Jordan Mcrae with the big 360 dunk highlight for Melbourne United

Jordan McRae had the the highlight of the season thus far in Melbourne's 88-75 win over the Wollongong Hawks. Mark Worthington made a big block which led to a fast break with a huge 360 dunk by Jordan McRae. The Highlight can be seen below.

Jordan McRae played for the University of Tennessee before being drafted at the 58th spot by the San Antonio Spurs and was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers on draft night. He played in the NBA summer league before signing a contract to play for Melbourne United for the 2014/15 NBL season.

Melbourne Tigers sign new import Mustapha Farrakhan

The Melbourne Tigers who are sitting at the number 4 spot on the NBL ladder just signed Mustapha Farrakhan into their line up to replace back up point guard Ayinde Ubaka. Farrakhan is a guard who after graduating from the University of Virginia largely played his professional career in the NBA D league and most recently in the LA clippers pre-season training camp. He arrived in the Australia on Sunday and given NBL approval should have his first game next round this weekend when the Melbourne Tigers take on the Townsville Crocodiles. Head Coach Chris Anstey had this to say,
“Mustapha has a skillset we think will complement the style of game we are trying to play and the skillsets of our players,”
“He gives us a different look and is more in the mould of (injured import Stephen Dennis). We are very confident he will help our group on both ends of the floor.”

Mustapha Farrakhan stands at 193cm and 82 kg and is expected to bring some athleticism and scoring to the point guard position increasing Melbourne's depth

With the Sydney Kings signing Sam Young and now the Melbourne Tigers signing an import with the hopes of being better then Ubaka the top four teams just seem to be getting stronger. Now that Melbourne have a strong point guard player who can score the tigers are starting to look very deep. If Chris Goulding continues his hot streak and if Farrakhan can take some of the pressure off of Goulding and Mark Worthington the Tigers have solidified their place in the top four. This season is really starting to look like one of the best the NBL has seen in several years. Star players are really starting to make statements on the league. The NBL finally looks to be back on the rise in Australia.
Heres a couple of highlights from his time in the D league and NBA preseasons.

The Adelaide 36ers held onto the lead to beat the Melbourne Tigers 90-87

In what was looking like a demolition of the Tigers by the 36ers in the first half of the game the Melbourne Tigers came back from a 26 point deficit to make it competitive in the final quarter, behind some hot shooting from Chris Goulding and Mark Worthington.

Scott Morrison started the scoring in the game for the Melbourne Tigers and from the start it was obvious they wanted to go to him a lot. The 36ers were utilising their whole team on offence and were slowly racking up points. Adelaide did a really good job on containing Chris Goulding in the first half with Adam Gibson containing him well and got a steal followed by a big block by Jarrid Frye. With 2 minutes left in the first quarter the Tigers had a 22-11 lead and were playing some excellent defense. Adelaide were dominating on the boards with 15-6 rebounds and the quarter closed 22-13 after Adam Ballinger broke
the drought for the Tigers.

The second quarter was very similar to the first with all of Adelaide working well to notch up the points but the Melbourne Tigers  could not get the ball inside and kept settling with a contested 3 point shot. Adam Gibson showed why he has received the defensive player of the year award in the past as he continued to lock down Chris Goulding in the second quarter. Everyone from Adelaide was hitting their shots with Gary Erving, Daniel Johnson, and Adam Gibson all hitting the 3 ball and the lead ballooned out to 48-25 with two minutes left in the half. Goulding got his first points in the game with 2 minutes left in half but closed the half with 10 points largely behind a tech foul which was called on Joey Wright for a comment to the ref which quickly gave Goulding a 5 point possession.
At half time the score was 53-33 with the rebound count heavily in Adelaide's favour 28-13.
Adam Gibson at half time commented on Goulding's hot streaky shooting "you cant give him the split of a second"

Opening the second half Melbourne still looked to be trying for the long 3 bomb and not hitting but on the other end Anthony Petrie showed them how to do it. Mark Worthington passed up an alley oop to Lucas Walker for the big jam and this where Melbourne got going, but were down 57-39. With the ends switched Melbourne started heating up with Chris Goulding and Mark Worthinton looking like they couldnt miss while on the other end Adelaide couldn't get one to drop and Melbourne were finally getting some rebounds and running it up the floor. Chris Goulding showed off some of his skills off the dribble with a nice smooth drive to the hole. Followed immediately on the other end by Adam Gibson bulldozing his way for a lay up. Adelaide were holding on to their lead but Melbourne were catching up and on the Buzzer Jason Cadee drops a long banked 3 pointed for the 36ers to go into the final break up 75-66.

