NBL, round 6 news, results: Melbourne United hand Taipans hefty defeat, Sydney Kings lose two from two
The Cairns Taipans are no longer Melbourne United’s bunny after being demolished to the tune of 43 points at John Cain Arena, while the Kings’ season has gone from bad to worse.
A Flynn Cameron-led Melbourne United has found a solution to its Cairns Taipans conundrum with a commanding 106-63 win at John Cain Arena on Sunday.
The tricky Taipans have been United’s bogey side in recent times, winning each of their past four contests, but United left nothing to chance, going in for a quick kill.
United had amassed an unassailable 30-point lead just after half time and there was no turning back.
The depth of United’s roster was on show, while the undermanned Taipans battled without injured starters Pedro Bradshaw, Taran Armstrong and Tanner Groves.
It capped a significant week for United, who claimed a huge road win over ladder leader Illawarra Hawks on Thursday night, doing so without reigning defensive player of the year Shea Ili.
The Taipans losing streak is up to five as they slumped to 3-6, while United remains hot on the heels of the Hawks with a 6-3 record, ahead of a blockbuster with the Sydney Kings at John Cain Arena on Thursday night.
Taipans guard Rob Edwards tried to set the tone early for Cairns with a heavy foul on a driving Cameron, but it was ruled an unsportsmanlike foul.
It was the start of the rot setting in for Edwards, who had two fouls and two turnovers in the first without troubling the scorers, and his team.
Edwards, one of the most potent scorers in the league, had a game to forget, with just five points and three turnovers before fouling out.
FLYING FLYNN
Cameron, United’s leading scorer with 18 to go with 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals, steered United with aplomb from the point as the hosts raced to a 23-12 quarter time lead.
Inserted into the United starting lineup for the second time in as many games as veteran Matthew Dellavedova was eased back from his ankle injury, the 24-year-old seemed to relish the spotlight on him, not only setting the platform for United from the get-go with his organisational skills, but utilising his speed on offence.
Cameron’s defence on the most dangerous Taipan Edwards was a feature.
TAIPANS MISFIRE
The Taipans had a succession of good looks in the first quarter, but could only manage a meagre 1-16 from two-point range, and they never recovered.
On the day, the Taipans shot a palty 21-74 (28%).
United’s defence was on song, sweating on their every Taipans venture.
Jack White’s activity was crucial with the athletic forward posting eight first quarter points as part of a 16-point, 13-rebound game.
Edwards finally got one to fall early in the second and it came in the midst of an 8-2 Taipans run that saw them close to within seven.
Sam Waardenburg tried to lift the Taipans with a huge block on beanpole Marcus Lee, meeting him at the apex, but the Taipans just could not get anything going offensively.
To top off a dismal half for the Taipans, a three-quarter court heave from guard Kyle Adnam that went in off the backboard was released just after the halftime buzzer and United’s lead was 24 at the half.
The second half was a mere stat-padding exercise for United.
KINGS HANDED SECOND DEFEAT IN THREE DAYS
New Zealand has held off a fast-finishing Sydney to resign the Kings to their second-straight defeat of the weekend.
The Breakers led by double digits with less than five minutes to play on the back of some hot shooting from import Matt Mooney (24 points, 7-15 FG) who hit multiple daggers throughout the fourth quarter.
Sydney cut the margin back to four inside the final minute as Izayah Le’afa (23 pts, 6-13 3P) finally found his range after a slow start to the season.
But it was the visitors who held their nerve, turning around a 26-point home loss to the bottom-placed Phoenix to leave the Kings stunned on the back of a 93-89 defeat.
Jaylen Adams was again missing in action for the Kings with a back complaint that kept him out of Friday’s loss in Perth, leaving Tyler Robertson and Shaun Bruce to split the point guard duties.
Whether he returns for a crucial double against Melbourne United and Tasmania is up in the air.
NO BREAKS FOR VISITORS
The lids were well and truly left on the rim to start the afternoon at Qudos Bank Arena through a scrappy opening quarter in front of 10,078 fans.
