NBL 2022/23 Round 5: Melbourne United spook Perth Wildcats in Halloween mauling
Round 5 closed on Monday with Xavier Rathan-Mayes leading Melbourne to a dominant win against a teetering Perth Wildcats. Catch up with all the round’s NBL action.
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Melbourne United’s season may be back on track as they hand Perth their fourth straight loss. Catch all the news and reactions from NBL Round 5.
Melbourne hand Perth Halloween nightmare
-Ronny Lerner
Melbourne United have leapfrogged Perth on the NBL ladder and re-entered the play-in zone after easily accounting for the Wildcats 94-77 at John Cain Arena on Monday night.
The first quarter was actually a seesawing affair which featured seven lead changes and five instances of tied scores.
But that’s as good as it would get for the Wildcats as Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Rayjon Tucker helped United grab control of the contest after quarter-time and they were rarely challenged thereafter as they cruised to a comfortable win.
The result not only saw Melbourne win back-to-back games for the first time this season, but also sent Perth out of the top six.
The Wildcats have now lost four matches in a row for the first time in four years, capping off a fittingly nightmarish Halloween performance from them. United also snapped their four-game losing streak at home.
Melbourne shot an outstanding 56 per cent from the field (35-62) compared to Perth‘s 40 (26-65) and they also monstered the Wildcats for points in the paint (40-22).
Rathan-Mayes was the standout for Melbourne, scoring 25 points on a red-hot 10-16 clip, while also reining in 10 rebounds. And Tucker was scintillating off the bench, draining 16 points on 6-7 shooting and pulling down eight rebounds from just 22 minutes.
And after a quiet first three quarters, Chris Goulding helped ice the contest late, finishing with 13 points.
Bryce Cotton was Perth‘s best again with 19 points, while TaShawn Thomas also contributed well with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Maluach goes bang
Melbourne‘s Makuach Maluach set the stadium alight late in the first term when he sprinted to the rim and stuffed the ball into the bucket with a monster jam. Tucker set the play up after he stole from Luke Travers, almost ran the length of the court and provided the assist.
Tucker gets a pair of dunks
Then midway through the second term it was Tucker’s turn to be on the receiving end as he drove to the basket and executed an electrifying one-handed dunk in Corey Webster’s face to give his team a seven-point lead. And as if that wasn’t enough, Tucker put an exclamation mark on the result late in the fourth with another two-handed jam on Brady Manek.
Okwera in the way
Down the other end of the court, Melbourne forward David Okwera was in fine defensive form as he produced two massive blocks in the second stanza. In the first instance, he powerfully denied Travers attempting a dunk and he repeated the dose a few minutes later on Cotton, before running the length of the court and setting up a Rathan-Mayes two-pointer. Okwera then denied Cotton again on the three-quarter time buzzer attempting a lay-up.
History for Humphries
At just 25 years of age, United centre Isaac Humphries became the youngest player since the NBL reverted to 40-minute games 12 years ago to register 100 career blocks, as he recorded another one on Monday night.
SE Melb Phoenix prevail in overtime epic
-Ronny Lerner
The South East Melbourne Phoenix have survived a second-half Adelaide onslaught to hang on for a thrilling 103-98 overtime victory at John Cain Arena on Sunday.
After recording two consecutive one-point wins, the Phoenix faithful thought they were in for a more relaxing outing when their team opened up a dominant 16-point lead late in the second quarter.
But Adelaide superstar Craig Randall shrugged off a sternum issue picked up in the first quarter to erupt in the second half, draining 23 of his 28 points to drag the 36ers back into the contest.
After the visitors regained the lead at three-quarter time, both teams found themselves involved in a titanic final term which featured no fewer than nine lead changes.
Ryan Broekhoff thought he had hit the matchwinner for the Phoenix with 10.4 seconds remaining when he nailed a three and hit the free throw after being fouled in the process of shooting.
