Crosscourt: All the big NBL news ahead of game two of the 2024-25 grand final series
Chris Goulding has a genuine shot at NBL history as the Australian teams set to face EuroLeague giants Serbia’s KK Partizan and Greece’s Panathinaikos are revealed.
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Sydney and Melbourne will host a pair of EuroLeague giants this September as part of the first Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament held outside Europe.
Code Sports can reveal NBL teams the Sydney Kings and the Adelaide 36ers are favoured take on Serbia’s KK Partizan and Greece’s Panathinaikos at Qudos Bank Arena.
Melbourne’s John Cain Arena will also play host to a blockbuster clash between the two European heavyweights.
In a bid to attract more international talent and eyeballs to the Australian game, the Kings and 36ers’ four-game series against KK Partizan and current EuroLeague champions Panathinaikos will be broadcast globally.
Boomers and Dallas Mavericks NBA star Dante Exum played for Serbian powerhouse KK Partizan Belgrade in 2022-23, winning the ABA League trophy.
Executives from both clubs toured Melbourne last month and were in attendance at the Melbourne United and South East Melbourne Phoenix throwdown clash.
“To have executives from two of the biggest basketball teams in the world in Australia is an honour and incredibly exciting,” NBL director and board member, Nikola Milivojevic, said.
“The potential of having the Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament in either Sydney or Melbourne is a major coup for the NBL and Australia.
“It will bring more world-class basketball to our shores, attract visitors from across the globe to the host city, and strengthen cultural and sporting ties between Europe and Australia.”
TATUM’S ROTH LINKS
Illawarra Hawks coach Justin Tatum is treading a path in the NBL not dissimilar to that of Scott Roth in Tasmania.
Both are larger-than-life American coaches with NBA links.
Each has entrenched themselves as the figureheads of small market teams punching above their weight.
Tatum has a chance to do what Roth did in Tasmania last season and go from hero to legend if he can lead Illawarra to the promised land.
But, like Roth, Tatum has found himself in what has become a running battle with the NBL.
Tatum’s had a number of blow ups with the officials – calling them incompetent, saying he was made an example of because of the colour of his skin and claiming referee of the year Vaughan Mayberry doesn’t “like my kind”.
He’s also taken issue with being miked up – removing his broadcast mike twice during games.
But it would seem Tatum’s issues with the NBL are a microcosm of his club’s.
Crosscourt has been told the relationship between Illawarra and the league has devolved, with one source saying the club has made a habit of pushing back on most league initiatives.
The Hawks were the only one of the 10 clubs to push back on the Summer Shootout initiative which, on the surface looks a bizarre stance, given they’re the best offensive team in the league by some margin.
Illawarra’s tension with the NBL head office is a fascinating subplot ahead of Game 2 against United at John Cain Arena on Wednesday night from 7.30pm (AEDT).
HAWKHEADS TO BRING THE BANNERS
The “custodian” of the NBL’s infamous Chris Goulding flop count sign has vowed to bring the “banter” to Melbourne’s John Cain Arena for Game 2 of the grand final series alongside at least 100 Illawarra Hawks fans.
Cameron De Jong – a long-term Hawks tragic – told Crosscourt he created the sign as a way to record flops as a budding statistician.
De Jong insists the banner is a way of bringing a bit of fun to NBL games.
“My wife Lauren and I looked to find something that was universally dependable and we landed on NBL flops,” De Jong said.
“We saw that there was a gap in the statistical market. We’ll always let the decision rest with our officials, but I did notice a small anomaly in my analysis of Melbourne United and the volume of flops.
“So, I’m attending as many games as I can just to validate my assessments.”
De Jong can’t wait for Game 2 in Melbourne, but he is expecting a “hostile” welcome from the United fans.
“Melbourne United know when they come to Wollongong the kind of reception they are going to receive, so I fully expect them to give it back to us and probably with interest,” he said.
“We’re the kind of club and supporters that relish that opportunity.
“We love a bit of banter. The players all love being in a show, so we’re going to give them a show.
“We’re never offensive, always hilarious, always Hawks.”
Hardcore Melbourne supporter Tom Christie, who has his own United podcast Bringing the Blue, made the eight-hour drive to the ‘Gong for game one and called on the home fans at John Cain Arena on Wednesday night to match Illawarra’s hostile energy.
“As soon as our guys hit the courts for the warm ups their were boos and heckling, they do a great job of making their home court a place opposition teams don’t want to play and can make it tough for opposition supporters,” Christie told Crosscourt.
“Our fanbase needs to come out in full voice Wednesday night to give our guys the best chance of winning.
“The long drive up was definitely an anxious one with the only real attraction between Melbourne and Illawarra being Gundagai landmark The Dog on the Tucker Box. But the eight-hour drive home felt like nothing after escaping with a win in enemy territory.”
CG SET TO PASS GAZE AND THE LEGEND WHO ALWAYS KNEW
Melbourne United great Chris Goulding is on the verge of passing the legendary Andrew Gaze for second all-time NBL finals three-point makes.
Already No.1 in grand final treys (65), the master marksman needs six to pass Gaze’s 157.
And Tony Ronaldson’s 170 is within striking distance. Goulding has 24 makes in four games – six per game. Keep that pace and – should this year’s grand final go the distance – he’d
pass Ronaldson in a potential game five decider.
Seven-time MVP Gaze marvels at Goulding’s shooting exploits and revealed Boomers and Perth legend Andrew Vlahov was one of the first people to earmark Goulding as a future star – way back in 2008-09 when a young CG was a development player at the Wildcats.
“I remember a conversation a long, long time ago – this was back when Andrew Vlahov was involved with Wildcats,” Gaze recalled.
“Chris might have got in a game in junk time and, afterwards, I was talking to Andrew and I can still remember him saying, ‘hey, this kid’s going to be a star’,” Gaze said.
“I didn’t know anything about him (Goulding) but that feedback stuck with me when I’d watch him and it proved to be 100 per cent correct.”
Game two will be played in Goulding’s playground – John Cain Arena – where he has scorched the rings for 35.5 points per game on a ridiculous 19-29 from deep in his previous two NBL finals appearances.
THE KRAKEN BRACING FOR ‘DESPERATE’ ILLAWARRA
Melbourne United is bracing for a “desperate” Illawarra after they stole grand final home-court advantage from the Hawks.
Game one star Marcus Lee said United had to expect the unexpected from the Hawks on Wednesday night as the series returned to Melbourne’s John Cain Arena fortress.
“They’re a really great team and they’re going to play desperate,” Lee said.
“You really have no idea when it comes to games like this. You’re playing the same team over and over but people are coming in with different game plans each time.”
The 211cm centre, who United fans have dubbed ‘The Kraken’ after the gargantuan legendary sea monster, was ready for the unexpected in game one he was forced to try to contain speedy 194cm guard Will Hickey.
“The way it ended up when they went small ball we had to try to find a way to get that done,” Lee said.
“It’s something coaches have been challenging more and more for me to be able to guard all five spots and that was a big challenge and something I really wanted to do this season.
“It’s good that I was able to showcase that.
“It’s not easy being a big against a guard.
“The biggest thing is playing the mental game, knowing that they’re faster and lower to the court.”
United will go close to a sellout, with less than 1500 tickets remaining on Tuesday morning for game two.
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Originally published as Crosscourt: All the big NBL news ahead of game two of the 2024-25 grand final series
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