The New Zealand Breakers have drawn first blood on the Tasmania JackJumpers in the NBL semi finals with the Sydney Kings and Cairns Taipans to begin hostilities, after the Perth Wildcats and South East Melbourne bundled out in the opening week of the NBL23 finals.
The NBL finals began back on Thursday night and that spelled the end for the Phoenix with a loss to the Wildcats before it was then Perth eliminated on Sunday with a loss to the Taipans.
We are now down to the final four teams with those who finished in the top four positions ending up in the semi finals with the New Zealand Breakers up against the Tasmania JackJumpers, and the Sydney Kings to play the Cairns Taipans.
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Going back to Thursday night and in the Play-In Qualifier at John Cain Arena, the Perth Wildcats delivered the best quarter of any team this season led by triple MVP Bryce Cotton to beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix 106-99.
Next up was in Far North Queensland and the Tasmania JackJumpers booked in their place in the semi finals by beating the Cairns Taipans 87-79.
That led into Sunday and first up was the Play-In Game and despite the absence of Tahjere McCall and Keanu Pinder, the Cairns Taipans were too good for the Perth Wildcats led by DJ Hogg and Bul Kuol in the 91-78 victory.
Then in Auckland the semi finals got underway and the New Zealand Breakers were too deep and too good for the Tasmania JackJumpers to take the one-nil series lead, winning 88-68.
The other semi-final series will get underway at Qudos Bank Arena this Wednesday night with the Sydney Kings hosting the Cairns Taipans in Game 1.
Game 2 between the Breakers and JackJumpers will be at Hobart’s MyState Bank Arena on Thursday before the second match between Sydney and Cairns back in Far North Queensland on Friday.
Both deciding Game 3’s, if required, will be played on Sunday afternoon.
There’s been plenty else happening around the league including the Brisbane Bullets naming their new coach so let’s get stuck into it.
MVP COOKS: NO QUESTION KINGS ARE BEST TEAM IN IT
Fresh off claiming the league’s MVP award on the back of being last season’s Grand Final MVP, Sydney Kings superstar Xavier Cooks has labelled his team as clearly the best in the NBL ahead of their semi-final match up with the Cairns Taipans.
Last Tuesday night ahead of the NBL finals, the NBL23 awards night was held and it was Sydney forward Cooks who took out the top gong as the Andrew Gaze Trophy winner as the MVP of the league.
Given that was voted on by his rival and coaches and captains, it’s hard to argue with the decision even if there’s been great debate since over whether it should have been Perth Wildcats superstar Bryce Cotton taking it out for a fourth time in his 200-game NBL career.
Nonetheless, Cooks was a more than deserving winner having been the best player on the best team in the league.
On the back of leading the Kings to the championship last season as the captain and Grand Final MVP, he has taken his game up another level so far in NBL23 and the MVP award should only help him in his quest to get an opportunity in the NBA.
However, all his focus right now is on trying to help the Kings win back-to-back championships with that quest starting with Game 1 of the semi finals against the Cairns Taipans at Qudos Bank Arena on Wednesday night.
The Kings finished as the regular season champions to automatically book a spot in the semi finals while the Taipans had to win their way through the hard way even after finishing third.
The Taipans lost their Seeding Qualifier to the Tasmania JackJumpers before beating the Perth Wildcats in the Play-In Game on Sunday to now set up their clash in the best-of-three series with the Kings with a spot in the Grand Final on the line.
For Cooks, he simply feels the Kings are the best team in the competition and he expects them to now prove it.
“It doesn’t really matter who we face,” Cooks said.
“We’re the Sydney Kings, we’re the best team in this league and we’re going to go show it. It’s important for us to have a good week preparation and we’re not really focused on scouts right now, we’re focusing on us and getting better with our habits.”
Xavier Cooks wins NBL MVP | 00:45
TAIPANS COULD VERY WELL BE BETTER WITH LESS TALENT
It seems quite the baffling thing to say, but with less pure talent on the court all season long, the Cairns Taipans have appeared to play better as a unit and that again was the case in Sunday’s Play-In Game victory against the Perth Wildcats.
Things appeared to be conspiring against the Taipans after Thursday night’s Seeding Qualifier defeat at home to the Tasmania JackJumpers.
Already without superstar big man Keanu Pinder, star guard Tahjere McCall injured a shoulder ruling him out of Sunday’s elimination Play-In Game against the Perth Wildcats.