Both teams combined to miss their first eight attempts from the field and it didn’t get much better for the Breakers throughout the term to shoot just 4-17 and trail by seven.
EX-KING, PJC SPARK RUN
Sydney started the second with a flurry to push the lead to 12, but in the space of less than two minutes New Zealand was able to cut the deficit and tie things up.
Former King Jonah Bolden was right in the thick of things with a pair of steals to help spearhead the run and leave coach Brian Goorjian with no option but to call a time-out.
Soon after the Breakers had their first lead of the contest with Matt Mooney pulling up in transition to nail a three and a flawless quarter from Parker Jackson-Cartwright (nine points, 4/4 FG, three assists) lifted the visitors to a four-point advantage at the half.
GILLESPIE GETS UP
That lead was slightly reduced to three with one term to play, and it would’ve been less if not for a few big plays from Freddie Gillespie.
Kings bench star Cam Oliver wound up for a huge dunk, but was met at the rim and rejected in a thunderous moment.
Gillespie then went down the other end to score as New Zealand found a steadying influence after a 9-0 Kings run saw their lead of 11 evaporate before their eyes.
JACK-JUMPERS SNAP THREE-GAME LOSING STREAK
They nearly blew it, but the Tasmania JackJumpers finished strongly to snap a three-game losing streak with an 87-79 win over the Bullets at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Saturday night.
Cruising in the second-quarter with a 35-16 lead, the JackJumpers took their foot off the pedal to allow the slow-starting Bullets back into the contest.
Having reduced Tasmania’s advantage to 10 points by halftime, the Bullets took control of the contest in the third-quarter, outscoring Tasmania 30-17.
Momentum was clearly on Brisbane’s side, with a Keandre Cook three-pointer on the buzzer giving the hosts a 62-59 lead at the final break.
Brisbane extended its advantage to five points in the final term, but it was the JackJumpers who then steadied when it mattered.
Successive three-pointers from guard Jordon Crawford proved crucial in Tasmania’s late surge to victory.
Crawford and forward Majok Deng each finished with 16 points for the winners, while Will Magnay contributed with 13 points and nine points against his former club.
For the Bullets, skipper Mitch Norton hit a game-high 20 points, but it wasn’t enough, as a sloppy finish proved costly for the hosts, who suffered their fourth loss of the season.
The loss would have disappointed Bullets coach Justin Schueller, who before the game spoke of Brisbane’s need to “control our moments”.
“We want that defensive effort to be there,” he said.
“We were looking at the things we weren’t doing well too much, and not looking at the positives enough.”
SLOW START
The Bullets were asleep at the wheel in a poor start that allowed the JackJumpers to gain the early ascendancy.
The visitors led 20-9 at quarter-time, with forward Deng contributing seven points and former Bullets big man Magnay sinking four points and grabbing four rebounds.
Tasmania continued its dominance early in the second quarter, and one stage opened up a 19-point lead.
Such were the Bullets’ woes that it took them until almost four minutes into the second quarter to sink their first three-point shot of the contest through former JackJumpers forward Jarred Bairstow.
However, with the game seemingly in its control, Tasmania seemed to freeze as the Bullets slowly dragged themselves back into the contest to only trail by 10 points at the main break, with captain Norton and Tohi Smith-Milner each having eight points.
“We knew they couldn’t continue to play that poorly for the entire game,” NBL legend Andrew Gaze said of the Bullets.
– Marco Monteverde
Harvey fires as Hawks extend Phoenix woes
by Lance Jenkinson
A trademark Tyler Harvey third quarter offensive outburst helped Illawarra Hawks end their Melbourne hoodoo with a 88-82 win over an inform South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena on Saturday night.
The top-of-the-ladder Hawks came back from 10 points down midway through the second quarter to end their seven-game losing streak at the Melbourne venue over a never-say-die Phoenix, who got to within two points with 17 seconds left in the game.