The play put his team up 91-88, however, from the ensuing play, his teammate Gary Browne was slapped with a technical foul for delaying the game as Randall attempted to inbound.
Randall nailed the free throw, then scored a floater which tied the scores at 91-91.
Mitch Creek had the chance to win the game in regulation, but his buzzer-beating three attempt failed to land, sending the game into overtime.
However, Creek didn’t have to worry too much, because Trey Kell and Alan Williams, who were outstanding for the Phoenix, ensured a dominant fifth period for the hosts as they skipped out to a 102-93 lead, before running out five-point winners.
Phoenix favourites fire
Kell was brilliant for South East Melbourne, especially in the second half, as he finished with 24 points on 10-19 shooting, including four threes, while Williams ended up with 18 points and six rebounds. Broekhoff was also important, hitting 17 points, 11 of which came in the opening five minutes, while Creek was also important with 16 points and nine rebounds.
Rousing Randall can’t inspire win
Randall was sensational for the visitors, racking up a game-high 28 points on 10-18 shooting, including 5-9 from three, while veteran big man Daniel Johnson was imposing for Adelaide with 16 points and eight rebounds. Anthony Drmic (13 points) and Sunday Dech (11) were very handy off the bench as well for the 36ers.
Phoenix continues to rise
The result extended the Phoenix’s winning streak to four games and also pushed them up to third spot on the ladder, continuing their impressive resurgence after they started the season 1-3. Meanwhile, the 36ers have slipped to eighth place, although they do have three games in hand on league-leading Sydney.
Breakers demolish Jackies to end streak
-Ryan Rosendale
The Tasmania JackJumpers hot win streak is over with the Jackies handed a harsh reality check and a damaging 32-point loss to the New Zealand Breakers on Sunday.
Putting together a four-game win streak since losing to the Breakers at Spark Arena four weeks ago, the JackJumpers well and truly met their kryptonite across the Tasman once again as they were handed a 94-62 loss – their biggest of the season.
It was also the lowest score put up by the JackJumpers in NBL23.
“You get a big piece of humble pie in this league and we got our butts handed to us,” JackJumpers coach Scott Roth said post-match.
“The biggest thing that they (New Zealand) have done is defended well but also got their three imports correct. That’s a great starting point for them.”
It’s no question American import Barry Brown Jr was the difference, knocking down 24 points, three rebounds and two assists in a sizzling display.
After a tight first quarter, Tasmania headed into the second down by two but after putting up just 10-points in the second, they trailed by eight at the long break.
With their first-half shooting – 11/36 and 3/12 from deep – looking more like an offensive horror show on the eve of Halloween than that of a team that made last season’s grand final, a major lift was required heading into the second half.
But it was the Breakers that continued to toy with the Jackies, putting away a season high 31-points to take a 14-point lead into the last quarter.
It was much of the same in the last with the home side knocking back another 30 points to the JackJumpers 12 with the second-half score line of 61-37 a clear indication of the dominance showed by the Breakers throughout the contest.
“When you put two 30-point quarters together it’s very hard to sustain anything and the two games were we have gotten smacked – this one and against Cairns – we have given up 30-point quarters so to have multiple ones in a game is hard to survive,” Roth said.
Import Milton Doyle continued his strong debut season in the NBL with 22 points and six rebounds while Jack McVeigh was the only other JackJumper to hit double figures, finishing with 11 points and three rebounds fresh off signing a two-year contract extension.
Now sitting at 4-4 after the opening month of the season, the JackJumpers will head straight to Perth to face the Wildcats on Thursday night.
Kings’ buzzer-beater downs Taipans
– Michael Randall
Happy birthday Kuoat Noi.
The newly-minted 25-year-old celebrated with a buzzer-beating dagger triple that ensured the Sydney Kings avoided an overtime slog against the valiant Cairns Taipans.