However, a look back through the season gave an indication of what was to come and that’s that some of the Taipans’ best performances have come when they have had less talent out on the floor.
When McCall missed five games earlier in the season, the Taipans were able to win three of them including against their semi-final opponents Sydney.
The positive for the Snakes in those five games was the chance for DJ Hogg and Bul Kuol to step up further. Hogg averaged 19.4 points and 4.8 rebounds with Kuol putting up 10.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
Then later in the season, Pinder injured an ankle and missed six games. The Taipans won all of those and then after he returned for two matches which they lost, he suffered a fractured orbital socket has been sidelined since.
The Taipans won eight of the nine games to close the regular season that he missed, and in those Hogg averaged 18.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists while Kuol produced 11.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
The best example of the way especially Hogg and Kuol can thrive to be game winners for the Taipans was in their last game of the regular season in Perth. With both McCall and Pinder missing, Hogg and Kuol led the charge in what could have been the Snakes’ best win of the season.
It gave them a chance to still finish second and snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Wildcats with Hogg scoring 14 points and hitting some huge shots while Kuol was superb with 15 points and nine rebounds.
That’s why coach Adam Forde still had confidence in his group even without McCall and Pinder going into Sunday’s Play-In Game against the Wildcats.
The whole team stepped up but it was again Hogg and Kuol who proved the stars to guide the Taipans into the semi finals against the Sydney Kings with Game 1 to start on Wednesday night at Qudos Bank Arena.
Hogg set a new finals franchise record for the Taipans by scoring 32 points on the back of shooting 11/19 from the field and 5/12 from three-point range to go with nine rebounds, four assists and two statement blocks on Perth’s Bryce Cotton.
Then there was Kuol who set the tone for Cairns at both ends of the floor to finish with 23 points, eight rebounds seven assists on 9/14 shooting while spending all but one minute of the game on the floor.
It’s unlikely Hogg and Kuol would have been able to play such a significant role had McCall and Pinder been out on the floor. That’s not really a complaint, it’s just the reality of having to work together as a team with so many capable players.
However, Forde, who was named Coach of the Year last week, never doubted his team even without two such important pieces and wasn’t surprised Kuol stepped up to such a degree.
“Two players go down and two players step up even more with Bul and DJ,” Forde said.
“I’ve always considered Bul that type of guy for me and we caught on early on when he got his opportunity what he’s capable of.
“His progression as an athlete and a basketball player has continued to grow. It’s almost like he’s discovering his ability that people can’t necessarily stay in front of him when he wants to put the ball on the floor.
“Then you have his outside threat and he’s a strong guard so again, I’m not surprised in a sense that it’s the player we got and I’m ecstatic that he’s progressing quicker than even what I anticipated. He probably expected it.”
Forde also was anything but surprised with what Hogg delivered because all season long he has shown that the bigger the moment, the more likely he is to deliver.
“The crazy thing is I look at him going 11/19 and I want another 10 shots from him,” Forde added.
“He was 5/11 against Tassie and he’s been extremely effective all season and it’s been my biggest fault not getting him more looks.
“We caught on just in time I reckon and if he does that, which he’s capable of, we’re not asking guys to play outside their roles. We just ask them to do their job.
“These guys just have to do what they’ve been doing their entire careers and that’s what DJ has been doing. He is capable of this every single night, it’s not like he dropped 50 and didn’t miss. He shot 41 per cent from three and that’s been his career. He played to his standard.”
Melbourne lose out in epic final NBL day | 03:09
NO PRIDE IN FINISHING FIFTH FOR WILDCATS COACH
This was supposed to be the season of redemption for the Perth Wildcats with new coach John Rillie taking over the helm. While there were good signs highlighted by opening the finals beating the South East Melbourne Phoenix, the man in charge is taking no satisfaction.
After a remarkable run of reaching 35 straight finals series in the NBL, the streak ended in 2022 for the Wildcats and it was always going to bring about change.
That included a new coach with Rillie arriving to replace Scott Morrison giving the ‘Cats three coaches in three seasons as he began his head coaching career on the back of doing an apprenticeship in the college system, and after his own 481-game playing career.
That included his 10 three-point shooting effort in a quarter-final win for the Townsville Crocodiles over the Wildcats. That ultimately ushered in the next era of success for Perth with the arrival of Rob Beveridge, Damian Martin, Jesse Wagstaff and the rest is history.
