Studs and Duds: Round 13

At the conclusion of each round, NBL Media’s Liam Santamaria lets us know who made the grade and who deserves a little shade.

STUDS

 

Adelaide 36ers

The 36ers were terrific in their only game this week, snapping Perth’s nine-game streak with a 15-point win.

Daniel Johnson and Brandon Paul combined for 48 points while Josh Giddey stuffed the stat sheet yet again with 13 points, 6 boards and 12 assists.

They knocked down shots, which helps, but it was Adelaide’s D that was particularly impressive. With Sunday Dech setting the tone and Keanu Pinder swatting shots, the Sixers restricted Perth to just 68 points; their lowest score of the season thus far.

“Full credit to Adelaide. They ticked all the boxes,” Trevor Gleeson said.

“They had an outstanding game and should get all the credit.”

That’s now two wins on the trot for Adelaide who take on the Taipans tonight in Far North Queensland. 

Melbourne United

These guys didn’t miss a beat in Round 13 as they took care of business on their home floor.

Melbourne’s victories over New Zealand and Brisbane extended their winning streak to seven and placed them back on top of the table.  

They’re the best defensive team in the league and are showing signs of improvement offensively, with their D sparking transition opportunities, Landale scoring inside and out and both Hopson and McCarron playmaking off the dribble.

“We’re looking at it like the half-year was a cut-off point and we’re now 4-0,” head coach Dean Vickerman said.

“For the second half of the season we’re trying to, if we can, beat our record for the first half of the year. That’s how we’re approaching it.”

Jock Landale (Melbourne United)

A big key to Melbourne’s success is, of course, the ongoing elite play of Landale.

The big fella has lifted his work-rate on the defensive glass recently and that, combined with his consistent scoring production, has resulted in four straight double-double performances.

This week Landale had 15 and 11 with 3 blocks in the win over New Zealand and then followed that with a dominant display against Brisbane, posting 23 and 13 with 3 assists, 2 blocks and 3 steals.

“He’s a damn good basketball player,” Andrej Lemanis stated, when asked about Landale.

“It’s nice to have him in the league but I hope, for him, that he’s not here that long. I hope he gets his NBA shot because I think he deserves it.”

Bryce Cotton (Perth Wildcats)

You just can’t keep the great man down.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BRYCE COTTON SENDS IT TO OT IN TASMANIA! ??? <a href="https://t.co/d7etCXoYJ8">pic.twitter.com/d7etCXoYJ8</a></p>&mdash; Perth Wildcats (@PerthWildcats) <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1381935933415563264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Illawarra Hawks

The Hawks dropped one to Brisbane to begin the round – a really disappointing loss – but showed all kinds of guts in their wins over SEM and Cairns.

The Phoenix victory was particularly impressive, with Brian Goorjian’s men fighting back from 17 points down midway through the third (and 13 down with 8 minutes to play). 

Two nights later the Hawks showed similar resolve; edging past the Snakes in a ding-dong battle in the ‘Gong.

“To lose that Brisbane game and then come in and do what we’ve done the last two nights, has been huge,” Goorjian said.

“One of the things about the build of a new program and the start is the culture and I just think the resolve is something to be excited about… I’m proud of my team and where they went to get this done.”

Of course, the main guy for the Hawks was…

Tyler Harvey (Illawarra Hawks)

Harvey was huuuuuge in crunch time against the Phoenix, scoring 10 of his 22 in the fourth, and then somehow took it up another level against the Snakes. 

Despite his team playing their third game in five days, Harvey poured in 14 of his NBL career-high 35 points in the final quarter to fire his team to victory.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">? HAWK-EYE ??<a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@illawarrahawks</a> sharp-shooter, <a href="https://twitter.com/YoungTRaaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YoungTRaaw</a> was on target in Round 13 ? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> By the Numbers powered by <a href="https://twitter.com/LaTrobeFin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LaTrobeFin</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1382137856617959424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

“He’s a scoring guard and I classify him with the great shooters that I’ve coached in that position, like CJ Bruton and Shane Heal, as far as a shooter and a scorer,” Goorjian said.

“That is a high, high class of player. I’m not comparing the players but as far as scoring and shooting he’s in that group.”

Cam Oliver (Cairns Taipans)

That Hawks/Taipans game was a good one and while Harvey was making it rain down one end it was Oliver who kept Cairns in it down the other. 

