NBL Round 2

Hawks v Bullets

Brisbane return home from a whirlwind tour of China, to take on the Hawks in Wollongong. After winning game one against the Chinese National team on a CJ Bruton last second 3 pointer, the Bullets didn’t back up in the following two games to lose the series 2-1. Captain Sam Mackinnon was scarcely used for the rest of the series after game one due to a back soreness issue and that is of some concern going into this game. Highlight of the tour was Craig Bradshaw dunking over 229cm Yao Ming in game three and on a positive note, coach Joey Wright was able to run his bench throughout the tour to give them some much needed experience.

With an impressive comeback win over the Blaze in their first game of the season the Bullets will be playing their fifth game in 10 days. The Hawks have started the season 0-2 after defeats from the Sixers and Tigers but they displayed plenty of tenacity throughout both contests. Against the Sixers they shot an amazing 60% from the floor in the first half, including 9/12 from deep, but still trailed the Sixers at the half. In the second half the Hawks were ice cold from downtown, shooting 2/10, as the Sixers sharpened their perimeter defence to eventually race away. That stiff defence forced plenty of open court which resulted in easy points in transition, mostly off costly Hawk mistakes. Smyth rested his stars in the final 2 minutes to flatter the Hawks with a respectable score line but there were worrying signs nonetheless.

In Melbourne, off a days rest, the Hawks were seemingly on a hiding to nothing. The home team totally dominated at the posts against the smaller Hawks, crushing them in all the key areas to win by 12. To their credit the Hawks did a better job on Muursepp in the second half, but Anstey remained a constant, and they had no answer for his inside/outside game.

How the Bullets back up from their tour of China remains to be seen. Mackinnon and Dillon Boucher have been cleared to play after some injury concerns and they will look to clamp down hard on Franklin as the chief playmaker and most consistent scorer on the Hawks roster. If they succeed it will go a long way to making sure they secure a vital away win, and keep in touch with pacesetters Tigers, Taipans and Kings.

For the Hawks I think the X factor is Mat Campbell. Bullet teams’ in the past have had problems with their perimeter game and if they are to zero in on Franklin as expected ,it could leave Campbell open. They have to respect his game. The Hawks on the other hand rely on an even spread of contributors. They have home court and be hoping to catch the Bullets in a flat spot, but I’m just not sure how competitive they can be with the new roster they have assembled. It’s going to take sometime for Cooks to get everyone on the same page and they need more from second import James Peters. He was solid with 11 points and 10 boards to go with 6 turnovers against the Sixers but was a little disappointing against the Tigers with 15 points, 3 rebounds and 6 fouls. As I’ve said before with new imports, it takes time to adjust to the speed of the game and how they are called in the NBL. Many imports arrive and leave quickly because they cannot adapt.

The Bullets have so many offensive weapons at their disposal. They go into each and every game confident they can outscore their opponents and for that reason I think they will be too strong here.

Adelaide v Melbourne

The Sixers will encounter the undefeated Tigers in what will be a true gauge as to how their new look roster might fare this season. The Tigers were flawless in their two victories over the Slingers and Hawks, while Adelaide defeated Wollongong in their home opener by 7, after leading by double digits with 2 minutes to go.

The Sixers must have been delighted of the form of new recruits Ballinger and Brad Davidson in their first hit out, but are now dealing with injury concerns to key men in Mike Chappell and Brett Maher. Chappell got through a fitness test last week to eventually play against the Hawks but was hardly productive in his 23 minutes of court time, going 2/10 from the field, 0/4 from the perimeter and. 4/8 from the charity stripe. There was only 3 boards to go with those 8 points along with 3 fouls and 3 turnovers. He was clearly not a 100% and unfortunately for the Sixers they can not carry him this week if they are to win. Maher strained a calf muscle and faces a race against the clock to be fit. Phil Smyth would be tearing his hair out, if he actually had any left. He must be starting to have nightmares of last year’s disastrous injury hit season and will be praying a repeat does not rear its ugly head here. With Maher at 34, you just have to expect he is always questionable leading into games.

For the first time this season it appears the Tigers have met their match on the glass, as Adelaide have the likes of Ballinger, Dave Cooper and Dench to go against round one player of week, Chris Anstey, and Estonian Muursepp. A little disconcerting was their carelessness with the ball against the Hawks, recording 22 turnovers. They will want to be careful here as the Sixers are more then capable of upping the ante and hurting them on the transition with cheap points thereby nullifying the twin towers on defence. The visitors will be looking to the evergreen Darryl McDonald to secure the ball so they can use their power game to advantage.

Axel Dench was actually cut by the Tigers last year so I am sure he will bring extra spice to the encounter. Adelaide also have the height to match them inside but how they handle Anstey defensively will be important, particularly when he is drilling jumpers from 20 feet deep. From my experience in any sport, you can not carry key players with injuries into any game. On the negative side, Adelaide for the most part struggled with the Hawks, only getting on top in the 3rd quarter where they blew the game out. They were beaten by the Hawks in a lot of key areas throughout the game which was not a good sign. It seems to me in a big game like this Smyth will play both Chappell and Maher for extended periods because he can’t risk an embarrassing psychological defeat so early in the season, not after last year. And from what I have seen, the Sixers organization has taken a softly/softly approach with these two guys, resting them for the most part in the preseason so they can be called upon in crunch situations. That’s hardly the preparation required to challenge the top echelon of the league.

The Tigers are clicking on all cylinders right now and have worked in their new import Muursepp during the preseason beautifully. He has been a huge benefit to Anstey. That combo gives teams no respite at the posts while Dave Barlow has strengthened the backcourt depth. The game breaker once again will be Dave Thomas. Traditionally he goes well against Adelaide and with the Sixers keying in on their two towers, he will roam free on offence. Lets not mention his capabilities defensively. The Melbourne bench is also versatile, can cover any situation, and is in early season form, which takes pressure off the starting 5. With the Sixers perimeter defence leaking from last week, the Tigers will be looking to exploit them at every opportunity.

Selection :

Tigers -5.5 @ 1.90. 1 unit. (-5.5 @ 1.93 Betchoice)