Studs and Duds: Round 7

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

 

Matthew Dellavedova (Melbourne United)

Okay, here we go… in my best Alicia Keys voice: That man was on FIIIIRE!

The Hawks gave ‘Delly’ plenty of space on Sunday and the United guard made them pay… over and over and over again.

It was a beautiful sight – well, for everyone except the Hawkheads – as the NBA champ enjoyed a game when everything he threw up seemed to be going in. 

When the dust finally settled, Delly had drained a blistering 7-of-11 threes and scored a career-high 33 points. He also notched up a season-high 8 assists to lead Melbourne over Illawarra in a high-quality affair.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">33 is the most points by <a href="https://twitter.com/matthewdelly?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@matthewdelly</a> in not only his pro career (NBA &amp; NBL) but also his collegiate career at <a href="https://twitter.com/saintmaryshoops?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@saintmaryshoops</a> <br><br>Take a bow, Delly ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/0OtoNjL4eZ">pic.twitter.com/0OtoNjL4eZ</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1482563176730603521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

“The scout was to go under the on-balls, give him space and keep him out of the paint,” Hawks coach Brian Goorjian explained.

“[Delly] was tremendous tonight. His three-point shooting was the difference.”

It sure was and that’s now six dubs on the trot for the defending champs, who also got over New Zealand earlier in the round. They’re an absolute juggernaut defensively and have a good balance to their offence with Delly running the show (5.6 assists per game) and Chris Goulding (16.7 points per game), Caleb Agada (16.6) and Jo Lual-Acuil (14.5) all ticking the scoreboard over.

Speaking of JLA, shout-out to the big fella on his back-to-back double-doubles across Round 7. Green Light dominated Yanni Wetzell on Friday (22 points and 13 boards) and then backed that up with 11 and 12 with 4 blocks in the ‘Gong. He’s ballin’. 

Adelaide 36ers

Now that’s more like it from Adelaide!

It may have been 31 days ago but nobody who watched the 36ers’ performance in Cairns had forgotten it. Especially Sixers fans who have spent the past month hoping for a bounce-back effort from their lads.

Well, that’s what they got last night. Big time!

Led by Mitch McCarron’s high-energy play, the 36ers dominated from the opening tip as they built an 18-point first quarter lead and then extended that to a 28-point advantage midway through the second.

Yes, the Wildcats were underdone. Heck, they’d been ravaged by COVID over the preceding couple of weeks. But the 36ers have also been managing issues around quarantine and isolation and hadn’t played a game for over a month. They deserve some love for that win.

Adelaide’s energy on D was much improved and their work on the glass was tireless throughout the night. McCarron set the tempo. He fell just two dimes short of his first career triple-double and the 36ers outscored Perth by 30 points during his minutes on the floor. But he wasn’t the only Sixer who stepped up, with Daniel Johnson and Cam Bairstow combining for 40 points and 18 rebounds and Sunday Dech providing great two-way production in his return from injury. 

The challenge for the 36ers is to keep the good times rolling. Keep that same energy, while also getting more offensive production from their imports. That’s not going to be easy, however, with match-ups against Melbourne and Illawarra – two of the league’s very best teams – up next in Round 8.

Brisbane Bullets

One week the Bullets fall to the bottom-placed team and the next they come out and smack a top four squad? 

Such is the way of things right now, with COVID disruptions giving teams a distinct advantage in certain situations. That said, this is also the Bullets – a club for whom inconsistency has been par for the course in recent years. 

Credit where it’s due, though, as Brisbane were fantastic in their win over South East Melbourne. Through a mix of high-level execution and strong work in the paint, the Queenslanders blew a rusty Phoenix squad off the floor right from the opening tip.

“[Brisbane] were really good, very efficient. They cut us to ribbons with their execution and they worked hard on the boards.” Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell said.

“To talk about us and where we were at and the things we were going through, probably takes too much away from the performance they put on.” 

Okay, you may not want to talk about it but I will: it’s a result that has to be consumed with a grain or two of Jack Salt. After all, South East Melbourne were running in mud to begin that game – just as Brisbane had been the week prior – after a COVID-impacted month off the court.

Nonetheless, a win is a win and the Bullets have now collected Ws over three of the league’s current top-four teams. The problem is, they’ve also dropped games to the bottom two squads along the way.

