Barry Brown Jr, Daniel Johnson, Chris Goulding, Mitch Norton and Will Magnay are just five big name NBL players among the major talking points for Round 10 of NBL23 that opens with a blockbuster New Zealand Breakers-Sydney Kings clash on Thursday.
With Brown motivated to lead the Breakers to a bounce back, Johnson about to celebrate NBL game 400 and Norton 300 on the same night, Goulding having just hit 1000 three-pointers, and Magnay ready to fire on return, there’s no shortage of hot topics ahead of Round 10.
Round 10 of the NBL season begins in the hottest possible way with a top-of-the-table clash between the New Zealand Breakers and Sydney Kings at Auckland’s Spark Arena.
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Second up on Thursday is the South East Melbourne Phoenix taking on the Illawarra Hawks, with both teams fresh off wins against Melbourne United.
There’s just the one game on Friday night with another chapter in the Adelaide 36ers-Perth Wildcats rivalry as they battle over sixth position with Adelaide’s Johnson and Perth’s Norton to celebrate significant milestones.
Kings Coach ready for Xmas day clash | 05:11
There’s then two matches on Saturday beginning with the Cairns Taipans at home to the Illawarra Hawks before Melbourne United hosts the Brisbane Bullets.
It’s another double-header on Sunday beginning with the South East Melbourne Phoenix at home to the Adelaide 36ers before the Sydney Kings take on the Tasmania JackJumpers at Qudos Bank Arena.
The round will wrap up on Monday night at RAC Arena with the Perth Wildcats hosting Melbourne United.
BREAKERS NOT ABOUT TO LOSE AT HOME AGAIN
Road teams have enjoyed great success this NBL season with New Zealand Breakers superstar Barry Brown Jr to do all he can to stop the Sydney Kings coming into Auckland and leaving with another victory to open Round 10.
It’s a remarkable thing that from the 65 games played this NBL season, 34 have been won by the visiting teams and that trend has even continued somewhat at home for the Breakers.
Despite sitting in second spot at 11-4, three of those four losses have come at home including last Saturday in a surprise to the Perth Wildcats and then in the last meeting with the Kings.
Sydney controlled much of that contest back on November 6 despite the Breakers almost snatching it late ahead of them locking horns once again this Thursday night in a top-of-the-table clash.
With the Breakers 11-4 coming into the game and the Kings 9-3, the winner will sit atop the NBL and right now it’s hard to say anything aside from they are the two standout teams in the competition.
The Kings are fresh off a dominant 19-point home win over the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday which took them back to top spot while the Breakers will be determined to bounce back from their loss at home to the Wildcats.
Add in the loss at home to Perth and then last up defeat against Sydney, and there’s no shortage of motivation for the Breakers to get the win on Thursday night.
Brown continues to be the spark plug off the bench for the Breakers as clearly the best sixth man in the NBL averaging 21.4 points a game including 58 last weekend in the win against the South East Melbourne Phoenix and loss to the Wildcats.
He is in some hot individual form and could well be the best pure scorer in the NBL, but his focus is on getting the Breakers back to winning at home.
“I don’t think it gives us, or me specifically, any added motivation. I think just losing gives us the motivation we needed, especially losing our last game too,” Brown said.
“Just having them next at home and knowing they beat us last time at home, and we just lost at home as well. We definitely didn’t need any added motivation, we’ve got enough and we’re going to come to play.”
CHAMPIONSHIP THE MISSING PIECE AS DJ HITS 400
Like Daniel Johnson is about to do, Adelaide 36ers legend Brett Maher is a 400-game NBL player, and with 13 club MVP’s for the Sixers between them, Maher hopes Johnson still gets to experience what he did – championship glory.
As Johnson prepares to play his 400th NBL game on Friday night with the 36ers hosting the Perth Wildcats, it’s the perfect time to look back on the remarkable journey it’s been for a big man who promised plenty when he joined the league with the Melbourne Tigers.
Having grown up in Perth a product of the Willetton Tigers, Johnson spent a season that didn’t quite go to plan at Pepperdine University before joining Melbourne where he was somewhat an understudy to the legendary Chris Anstey.
There are clear parallels in the game of the pair as well as two of the greatest big men shooters and scorers in NBL history with the move to Adelaide where it all came together for Johnson.