After a lacklustre first half where nary a lick of defence was played, Kings flexed their muscles, Noi put an end to any hope the Taipans had of claiming a second win in as many visits over the Kings at Qudos Bank Arena, 106-103.
Former Taipan Noi said his game-winning bucket was the perfect postscript to his birthday celebrations.
“Doing it against my old team just makes it even better,” Noi said.
“I’m just speechless at the moment.”
Sydney allowed the Taipans to drill 10 first-half treys on their way to 62 points, the franchise’s highest scoring half in the 40-minute era.
But, down 11 half way through the third, a 19-6 surge was punctuated by a pretty Xavier Cooks buzzer-beating touchdown off a Jordy Hunter full court pass that gave the Kings a two-point advantage at the last change.
From there, the Kings might have blown the Taipans away. But these Snakes are hard to kill.
Heart-and-soul King Shaun Bruce keyed the resurgence, keeping superstar point guard Derrick Walton Jr rooted to the pine as he poured in 17 points, including a pair of threes in the last two minutes that put the Kings ahead. His only blemish was two missed free throws with 12 seconds left, but it was a night where everything was coming up Brucey — he grabbed the offensive rebound, which eventually led to a huge Xavier Cooks dunk that put them up three.
But it wasn’t over. Taipans’ scoring machine DJ Hogg tied the scores with a straightaway three that sent the game to overtime.
Noi had a chance to take the lead for good, but his effort was deflected out of bounds, before he caught the inbound and made no mistake on his second chance.
Kings coach Chase Buford was proud of his charges’ ability to find a way to win, but paid tribute to the red-hot Taipans.
HBD Kouat, celebrate hard! #WeTheKings | @KouatNpic.twitter.com/KBxMZrTnHl
— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) October 29, 2022
“For these guys to sack up in those (pressure) moments and figure out a way to get a couple of stops, to get a couple of buckets — we missed a couple of free throws and we still didn’t let it kills us,” Buford said.
“Heck of a game. Credit to Cairns. I felt like they couldn’t miss for a while, I’m wondering how we held them to 103 — felt like they were going to score 150 at one point.”
Cooks floated through the first half before turning on the jets in the second, producing a typical stat-stuffing performance falling just short of a triple-double with 18 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and a block and a steal for good measure.
The Taipans lost no respect in their performance, Rookie of the Year fancy Sam Waardenburg keying their record-breaking first half with 17 points.
Coach Adam Forde was filthy the Taipans let another very winnable game slip away, after dropping their last outing against New Zealand.
“We’ve got a group of guys in there that believe we should be 6-1,” Forde said.
“That’s two weeks in a row that we’ve let our standards slip.
“We dropped this one, this is on us.
“Credit to Sydney, great job, but we felt like we should have walked out of here with a win.”
As one Taipan cooled down, another heated up, with emergent star Keanu Pinder lifting his game in the third, before he fouled out with 18 points and wildly-talented offensive beast Hogg took over.
Hyper-confident Pinder believed the result would have been different, had he not fouled out with five minutes to go in the game.
“But I was in foul trouble and didn’t get to play as much and yeah, felt like there’d be a different outcome if I was allowed to play the rest of the game,” Pinder said.
“It always hurts when you get fouled out, especially when the game’s so close.
“The boys are heartbroken, but we’ve just got to keep moving on and keep learning from these experiences.”
Hogg scored eight straight points late in the game to give the Taipans the lead on his way to 27, before Bruce and Noi’s heroics sandwiched his clutch three.
Big Boomer battle
What a treat it is to see grand final MVP Xavier Cooks and emergent Taipans big man Keanu Pinder go to work.
Both towers are in the Boomers squad for the upcoming FIBA World Cup qualifier against Kazahkstan and both are in the conversation for best big in the NBL.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more athletic pairing either, with both showing a proclivity to dunking on opponents and ripping rebounds off the rim.
Birthday boy Kuoat Noi
Former Snake Kouat Noi made the switch to the Kings in the off-season, admitting that he’d lost love for the game.