Mark Worthington kept the Tigers alive early in the final quarter with some nice shooting and the Tigers defence had picked up again. Goulding was heating up again hitting some contested 3 pointers and by 5:30 left in the game the Tigers were back 75-77. Adelaide held onto the narrow lead and with 2 minutes left Adam Ballinger again made a big shot to take the Tigers down by 1 point 84-85. In the final minute in the game JOey Wright had something to say to his former player Chris Goulding and then Goulding immediately followed it with a missed drive. On the other end Gary Ervin made the play of the game with 40 seconds to go he penetrated into the key way and with the whole Tigers team trying to deny him the basket he threads the needle and dished the ball Daniel Johnson for an easy 2 taking the 36ers up 89-84. With only seconds left in the game the Melbourne Tigers were forced to foul on every Adelaide possession and were lucky with some missed free throws to keep them alive 90-87 with the final shot but a huge half way hail mary from Mark Worthington missed the Adelaide 36ers managed to hold onto the win 87-90 after dominating the first half.
Gary Ervin post game said "Melbourne, thats a tough team. Goulding and Wortho are the leaders of that team and when they got hot if was lucky we were up 20 to weather the storm."
"thats the difference with this Adelaide team to last years team in every game this year that has been close we have gotten the win."
Gary Ervin hit the nail on the head with that one and it could be largely due to his influence and late game heroics that have secured Adelaide several of their wins so far in the season.
Mark Worthington top scored the game with 28 points followed by Chris Goulding with 23 and the always consistent Adam Ballinger with 16
For the Adelaide 36ers Gary Ervin finished with 21, Daniel Johnson 19 and Adam Gibson with 13

Round 6 NBL preview

Round 5 only has 4 games this week but each one will be very competitive and with the Perth Wildcats having a bye week no team looks like they should dominated and each game looks hard to pick.

Friday night has 3 of the 4 games in the round being played with the televised game being the Cairns
Taipans playing the Sydney Kings in Sydney. This should be a close game, if Cairns lose this one they will slip to a losing record and the Kings will get up to an even win loss record.
According to the NBL injury update the Sydney Kings will be down 2 players in James Harvey and Shaun Gleeson where the Carins Taipans will be down last years rookie of the year Cameron Gliddon. The loss of James Harvey and Shaun Gleeson is not the biggest loss as Ben Madgen has started to get back to form with some big games in the last two rounds. However the loss of Cam Gliddon for the Taipans is very big, the Taipans look a lot shallower with him on the bench and will miss his outside game that has been very good early in the season. I'm picking the Kings to get the win at home by 6 due to the loss of Cam Gliddon for Cairns. It will be a tough fight for the Kings and Centrebet has the Kings at $1.81 for the win and the Taipans at $2.00.

Adelaide 36ers are playing Melbourne Tigers again this round this time in Adelaide. The 36ers showed their composure under pressure to hold their lead in the final quarter last round getting the win over New Zealand and Sydney. Last time Adelaide and Melbourne met the Tigers got the win at home in an entertaining game with the old Gold Coast Blaze players matching up well against each other. If Adelaide find a way to contain Chris Goulding then they should get the win with their depth of bench and good team leadership in Gary Ervin and Adam Gibson. However if Goulding and Mark Worthington get some early points for the Tigers they will keep hitting them through the night. This will be key for the 36ers to beat the Tigers as Goulding and Worthington their are the key players and if they get hot their hard to stop. If they can contain Goulding and Worthington early Adelaide should be able to use their height and depth of bench to carry them to the win at home. The NBL injury update has the 36ers with no injuries however i hear that Jarrid Frye may have an injury and might not be at ful strength. Frye has a big offensive output for the 36ers and if this is true may really change the game and going from Chris Goulding's 34 points last round I'm going to pick the Tigers to take the win against a very strong looking 36ers line up. Centrebet has Adelaide to win at $1.55 and the Tigers at $2.45. In my opinion this is the best bet of the week. The Tigers have shown they can beat Adelaide but whether they can in Adelaide is another thing. It should be a great game and my pick of what to watch for the night.

