Studs and Duds: Round 19

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

 

Melbourne United

The team with the NBL’s best record flexed their muscle this week to grab a couple of road wins.

It began with a trip to the ‘Gong where Goulding & Co. wiped the floor with a Hawks team fighting for their playoff lives.

“They totally dominated us. They’re better than we are right now,” Illawarra coach Brian Goorjian said.

“They’re a very good basketball team (who are) very well coached.”

From there United made their way to Brisbane where they overran the Bullets to claim their 25th win of the season. 

Just quietly, this Melbourne squad has taken huge strides at the offensive end over recent times. 

Across the first three months of the season it was their D that was carrying United to victory while their offensive execution sputtered along somewhat erratically. 

Melbourne may have had the best defence in the league but at the end of March they were ranked seventh in offensive efficiency, producing just 109.5 points per 100 possessions (per spatialjam.com).

Since the beginning of April, however, United have completely turned that around. In fact, over the past two months Dean Vickerman’s team has had the league’s most efficient offence, scoring an impressive 118.4 points per 100 possessions.

“There has been some good improvements in the way that we’re sharing and moving the basketball,” Vickerman noted after their most recent win.

“That’s been a really pleasing aspect over the past month or so.”

Of course, when you combine those improvements with their elite work at the defensive end (they’ve possessed the league’s most efficient defence all year long) – and Bryce Cotton’s injury! – well, that’s why these guys remain the favourites to take out the title. 

Chris Goulding (Melbourne United)

Leading the way for Melbourne this week was star guard, Chris Goulding, who is seeing the rim like a hula hoop right now.

Goulding caught fire early in Wollongong as he cashed in on Melbourne’s ball movement to knock down open looks from long range.

From there things went to another level as the brilliant shot-maker started dipping into his big ol’ bag of tricks; sticking a double-crossover pull-up over Sam Froling and a beautiful quick-release triple from the corner.

Goulding, whom Goorjian later described as “a huge issue”, scored all 25 of his points in the opening half – the most by any player in a half this season.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Gatorade We Fuel You Player in Focus ?? Chris Goulding<br><br>25 in the first half for <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnitedHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MelbUnitedHQ</a>&#39;s star is the most by any player in a half this season ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> live on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/v7CnqNMDo1">pic.twitter.com/v7CnqNMDo1</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1394599992275263488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

The United skipper then carried that form into Brisbane where he put up 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in another terrific performance.

“(Chris) was great. He was +28 when he was in the game tonight,” Vickerman stated postgame.

“I played him some good long stretches and his effort at the defensive end was really good tonight. Then when his play was called I thought he made great decisions.”

Remember last season when plenty of folks, including this scribe, were calling for Goulding to be recognised internally as Melbourne’s primary offensive option? This is what that looks like and it’s a beautiful thing.

South East Melbourne Phoenix

Stand by for the ultimate in nickname-related sporting clichés… the Phoenix are rising!

Fresh off a week on the practice floor (which is a valuable commodity in NBL21) and with a whole bunch of healthy bodies in uniform, SEM went into Brisbane this week and blew away the Bullets.

I mean, this was an absolute beat-down.

After a high-scoring opening term, the Phoenix tightened the screws defensively and completely took over the game. They limited Nathan Sobey – the league’s second-leading scorer – to just 4 points and the entire Bullets squad – the league’s second-highest scoring team – to just 66, their lowest score of the season.

“There are some jokers out there who talk about our defence all the time but in our last six games teams are averaging 82 a game against us,” Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell said, in something of a sneaky drive-by.

“When we’ve got a full squad and we get a chance to get a little bit of continuity in the group I don’t think we’re a horrible defensive team at all.”

The issue with their D, which I’m sure Mitchell would accept, is that it’s been wildly inconsistent. However, as he rightly points out, a lot of that has been a result of guys missing time. Especially Keifer Sykes, who is the man who sets the tone for this squad at the defensive end of the floor.

“I’ve said it before, earlier in the year: I think he’s the best defender in the league,” Mitchell noted.

“He takes a lot of pride (in it). He sat and watched Nathan (Sobey) hurt us previously and it hurt him as a team member.

“He was frothing at the mouth to go get a piece of him today and he did a fantastic job of really sticking to his assignment.”

That’s now four wins on the trot for South East Melbourne who have re-emerged in recent weeks as genuine title contenders.

Illawarra Hawks

You’ve got to love the grit of these Hawks.

I know, I know, they weren’t at the level against United. But credit where credit’s due: Brian Goorjian’s men bounced back against Adelaide and Cairns to regain their spot in the four.

The question is: can they stay there?

“We are going to claw, fight, dive, scrap and leave it all out there,” Goorjian said.

“I’m so excited for the finish of this season.”

Jarell Martin (Sydney Kings)

That battle for fourth spot is coming down to the wire between the New South Wales teams and for the Kings, it’s Jarell Martin who is keeping them in the mix.

After a season of ‘load management’ limiting his run, Martin is finally playing 30+ minutes and Kings fans are reaping the rewards.

The former NBA big man was a handful for the Breakers in Round 19, putting up 18 and 6 in their first meeting and then guiding Sydney to victory with 29 and 9 in their second.

Chris Pongrass… re-sign that man! 

Daniel Dillon (Adelaide 36ers)

Another guy set to enter free agency is Adelaide veteran Daniel Dillon and he’s using the end of this season to show that he belongs.