That love’s been rekindled and he showed out in the first half with 10 points in nine minutes keeping the Kings in it in the face of a three-point barrage.
Once touted as an NBA hope, Noi is a luxury for the Kings off the bench — and clearly has that clutch gene.
Taipans Forde-itude
The Phoenix Suns had a ‘seven seconds or Shaq’ philosophy during the Steve Nash years. These Taipans are more like ‘five seconds or Pinder’. It’s remarkable what these Snakes are doing without arguably their best player.
Star import Tahjere McCall is still a fortnight away with a hip injury, but the Taipans haven’t skipped a beat in his absence. Feisty bench energiser Mirko Djeric was also missing from this game, but there’s an evenness across the roster that Forde built.
It’s a team in his image, really, a little loose, a lot of fight. He warned us to write them off at our peril and, despite the loss, the Snakes are making anyone who did eat their words.
United outlast Hawks in double overtime
– Michael Randall
Melbourne United has pulled off an emotional double-overtime win over Illawarra in a game where a late incident involving import Rayjon Tucker could leave the star import facing scrutiny from the NBL’s game review panel.
Tucker, who was relegated to the bench as coach Dean Vickerman blew things up in search of a winning recipe, appeared to elbow Hawk Deng Deng in the stomach, then in the face.
With 19.6 seconds left and United up four, Tucker grabbed a board and, as he was fouled, the American import collected Deng twice. His foul was upgraded on review to unsportsmanlike and, while he made his two free throws, Deng hit two of his own, before draining a corner three to reduce the lead to one point.
United hero Xavier Rathan-Mayes then made a layup, but it was the sniff the Hawks needed and the combustive Tyler Harvey made the game-tying three as time expired.
Both teams did their best to implode in the first overtime, but a pair of late threes from Rathan-Mayes ensured they could not be separated.
Against a team that had lost five in a row — and hadn’t scored more than 62 points in its past four — desperate United had the fortitude to hold off the determined Hawks, 106-100.
Vickerman lauded his team’s fortitude in fighting it out to end their own three-game streak.
Despite Perth forward Jesse Wagstaff’s citing over the hit that left Lachie Barker concussed earlier this season, Vickerman was not concerned the incident involving Tucker would attract the interest of the league.
“I didn’t think there was much in it,” Vickerman said.
“Unsportsmanlike, I thought he had someone shrugged over him and he kind of stood up and I didn’t see an unsportsmanlike and that’s what they called.
“I don’t think we’ve got anything to worry about right now.”
Hawk Sam Froling called both Tucker and Deng “pretty good actors”.
“I don’t think it was intentional, he ripped the ball and hit Deng and Deng kind of went forward and then he tried to rip it out of his hands again and then went up and collected Deng on the way up,” Froling said.
Exhausted former Hawk Rathan-Mayes was moved to tears, post-game, willing his team to victory over his former club, telling them during the overtime break “we’re not losing”.
An exhausted Rathan-Mayes was moved to tears, post-game, willing his team to victory over his former club, telling them during the overtime break “we’re not losing”.
“Whatever it took to win tonight,” Rathan-Mayes said, post-game.
“It was a tough week for us, Deano challenged us.
“We’ve been in a little bit of a rut and we wanted to get back to winning basketball and I wanted them (my teammates) to feel my passion and wanted to let them know we weren’t losing tonight.
“It’s a great feeling.”
The do-it-all Canadian produced a game of incredible substance, both on the floor and on the box score, drilling clutch basket after clutch basket on his way to 32 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.
The Hawks stuck with a mantra of clamping down on captain Chris Goulding, holding him to just three made buckets in regulation and dared any other United player to beat them.