The last game of the night is the Townsville Crocodiles hosting the New Zealand Breakers. Townsville beat New Zealand last time they played in Townsville early in the season but with the breakers starting to play better as a team it will be a tough night for them to get a repeat. The Addition of Gary Wilkinson to New Zealand's line up has given them a strong outside shooting big man which may disrupt the Crocodiles defense. A good defense will be key for the Croc's to get the win. With the home court advantage the Crocs may be able to to hold the Breakers back however they will need some good defensive stops and for the Breakers to maybe miss a few otherwise the Breakers should get their season back on track with an away win over the Crocodiles. Centrebet has the Crocodiles to win at $2.75 and the Breakers at $1.45. I'm picking the breakers to win in Townsville by 12 however if its close in the final quarter and CJ Bruton isn't hitting his shots Townsville may squeeze out a win.

The Final game of the round will see Melbourne Tigers taking on the Wollongong Hawks in
Melbourne. Melbourne may be a bit fatigued after playing Adelaide on Friday as Adelaide love to run the ball. If the Hawks can use this and run the ball at every chance they may actually be able to make it a close one. The Hawks will be missing their center Larry Davidson and they will be very susceptible to some inside play from the Tigers 7 foot center Scott Morrison. The tigers should get this win but Wollongong always fight hard and I'd love to see them keep it competitive but I'm still picking the Tigers to win at home by 12. If your looking for a roughie to get the win on a punt Centrebet have the Hawks to win at $4.00 and the Tigers at $1.25. Rotnei Clark has shown his hot shooting with 36 points in a loss last week and if he can continue that form and somehow contain Chris Goulding there is no reason the Hawks might not pull off a win in the final quarter with a fatigued Melbourne line up on the floor.

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.

Chris Goulding leads the Tigers to defeat the Cairns Taipans in a spectacular display of skill with 34 points

The Melbourne Tigers managed to defeat the Cairns Taipans at Cairns on Saturday night lead by Chris "Bubbles" Goulding who showed his array of offensive skills across the game with some excellent drives, post ups and shot from long range, he finished with 34 points, 2 assists, 5 rebounds and 1 steal. The Tiger's walked away with the win 86-74.

Chris Goulding game out firing from the start with some strong offense, but Cairns had all the answers they needed with some nice inside passes from Demetri McCamey into Mitch Young and Cam Tragadh. The Tigers managed to hold the lead to close the quarter with a nice drive by Mark Worthington who passed it to Ayinde Ubaka who drained the 3 pointer closing the quarter 23-27.

The second quarter had some nice plays with a second decent dunk from Cairn's Mitch young and Lucas Walker nearly did a Tiggs attempting a big dunk but he at least managed to get it to roll in. But it was Gouldings play making that kept the Tigers in front with some nice spin movies around Jamar Wilson. 2/3 of Melbournes scoring was coming from either Chris Goulding or Mark Worthington who also had abig game with 13 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocked shots
. Goulding was showing his potential with some great penetration into the key way and excellent passes to the open shooters. Again Ubaka closed the quarter with a nice drive to hole keeping the Tigers with a 4 point lead 41-45.

The third quarter was when Goulding stepped it up getting 14 of his 34 in this 10 minute stretch and the Tigers had a 10 point lead by the half way point of the quarter. Cairns on the other hand only managed to score 16 for the quarter. Jamar Wilson who finished with 17 for Cairns managed to keep them alive but the onslaught from Goulding continued with 2 back to back 3 point plays.