The big fella needs regular touches and on Sunday he got ‘em, rewarding his team with a season-high 27 points to go with 12 boards and an NBL career-high 5 assists.

That’s now three straight double-doubles for Oliver who has turned the corner after bottoming out a few weeks ago.

Oh, and while we’re at it, shout-out to Taipans DP Tad Dufelmeier Jnr for bobbing up with a career-high 12 points on Sunday. Apart from Oliver, TDJ was the only other Taipan to score in double-figures against the Hawks.

“Tad can play and it was great for him to have that opportunity,” Cairns coach Mike Kelly said.

“He did a really good job of sparking us on both ends and then settling us. He made a few mistakes but they were all really positive, attacking mistakes. I love that so he’ll get more opportunities.”

Nathan Sobey (Brisbane Bullets)

The Jedi just continues to get it done.

Kept quiet for most of the night in Wollongong, Sobey exploded for 10 points (and a number of dimes) in the final quarter including this ferocious attack on the rim…

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="pl" dir="ltr">STATEMENT SOBEZ ?<a href="https://twitter.com/sobes2zero?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sobes2zero</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/NXkojMEIYY">pic.twitter.com/NXkojMEIYY</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1379755003041091584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

But wait, there’s more! Kenobi then turned in another fine performance in Melbourne where he scored 23 of his game-high 30 points in the second half, albeit in a loss.

“Nathan’s really taken his game to another level in terms of the poise he’s playing with,” Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis said.

“He’s getting every team’s best defensive effort – (he’s getting) their best defender, he’s getting double-teamed on on-balls consistently – and yet he’s still finding a way to be effective at the offensive end.”

His ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.

 

Finn Delany (New Zealand Breakers)

How well is Finn Diesel playing right now?!

The Kiwi was big-time for the Breakers this week with a 30 piece against United and then 25 and 9 last night in Tassie.

He’s getting it done efficiently too; shooting a combined 62 percent from the field this week as well as 42 percent from three and 89 percent from the line. He just needs some teammates to go with him.

“Against a lot of teams we’re looking to run a few actions for Finn that create a lot of opportunities for him,’ Breakers coach Dan Shamir said.

“Unfortunately one guy playing at this level is not enough. We need to play collectively at a higher level. Hopefully we’ll get it soon.”

DUDS

 

The Injury Bug

This has officially become ridiculous.

Vic Law’s out for the season, Tai Webster’s missing games, Ryan Broekhoff and Scotty Hopson are banged up and now rookie sensation Dejan Vasiljevic has joined Jack White on the sidelines with his very own ruptured Achilles.

Man, what an absolute kick to the guts. 

It was devastating to watch and, similarly to White, Vasiljevic’s injury will likely keep him out for the rest of this season and all of next season as well.

“Absolutely gutted for him,” Sydney coach Adam Forde said.

“He’s mentally tough so he’s handling the whole situation really well. But yeah, it’s all about ‘DJ’ right now and just making sure we can get him in the best situation and get him to bounce back from this hopefully as soon as possible.”

Sydney Kings

While we’re on the Kings, they find themselves in the duds this week after dropping back-to-back games at home. 

Sydney are severely undermanned and they went down to good teams but still, you’ve got to protect home court if you want to make the finals and they just didn’t get that done.

What’s more, Sunday’s effort against South East Melbourne was particularly disappointing. The Kings were right in that game but continually let themselves down in big moments with a lack of focus, effort and energy.

Take this play for example – arguably the key passage of play of the game – where a couple of Kings fell fast asleep in defensive transition…

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">THE ? AT BOTH ENDS!<a href="https://twitter.com/YWetzell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YWetzell</a> block AND poster ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/qVFE98OsEE">pic.twitter.com/qVFE98OsEE</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1381134684646567938?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

“We were all just flat. I’m guilty of it too. It was like… boredom. We looked bored,” Forde explained.

“Our time-outs, the energy was boring, the bench was boring, our talk on defence was non-existent so we looked bored… it was probably one of our most disappointing games all season.”

Ain’t no time for that. The Kings have lost four of their last five games and, as a result, have slipped to sixth spot on the ladder. With two more home games on the slate this week, it’s time for Sydney to reignite that spark.

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