Big man Isaac Humphries did his best to fill the void, producing 20 points and 12 rebounds, including a clutch and-one with 41 seconds to go that gave United a game-winning buffer. Humphries has worn criticism, but deserves time to work his way into peak form after a long injury lay-off. He missed a number of bunnies at the hoop — Once that touch comes back, look out NBL.
It doesn’t get any easier for the bottom-of-the-table Hawks from here as they head up to Sydney next Sunday for a date with the reigning champions, while, on Monday night, United hosts another surprising struggler in Perth.
Blowing things up
Vickerman ended a tumultuous week where he walked back post-game comments about struggling American Jordan Caroline by inserting injury replacement Lachie Barker at the tip-off over Tucker and handing emerging 20-year-old David Okwera the start over veteran David Barlow.
With Caroline facing a stint on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, Barlow off the bench proved a masterstroke. The 38-year-old knocked down a trio of threes that gave United much-needed scoring punch in the second unit.
Froling rolling
Boomers big man Sam Froling rode the pine for long stretches in Illawarra’s last-start loss to Brisbane as he missed 10 of his 11 shots. The Froling United faced was a completely different player.
He exposed them on the inside and hit from deep, while monstering them on the boards, ending the game with a dominant 27-point, 15-rebound double-double.
Still just 22, consistency is the only thing holding him back from joining the upper-echelon of NBL bigs.
He’s back!
They’ve missed his effort, hustle, defence and leadership. Shea Ili will play his first game of NBL23 after a pair of head knocks left him with serious concussion symptoms, including brain fog.
Cleared to play on Monday night against Perth, it remains to be seen how much of a role he will play, but any Ili is better than none for a United side that desperately needs a fresh injection of talent and experience.
Creek guides Phoenix to win in Perth
– Bradley Elborough
A gutsy fourth quarter from Mitch Creek saw South East Melbourne win another close away game over the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena on Friday night.
Creek went into the final term with four personal fouls, but managed to see his side come from behind to win 91-90.
The win, the Phoenix’s third in a row against the Wildcats in Perth, also extended their winning streak for the season to three.
Creek dropped nine points for the term, including two free throws with 16 seconds remaining to give the Phoenix the lead.
He finished the game with 22 points, one of five Phoenix players to finish the game in double figures.
Creek led the league for scoring going into this round and carried that form into Friday night’s clash.
He dropped a three-pointer on the quarter-time buzzer to give his side a 27-18 lead. He had 13 of those points.
He almost single-handedly shut the Perth crown up.
Cotton nearly steals the show
Three minutes into the third term, Creek was subbed out of the game.
He still had 13 points, but had four personal fouls to go with them.
Bryce Cotton looked to have taken the game away from the Phoenix.
Perth fell 12 behinds the visitors, before the champ took over.
He scored 14 points in the second term, including a rare dunk that ended in him hitting his head on the backboard. He sent the Cats on their way to a 31-13 run to end the half.
Cotton went into the break with 20 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Perth went into the break with a six-point advantage, 51-45.
But while Creek and Ryan Broekhoff were able to keep scoring in the second half, that dried up for the Perth star.
Cotton managed just seven points after half-time, still finishing the game’s highest with 27 and eight assists.
Broekhoff, who had scored a point to half-time and didn’t see a second of play in the second term, finished with 18.
Breakers stun the 36ers at home
– Jason Phelan
Rampaging New Zealand has brutally burst Adelaide’s bubble, Jarrell Brantley and Barry Brown Jr starring as the Breakers handed out a 29-point basketball lesson on Friday night.
CJ Bruton’s misfiring team was a sad shadow of the barnstorming unit that scored wins against the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the reigning champion Kings last week in a shock 99-70 demolition, its biggest-ever loss on its home court at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
The Breakers led by two points at the first break, eight at halftime and 24 at the end of a 28-12 third-quarter blitz before registering their highest score of the season.
Brantley and Brown poured in an equal game-high 22 points each, but it was their smothering defence that upset Adelaide’s rhythm and set up the win that improves their record to 5-2, while the Sixers drop to 2-2.
