Championship Heartbreak for NBL23 Stars

Saturday, June 17, 2023

Brisbane forward DJ Mitchell’s European off-season adventure came to a close this morning.

Brisbane forward DJ Mitchell’s European off-season adventure came to a close this morning, as his Slask Wroclaw side fell to King Szczecin in Game 6 of the Polish Basketball League Finals.

Slask had fought back from 3-0 down in the best of seven series to pull themselves back into contention at 3-2, but Szczecin proved too strong and ran out as 20-point winners in the decisive game – largely thanks to the 24 and 20-point performances from American pair Bryce Brown and Zac Cuthbertson.

Mitchell hit the floor for 26 minutes in the decisive game and scored 13 points – the second most of any player in his side during the contest. He also added three assists and a pair of blocks.

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Overall, he played 22 games for Slask and averaged 5.8 points per contest.

A pair of NBL23 imports also experienced playoff heartbreak in France, as TaShawn Thomas and Barry Brown Jr’s Metropolitans 92 side were swept by Monaco in the finals of the French LNB Pro A.

Thomas added 20 points and five assists in the Game 3 defeat, while Brown Jr scored nine points.

Former Breakers import Hugo Besson played just five minutes from the bench.

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The clash against Monaco loomed as the final game in Mets colours for projected number one draft pick Victor Wembanyama and likely lottery selection Bilial Coulibaly.

Wembanyama finished the game with 22 points and eight boards, while Coulibaly scored eight points and had four rebounds.