Veteran Harvey was on fire in the third, piling on four threes as part of a 14-point quarter, finishing with 22 points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Phoenix have slumped to their sixth consecutive home loss, but seem to have acquired new-found belief in their three games under interim coach Sam Mackinnon, who will make way for new coach Josh King.
Tyler Harvey cannot be stopped 😮
— NBL (@NBL) October 26, 2024
Watch live on ESPN via Kayo 📺 pic.twitter.com/EU3mzehm1K
It was all Phoenix early in the game until the Hawks went on a remarkable 14-0 run in the second quarter to completely change the complexion of the game.
While the Hawks threatened to blow the game out at times, the Phoenix refused to yield, forcing the Hawks to play the full 40 to take out the victory.
Matt Hurt, the league’s leading scorer, was a threat early as the Phoenix raced to a 19-15 quarter time lead.
Hurt again led the Phoenix scorers with 18 points to go with nine rebounds.
Lauded for his offensive capabilities and sweet shooting stroke, Hurt’s willingness to get his hands dirty on the boards might be an underrated aspect of his game.
Joe Wieskamp, playing in a sixth man role, was impactful off the bench, with nine first half points as part of a breakout 16-point showing.
A three level scorer, Wieskamp showed off both his sweet shooting stroke and a filthy Euro step move.
MOMENTUM SHIFT
On the back of their strong defence, the Phoenix opened up a game-high double digit lead midway through the second period, prompting a team talk from Hawks coach Justin Tatum.
Whatever was said in that time out completely changed the momentum of the game.
The Hawks went on a stunning 14-0 run out of the time out, turning a 32-22 deficit into a 36-32 lead.
Mackinnon had to use two of his time outs in a bid to arrest the slide.
OH MY, DAYS
Burly centre Darius Days was a catalyst for the Hawks, working over the inform Phoenix centre Jordan Hunter.
Days was buzzing around the court, his energy infectious, and went to half time with a team-high 12 points and six assists at halftime as the Hawks finished the second quarter on a 23-7 run to lead 45-39.
Days finished with 16 points and seven rebounds.
The Hawks came out in the second half with the same intensity they finished the first with Sam Froling completing a three-point play after scoring a tough play.
Wieskamp brought the house down with a thunderous dunk and the Phoenix were hoping it would spark a fightback.
HARVEY HEATS UP
Hawks sharpshooter Tyler Harvey had other ideas.
The veteran shooting guard was white hot with four threes as part of a 14-point third quarter to lead the Hawks to a 74-65 lead after three.
The Phoenix refused to roll over, getting to within two points late on an Owen Foxwell three with 17 seconds left, but the Hawks steadied to hold on and improve to 6-2, while the Phoenix are the reverse 2-6.
NBL SCOREBOARD
South East Melbourne Phoenix 88 (Hurt 18 Wieskamp 16 Sobey 14) LOST TO Illawarra Hawks 82 (Harvey 22 Days 16 Swaka Lo Buluk 13)
At John Cain Arena, Melbourne.
NO COTTON? NO WORRIES AS PINDER LEADS CATS TO KINGS UPSET
Keanu Pinder produced his best game in Perth colours on Friday night, arguably his best in any club’s colours, to lead the Wildcats to an upset 87-84 win over the Sydney Kings at RAC Arena.
With Bryce Cotton and Tai Webster sidelined by injury, it was supposed to be an easy night for the talent-laden Kings.
But Pinder had other ideas.
He produced an extraordinary performance, knocking down an equal career best 34 points, his biggest score since 2022 when he was playing for Cairns.
He produced 13 points in the third term to get the Wildcats out to a nine-point lead.
Kouat Noi got the Kings in front in the final term, when he produced 11 of his 15 points. But Pinder and the Cats carried the momentum through.
Not kings of the boards
The Wildcats dominance on the boards was a massive difference.
Perth won the battle on the glass 56-35.
Kristian Doolittle led the way with 14 rebounds, and was just one point shy of a fourth consecutive double double.
Six of Doolittle’s boards came at the offensive end, where Perth really took advantage.
They Cats benefited with 26 from second chances, earned from 27 offensive rebounds.
