Studs and Duds | Round 12

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

Colton Iverson (New Zealand Breakers)

For the second straight week, New Zealand’s colossal centre is our headliner after an enormous effort on the glass.

His team went down but Iverson was mammoth against the Phoenix, scoring 26 points and hauling in an unbelievable 22 rebounds.

It’s the highest rebounding total ever recorded in a 40-minute NBL game and sets a new single-game franchise record.

It also makes him the first NBL player with back-to-back 20-rebound games since the great Mark Bradtke got that done 24 years ago.

“Incredible player,” Phoenix rookie Yanni Wetzell said postgame, when asked about Iverson.

“Credit to him. He uses his body and knows his role really well. He was a handful down there tonight.”

He was more than a handful, he was a LOAD. And if he can stay out of foul trouble he’s going to be a problem for every single team to solve the rest of the way.

South East Melbourne Phoenix

That was a very successful weekend for South East Melbourne.

It began with a thumping win over the Hawks and ended with a hard-fought victory over the Breakers. 

In Wollongong, Ryan Broekhoff exploded for 26 on 7-of-11 threes as SEM reeled off an amazing 24 unanswered points to blow the game apart. 

It was then Mitch Creek (24 & 8) who led the way against NZ while Wetzell collected his second straight double-double with 18 and 10.

Just quietly, Wetzell’s activity in the Sandpit was also very impressive with the big Kiwi posting 18 points, 11 boards, 5 assists and 4 blocked shots.

Oh and before I forget, Cam Gliddon also deserves a shout-out as that dude went 9-of-14 from three-point territory across the round and was a crucial contributor in both games. 

That’s now six wins from their past seven games for the Phoenix who are sitting pretty inside the top three. 

So what does all this mean? Where do the Phoenix really sit in the grand scheme of NBL21? I think head coach Simon Mitchell summarised that rather well when he spoke to the media yesterday.

"We've always rated ourselves as having the potential to be pretty good. Others didn't. That's fine. They're starting to change their minds,” Mitchell said.

“We don’t kid ourselves for a second thinking we’re anywhere near championship level. Do we have the ability and talent to contend for that? Maybe, we’ll see. 

“But the level we’ve been playing at, I would say has been solid regular season basketball. I feel like there are still levels for this group to go to, regardless of people being out. It’s just that we’re not there yet.”

I tell you what, though… they’re not far away.

This is a squad that is really well coached, has great depth, tremendous team chemistry, offensive firepower and has made great strides defensively this season. 

In fact, since the start of the Cup the Phoenix have had the second-most efficient defence in the league.  They’ve been forcing turnovers, keeping teams off the free throw line and, for the most part, finishing possessions on the defensive glass. 

They’ve also been making those improvements with one of their best defenders, Keifer Sykes, sitting on the sidelines. When he and big man Dane Pineau come back (for good), the battle for minutes on this team will be fascinating to watch.

“Everyone’s going to get an opportunity to play (and) if you’re prepared to do the little things super well you will continue to play,” Mitchell explained. 

“That internal pressure is going to just make us better and I look forward to seeing the guys respond to that when we get that opportunity to get everyone on the floor.”

Daniel Johnson & Josh Giddey (Adelaide 36ers)

Another team to go undefeated in Round 12 was Adelaide, who took care of the Hawks in their long-awaited return to the City of Churches.

Josh Giddey was excellent in his return from injury, falling two dimes short of that elusive triple-double, while Daniel Johnson did what he usually does – scoring and rebounding at a high level. Celebrating his 33rd birthday in style, ‘DJ’ scored 26 points and grabbed a season-high 15 boards in the win.

Johnson now ranks third in the league for scoring, averaging a career-high 20.3 points per game (on super-efficient shooting clips), and is seventh in rebounding. 

This is, of course, nothing new as Johnson has been getting buckets in this league since forever. In fact, as Andrew Price from spatialjam.com noted the other day, Johnson recently became the 48th player in NBL history to score 5000 career points. When you consider he has played most of his career in the 40-minute era – the only player in that club to do so – that’s a very, very impressive achievement.

Bryce Cotton & John Mooney (Perth Wildcats)

Note to self: put these guys in the studs and leave them there. 

 

Nathan Sobey (Brisbane Bullets)

The same could almost be said about Sobey who did all he could to give Brisbane a chance against the Kings.

With a bunch of Bullets on the sidelines, Sobey went to an even higher level on Saturday as he picked Sydney apart for 21 first-half points.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">PSA: Nathan Sobey is absolutely ??????? for the <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrisbaneBullets</a> ??<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> live on SBS VICELAND <a href="https://t.co/mYMnE35TtB">pic.twitter.com/mYMnE35TtB</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1378241961967067137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Things got a little more difficult after the break, however, as the Kings got more active on their coverages. It was a change-up that got Sydney over the line, with Sobey finishing with a round-high 31 points.

 

Melbourne United

Well done to United on taking care of business twice against the bottom team on the ladder.

 

The Board Men

Maybe guys are missing more shots, maybe it’s the John Mooney influence or maybe it’s Maybelline but I tell you what: there was a lot of good work done on the glass this week.

In fact, there were a total of 13 double-doubles recorded in Round 12, the most for any round so far this season.

Much love to Sydney’s Jarell Martin, in particular, who copped a spray in the duds last week for not cleaning the glass and responded with some really solid Windex work across both of his games.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It was a BIG Round 12 for <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SydneyKings</a> big man Jarell Martin averaging a double-double across two games.<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/1378874428163952642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


And, while it didn’t come with double-figure points, big ups to Brisbane youngster Tyrell Harrison for his enormous 18-rebound effort in the Harbour City on Saturday. It goes without saying but that’s a new career-high for the 21-year-old.