So Rillie knew what he was walking into taking over as Wildcats coach as the man charged with earning redemption after that finals streak ended. Ultimately he did get them back to finals, but not into the semi finals with Sunday’s elimination at the hands of the Cairns Taipans.
It turned out to be quite the rollercoaster season for the Wildcats and their two games last week in the finals summed it all up perfectly.
The Wildcats finished the regular season in sixth position just sneaking into the finals and then found themselves 13 points down to start the fourth quarter on Thursday night on the road to the South East Melbourne Phoenix.
However, the ‘Cats had been a potent offensive team all season and Bryce Cotton led the charge after shooting 3/29 between the last game of the regular season against Sydney and the first half on Thursday.
He inspired Perth to a 41-point fourth quarter to beat the Phoenix and book in a place in the Play-In Game in Cairns on Sunday against a wounded Taipans team who just lost to the Tasmania JackJumpers, and were missing Tahjere McCall and Keanu Pinder.
It was also a building the Wildcats had scored two dominant wins in during the season, but the rollercoaster ride took another downward turn on Sunday and they produced a decidedly lacklustre performance.
That was a surprise given their season was on the line but a lot of the problems that plagued Perth all season became a concern. Cotton did all he could with 19 points and 10 assists, which was a good performance given the intense focus the Taipans put into denying him the chance to shoot and score.
What the ‘Cats needed was others to step up and it just didn’t happen enough to give them a chance to reach the semi finals. Corey Webster shot just 5/14 for 14 points, Luke Travers struggled for five points on 2/7 and Brady Manek went 5/14 for 13 points.
Tai Webster didn’t play at all having been touted as the final piece of the puzzle when he arrived late in the piece and then veterans Todd Blanchfield and Majok Majok continued to ride the bench as players Rillie clearly lost faith in.
Despite Cairns missing two of their stars, Perth gave up 91 points and 51 per cent field goal shooting to the Taipans. No matter how dynamic their offence at times was in NBL23, ultimately their poor defence was their downfall.
The season was a learning curve in a lot of ways for Rillie in his first season in charge, but he didn’t arrive looking to have a feeling out period.
He came to win and that’s why he will go away feeling this was a disappointing season even if they did play finals again.
“It’s very disappointing. You’re at the time of the year you want to keep playing and we weren’t the best team out there so that’s very disappointing,” Rillie said.
“When you finish sixth and you don’t win a championship, yes there’s some moments to be happy about and to be proud, like the way we battled and got to the situation we did. But I didn’t take this job to finish sixth and lose out in a Play-In Game so no, I’m not proud of our season.
“What let us down the most was our consistency. Our highs and lows, the crevices were too deep. You look at a team like Cairns and they were very consistent with their performance throughout the regular season. That’s why they put themselves in a position to host home games in the playoffs.
“Our consistency has to raise to give ourselves the best chance on the ladder come the end of the season next year.”
Wildcats nick NBL finals spot late | 00:30
MITCHELL UNSURE OF FUTURE WITH PHOENIX
Fresh off their season coming to an end wasn’t the time for clear thinking on his future, but the only man to coach the South East Melbourne Phoenix so far in the NBL, Simon Mitchell, isn’t sure if he wants to put his hand up to remain in charge moving forward.
Across their first four seasons in the NBL now, the Phoenix have done a good job of putting together competitive rosters and putting themselves in the finals hunt.
While their first season ended up with a rough 9-19 record, it started promisingly enough before the wheels fell off in the second part of the campaign.
Then in NBL21, they were a genuine championship threat and were ever so close to reaching a Grand Final with a hot start to Game 3 of their semi-final battle with Melbourne United before being overrun.
With Melbourne going on to win that championship over a Perth Wildcats team missing Bryce Cotton, it is the ultimate case of what might have been and Mitchell could have quite easily have become a championship winning coach.
Again NBL22 promised so much for the Phoenix and they did show signs of what they were capable of, but ultimately they just couldn’t stay healthy enough to make a run and narrowly missed the playoffs with a 15-13 record.
Then coming into NBL23, there was again high expectations on what South East Melbourne could accomplish. When at full strength, they could well have been the best team in the competition too.
Alan Williams and Mitch Creek were virtually unstoppable up front, Gary Browne and Trey Kell III were solid imports in the back court, and at their best, Ryan Broekhoff and Kyle Adnam could step up with Reuben Te Rangi, Owen Foxwell, Dane Pineau and Junior Madut solid role players.