Sydney had just eight second chance points.
Kings still batting deep
Xavier Cooks produced a third consecutive double double, with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
He had 10 points in the opening term and threatened to blow the game apart.
He was the only one of the Kings starters to reach double figures though.
The Kings bench stepped up again, contributed a massive 56 points.
It’s been an area the Kings have improved in dramatically over the past month,
In the first four games of the season, that next wave of players could manage just 27.75 points per game. Cam Oliver’s 15.25 points per game made up most of those.
Over the next four, that’s improved considerably to 45 points.
Oliver had 17 points.
Who’s stepping up
With Cotton (ribs) and Webster (adductor injury) missing, someone needed to step up if Perth was going to cause an upset.
The Wildcats had not reached 80 points in nine previous outings without Cotton on the court.
At halftime, they were on target to achieve that, and with a 41-44 scoreboard, trailed the Kings by just three points.
Pinder was the game’s equal high scorer at that stage, with 14 points. Next Star Izan Almansa had nine.
The 15 offensive boards, to Sydney’s three, was keeping Perth in the game though. That translated to 14 second-chance points to the Wildcats, against just three for the Kings.
Almansa finished with a season-high 14 points and six rebounds.
HARRELL MONSTROUS IN EPIC 36ERS COMEBACK WIN AGAINST CAIRNS
A stunning performance from Montrezl Harrell dragged the Adelaide 36ers to a brilliant overtime win on Friday night, Kendric Davis getting hot down the stretch as the Sixers ran down the Cairns Taipans in a thriller.
The 36ers trailed by as much as 19 points after a disjointed first-half effort, but Harrell came up big 36 points – a season-high for any NBL player – and pulled down 16 rebounds as the home side rallied to make it nine wins in a row at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
Davis overcame a difficult first half to be a difference-maker when it counted, finishing with 29 points as Adelaide improved to a 5-3 record without injured centre Isaac Humphries (calf).
It was a brave performance by the Taipans, who were on a three-game losing run heading into the match and missing injured stars Tanner Groves (calf) and Taran Armstrong (ankle), with Pedro Bradshaw leaving the game with an ankle injury in the third quarter.
FRANTIC FINALE
With his team trailing by three points with 12 seconds left, Sam Waardenburg was fouled as his lay-up flirted with the rim before falling in and then converted his free throw to take it to overtime at 88-88.
The home side went on a 5-0 run to start overtime and Waardenburg fouled out soon after, Harrell made his fifth block after, but there was more drama to come.
Leading by four points with 10 seconds remaining, Adelaide turned the ball over, but Davis was fouled and drained two shots from the line to secure a famous win.
HARRELL HUGE
Harrell was huge for the home side from the outset, the star import with a game-high eight points at the first break and 15 at the half to be the only Sixer in double figures.
He started on 4-from-4 shooting from the floor and with his teammates struggling on defence, came up with four emphatic first-half blocks.
Harrell knocked down four points in an 11-2 run to start the third term, and lit up the crowd time and time again in his best performance as a Sixer.
LONG-RANGE DAGGERS
The 36ers took the best three-point shooting percentage in the league into the clash, but the stark difference between the sides at the main break was Adelaide’s awful output from long range and the visitors’ brilliance.
The out-of-sorts home side managed 3-from-13 shooting from outside the arc and Cairns launched a series of long-range daggers to be a jaw-dropping 10-from-18 to set up a commanding 16-point lead.
Three Taipans – Rob Edwards, Dillon Stith and former Sixer Kyrin Galloway – had three triples in the first half, while Adelaide’s three-point stars DJ Vasiljevic and Kendric Davis were both a stone cold 0-4, with six and eight points respectively.
The Snakes’ 59 points was their highest first-half total of the season, and the most Adelaide has conceded.
The Sixers finished 9-from-30 from long range, Vasiljevic 2-from-11 and Davis 1-from-8, Edwards leading his side with a team-high 27 points.
