2010/11 NBL season & off-season news

[CK]

Pondered a long time about how to word this, on the way home from the game.

Firstly, don't for one minute be fooled by the scoreline, that absolutely flatters Adelaide. New Zealand could easily have won this by 25, had they not switched off late. The third term, with Adelaide scoring seven, was one of the worst quarters you will ever see by a team, but that was a carryover from the second term. The turnovers throughout were bad enough, but the way Adelaide got absolutely, utterly, smashed off the boards was almost beyond belief. It improved in the second half, but after being 25-11 down at the point in rebounds, it had to. To put the night in perspective - Adelaide had 29 in total for the night. Thomas Abercrombie had 13 on his own for the Breakers.

I'm sure Ron Howard works hard at practice, but the signs so far are not good. For a night of two rebounds, one assist, four fouls, four points is moderate enough, but to then miss four foul shots is worse. General lack of offensive pressure and real weaponry to the game makes for a real worry.

Brad Hill had some really inspired minutes, in a breakout game of sorts, but this is more an exception than a rule. Having said that, he does look much more confident in the new regime.

Too much is left, each and every week, to Adam Ballinger offensively, and opposition teams woke up to this long ago. Darren Ng spent an inordinate amount of time on the bench, and then finished by being carried off the court with a leg injury – hopefully this is not too serious, but it did not look good at the time.

Recognising the youth of the roster, it simply doesn’t look deep enough, or offensively threatening enough, to really press better teams seriously for long. There are a few earnest journeymen sorts who probably wouldn’t get much court time elsewhere. 2011-12 will need to be a time of turning over some players along the way and giving Marty Clarke another year to instil his style longer on the playing group.

I just don’t know what to think of where things are going. Too much one good game, two ordinary games for the 36ers at present and it was reflected tonight in a fairly poor crowd . 5261 was the official attendance, but there were a LOT of empty seats and the atmosphere lacked a little at times. I don’t want to seem continually negative about a group that is trying hard, but some of the holes are like gaping chasms at present.

[BZB27]

there would of been even less there if the kids doing the camp werent there. I like the look of Mitch Creek but he got in foul trobule way too early yesterday. Eddie Shannon is a good player he just had an off night but I dont think Howard is the right import for the team we need another big BIG MAN to get those boards and help out Ballinger in the post.

[BZB27]

qtr time

Blaze 22
Hawks 15

[Gozu]

Pretty ordinary game so far. For whatever reason I reckon a good 80% of the TV games this season have been crap. Although Friday nights game was a cracker.

[Gozu]

Turned out to be a pretty good game in the end going to overtime.

[Gozu]

Round 13 results:

Cairns 86 (Crosswhite 24, Ubaka 19, Dorsey 15, Dillon 13) def Gold Coast 82 (Worthington 31, Clark 19, Gibson 13)

Melbourne 93 (Williams 26, Devendorf 18, Tragardh 14, Nevill 12) def Perth 86 (Weigh 17, Redhage 16, Williamson 14, Lisch 12, Martin 11, Majok 10)

New Zealand 90 (Wilkinson 27, Penney 25) def Adelaide 85 (Ballinger 27, Hill 17, Bruce 14)

Townsville 80 (Williamson 21, Blalock 18, Crawford 14, M. Cedar 11) def Sydney 73 (Sanders 17, Khazzouh 16, Gilder 11)

Gold Coast 87 (Worthington 21, Clark 17, Gibson 13, Hudson 13, Goulding 12) def Wollongong 86 (OT) (Ervin 22, Forman 17, Davidson 13, Demos 12)

[Gozu]

The NBL has cautioned Corey 'Homicide' Williams over his rants on Twitter after Friday nights Wildcats/Tigers game.

[CK]

The Adelaide 36ers advise that Darren Ng will miss between eight to twelve weeks with the ankle injury suffered late Saturday night. Options still to be decided for a replacement, if any.

[Gozu]

Bad luck for Ng he was just starting to come on with Shannon running the point.

[Gozu]

Corey 'Homicide' Williams interview on Overtime tonight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxpm-0yCDQQ

[CK]

Amazing situation for Wollongong tomorrow night. With an incredible injury list for the night, they are activating assistant coach Matt Finn to play. His last NBL game was in 1995.

http://www.nbl.com.au/hawks/news/articl ... -injuries/

[Gozu]

Doesn't sound like that Wildcats/Hawks game tomorrow night will be great viewing, CK.

Top of the table clash Breakers/Taipans starts in about 40 mins on One HD.

And speaking of the Wildcats they've signed former NBA big man Andre Brown as their second import.

[CK]

Doesn't sound like that Wildcats/Hawks game tomorrow night will be great viewing, CK.

Agreed. This could be a real horror story for the Hawks. Really difficult to see them getting within 30 of the Wildcats

Top of the table clash Breakers/Taipans starts in about 40 mins on One HD.

The perils of live TV and filming courtside huddles. Andrej Lemanis was very unhappy in the second term, looking for some real "****in' effort" from his team, down 35-43 at the break to the Taipans

And speaking of the Wildcats they've signed former NBA big man Andre Brown as their second import.

[Gozu]

I don't mind the odd swearing from the coach, CK. I think going into the huddles has been a great inivation by the NBL. Sure you might hear a Westover getting all worked up and drop an F bomb but it's great to get a feel for the tactical stuff and I remember a bit of a "someone please think of the children" argument going on at the time it first came in but they hear worse in the school yard at primary school.

[CK]

I don't mind the odd swearing from the coach, CK. I think going into the huddles has been a great inivation by the NBL. Sure you might hear a Westover getting all worked up and drop an F bomb but it's great to get a feel for the tactical stuff and I remember a bit of a "someone please think of the children" argument going on at the time it first came in but they hear worse in the school yard at primary school.

I don't have any issue with it at all and agreed, it's been great for increasing the "in the group" feel by the NBL and One HD. Just pondering how the powers-that-be may view it, in that particular timeslot.

[BZB27]

who won the game in the end i stopped watching at half time

[Johno6]

NZ won by 5 or 6 or something

[Gozu]

The 36ers vs Blaze game is live on One HD at 4:30pm on Sunday.

[bloods08]

The 36ers vs Blaze game is live on One HD at 4:30pm on Sunday.

Better still, get down to the dome where $5 from every adult ticket sold and $10 from every family ticket will go to Queensland flood relief appeal.

[bloods08]

Quarter Time

Sixers 31
Blaze 27