Starting at point guard in the absence of Josh Giddey, Dillon was terrific throughout Round 19 despite his side losing all three of their games.

Against the Hawks, the 35-year-old pushed through some early struggles to post 17, 8 and 6 before backing that up with 11 and 5 in Adelaide’s loss to the Wildcats.

But it was effort last night in New Zealand that really impressed, with Dillon putting up an NBL career-high 22 points to go with 6 assists and zero turnovers in 34 minutes on the floor.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Daniel Dillon with a new career-high of 22 points.<br><br>His previous high was 21 way back in 2011 with the Taipans <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/7ouRpU4hFa">pic.twitter.com/7ouRpU4hFa</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1397115043385286658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

“Dill’s been playing well for us ever since he’s been backing up Josh throughout the season and the now as he’s moved into the starting line-up,” Adelaide coach Conner Henry said.

“One thing about Dan that I keep impressing upon him is that he keep pushing the basketball. We’re a team that doesn’t get a lot of easy baskets. We’re trying to get out and run a little bit more and Dan is the only guy who can really push us and everybody needs to be dragged along with that.”

36ers Fans

While we’re on the 36ers, shout-out to their passionate supporter base for the impressive support they’ve shown their team this season. 

The losses have outnumbered the wins for Adelaide this year but Sixers fans have consistently turned up and created an excellent atmosphere inside the Entertainment Centre. 

They’ve been some of the best fans in the league for a long, long time and this season 36ers supporters have proved that is still very much the case.

DUDS

 

Hematomas

It’s the word of the week in the NBL – ‘hematoma’ – after the Wildcats announced that Bryce Cotton is set to miss some time. 

The superstar has suffered a hematoma to his left quadriceps as a result of multiple knocks to his thigh last Wednesday in Brisbane.

According to Perth’s statement, Cotton – who did play a game on Friday after returning from Brisbane – “began to experience pain and swelling” the following day before undergoing “a surgical procedure to relieve the pressure and remove the blood.”

The announcement stated that Cotton had been ruled out for the remainder of the regular season. That was initially news that the Red Army could stomach however comments made by head coach Trevor Gleeson last night served to muddy those waters.

“It’s a big blow for us and a blow for Bryce. We’re not planning on him to return,” Gleeson told Nine News Perth.

“We’re getting the team ready without him but the door is always open if he has a marvellous recovery. But we’re certainly not planning on that at this stage.”

Hold on, what? Does that mean he may miss the finals? 

“It’s a big hit for us,” the five-time championship-winning coach added.

“But we have that mentality: one player down, next player steps up so it’s really going to be up to the team to respond and hopefully the Red Army can get behind us and push us over the line.” 

Asked if he thinks his squad can win the championship without Cotton, Gleeson responded with the requisite optimism.

“I believe we can,” he said.

“I think we’ve got a great team and we’ve done it in the past with less talent… where, on paper, other teams have been more talented than us. 

“It’s going to be a great challenge for us and it would be a great end of the story of a crazy year.”

Following that conversation, Gleeson jumped on radio and added further context to the situation.

“It’s going to be a minor miracle for him to get back. He’s still in hospital at the moment and it just depends on his recovery,” Gleeson told 6PR’s WA Sportsday.

“He’s fit and young and hopefully that recovery is quick but our season’s going to be over in close to four weeks so I don’t know if he’s going to get back in time.”

Wow.

All of a sudden it’s a race against time for the league’s best player. Expect the unexpected in NBL21. 

Brisbane Bullets

It’s weird because they did beat the Wildcats, but the Bullets just weren’t able to capitalise on that win against either the Phoenix or United.

Don’t get me wrong, taking on the top three teams in one round was always going to be tough. However, the problem for Bullets fans is that their team just wasn’t able to replicate that excellent effort they put in against Perth.

That was especially true in the loss to SEM, who ran all over the home team, at one stage leading by a whopping 35 points!

“We never got to a position where we were exerting our will on the game… we were always on our back foot and reacting,” Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis said.

“They pretty much were allowed to do what they wanted to do.”

Down the other end, Brisbane scored only 24 points across the entire second half, something Lemanis described as “an outcome of our general passiveness.”

Things improved mildly against United but, truth be told, the final margin (11) flattered the Bullets who gave up another big score and trailed by over 20 midway through the fourth.

The result? Brisbane’s playoff hopes are now officially on life support. 

Adelaide 36ers

With both Josh Giddey and Isaac Humphries out of the line-up, this Adelaide squad was never going to win many games down the stretch.

That being said, their effort against Illawarra last Friday left a little to be desired. 

The Hawks peeled off an 18-0 run to close out the first quarter of that clash while Adelaide’s half-time score (28) was their lowest at home since 2013.

“The reality is: this was our worst-played game of the season,” Henry noted postgame. 

“Our effort wasn’t acceptable by any means. The starters were very poor except for Daniel (Dillon)… disappointing loss.”

It was that performance, predominantly, that has landed the Sixers in the duds this week as they actually competed admirably in their other two games.

“We keep showing up and putting together a pretty hard effort with our depleted roster,” Henry said after going down to New Zealand.

“We’ll continue to fight. We’ve got two left… we can just try to be spoilers in this.”

Next up for the Sixers: a chance to foil Illawarra’s playoff plans.

Before I go… enjoy Indigenous Round, everybody! 

 

It’s the best and most important week of every regular season so get out and support your team as we recognise, acknowledge and celebrate Indigenous culture and basketball across Australia and New Zealand.

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