Cairns go down to the unbeaten Perth wildcats at Perth Arena

The Perth Wildcats have kept their 7-0 unbeaten record alive at home in a win over the Cairns Taipans 75-68. Damian Martin was a monster on defense making life miserable for one of the best back courts in the league in Demetri McCamey and Jamar Wilson. Cairns were having trouble just getting the ball over half way for most of the match and Martin just kept picking up steals and intercepts finishing with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. James Ennis continued to show his skill making some big highlight dunks and some classy moves around the rim finishing with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. For the taipans Alex Loughton top scored with 14 points followed by McCamey with 13 points and 4 assists but had 5 turnovers.

Despite some big effort plays from Jamar Wilson the Cairns Taipans looked stagnant and didn't want the ball as much the Wildcats.  The play of the game happened late in the first quarter when Damian Martin made a steal and got the ball up to Jermain Beal who lobbed it up for a big James Ennis dunk. 

For the last points in the half James Ennis breaks Steven Weigh’s ankles with a nice fake going to the rim and has an easy little lay up and the score is 40-36. Cairns have been lucky for the score to be as close at it is with Martin dogging the Taipans on defence and Jermain Beal and James Ennis filling in the offence. 

Shawn Redhage got his 4th foul in the first minute of the third quarter and i think he played as many minutes as he had fouled through the game. The refs may finally be picking up the rough play he has been famous for. The Taipans did well on defence to try to keep James Ennis from using his exceptional athleticism by keeping him on the floor but some nice fakes from Ennis and he keeps getting his shots up.

The Cairns Taipans again come out hitting shots in the start of the last quarter with Cameron Tragardh hitting a jumper and Alex Loughton hitting a 3 and the score was tied 60-60. Each quarter Cairns played well in the first 2 minutes and died through the quarter mainly due to the smothering defense from Damian Martin. Tom Jervis had a big game with at least 4 blocks that weren't attributed to him. Between him and Matt Knight the Wildcats are going to be strong at the center position. In the dyeing minutes of the game Cairns were down and had to foul to stop the clock but had 0 fouls at the time so they lost preciouce mintues to get up to five fouls. When they finally get to the fifth foul the ref lets an arm grab go and martin gets the ball to Matt Knight for a jump shot to seal a game that must have been painful for the Taipans. 75-68. 

The Perth Wildcats in my opinion are becoming the Miami Heat of the Australian NBL. They have the big 3 in Damian Martin, Jermain Beal and James Ennis and they play a very exciting style of basketball, also unless your from Perth you want them to lose. But i dont mind watching them. Im really looking forward to the Sydney Kings vs Perth wildcats game next week with the supposed Ennis stopper in Sam Young coming into the lineup for the Kings.

Perth Wildcats 75 (Ennis 22, Beal 13, Martin 12)
Cairns Taipans 68 (Loughton 14, McCamey 13, Weigh 10

Here's a link to the alley oop highlight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8oPwqQdFOc&feature=youtube_gdata

Whether its the Return of the NBL star players or excellent team basketball the 2013/14 NBL season has it all

This week was a spectacular one for individual performances with several players showing their incredible talent to get their team the win or to come close. Chris Goulding scored 34 points for the Tigers in a win over the Cairns Taipans, Rotnei Clark scored 36 in a loss against New Zealand Charles Carmouch led the Kings over the Crocs and between Jermaine Beal and James Ennis the Perth Wildcats look unbeatable.
I dont think it would be since the late 90's or early 2000's since the NBL has seen such consistent high scoring outputs from individuals. Although it is only the start of the season things are definitely looking up for the NBL and the alteration on foul calls for the league seems to be doing its job. Not 2 years ago the leagues high scorer was only at 16 points per game. Now in this season Chris Goulding is currently holding those honours averaging 27 points per game and is probably on most peoples dream team line up.

The Melbourne Tigers are fast becoming one of my favorites teams to watch. With Goulding's high offensive
output and Mark Worthington doing everything he has to on both sides of the floor they are looking like a strong team. It sucks to consider what they could have been if they hadn't been riddled with injuries so early into the season and losing another player who could have been as star in Stephen Dennis.

The Perth Wildcats are unbeaten and sit far ahead on the league ladder with a great deal to thank to James Ennis who's high flying dunks have been the highlight of the season. Such athleticism like his has not been seen in the NBL since Leonard Copeland back in the 90's. Jermaine Beal who had a slow start to the season  for the Widcats couldn't get his outside shot
working has come back in a big way and has high scored for the Wildcats in their last two outings.

The Wollongong Hawks import guard Rotnei Clarke has shown how good he is on multiple high scoring nights but his 36 points against New Zealand was his best and was very entertaining to watch. With his impressive outside shooting he looks very hard to guard as he has a very quick step and blew past Kerron Johnson and Alex Pledger on multiple occasions last round. The Hawks other import Kevin Tiggs looks to be a very good player who seems to be having a dry patch around the rim after a shocker of a night against Perth where he missed 2 dunks and an alley oop. He looks to be very athletic and likes to finish around the rim with contact and can definitely put up some good numbers but he needs to get his head right for next round. I think those missed dunks haunted him a little heading into their last game.

The Sydney Kings Saw Charles Carmouch explode against Townsville for 33 points and they still have several star players who could step up and have some huge games in AJ Ogilvy, Ben Madgen and James Harvey. Ogilvy has been doing quite well on the inside but the outside shooting of the Kings has not yet been what it could be with Madgen still coming back from injury and James Harvey out last round.