“We understand that we can beat the top teams but we also understand that we can lose to the teams that aren’t doing as well,” head coach James Duncan said.

“It’s nice to beat some of these top teams but we’ve got to take care of business, especially at home, when we have an opportunity to get on a little bit of a streak.”

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Are people sleeping on the <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrisbaneBullets</a> depth? Lamar thinks so ?<br><br>After their dominant win over the Phoenix, the Bullets are back in action this Friday night against Sydney on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> ? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/wE7qNF83JQ">pic.twitter.com/wE7qNF83JQ</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1483287687205629956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 18, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

Sam Froling (Illawarra Hawks)

This young man is blossoming into a star before our very eyes.

I mean, that was some kind of performance he turned in against the Kings. With his frontcourt buddy, Duop Reath, subdued by a tough match-up, Froling stepped up offensively to help steer his side to victory.

The 21-year-old made plays in transition, knocked down jumpers and went to work off elbow catches as he piled on a career-high 27 points at 70 percent shooting from the floor. He also grabbed 10 boards in that win to secure a second-straight double-double.

In Illawarra’s second game of the round, Froling struggled from the field (1/9) but he did grab another 13 boards, strengthening his status as one of the league’s most prolific glass-wipers.

If he can continue to develop his perimeter game, the reigning Most Improved Player will take yet another leap this season.

DUDS

 

Sydney Kings

The Kings have had all kinds of bad luck yet again this season.

For whatever reason, the injuries have just continued to pile up for this club, with RJ Hunter’s season-ender the latest piece of hard luck befalling their squad.

Unsurprisingly, the Kings went on to lose that game against the Hawks. They were heavily undermanned and, on their opponent’s home floor, just weren’t able to go the distance.

Unfortunately, I can’t cut them that kind of slack for the loss to New Zealand. I mean, they had that game won. Up double-digits with a tick over five minutes to play… you’ve got to close that out. 

“We should be embarrassed by the way we finished the game,” Kings coach Chase Buford admitted.

“It’s as simple as that. It’s got to hurt because that’s not good enough.”

The truth is: the Kings have had trouble with fourth-quarter execution since the start of the season. Their fast-paced style is fun to watch but their ability to consistently generate good looks in crunch time, when the game usually tightens up and slows down a little, just hasn’t been there. That was the case on Sunday in a big way, as the Breakers reeled off an 18-1 run to run away with the win.

“It’s something we’ve got to work on,” Buford added.

“It’s something that has cost us in three or four of our losses so far. We’re right there – winning often times – at the end of games and have struggled down the stretch.

“I’ll raise my hand, that’s on me first, I’ve got to get us the right looks. We can’t get sticky and hesitant with the game on the line. We’ve got to play with confidence and attack, we definitely haven’t done that very well in the fourth quarters in the last few games.”

South East Melbourne Phoenix* & Perth Wildcats*

There’s no doubt that the recent COVID disruptions impacted on these two teams.

It played into Brisbane’s loss to New Zealand last week and it certainly had an impact on these guys in Round 7, as both the Phoenix and Wildcats came out flat in their return-to-action.

In BrisVegas, SEM gave up a 13-0 start and went on to trail by 31 at one point during the final quarter. Like the Bullets the previous week, Simon Mitchell’s men just didn’t have the juice to begin that game and, I’ve no doubt, will be back to their old selves again this week. 

For the Wildcats, it was a somewhat similar story. Ravaged by COVID just a week prior, the ‘Cats fell behind by 18 in the first quarter last night and trailed by as much as 28 during a horrid first-half performance.

Yes, the Sixers were coming off an even longer break but their situation was a little different as Perth had basically their entire team actually sick with COVID just last week. 

Having said that, I dropped the Bullets in the duds seven days ago so I’m doing the same with these two squads, albeit with an asterisk.

After all…

“COVID didn’t get any offensive rebounds for them or miss any block-outs for us,” Perth coach Scott Morrison said.

“That one’s on us. We’re going to have to live with the consequences and try to learn from it.”

One thing’s for sure: it ain’t gonna get any easier… Perth’s next two games are up against a seriously tough opponent: Brian Goorjian and the Hawks.

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