The final quarter was played out with Cairns trying to hold on but couldn't pull back the 10 point defecit to much less then 8. Mark Worthington made a huge block on a Sean Bruce fast break which it looked like he lined up from the half way line. The Taipans missing Cam Gliddon looked a lot shallower and lacked the outside shooting that they can be so deadly from. Lets hops he can come back as strong as ever and help the Taipans with some confidence they looked to be lacking on Saturday.

In a post game interview referring to his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers summer camp Goulding stated, "it let me know where my game needs to go"
It looks like it really has as he is developing into one of the great NBL players of this generation, if he can keep up the consistency. Maybe Andrew Gaze has been giving him some pointers in Melbourne.

Melbourne Tigers 86 (Goulding 34, Worthington 13)
Cairns Taipans 74 (Wilson 17, Tragardh Weigh 10)

NBL Round 2 Weekend Preview

This weekend we see Round 21 of the NBL season with 2 teams playing 2 games across the weekend
for 5 games to watch for the fans on NBL.tv.

Friday night we have 2 games to watch with the first being the New Zeland Breakers playing the Townsville Crocodiles. This should be a relatively easy win for the Breakers who were looking their the goods against Wollongong last week and i dont think the Crocodiles will have enought to take down the defending champs this early in the season. The Breakers are a team that has on majority not changed much over the last 3 years and their expereince playing with each other should be enough to get them win.

The Second game for Friday is the Perth Wildcats playing the Sydney Kings in Perth. This should be pretty close match up. With the Kings winning their game last round against the Melbourne Tigers i think they will have some confidence going into the Perth Arena but in the end i dont think they will have enough to get the win. It should be close game and AJ Ogilvy should run rampert in the post but unless James Harvey and Ben Madgen are both nailing their shots James Ennis and the Wildcats should have enough to get the win at home. Should be the pick of games to watch on Friday with it being played on ONE HD at 9.30pm.
Saturday night again has two games being played with the first being the Adelaide 36ers vs Wollongong Hawks in Adelaide for thier fisrst home game of the season. The 36ers being down two

starter last round showed off their depth of bench and the level they will playing in the close defeat Perth. It will be great to see a full strength 36ers play against a hopefully full strength Hawks. The Hawks have added their second import who might play if his immigration and FIBA paper work goes through in time. The Hawks have the potential to be a very strong team but this early in the season with a new import to adjust to, i dont think they will be able to keep up with the new run and gun Adelaide 36ers. Adelaide should easily get the win this time.
The second game on Friday is the Cairns taipans playing against the New Zealand Breakers in Cairns.

This should be a great game with the Taipans showing how strong an offensive threat they have become this season with 100+ point 40 minute game in their win against Townsville. If Jamar Wilson can perform how he did last week Cairns should get the win. The breakers will be tired after their game the night before against Townsville and if Cairns are hitting thier shots they should get the win but it will likely be a tight game. I doubt the Breakers will let them get their own way like they did against the Crocodiles.
The Final game of the weekend is on sunday with the Perth Wildcats taking on the Melbourne Tigers in Melbourne. The Tigers may play Chris Goulding for limited minutes floowing a fitness test which may give them a bit more on offense but unless they can contain James Ennis Perth might get their second win for the weekend. For Melbourne to get a win in this game Mark Worthington must stay out of foul trouble and make his mark on the game like he did last week against Sydney. I think this should be a close game and is probably the most difficult to call. Id like Melbourne to get a win but i think Perth may still be too much for them untill they have a full strength Chris Goulding. As it stands they dont have enough of an offensive presence to keep up with Perth but given this is the Wildcats second game of the weekend it may be a close one.

Weekend Recap

Over the first round of the NBL we got an insight into what we can expect from the teams this season.
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.