PHOENIX FIRE FOR SECOND STRAIGHT
New South East Melbourne coach Josh King will be walking into an outfit “feeling good” after the Phoenix netted a second win in a row, and second of the season, by taking down the red-hot New Zealand Breakers on their home court.
Pulling the pin on former coach Mike Kelly, after an ugly 0-5 start to the season, looks more and more like the right thing to do after recording a mood-lifting 88-62 victory lifted by 26-points from the bench including 13 from Ben Ayre.
With interim coach Sam Mackinnon still in charge, having enjoyed a shock win over Melbourne United in his first game, the Phoenix burst out of the blocks with a 27-point opening quarter and never relented.
Matt Hurt had a team-high 19 points for the visiting team which was playing without start point guard Derrick Walton Jr who is expected to miss at least the next few games with a hamstring injury suffered against Melbourne United.
“Feeling good now,” aid Angus Glover, who had 13 points off the bench himself.
“We put ourselves in that position to be 0-5 and we’re trying to claw back to where we need to be.
“Good start to the weekend, now we’ve got to try and get Illawarra.”
That’s the next challenge for the Phoenix, who will have home court advantage in Saturday’s clash with the ladder-leading Hawks, still without new coach King who is expected to be in charge when they face the JackJumpers in Tasmania next Friday night.
Glover, who joined the Phoenix after winning two titles with the Sydney Kings, conceded it took his time to adjust to his new team but he was starting to find his feet and earn the trust of his teammates.
“I haven’t shot the ball too well at the start of the year,” he said after his season-high performance.
“I’ve always got that confidence as a shooter to go out and shoot. The guys are trusting me to play a bit of point guard at the moment, so it’s giving me even more confidence. I’m having fun with it.”
UNITED STANDS TALL
Competition leaders Illawarra Hawks lost the match and star import Trey Kell III to injury in a 92-87 upset at the hands of Melbourne United at Wollongong’s Snakepit on Thursday night.
Kell crashed to the floor after a collision late in the second quarter and immediately limped to the dressing room in obvious distress.
He was reported to have suffered a hip injury that triggered back spasms.
Kell was courtside in a tracksuit during the latter stages of the game and commentator Derek Rucker noted the Hawks “lost all direction” when their American shooting guard was replaced.
Despite that, Illawarra regrouped and took the game down to the wire. They had a chance to force overtime in the dying seconds, only for Todd Blanchfield’s three-point shot to rim out.
DEJA VU
Melbourne’s win will have rekindled some unhappy memories for the Hawks, who were bundled out of last year’s semi-final series by United. Dean Vickerman’s troops have now won seven of their past eight games against the Hawks.
WILLPOWER DENIED
The result spoiled what was shaping as the best day of Will Hickey’s basketball career.
In the countdown to the game, the Hawks announced they had re-signed the 26-year-old scrapper they call “Davo” for three more seasons.
“He’s a winner,” teammate Wani Swaka Lo Buluk said of Hickey, who had stints with both Melbourne Phoenix and United before belatedly finding his niche in Wollongong.
Entering the match midway through the first quarter, Hickey produced two early dunks and was the first player to reach double figures.
The crowd favourite proceeded to post 17 points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals in a comprehensive all-round performance that deserved a better outcome.
GOLDEN GOULDING
Chris Goulding was in deadly form for United, leading the scoring with 25 points, including five successful shots from outside the paint. The 36-year-old’s hot hand was just what the visitors needed in the absence of fellow veteran Matthew Dellavedova.
HIGH FIVE
Random stat: Illawarra remain the only team in the league to field the same starting five in every game this season. Coach Justin Tatum obviously subscribes to the theory if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Maybe it’s time for a change-up?
REBOUND ACES
Random stat II: Melbourne continued their record of following every loss this season with a win. The next step for last season’s runners-up will be to start stringing victories together back to back.
JUSTIN TIME
It didn’t take long for Tatum to give his players a wake-up call. Barely two minutes into the first quarter, he called a time-out with the scoreboard reading 8-2 in Melbourne’s favour. A few choice words had the desired effect and the home team recovered to lead 21-16 by the first break.
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