John Roberson on his incredible shooting performance against Cairns Taipans and his plans for the future
Well-travelled South East Melbourne import John Roberson met his fiance while playing in Sweden. As basketball took him all over the world, a long-distance relationship was tough. They’re ready to settle down. Could it be in Melbourne?
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South East Melbourne flamethrower John Roberson says the incredible shooting streak that saved Phoenix in its clash with Cairns Taipans was “like an out-of-body experience”.
Two days removed from scoring 19-straight points for Phoenix — including a pair of clutch threes that forced the game into overtime — the well-travelled import has had time to reflect on his banner NBL performance.
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“It’s happened a couple of times before where I just get in the zone and black out a little bit and everything seems like it’s going to go in,” Roberson told the Herald Sun.
“You never know when those moments are going to come, you’ve just got to stay in the moment.
“It’s kind of surreal, like an out-of-body experience. It was one of those feelings when you feel like nobody can guard you and everything you shoot is going to be a bucket.
“It’s all about winning for me, I’m just trying to do everything in my power to win that game.”
Roberson paid tribute to his teammates and coach Simon Mitchell for giving him the “green light” to shoot whenever he is on the floor, but admits even he was blown away watching highlights of the performance.
“I was just like ‘wow’ it was kind of incredible. It’s been all over social media, it was fun to watch,” he said.
While the NBL has not kept records around in-game scoring streaks and the change from 48 minute games to 40 minutes has made comparisons difficult, it’s no wonder Roberson has the green light: He is on track to have one of the greatest shooting seasons in league history.
The Texas Tech alum has made 57 three pointers this season at 47.5 per cent — the highest percentage of any player to have hit 50 or more threes after 14 games in the past decade, per the NBL’s Stat Man.
His 4.1 three-point makes per game is on track to be the highest ever in the 40-minute era. If he keeps this up, he will be the first player to average four made threes a game at above 40 per cent while shooting above 9 per cent from free-throw line (90.5 per cent).
Roberson has supreme confidence in his shooting ability, backed by a routine that has him make at least 100 threes at game speed after practices.
“I put the work in every day, I’m confident in my shot and in my game,” he said.
“Whenever I’m out there I feel like all that work is going to pay off.”
Roberson says the performance is now in the past for Phoenix as they plot the demise of the Breakers in New Zealand.
“We’re back to square one focused on New Zealand,” he said.
“We watched film today and talked about what we can do to fix some mistakes and not even get to that situation.”
The 31-year-old still has dreams of an NBA gig but says without ticking that box, he is still “blessed” to have played the game he loves all over the world.
Since he left college in 2011, Roberson has played professionally for 11 teams — he can reel them all off — in countries from Slovenia to Ecuador.
One of those stops was Sweden, where he met fiance Ida Andersson — a professional hooper herself.
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Only contracted for this season with Phoenix, there is uncertainty over the future, but Roberson is hopeful the pair can live together and play professionally in the same city — and he did not rule out settling in Melbourne.
“We’ve done too much of the long distance, we’re going to try to work it out so we can be together and play on a team that’s in the same city,” he said.
“We’re trying to work that out and see what happens there.
“I’m loving it over here, Melbourne is a great city to live in.
“It’s a really quiet, easy way of life, good restaurants, good food, so we’re loving it.
“We’ll see what the best situation is for us.”
He’s excited to be part of the NBL at a time when more eyes than ever are on the league.
“To see the league where they’re going and to be here at this time when they’re blowing up is just incredible,” he said.
“Everybody’s paying attention to this league, especially when you see the Next Stars and you have LaMelo (Ball) over here.
“Everybody’s watching him to see what he’s going to do and the way he’s going to go in the draft.
“All eyes are on Australian basketball and that’s great for the league.”
Plenty of those eyes are on the 180cm point guard who can’t miss.