NBL Round 5

Perth v Cairns

The Taipans travel west to meet the Wildcats in a rematch of last season’s quarter final epic which saw the home team eliminated from the playoff race. Still hurting from that defeat Scott Fisher and his men should be fully charged emotionally. With Cairns still missing some key ingredients to their line-up now, is as good a time as any to get revenge.

They will be seeking their third consecutive home win this season here after a hard fought win over the Sixers last week. Import Redhage was on fire drilling 40 points and collecting seven boards. Veteran guard Peter Crawford chimed in with 20 of his own including five treys. Point guard Phillips had 10 points and dished out an incredible 14 assists to go with it.

Cairns got their clock cleaned by ladder leaders Melbourne last start. They started out the match so brilliantly but had nothing after halftime. Bright notes were the great shooting displays from Scott Cook and Simon Black who hit nine shots from beyond the arc between them. But when the three balls dried up in the 2nd half they had no other consistent avenue to the bucket. Rookie Nathan Jawai played better then I anticipated against a huge Tigers wall. But he didn’t shirk the task in tallying 19 points and 10 boards. He looked a little nervous early but worked his way into the match via some massive dunks. This will be another big test for the youngster against the giant Wildcats frontcourt.

The Wildcats are tough to beat at home and are clearly up for this match. With Cairns squad not at full strength it may very well be a statement game for the club.
Redhage will need to score heavily as they lack the depth to damage sides. Cairns seem to be relying on their outside game too much. If they are not dropping their shots Phillips will be out on the break punishing them in transition.

NO BET

Slingers v Breakers

NZ finally leave their home-court behind this season and travel into Singapore to face the Slingers who are languishing near the bottom of the ladder.

After two consecutive victories the newly built roster Andrej Lemanis put together off-season is paying off. The countries best ever player is on deck after missing the first two games and it’s no coincidence since he has been back they have won both games. Kirk Penney is a winner. He has teamed with new import Rick Rickert to form a formidable one two punch not many teams have an answer for. They average 46 points between them and are coming off a victory over the Sixers midweek which seen them combine for 56. It’s not so much them it’s the balance of the whole group.
All they need is more consistency from their point guard rotations and they will be playoff bound.

The Slingers tried hard in their match earlier in the week against the Tigers but were too patchy for the most part to really threaten them. Coach Gordie McLeod was not happy after the match. He believed his players were soft inside and didn’t follow the game plan well enough. He was more upbeat about his team’s ability to stay in the contest even though they didn’t play their best their still managed to score 96 points on such an experienced group. I was impressed that even though Helms was held virtually for 3 quarters they still had other avenues to the hoop. Youngsters Janev, Cameron and McDonald combined for 39 points which will do wonders for their confidence and development.

Selection

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NZ have been stressing defence in their last two wins but have conceded an average of 103 points per game. I like the way Singapore finished their last outing against the Tigers to record 96 points. Helms was held for the most part but still managed to top score. In a game like this he should have a lot of freedom. The Slingers defence can’t stop anyone and is conceding 106 points per game.