Gold Coast Blaze sack playing roster

The Gold Coast Blaze have sacked their contracted playing roster and administration as the club awaits confirmation of a deal worth more then $10 million. Coach Joey Wright along with players Mark Worthington, Adam Gibson, Anthony Petrie and Chris Goulding have a been sacked from their current contracts. If the team can stay in the league and this new investor funds them into next season then we may see them get re-hired. However Mark Worthington and Adam Gibson may chase better pay in Europe having gotten some international attention playing some decent minutes in the Olympic Boomers Squad. Anthony Petrie in my opinion is one of the most underated players in the league and would make a handy player on any team and im guessing a few NBL teams would now be chasing his signature. Chris Goulding can shoot the lights out on any given night but having given such late notice in the year for a signing it may be difficult for Goudling to find an equivelent position in the league. Wherever these players choose to go im sure they will find a team within this league or bigger leagues throughout the world. And it will be interesting to see if the Gold Coast Blaze can manage to stay in the NBL for 2012/13 season or if the league will be reduced to an 8 team roster. On Monday we will see if The Gold Coast Blaze are still in the competition and what NBL teams snatch up these off contract players.

Australia defeats China 3-0 in the YouYi games

Australia defeated china 3-0 in the friendly Olympic warm up YuYi games. The games were played last saturday 9th of june, Monday the 11th and wednesday the 13th with Australia taking out each game. I was only able to watch game 1 so far with game 2 not televised and game 3 having a delayed telecast on saturday on channel 9 at 2:00PM. Game 1 was close with the boomers shooting abismally at 27% at half time. And the score line showed it going down by 10 in the third. But they showed that they can shoot and took out the victory by 11 at full time 55-66. This was largely due to the impressive shooting display of Peter Crawford in the last half finishing the game with 21. Mark Worthington played good hard basketball throughout his time on the court and if it wasnt for his poor shooting would have been the best player on the court finishing with 11. I hope people who doubted his effectiveness on the Boomers squad now see his skill and effectiveness. China played some impressive zone defence that seemd to stifle the Boomers who could not get access to an inside shot.

Game 2 was not televised so I did not get to see the game. Australia won 69-65 in a closer game with top scorer Aron Baynes 15 follwed by Mathew Dellevadova and Mark Worthington with 11. The game high scorer was Sun Yue from China with 22 followed by Wang Shipeng finished with 12. It was a close game throughout the first half with China at one point getting up 13, till the Boomers went on a 14-0 run and closed out the half 1 point in front. The final half was close in a high pressure defensive effort, but Australia finished on top 69-65.


Game 3 is going to be televised on free to air on channel 9, Saturday at 2:00pm. For now all i'v heard is that the boomers won but apart from that I'm trying not find out, sorry.

Gold Coast Blaze go into voluntary administration

UPDATE: NBL has released the statement that the blaze are looking confident to continue the club into next season.
“Clearly, we still need to allow the Administrator to analyse these plans and the overall position of the club in detail before we can be certain that Gold Coast will continue to play on in the NBL.  However based on the information we have so far, those who have been forecasting the demise of the Blaze since Friday are certainly premature and quite possibly wrong.”

The Gold Coast Blaze have opted to go into voluntary administration to combat their financial difficulties.
“The ownership group of the Gold Coast Blaze advised me late yesterday that they had placed the club into voluntary administration, and had appointed Roland Robson from Aggs Robson as Administrator,” said Basketball Australia's interim chief executive officer Scott Derwin. “The League understands that the Blaze took this difficult decision in order to act in a responsible, legal and ethical manner to try and find an appropriate way past their present financial difficulties."

This would all have come about due to the club owing Brandon Joyce a large sum of money from his contract which he was fired from in 2009. Also the extensive legal fees from trying to get out of paying Joyce the money that is owed to him. NBL has not made a final statement on the mattter but says that they will once they have spoken to the Gold Coast Blaze administration. It is unclear if this opens the Blaze players to other deals in the NBL teams as the team may go under. This must be bring back harsh memories for Blaze MVP Mark worthington being a part of 2 other teams that went bankrupt the South Sydney Dragons and the now back Sydney Kings. Gold Coast has an excellent arena and a solid team and coaching staff but could not get sufficient turnouts to the games. Sport on the Gold Coast is in a massive decline this year has seen the Gold Coast United football club go under, the Gold Coast Titans are owing millions and the Suns have not yet shown they can stand on their own two feet. For the fastest growing area in Australia it is severely lacking in the sporting arena. Perhaps it was a bad choice for the 2018 Commenwealth games.