Adelaide’s vaunted import trio of Craig Randall II, Antonius Cleveland and Robert Franks accounted for all their side’s first 14 points of the night, but faded quickly.
Randall, the NBL’s leading shooter going into the game, finished with 11 points, Cleveland 14 and Franks 11, Kai Sotto with a team-high 16 points off the bench.
Hi, Kai!
It was a pleasant surprise for many fans when Sotto returned for another season with the Sixers, but the Filipino phenom has been rarely sighted across the first three games.
Sotto’s average minutes went from around 15 per game last season to just over six this campaign, with the giant centre scoring just four points – all in the season-opening loss to the JackJumpers.
Bruton injected Sotto into the action earlier and for longer against the Breakers and the 20-year-old rewarded his coach with a run of seven unanswered points to tie it up at 29-29 in the second quarter after New Zealand had jumped out to a handy lead.
Sotto’s scoring total came from just over 14 minutes of game time, giving Bruton food for thought.
Turnovers and triples
The Breakers have forged a reputation as a tough defensive unit under new coach Mody Maor and their ‘in-your-face’ approach troubled the Sixers, who committed nine turnovers to the visitors’ five in the first half.
The 36ers scored just one point in the first four minutes of the second half as the turnovers continued to haunt them, New Zealand storming away to an imposing lead.
Adelaide shot itself in the foot with 19 turnovers for the match to the Breakers’ seven.
Three-point shooting was also a key factor in the contest.
Adelaide, with Randall leading the way, has been one of the league’s best three-point shooting teams, while the Breakers had the competition’s worst percentage from beyond the arc going into the match.
Randall was emblematic of his side’s woes, missing his only attempt from long range in the first half, and going 0-of-2 for the match, his side going 4-of-18 from three-point range opposed to the red-hot Breakers who were a stunning 15-of-30 from beyond the arc.
Sobey returns to form in another Bullets clinic
– Greg Davis
Guess who’s back? Back again.
Nathan Sobey’s back. Tell a friend.
With apologies to US rapper Eminem, that could have been the tune playing loud and clear at Nissan Arena on Thursday night as the Bullets and Boomers star produced a stunning individual performance in Brisbane’s 86-61 victory over Illawarra.
The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist missed most of last season with a serious knee injury and had been enduring a slow start to the 2022-23 campaign as he completed his gruelling comeback to full fitness.
But Sobey showed he was almost back to his very best with a 22-point, five-assists, two-steal, seven-of-ten shooting masterclass that guided Brisbane to a 2-5 record and left Illawarra in last place on the ladder at 1-6 with a floundering offence, discipline issues and flimsy defence.
In a blistering opening, Sobey had 14 points in the first six minutes of the match with four three-pointers to lead Brisbane to a 29-17 buffer at quarter-time.
He maintained the rage and had his 22 points by halftime as the Bullets raced to a 52-30 cushion over the hapless visitors while Brisbane held a commanding 73-46 advantage at the last change.
Sobey showed significant signs of improvement with his 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the 82-56 win over the Hawks in Wollongong on Monday but he put the pedal to the metal in the return bout with his trademark aggression and athleticism.
Deng Deng was the top-scorer for Illawarra with 11 points – the only Hawks player to get into double figures as the visitors hit just 22 shots from 73 attempts.
CADEE SPARK
The injection of Jason Cadee into Brisbane’s starting side has given the Bullets a legitimate spark in the past three games. He plays at an up-tempo pace which suits Brisbane offence, threw some lovely alley-oop passes to his big men and made some shots to carry some of the scoring load. Aron Baynes had a slightly quieter offensive night with nine points but was a tower of strength inside with his defence and 14 rebounds.
SIVA STAND OUT IMPACT
Hawks replacement import Peyton Siva wasted no time making an impact. The guard was rushed into Illawarra’s starting five in his first game for the club and he hit a three-pointer for the Hawks’ first bucket.