The recruitment of Zhou Qi never quite panned out, though, and that was only the tip of the problems they had. It was all down to health and with Browne, Kell and Broekhoff all missing significant stretches, they could never quite build momentum.
That’s why they only finished the regular season fifth at 15-13 and ultimately their season ended in disappointment with Thursday night’s Play-In Qualifier loss at home to the Perth Wildcats.
Again it was so close to being a success with South East Melbourne leading by 13 to start the fourth quarter, but they were outscored 41 points to 21 the rest of the way to lose and have their season ended prematurely.
It was a South East Melbourne team talented enough to win the championship, but they now aren’t part of the semi finals and coach Mitchell was understandably an exhausted man by the time Thursday night’s game ended.
It wasn’t the time for him to make any grand statements on whether he wanted to, or didn’t want to, continue to be the only coach in the Phoenix’s history and lead them into a fifth season.
But perhaps tellingly, he didn’t commit to wanting to continue in the job. While his passion to remain might spark up in the coming days or weeks, right now, he isn’t sure if he even wants to continue in the job.
“I haven’t even thought about it. It’s one of those things where we’ll let the dust settle and in time we’ll sit down and have a discussion, and review the season forensically,” Mitchell said.
“We’ll work out if I’m the best man for the job and if so, we’ll move forward maybe. Do I want to do it again? I’ll discover that over the next coming weeks as we review the season and then it’s up to if the club wants me back.
“There’s a few machinations there and a few things to ponder over, but I haven’t really thought about it at this point.”
BULLETS GO LOCAL WITH THEIR MAN TO TAKE THEM FORWARD
There was talk the Brisbane Bullets wanted an American coach, but they’ve turned local and to Melbourne United assistant Justin Schueller as the man to try and lead them forward after quite the tumultuous NBL23 campaign.
The Bullets now have a fourth coach in the past couple of months but after a season full of turmoil and a disappointing performance on court, the new man in charge is excited for what the future holds.
For all the same reasons why the NBL23 promised so much for the Bullets is why Schueller now arrives feeling confident the future is bright and that’s largely because they have two Olympians, Nathan Sobey and Aron Baynes, to build around.
Having a star guard and big man who are both locals is a perfect starting place for the build of any roster leaving the door open for three imports to fit around them, and for a strong group of local players.
The greatest understatement of NBL23 would be to say the Bullets were a disappointment. With Sobey and Baynes as the cornerstones, and with Tyler Johnson, Jason Cadee, Harry Froling, Tanner Krebs and Tyrell Harrison around them, there were no signs of how poor the season would pan out.
The signs were there early though. They were never able to fully use Baynes’ strengths and he was playing catch up coming back from his long lay-off while it also took Sobey and Johnson time to get back into a groove after almost 12 months without playing too.
Then along the way, there was the departure of Devondrick Walker as import to eventually be replaced by Andrew White III, and the injuries mounted with Cadee, Krebs, Froling, Harrison and Kody Stattmann sidelined for significant periods.
However, above everything on the court, things were in even more upheaval off the court with the direction of the club difficult to understand. James Duncan was sacked as coach after nine games.
Sam Mackinnon took over for the next three and then on the flight to Cairns, Greg Vanderjagt was appointed for the rest of the season without even being told first.
Despite all that, there were positives. DJ Mitchell showed he could be a quality forward in the league, Gorjok Gak showed a glimpse into his potential and Sobey, Baynes and Johnson got better the longer the season went.
Perhaps the great positive was the support from the Brisbane locals. The crowds at Nissan Arena were outstanding for a team performing so poorly and now Schueller’s job is to give them some reward for their support.
He has no doubt the Bullets are ready to fire and he is confident he’s the man to get the best out of them as he becomes the next man to earn a head coaching role having worked under Dean Vickerman at Melbourne United.
“I think it’s a sleeping giant, the program,” Schueller said on SEN.
“The roster has been hampered by injuries in the past couple of seasons which is never ideal, but the two key pillars in Baynesy and Sobes as a key starting point means the point guard is the next most important piece.
“That’s where our search will start and there’s high level talent on the squad already with high level culture guys. We know they just need a bit better direction and things can go in the direction that we want.
“It’s obviously been a program that’s had some ups and downs this season but the opportunity to work with two Olympians on the roster and be able to move this club in the forward direction was definitely an exciting prospect to me. I just can’t wait to get started and getting things going in the direction that we want to go.”
