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!

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.

NBL Road Trip part One

Last weekend I had the lucky opportunity to attend two NBL games, firstly on Saturday in Sydney and back to Wollongong the next day.  It was a fantastic experience as I don’t get to see many games live as I live about five hours away from the closest team (Wollongong).  So here are my impressions of both the Kings vs. Wollongong game and then the Wollongong vs. Adelaide matchup.

Sydney Kings vs. Wollongong Hawks – 24^th March 2012

In the first quarter the Kings looked fantastic, running the ball and catching the Hawks off guard.  The Harbour City Boys were also rebounding like crazy with Jerai Grant grabbing multiple offensive rebounds and that hard work got them out to a double figure lead in the first term.  Then all of a sudden they decided that the game was over and decided not to play anymore and had to scramble back in the fourth behind Anatoly Bose but that came up short as Ayinde Ubaka blasted them out of the contest.

Kings

-As said before they looked great for a half and then must have thought that the game didn’t matter and wanted to get back to the wannabe celebrities.  Some good news was that Shane Heal looks like he the players’ support and I wouldn’t be surprised if they can’t find a new coach that blows their socks off they will bring back the Hammer for another season.

 

-Anatoly Bose has terrible handles, as in he has a tough time dribbling the ball most times.  He can do one-on-one moves with a decent amount of dribbling but he should not be counted on to bring the ball up the floor when there is pressure defence.

-It was a hard time for Julian Khazzouh and he was very ineffective for the majority of the game.  Sure he had 18 points but he didn’t have any impact on the game and was content on shooting mid/long range shots.  Hopefully this game doesn’t show his immaturity and lack of mongrel, I would rather the best player on the team to really push to win the last game of the season.

-It was interesting to see Kevin Ratzsch get no playing time.  It was so easy to see that he wasn’t going to play in the game he was behind development player Jarrad Weeks on the bench.  I would bet my house that he isn’t coming back next season.

-The Kings’ defence was pretty bad for the majority of the game and their full court press was dismal.  The press was so bad that they didn’t disrupt the Hawks at any stage and all it was doing was taking a maximum of three seconds off the shot clock which just isn’t worth it.  They also gave up a few easy buckets because the defence was out of position.  Sydney’s players were also going under screens way too much which gave the Hawks plenty of time to line up three pointers which they made more than they should have.

Hawks

-I didn’t say much, or anything, about the Hawks in the game recap because they did heaps of great stuff that it needed to be put in their own category.  At the start of the game they missed a lot of shots but they were good enough shots that you knew that eventually the Hawks would start hitting them, which they did.

-What impressed me about the Hawks in this game was their ball movement.  They always had a look out for the extra pass and usually Oscar Forman was on the end of the chain and hit the basket.  During the Kings’ full court press Wollongong constantly looked down the court for the open corner player who would then look to drive or kick it to an open man.

-The guards were also impressive on offense and they made the defenders pay as they used the screens well.  Seeing the defender go under the screen (set well by both Joevan Catron and Larry Davidson) they would stay behind the screen and hit the open jump-shot.

-When Sydney made their late run on the back of Bose Wollongong had some very good shots that rattled out.  If those shots went down then the game would have been decided a long before.  Fortunately for the Hawks Ayinde Ubaka is clutch.  Hitting two quick contested three pointers the newest Hawk put the game out of reach and made the crowd sit down for good.

-The Hawks did shoot too many three pointers and should have been more focused on attacking the paint.  It worked in this game but if they want to play better during the whole season next year then getting easy buckets under the ring should be a priority.

General thoughts

-Sitting next to three wonderful ladies was a delight.  Whoever was sitting next to me was hilarious and made a fantastic point.  When a home team is defending the crowd usually chants “De-Fence” with hand claps.  This was pointed out that it is redundant.  If the crowd is telling the team to play defence then something is very wrong with how the team is playing.  The crowd doesn’t chant “Off-Fence” when the team has the ball so why should it be any different on the other end of the court.  I think basketball crowds need new chants.

-The PA system was WAY too loud and I was cringing every time the announcer was talking.  Please turn down the volume, I know we aren’t sitting next to you but you don’t have to yell, you have a microphone.

The support of Mat Campbell from the Sydney crowd was fantastic as he was given a standing ovation.

-Probably the funniest moment of the game was when the “Kiss Cam” was shown on the big screen, it landed on two very attractive young women, with the crowd roaring with approval.  Luckily for the two girls they camera quickly moved onto another pairing.

All in all it was a decent game, with many of the crowd looking like they were going to be in a photo shoot with expensive clothes and ridiculous haircuts, but I did get to see Larry Emdur so it wasn’t all bad.