It stood out more than it should have given the Hawks hit only seven of 35 attempts from beyond the arc when the teams met on Monday night. Siva was called for a technical foul later in the first term as Illawarra’s frustration boiled over. He finished with three triples from five attempts for nine points.
THURSDAY NIGHT QUANDARY
The NBL is not doing clubs a favour by giving them home games on Thursday nights – or any midweek night for that matter. Especially ones that start at 6.30pm.
Brisbane had a full house for their first home game against Sydney – which was played on a Sunday afternoon – but the numbers were well down against the Hawks with an ample amount of empty seats.
Perhaps Thursday games could be moved to Sundays when fans can get to the matches.
UNDERSTANDING SCREEN CONTACT
Do NBL referees understand that physical contact between players is part and parcel of a screen? It’s the whole point of it as it gives the player with the ball time and space. Just because a defensive player gets knocked over or knocked off balance, it does not necessarily mean it’s a foul.
After the Jesse Wagstaff suspension/successful appeal drama, you’d think the referees would apply some more common sense and feel for the game. Apparently not.
Not much feel for the game with so many technical fouls either.
SOBEY SHOWS HE’S A MATCH-WINNER
Brisbane head coach James Duncan says Nathan Sobey showed why he is a genuine NBL matchwinner after a first half blitz from the Boomers star led the Bullets to an 86-61 thrashing of Illawarra on Thursday night.
Sobey sizzled in the first quarter at Nissan Arena with 14 blistering points by quarter-time with four three-pointers in the opening six minutes.
He had 22 by halftime and finished the match with the same number in the points column but turned into a facilitator with a team-high five assists to go with two steals.
It was Sobey’s best game since coming back from a serious knee injury that wiped out most of last season and hampered him in the opening rounds of the 2022-23 campaign and will give both the athletic guard and the Bullets roster as whole a massive injection of confidence.
Duncan was happy with how his side backed up the 82-56 belting of the Hawks on Monday when Sobey had 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in an ominous warning of what was to come.
He said Sobey was reaping the rewards of a fierce commitment to his rehabilitation from injury.
“He’s a difference maker, right?” Duncan said. “He’s getting his legs back, getting his touch back, he’s that type of impactful player.
“Two years ago, he was top three in MVP voting and so everybody remembers what he is like as a player.
“He’s still coming back from that (serious injury). Not looking too far ahead, you’ve just got to do the process and the recovery and it’s tedious and it’s sometimes boring, that’s how it has to be.
“Some days look worse than other days. I can say over the last few weeks he’s been really ramping it up and you can see that his condition is getting better.’’
Brisbane moved to a 2-5 record with Harry Froling, Jason Cadee, Tyler Johnson and Aron Baynes all playing key support roles for the home side.
JACKOMAS SEES NO ADJUSTMENT
Illawarra remain on the bottom of the ladder with a 1-6 record after shooting a woeful 22 of 73 shots to slump to their fifth-straight loss.
Hawks head coach Jacob Jackomas was disappointed to see more of the same from Monday night.
“There was no adjustment, that’s probably the biggest thing, we didn’t even show any adjustment from the last one…we need to figure that out,’’ he said.
“(The adjustments were meant to be) a little more physical, play with a little bit more pop and passion and then we can allow a game plan.
“Overall, our best three guys didn’t really shoot the ball well…we’ve said it a couple of times that this won’t happen again, well, it’s happening again and again.
“We need to be desperate to play well…effort is effort. We are struggling to find five players to play well right now.’’
The Hawks face Melbourne United in Wollongong on Saturday then Adelaide next Thursday.
Illawarra forward Sam Froling said the players were “disappointed” and “pissed off” and wanted the team to channel that emotion into a much better effort against United.
Originally published as NBL 2022/23 Round 5: Melbourne United spook Perth Wildcats in Halloween mauling
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