Craig Moller (Sydney Kings)

Speaking of career-highs, props to Craig Moller for dropping 4-of-5 triples on his way to a career-high 20 points on Saturday.

“Craig’s a dude that works hard at practice and hits a lot of threes and makes a lot of moves and he doesn’t necessarily get enough respect for that,” Kings head coach Adam Forde said.

“To his credit, there have been games where maybe I haven’t given him enough respect. He plays six minute games and he’s played some 35 minute games.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">S/O to this guy!<br><br>New career high for @craigy_moller <br><br>2??0?? points, and 5?? rebounds ??<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/sREy0VXLFF">pic.twitter.com/sREy0VXLFF</a></p>&mdash; Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1378311159858651140?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In addition to his defence and rebounding, Moller has been shooting exceptionally well lately, hitting 10-of-15 from long range over his past six games. 

“I always knew I had this sort of ability to shoot,” Moller told media on Saturday. 

“I’ve shown it in SEABL and the NZNBL but it’s another ball game in the big show out here. The confidence has slowly been building throughout the season, culminating in today.”

 

Dan Grida (Illawarra Hawks)

After such a long road to recovery, it really was great to see this young man back on the hardwood.

He looked like he was moving well too, albeit in limited minutes, and Hawks coach Brian Goorjian will be hoping he can bring some perimeter shooting in addition to his trademark energy and athleticism.

One thing’s for sure, he’s coming back into the roster.

“Somebody’s going to have to roll because I’m definitely bringing him into the group,” Goorjian said emphatically.

Jordan Ngatai (Cairns Taipans)

Stepping into a larger role in the absence of Kouat Noi, Ngatai is shooting the heck out of it right now.

The Kiwi went 9-of-13 from long range across Round 12 and is giving Mike Kelly really impressive production at both ends of the floor.

Cairns Taipans

This was very classy by the Snakes.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Great show of sportsmanship from the <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CairnsTaipans</a> checking on the injured Jack White ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/5PpDcMCV4Q">pic.twitter.com/5PpDcMCV4Q</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1377899336118366214?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


DUDS

The Injury Bug

This is two straight weeks in the duds for the bug and this week the little critter can well and truly get stuffed.

I mean, c’mon… Jack White’s ruptured Achilles tendon is like a punch to the guts to all those watching the league this season.

He has just been so fun to watch and his defence, athleticism, toughness and smarts were all super important to Melbourne’s early-season success.

And now he’s gone; out for the rest of the season and, you’d have to suspect, most if not all of next season as well.

That just totally sucks and I’m certain I speak on behalf of all Aussie hoops fans in wishing him a full and speedy recovery.

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As for the impact on United, well, let’s be honest: the injury blows a large hole in their championship aspirations. The rookie’s been that good.

That said, they do have an import spot available… will they look to use it? According to head coach Dean Vickerman, they’re going to look internally first and assess it from there.

“Mason (Peatling), (David) Barlow and Jo Lual-Acuil all have the ability to cover that area,” Vickerman explained.

“Then obviously we look at all options, if we don’t believe that is the total answer. Right now, that is the answer.”

Matt Hodgson and Harry Froling (Brisbane Bullets)

Unfortunately, Melbourne aren’t the only club looking for answers due to injuries right now. Far from it. 

Brisbane are also in that boat.

The Bullets have a bunch of guys on the sidelines at the moment but the most serious of those is undoubtedly Vic Law. 

The talented import has an ankle injury which, according to a club statement, will see him “sidelined for an extended period” due to it being “more serious than first thought” and now requiring “additional treatment.” 

You don’t need to be a genius to infer from those comments that Law may miss most, if not all, of the rest of the season. If that’s the case, his loss will serve as a fatal blow to Brisbane’s playoff chances.

I mean, Vic Law is a gun. He currently ranks inside the top ten across the league for scoring and inside the top five for both rebounding and blocked shots. And those numbers don’t even do him justice! If he’s out of the picture the Bullets have got a massive problem and, in the current environment, not a heap of options to solve it.

The immediate answer is for others to step up. 

Nathan Sobey and Jason Cadee will obviously be leant on heavily but Brisbane also need strong production from their talented Aussie bigs. Matt Hodgson and Harry Froling combined for 7 points on 3-of-20 shooting against the Kings and that just ain’t gonna cut it.

“At the end of the day you’ve still got to find a way to compete,” Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis said.

“There’s not an asterix on the table at the end of the year that says ‘oh by the way, these games that they lost they didn’t have their full roster’. 

“We’ve got to find a way to deal with the circumstances in front of us.”

Then, of course, there’s the…

 

Illawarra Hawks

No Tyler Harvey, no Hawks.

That seems to be the situation facing legendary coach Brian Goorjian right now after his team went 0-2 this week in disappointing fashion.

Harvey, the team’s leading scorer and primary playmaker, is dealing with back spasms and, let’s be honest, Illawarra looked like a shell of its former self without him on the floor.

“There’s no doubt these are hard times right now,” Goorjian said.

He’s right, and it’s not just the absence of Harvey that’s making things difficult. It’s also having Cam Bairstow, the team’s primary post option, off the floor. 

The former NBA big man is dealing with a mysterious leg injury and there doesn’t seem to be much optimism that he’ll be back any time soon.

“It’s going to be a tough time until we get those two back,” Goorjian said.

“We’ve just got to keep our head up and keep throwing punches.”

 

Deng Adel (Illawarra Hawks)

Maybe this man could land a few jabs.

Illawarra’s marquee signing scored just six points across his team’s two losses this week on 3-of-12 shooting from the field and 0-of-6 from long range. 

Now, more than ever, is the time for him to step up. 

 

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