When he reaches 400 games on Friday night, 352 of those will have been played at the Sixers and already he comfortably sits right among the all-time greats of the proud club. He’s also done the unthinkable and won seven club MVP awards – one more than Maher himself.
Johnson has now scored 6067 points and pulled down 2659 rebounds across his 399-game career – both the most of current players and in the 40-minute era.
Bullets pull the trigger on JD | 00:39
For someone almost seven-foot tall, his shooting percentages of 46.5 per cent from the floor, 35.2 from downtown and 80.0 at the foul line are outstanding too.
It might be his somewhat laid-back nature and a liking for avoiding the spotlight, whatever the reason Johnson is still somewhat under appreciated and underrated, his quality and consistency ahead of game 400 can’t be denied.
It’s now only fitting that he plays his milestone game against his hometown team, the Wildcats, at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Friday night.
Maher had his own legendary 524-game NBL career that included three championships and two of which where he was grand final MVP.
He can’t speak more highly of what Johnson has done for the 36ers with the only thing he sees missing now is that elusive championship.
“The first thing that comes to mind with DJ is 20 and 10 pretty much. That’s pretty much what he’s given us his whole career, 20 points and 10 rebounds,” Maher told Hoops Heaven’s Basketball Hustle podcast.
“He’s reliable and doesn’t give you much in terms of emotionally, but Scott (Ninnis) and I have been able to spend a bit of time with him doing the community stuff. You get to see that dry sense of humour and cheekiness that he does have, but he kinda hides that away a bit and doesn’t give much away on game days.
“He always shows up, though, and I don’t think there’s been too many players who have been able to say they can stop DJ at the offensive end. He’s been a great player for us and the only thing that’s really holding him away from that real legend status is winning championships. It would be nice to see him win one in one of his last years.”
PROUD NORTON FOCUSED ON BACKING UP IN MILESTONE
Mitch Norton has achieved plenty in his NBL career after growing up dreaming of representing the Townsville Crocodiles with the Perth Wildcats vice-captain typically focused on the team ahead of his 300-game milestone.
Having grown up in Townsville where he couldn’t get enough of being around the Crocodiles where he was a floor swiper in his younger days, it’s a remarkable ride for Norton to now have achieved what he has.
He got to start his NBL career as a teenager with those Crocs, he went on to be the club’s youngest ever captain in their final season in the league and played his first 116 matches with his hometown franchise.
However, he’s had to ply his trade elsewhere and had a strong stint at the Illawarra Hawks instrumental in them reaching the grand final. Now he’s in his fifth season with the Wildcats where’s already a two-time championship winner.
Despite still being only 29 years of age, the tough and tenacious Wildcats point guard and vice-captain will celebrate his 300th game milestone this Friday night against the Adelaide 36ers at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
Along the journey he’s cemented himself among the best defenders in the competition, a terrific point guard and outstanding leader.
He is the ultimate team man and would never want to put himself before any team goals. That continues leading into a huge Round 10 for his Wildcats as they attempt to build on an impressive win on the road to the New Zealand Breakers.
That standout performance came just two days after a disappointing loss to the shorthanded Brisbane Bullets on Thursday night. So milestone or not, Norton just wants to see the ‘Cats back up the win with a strong showing in Adelaide on Friday night.
“This has been a good week on the back of the win in New Zealand, but obviously we haven’t done well on the back of a win or two much this season,” Norton told SEN.
“JR (coach John Rillie) has been kind of on us this week to not relax after one good performance, which has been fantastic. Training has been really competitive and getting after us from the get go which is what we‘ll need when we come up against two quality teams.
“You can’t relax for a possession because they’ll make you pay. We have Adelaide first up and we clearly remember what they did to us here at home so that’s fresh in mind. If we come with that same intent defensively that we had against New Zealand that will go a long way to us getting that victory.”
UNITED NEED DESPERATION AFTER GOULDING HITS 1000
Melbourne United captain Chris Goulding gave his team a brief moment of celebration on Monday night hitting his 1000th career three-pointer, but a five-game losing streak has a teammate calling for more desperation on the defensive end.
Melbourne has been perennial NBL contenders most of its existence after transforming from the Melbourne Tigers including winning the 2021 championship, and finishing on top at the end of the 2022 regular season.
They had high hopes again for NBL23, but losing Jack White and Matthew Dellavedova to the NBA, then Next Star Ariel Hukporti to a ruptured Achilles, and now having been without Shea Ili most of the campaign has meant they’ve never got going.