I hope the Blaze manage to navigate their financial woes and stay in the league, as the NBL is finally starting to make a come back into Australian sport. If the Blaze do go bankrupt it would be good to see the Brisbane Bullets step up and take on the players and coaching staff and sustain the league at its current 9 teams.

Perth Wildcats 85 down Gold Coast 70

The Perth Wildcats defeated the Gold Coast Blaze 85-70 last night at "the jungle" in Perth. The Wildcats man handled the blaze to cruise to a 15 point win. The first half saw both teams playing some good basketball but leading into half time the Wildcats took the lead 55-42 with 5 three pointers in 3 min. Jesse Wagstaff had another impressive game draining the 3 pointer on consecutive shots with 15 points 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Kevin lisch also played well although Gold Coast did all they could to slow his impact on the game finishing with 12 points and 7 assists and was a decent defensice effort to keep him to a lower number with his high scoring ability. But when the Wildcats have so many offensive threats its a tough team to beat, especially at there home court. They finished with 5 players in double figures and Gold Coast were lacking for players to step up. Luke Neville was a force on the inside the giant that he is had 14 points 6 rebounds and two decent alley oops. Damian Martin was fouled out it the second half with 11 points and 5 assists.

Anthony Petrie had a very good game and was a work horse on both ends of the court finishing with 20 points and 8 rebounds. For a large majority of the game he was there top point scorer while he and Deleon tried to keep the Wildcats still within reach.

Gold Coast just werent hitting a lot of there shots and giving away to many second chance points on the boards. Deleon tried to take the game into his hands in the second half as they fell to a 19 point deficit but wasnt enough with his 23 points 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Mark Worthington, Chris Goulding and Adam Gibson just looked nervous missing some open looks. What happened to the Goulding of last week he couldn't miss in that first quarter against New Zeland.

The second half the Blaze were just managing to stay within reach of the Wildcats but never threatening to come back. Adam Gibson played limited minutes with a slight calf tear and you could see the blaze needed him at his best. Cadee was getting man handled when Deleon got a chance for a rest. After Martin came out with 5 fouls the Blaze made a small run at it but were slowed down with some impressive three point shooting from Lish and Wagstaff. From there it was just a slow down to the finish half way through the last quarter. Perth played smart and held onto there lead. Wildcats Coach Rob Beveridge was happy with how his team performed."We had been tested throughout the year and once you experience being up by 20 and losing a game, you learn from it. We've had our ups and downs, we know that, but we are becoming a very consistent team now and for us to put four quarters together like that was pretty good."

It was a very intense and physical game. Im surprised there weren't more injuries with the amount of contact the Wildcats were getting away with. Adris Deleon came off with an injury to the head colliding with Cam Tovey and big man Will Hudson hit the floor hard after taking a hit and a rebound and looked to have injured his hand/arm. Hopefully it wasn't serious and will still play later this week. Stephen hoar also looked to have injured his hand in a rebound contest. All might I add without a whistle being blown.

But the Gold Coast should have expected this and played at a higher intensity, harder... It was finals basketball and both teams will play with everything. If Gold Coast stand a chance on Wednesday on the Gold Coast they will need to up there game. But Coach Joey Wright is confident of his teams chances
"I thought in the first quarter we came out and for most of that quarter we were stable, but we had way too many breakdowns defensively which caused too many open shots," he said.

"We play with a little more confidence when our crowd's behind us and they probably play with a little less when their crowd isn’t behind them.

"That's probably the difference. When you look at the team stats throughout the year we almost mirror Perth so that crowd is a difference."

Mark Worthington will really need to step up to lead his team if they hope to win a championship. Adam Gibson will still be hampered from an injury for game 2 but looks like it should be another physical great game.

Perth Wildcats 85 (Wagstaff 16, Nevill 14, Lisch 12, Redhage 12, Martin 11)

Gold Coast Blaze 70 (Deleon 23, Petrie 20)

2011/12 IINet NBL Championship awards

The annual NBL and WNBL (huh?) awards took place in Melbourne on Monday night. It's basically one giant circle jerk tinged with washed up stars dressed suits getting wasted on free champagne and telling long boring stories of their glory days to the poor sonofabitches who happen to be stuck at their table. After the ceremony the winners all chip in for coke and hookers and get a room at the crown casino. We don't actually know because we weren't invited, but we assume that is what happened. Here are the results...