The other teams in the league look to be playing a good all round team style with points being put in from all players on the court. Adelaide's stacked team goes nearly 10 men deep and Joey wants them to push the ball, which looks to be working. This looks to be the game plan of several of these pass first teams like Cairns who also like to run. Cairns however  looked a lot shallower when Cam Gliddon was out last round due to injury. The New Zealand Breakers have a had a slow start to the season but are again stacked with many talented players. The Breakers can definitely distribute the points around the team and with a pass first import like Kerron Johnson if the Breakers are hitting their shots, {and with players like CJ Bruton and Darryl Corletto they will be}they will come back to finish in the top four of the season.
The Townsville Crocodiles who are trying to stay alive after nearly going under in the off-season and are playing some great unselfish basketball. They are working hard to show they are still a threat and their guard Steven Markovic has shown himself to be an excellent floor general.

This season looks to be an exciting one and whether your wanting to see some impressive single person scoring from a star player or some excellent team basketball their is something for everyone to watch this season. Lets hope the high quality can be sustained throughout the season.

2013 NBL offseason recruitment and team guide

Since its been so long since i have posted here i will go into the teams playing in the 2013-14 preseason blitz tournament prior to the start of the season. During the off season their were some big changes to teams across the board. The biggest would probably have been the two best teams in the league last season have lost their starting point guard (breakers) and starting shooting guard (Wildcats). This is a big blow to these two organisations losing their go to player and probably the best players in the league both taking out an MVP award in the last two years. This has forced the two strongest teams to reassess the team make up and work at gaining some new imports. Every other team in the league seems to have decided to do a similar thing as their aren't to many imports that have managed to stay in the league or with their old team. Its a big loss to the league to lose some amazing players in not only Kevin Lisch and Cedric Jackson we also won't be seeing the return of Adris "to hard to guard" Deleon or Lance Hurdle who in my opinion were two of the most entertaining players i have watched in the NBL. However as we see every year each team has done a very good effort at scouting for more up and coming talents with several players straight out of College. Ill go over a few of the big picks for imports for a few teams this season.

Woollongong has had a history of being able to pick some absolute standout imports like Lance Hurdle and Gary Ervin and bring them to the league and this year we hope it wont be any different. They have recruited a star shooting guard in Rotnei Clark who gained a lot of attention in college scoring a 65 point game and hopefully he can bring that firepower to the professional level. They also just announced the signing of import swingman Durrel Summers who looks like he can shoot which the Hawks have needed since Glenn Saville retiring last year.





Adelaide are looking very strong with a similar team to last year which now contains 3 players who have put on a Boomers Jersey and played at the international level. Not only that but they have taken Gary Ervin from Townsville to combine with Adam Gibson for a very strong backcourt combo. Not to mention Jason Cadee on the bench this should be a strong team if Joey Wright can do a better job of coaching then Marty Clack could, who in my opinion took a championship team to take the wooden spoon.

New Zealand has a huge gap to fill with the loss of Cedric Jackson who hopes to make it to the NBA and have opted for a player straight from college. Kerron Johnson was picked up from the Breakers scouting and looks to be perfect fit. Standing 6'1" Kerron has an impressive resume from college In both 2012 and 2013 Kerron was named to the All Conference 1st Team and won All Conference Tournament MVP ahead of fellow Belmont guard Ian Clarke (NBA Summer League MVP) and Isaiah Canaan, who both recently signed NBA contracts with the Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets respectively. This could be play out to be a great pick up if he can bring his skills to the professional level.


The Cairns Taipans have held onto Jamar Wilson as their point guard import and with several of their players getting some international experience in the world university games they look to be a tall and strong looking team. Townsville recuited their imports early and I have not heard too much as to what to expect but hopefully it will be a better pick up then their first two last year who were sent home before their first game.

The Perth Wildcats probably had the best pick up during the offseason securing James Ennis who was drafter at no. 50 in the 2013 NBA draft. Ennis was traded to the Miami Heat and the Wildcats have him rostered until the Heat require him in case of an injury. Ennis is an athletic 6'7" forward who has an impressive leap and can play in open space. This is a great pick up for the wildcats and will bring more NBA scouting eyes on the NBL with a potential future NBA player in the league. Look forward to seeing some exciting plays coming from the Wildcats with some big dunks hopefully to be seen.




The Melbourne Tigers have been looking dangerous in the preseason matches so far and have gone unbeaten. The impressive playing from Chris Goulding has reached a new level. I think his stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers summer league may have given him some confidence and since joining the Tigers he has improved in leaps and bounds from the streaky confidence player we saw with the Blaze. The Tigers have managed to recruit Mark Worthington back to the NBL and with his impressive skills to combine with Adam Ballinger's veteran shooting ability they are team to watch out for. They have recruited import US guard Stephen Dennis from the NBA D league. Standing 6'6" he may have the height and strength to be a competitive guard in the NBL.

From the the offseason recruiting and player advancement i have seen in the offseason i think it will bring the NBL back to more level playing field. But my predictions for the Top 4 for a large portion of the season to be..
New Zealand Breakers
Perth Wildcats
Melbourne Tigers
Adelaide 36ers.

If the Damien Martin can get healthy and the Hawks can adjust to playing in Geodie McLeod's system they may be up amongst the top four also. Having said, I am impressed with all teams this season and look forward to a closer matched league then last season.