New zeland Breakers defeated Wollongong Hawks
Perth Wildcats defeated Adelaide 36ers
Cairns Taipans trounced Townsville Crocodiles
Sydney Kings defeated Melbourne Tigers
Even though it was only the first round it was great to see where each team is looking to sit on the ladder this year with the league having more parity then last year. For me it looks like Perth, New Zealand and Adelaide should be in the top four for most of the season. It will be a tough fight for the fourth spot with Cairns and Melbourne looking like they could get very strong.
Cairns look to be a well built team with some great guards surrounded by excellent shooters. Jamar Wilson excploded to 27 points coming off the bench for Cairns and if he continues to come off the bench is a guaranteed best 6th man. After their first games performance possible MVP candidate. However this was against the weakest team in the league in the NBL and round 1 really showed many of their flaws. Having clawed their way back into the NBL this season if Townsville notch up some wins it will be by shear hard work. But thats what Townsville is know for and i think they can fight their way to a few wins, but will mostly likely remain as the cellar dwellars on the ladder.
Perth look very good and their star import James Ennis will explode as a star in the league, if he remains all year a MVP favourite but he will likely return to the NBA should the Miami Heat get any injuries. Adelaide showed off the depth of their bench being able to contend with a nearly full strength Perth team (missing Matt Knight) missing two starting players in Adam Gibson and Jarryd Frye.
New Zealand showed their everpresent strength in the win over the Hawks and the depth of their bench will also be a big factor to their progress through the season. This however wil be where Wollongong falters their bench is not as deep as other teams in the league and they will heavily rely on the starting 5 players. However when Rhys Martin gets healthy and if he can play like he was last year and with the precise shooting of Rotnei Clark they can still be threat to any team they play.
Sydney defeated Melbourne but it was a close game and emphasised the strength Melbourne would have been had they still had Stephen Dennis and a healthy Chris Goulding. Mark Worthington showed off why he was a boomer in the last two olympics and looked like he could do what he wanted on the offensive end and made some important stops and blocks on the defensive end. James Harvey had a great game for the Kings and brought home the victory with some hot shooting finishing with 19 points. It will be great to finally see a healthy James harvey this season, lets hope he can stay that way.
From what we have seen in Round 1 it should be an great season with some very exciting imports and with the altered style in reffing we may finally get to see them show off their skills without being hampered down with a rubgy style basketball the NBL has been renowned for.
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