United have now lost five straight matches to be struggling to stay in the playoff mix at 5-10 ahead of a double-header this weekend at home to the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday and away to the Perth Wildcats on Monday.
Despite the disappointment of Monday night’s loss to the last placed Illawarra Hawks, there was a brief moment of a highlight for Melbourne with captain Goulding nailing the 1000th three-pointer across his 396-game career.
Kings Coach ready for Xmas day clash | 05:11
While he is the 11th player to do that in NBL history, he’s the first to do so since the league reverted to 40-minute games. It’s an outstanding achievement for one of the best pure shooters Australian basketball has ever produced.
However, it isn’t enough to detract from the struggles United are going through right now and that’s also despite import guard Rayjon Tucker in impressive form at the moment as well.
He is finding his groove in the NBL and when he is aggressive and focused, he can be impossible to stop at the offensive end, and when he wants to be, he can be a difference maker with his quick hands, athleticism and anticipation skills defensively.
He had another 27 points in Monday’s loss to the Hawks and has averaged 21.4 over the past five games after a tough weekend with a combined 14 points against the Taipans and Phoenix.
Any good form he is in personally means nothing to Tucker, though, with the team struggling as they are. He knows if they are to turn it around, it has to start at the defensive end.
“There’s no satisfaction in anything I’m doing if we’re losing. I know as a group we don’t like losing, I don’t like losing so we have to find ways to win. It doesn’t matter if I score 50, we are losing and we have to figure it out,” Tucker said.
“We have to play with desperation in my opinion. We have to play with some physicality and it starts with defence. I feel like we have the offensive power to score enough, but it‘s just about battling on the defensive side. That’s how we have to get it done.”
MAGNAY READY FOR BIGGER JACKJUMPERS ROLE
Former NBA big man Will Magnay is ready for more minutes with the Tasmania JackJumpers three games into his return and he could well be the final piece to push his team into championship contention.
Nothing illustrates the standout job the JackJumpers have done so far in the NBL to reach last year’s grand final and currently sit fifth at 7-6 this season than they have largely done it without their biggest signing.
There was great fanfare ahead of the JackJumpers’ first season when they were able to secure the signature of seven-foot centre Magnay who despite still only being 23 years of age, had already had a taste of the NBA.
He had all the makings of the man for Tasmania to build their franchise around and also their game style, but they made their grand final run last season largely without him after he went down with a knee injury.
They have again been without him most of NBL23 as he has worked his way back from that knee complaint. Now he is back on the floor and could be the very thing to push the JackJumpers into genuine championship contention.
Tasmania have remained a standout defensive team and found ways to win seven of 13 games this season with Milton Doyle especially in the last two wins against Brisbane and Melbourne.
Xavier Cooks yams on 7-footer | 01:13
However, their frontcourt without Magnay has been battling above their weight division and while doing a terrific job, having the size of Magnay there and his ability to be a difference-maker at both ends adds another dimension.
The signs were especially encouraging on Sunday against the Brisbane Bullets where Magnay played almost 15 minutes and delivered 10 points, five rebounds and two assists including a couple of strong throwdowns set up by the pinpoint passing of Doyle.
Magnay even asked his coach to play more during the game in his hometown, but Roth resisted and will follow the path of firstly building him back up to 20 minutes and beyond as the team’s starting centre.
Magnay himself is feeling good and ready to play a bigger and bigger role with the JackJumpers moving forward starting Sunday against the reigning champion Sydney Kings, and a match up with MVP fancy Xavier Cooks.
“It’s just about building confidence during the week and I think I had been putting good practices together,” Magnay said.
“This week I had a pretty tough one and Scott told me that I just have to keep pushing through it and I’ll find my feet, and it started to pay off in the game.
“The rhythm is slowly coming back and it’s just about getting used to playing with Milt who is such a good player, and dynamic passer who can put me in positions to be successful.
“It’s also about getting back that relationship with Jet (Josh Magette) in pick-and-rolls. It’s a time thing and this is the first game I asked Scott to leave me out there because I felt good.
“I still only played 15 minutes, but I’m just here to play my role and can play a bit more if I can now with how I’m feeling. It’s more about conditioning and finding my feet so late in games I can catch some lobs and know my legs are there.”
