only times the team made it to the finals.

I will be simulating what would happen to this season’s B Grade championship through very complex algorhythms, processed by a supercomputer that can compare to the best technology that the CIA and FBI combined cannot afford.  Or it would have been if I could be bothered, so here is my take.

 This year the B-Finals is sponsored by The NBL Blog who is contributing massive amounts of funding and advertising space for this tournament, please see www.thenblblog.blogspot.com for more details.

The 2012 NBL Blog “B” Grade NBL Championship

(The team on top have home court advantage)

Game 1 - #4 Wollongong Hawks vs. Adelaide 36ers

After their shellacking by the Hawks in the last game of the season, Adelaide wanted revenge.  The Wollongong crowd wanted to keep this season going to honour their retiring hero and the home side got out to a blinder, getting out to a 27-15 first quarter lead behind Oscar Forman who had 12 points on 4/5 shooting from behind the arc.  Luckily for the 36ers it wouldn’t be a repeat of their last meeting, going on a 14-5 run to bring it to within three points, where both teams battled to a draw and at half time the Hawks led 52-49.  The best players so far on each team were Rhys Martin who had 10 points and a whopping 8 assists, while Diamon Simpson was doing it all by himself, racking up 18 first half points to go with 5 rebounds.

In the second half both teams fought gallantly but Adelaide just couldn’t get in front, tying the game twice but never taking the lead.  Stephen Weigh was having a shocker, going 3-14 from the field through three quarters with 4 turnovers.  The third quarter ended with the home side up by five, 67-62.  Starting the fourth the crow-eaters turned on the jets, breaking out a 10-0 run to silence the home side and take the lead behind Daniel Johnson who had finally broken the shackles of Larry Davidson who was now in foul trouble, with rarely used Daniel Jackson having to be used.  The game wasn’t over yet and with three minutes to go Wollongong went on their own run to wrestle the lead back and from there the home side took the game out and lived to see another battle, winning 85-79.

Notable performance (Wollongong) – Rhys Martin: 13 points (5/13 FG), 3 rebounds, 13 assists, 5 turnovers.

Notable performance (Adelaide) – Diamon Simpson: 26 points (11/18 FG), 12 rebounds, 3 blocks.

Game 2 - #1 Cairns Taipans vs. #4 Wollongong Hawks

Doubling up is always tough but going up against a team that was in the proper finals chase is a massive undertaking.  For the Taipans, they wanted to show the league that they are finals material.  Unfortunately for them, Wollongong still had the hot hand and tore through the home side like they were a dead snake.  The Hawks had a massive 24-6 lead with two minutes remaining in the first quarter with veteran Mat Campbell already going to the line six times, making them all.  Andrew Warren was the main culprit as he missed all of his five shots and receiving a spray in a time out from Dusty Rychart, demanding that Jamar Wilson get the ball more as the Taipans’ top scorer not putting a shot up in the whole quarter.  At the first break Wollongong was leading 26-10.

The home crowd was uneasy and with good reason, as Cairns was renowned for a grinding style of play.  They didn’t disappoint in the second and third quarter, outscoring the Hawks by twenty points while keeping the visitors to only 22 points in those two quarters.  After that the Hawks had run out of luck and were steamrolled in the final term, losing to the Taipans by twelve, 76-64.

Notable performance (Cairns) – Alex Loughton: 15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals.

Notable performance (Wollongong) – Mat Campbell: 17 points, 5 rebounds.

Game 3 - #2 Melbourne Tigers vs. #3 Sydney Kings

A game between the two biggest cities is always a big deal and with the rambunctious crowd at The Cage it was ramped up to eleven.  The Kings behind Shane Heal were ready to go and showed uncharacteristic ‘mongrel-ness’, winning both the first and second terms to take a fifteen point lead at the half.  Julian Khazzouh was a man among boys, notching up a whopping 12 rebounds to go with his 14 points while Cameron Tragardh was having a stinker, shooting 4-10 while being hamstrung with fouls.  The second half wasn’t much different apart from a small comeback from the Tigers that brought the lead back to single digits but the Kings were just too composed and won the game easily and causing the first upset of the tournament, the final score 80-63.

Notable performance (Melbourne) – Myron Allen: 16 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 7 turnovers.

Notable performance (Sydney) – Julian Khazzouh: 25 points, 15 rebounds, 3 blocks.

The 2012 NBL Blog “B” Grade NBL Championship – Championship Game

Game 4 - #1 Cairns Taipans vs. #3 Sydney Kings

Here it is the massive game that over 10 people will see.  Obviously it is not being telecast on One HD, they would rather show a repeat of the 2005 movie Aeon Flux, starring Charlize Theron that no one will ever see.

But onto the game, the crowd is packed and the teams are raring to go.  Unfortunately most of the energy was nervousness, with both teams making silly plays and taking bad shots, as the first quarter total shows – 12-10.  Yuck.  They opened up a little in the second, with Jamar Wilson hitting two quick three pointers and was fouled in the space of about a minute and a half, pushing the Taipans’ lead out to ten points at the half time break with the score at 47-37.  Julian Khazzouh was being doubled teamed for most of the half, shown by his 2-6 shooting.  He should have heaps of assists if his perimeter players could shoot as they have missed quite a few easy kick out shots that would have had the Kings closer than the score indicates.

The second half started like the second quarter started, with both teams trading baskets until the Kings went on a run behind Ben Madgen who was finally hitting shots that he was missing in the first half and the score was all knotted up before Kerry Williams made a cameo at the buzzer, hitting a half court shot that set the crowd alight.  It would be his only made basket.  Cairns – 66, Sydney – 63. 

The final quarter of both their season’s was electric, with massive shots, hard fouls and a minor scuffle when Aaron Grabau pushed Anatoly Bose out of bounds, causing the rest of the Kings players to fight for him, but after the players were separated it was shown on the replay that Bose had flopped, causing the Cairns crowd to boo him every time he touched the ball for the remainder of the game.  With thirty second left on the clock the score was tied and after coming out of a time out the ball was given to Jamar Wilson who calmly crossed over Luke Martin and drained a mid range floater over the stretched out arms of Jerai Grant with seven seconds on the clock.  Cairns by two.  Another time out ensues, with Sydney drawing up what could be their final shot of the season.  The ball is inbounded by Ben Madgen to Anatoly Bose who dribbled twice, pumped faked and shot over two defenders.  The ball bounced once, twice and rolled out to the left as Cairns pulled off the win 88-86.  The crowd erupts as Bose crumples to the ground while Julian Khazzouh looks to the scoreboard.  Jamar Wilson and Ian Crosswhite are celebrating at midcourt while Aaron Fearne is calmly shaking Shane Heal’s hand before joining in on the party.

Notable performance (Cairns) – Jamar Wilson: 20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists.

Notable performance (Sydney) – Ben Madgen: 24 points.

At the podium the Cairns Taipans are awarded their medals while Jamar Wilson was given the Simon Dwight Award for Most Valuable Player.  Congratulations to the Cairns Taipans who have won The 2012 NBL Blog “B” Grade NBL Championship!