MVP: Kevin Lisch - Perth Wildcats

Kevin Lisch took out the Andrew Gaze trophy most valuable player award for this years iinet NBL championships. The stocky American took out the award with 105 votes just ahead of cairns taipans guard Jamar Wilson on 97, with Julian Khazhou coming third and Cedric Jackson in fourth. Lisch has played well all season and made his team far better with his contribution. He has recently married an Australian girl and is contemplating becoming an Australian citizen. He has also spoken of wanting to play internationally for Australia so we may see him suiting up for the boomers in the not too distant future. Lisch led the NBL in scoring at 17.6 points per game and also averaged 3.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game, appearing in all 28 of the Perth Wildcats matches.

However I still think Cedric Jackson deserved the MVP award but when your surrounded by a team that is as talented as the NZ Breakers it makes the system a bit tough.


Coach of the year: Andrej Lemanis - New Zealand Breakers

Coach of the year went to Andrej Lemanis. Andrej was unfortunate to not get the award last year but really shows his great coaching ability making that team so good even after losing Kirk Penney.


Rookie of the year: Anatoly Bose - Sydney Kings

Rookie of the year was awarded to Anatoly Bose. After returning from college in America Anatoly really blew people out of the water with his speed and surprising height and athletic ability. A lot was expected of Anatoly Bose coming out of impressive college career but few expected he was as good as he is. He averaged 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists for the season. He took out the award as a clear winner with 68 votes, to finish a full 30 ahead of second-placed Everard Bartlett (Adelaide) with 38. More can be expected from Anatoly Bose if he stays in the league but there is no doubt the rookie will have caught the attention of clubs overseas.

Most Improved: Daniel Johnson - Adelaide 36ers (no photo, apparently too ugly)
The Most improved player went to Daniel Johnson with the Adelaide 36ers. Daniel Johnson had a break put season with  averaging 16.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.0 blocks. People were even throwing his name around for MVP but don't think he played that well was just on a less talented team. Johnson won the award narrowly from Perth’s Jesse Wagstaff and Townsville’s Jacob Holmes, who finished in a tie for second.  Johnson polled 40 votes, while Holmes and Wagstaff each had 38.

Defensive player of the year: Damian Martin - Perth Wildcats

Damian Martin took out the award for best defensive player for the Perth Wildcats for the second year in a row and once again narrowly beat out New Zealand's Mika Vukona. Gold Coast's Adam Gibson came in third. Damian Martin is renowned for his full court high pressure defence and causes frustation for point guard's across the league. Apparently he can take a punch to the schnoz like a champ too (see picture).

Sixth man award: Jesse Wagstaff - Perth Wildcats

Jesse Wagstaff was awarded the best sixth man award. Wagstaff was the clear winner with 67 votes in front of New Zealand’s Alex Pledger in second place on 20.  Aaron Grabau of Cairns polled third with 15 votes.  The Wildcats star averaged a career-high 11.6 points per game in his reserve role, as well as 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists.

All-NBL First Team
Kevin Lisch (Perth) Cedric Jackson (NZ) Julian Khazzouh (Sydney) Mark Worthington (Gold Coast) Tom Abercrombie (NZ)

All-NBL Second Team 
Jamar Wilson (Cairns) Adam Gibson (Gold Coast) Cameron Tragardh (Melbourne) Gary Wilkinson (NZ) Peter Crawford (Townsville)

All-NBL Third Team
Daniel Johnson (Adelaide) Eddie Gill (Townsville) Damian Martin (Perth) Adris Deleon (Gold Coast) Jesse Wagstaff (Perth) Referee of the Year Michael Aylen

Referee of the year: ???
Nobody actually stuck around to see that award because lets face it their all corrupt cheating bastards who call the most ticky-tacky fouls yet turn a blind eye to something so obvious even Helen Keller would have seen it. No wonder we get our asses handed to us in international games when the ref's actually let the teams PLAY BALL.

WNBL MVP: 
two words: BUSH LEAGUE