With the Perth Wildcats culture needing to be found, the Illawarra Hawks to toughen up and Melbourne United still searching for answers while the road teams continue to love life this NBL season, Round 5 has plenty of intrigue surrounding it.
A month into the NBL season and there’s no shortage of drama and talking points leading into Round 5 with pressure building on powerhouses Perth and Melbourne while teams like the Breakers, Taipans and JackJumpers continue to show terrific heart.
Round 5 gets underway on Thursday night with a rematch from Monday night with the Brisbane Bullets this time at home to the Illawarra Hawks after Brisbane’s first win of the season with a 26-point hammering of Illawarra.
Watch every game live of the 2022/23 NBL Season on ESPN on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
Jackjumpers shock Wildcats with big win | 01:04
There’s then three straight days of double-headers beginning on Friday with the Adelaide 36ers and New Zealand Breakers locking horns before the Perth Wildcats play host to the South East Melbourne Phoenix.
Then on Saturday evening, the Illawarra Hawks back up from Thursday to host a Melbourne United team where speculation continues to run rampant over the future of import forward Jordan Caroline.
Second up on Saturday is a fascinating match up with the Sydney Kings at home to the Cairns Taipans, but with Sydney struggling at home and Cairns on fire on the road.
Then on Sunday, the New Zealand Breakers are at home to the Tasmania JackJumpers before the South East Melbourne Phoenix play host to the Adelaide 36ers.
There will be then plenty of intrigue when Melbourne United hosts the Perth Wildcats on Monday night especially if one, or both, have lost earlier in the weekend.
Sixers cook the Kings in Sydney | 01:33
WILDCATS GREAT BACKS UP ‘HOMICIDE’S’ INSIGHTS
Corey ‘Homicide’ Williams didn’t miss when lining up the loss of the Perth Wildcats culture, but that’s no surprise coming from him. When it comes from a three-time championship winner who took great pride in being part of that culture, it’s a bit different.
Williams, the 2010 NBL MVP, called out the culture that the Wildcats have lost following the departure of five-time championship winning coach Trevor Gleeson, and now a former Perth player has backed up many of those comments.
Matt Knight won three NBL championship and was named to the All-First Team as part of a 236-game career mostly with the Wildcats, and was a key part of setting up a culture that he was proud of.
It wasn’t just on court either. Sure, the Wildcats had a definite identity over the past decade on court as being tough to play against, winning the possession game on the back of their defence, offensive rebounding and ability to set strong screens, draw offensive fouls and outwork their opponents.
Then off court, the Wildcats brand became one of the strongest in Australian sport due to the players representing the club in the community to a high standard, and being willing to accept their spot as role models.
However, not only is Gleeson no longer coach, but a new ownership group has taken over from the late Dr Jack Bendat as well with Sports Entertainment Group now running the club, and Knight can’t help but feel disappointed that much of the culture that took such effort to build seems to be watered down.
“You work so hard to build something that’s successful and it was, you just have to look at our record which speaks for itself,” Knight said on Hoops Heaven’s Basketball Hustle podcast.
“It is disappointing to see it not carry on the way we built it up, but that’s what can happen with new ownership coming in who have different priorities.”
Knight also can’t help but notice in the Tasmania JackJumpers that in terms of the brand they’ve built, team culture they appear to have created and on-court identity they have established, that they now more closely resemble the Wildcats of old.
Given coach Scott Roth, assistants Jacob Chance and Mark Radford, and players Clint Steindl, Jarred Bairstow and Will Magnay have all spent time in Perth that’s no surprise.
“When I was there and you ask anyone that played on our team, we had three values and if you didn’t buy into those then you wouldn’t stick around,” Knight said.
“We wanted to make Perth Arena a fortress and it was a dreaded road trip coming over to Perth but teams aren’t scared to come over anymore and that culture is gone. What Tassie is now is what we were in Trev’s years and even Bevo’s before that with guys like Brad Robbins, Damian Martin and Greg Hire.
“That culture they started has now moved across Bass Strait and one thing Scott Roth learned was that culture. All those guys have taken that culture with them and the way they play reminds me of how we did. We had guys buying into their role and right now I don’t see that in this Perth Wildcats team.”
Knight will now eagerly await the Wildcats’ double this weekend at home to South East Melbourne on Friday and away to Melbourne on Monday.
Cairns claim second spot with close win | 00:53
“Ever since the ownership change something in the culture has changed with it, and on the court they are relying on Bryce too much now as great as a player he is,” Knight added.
“If you look inside out, that culture has changed and I don’t know what’s happened, but the pressure is on because when you put that Perth Wildcats jersey on teams bring it against you every night.
“We’ll see if that game against Tassie was a one off or if they found a blue print to shut the Wildcats down. The one thing about Trev was that he didn’t care who you were, if you didn’t play defence you didn’t play and he would hold guys accountable. I don’t see that anymore.”
PHOENIX FIND THEIR HEAD OF THE SNAKE
You don’t know what impact a new player can make until he hits the floor and Gary Browne wasted no time to show that he could be the man to lead the South East Melbourne Phoenix as soon as he hit an NBL court for the first time.
The Phoenix had a rough start to the season and were 1-3 coming into Round 4, but given they were yet to play at full strength that was largely understandable.
All of a sudden, with a full squad available last Thursday night, everything clicked in spectacular fashion with a 22-point win against the New Zealand Breakers. They backed it up with a hard earned win over the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday.
While Zhou Qi and Alan Williams are marking their mark up front, Ryan Broekhoff and Trey Kell are settling in, and Mitch Creek and Kyle Adnam are having tremendous seasons, it was their new import point guard who could be the most important piece.
All of a sudden with Browne running the show for South East Melbourne, it looked a smooth running offence and with his playmaking ability all of a sudden everyone was getting better looks, and he racked up six assists in the first six minutes of his NBL career.
Across his first two games, he had 15 points and 20 assists. It’s those 20 assists that truly highlight what an effective playmaker he is and how important he will be for a Phoenix team with plenty of talent but who will all benefit by having Browne finding them good looks.
Having a true playmaking import point guard who isn’t too worried about scoring could be just the tonic to turn a talented Phoenix team into one who is a genuine contender.
South East Melbourne now takes on the Perth Wildcats out west on Friday night before hosting the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday with this weekend a true test of how far they have improved.
However, with Browne running things they are in good hands and he worked hard to overcome a pre-season knee injury to begin his NBL career as well as he could.
“I feel good and I think I did a really pretty good job with the rehab with the team’s staff so that was really helpful not only mentally but also physical to get me ready to play again,” Browne said.
“Obviously having everyone back helps because we’ve now got the team we built for the whole season.
“We did suffer three straight losses before we got everyone, but this is the starting point for us now really with the whole squad and the whole spirit of it. It’s going to still be a bit of a process but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
‘SOFT’ HAWKS CHALLENGED BY VETERAN
Being called soft is about as bad as it gets for any team and Illawarra Hawks veteran Tim Coenraad feels that’s exactly how his team is playing.
You can’t hide from the fact of what a tough start to the season it’s been for the Hawks even though they did get an early win against the then struggling South East Melbourne Phoenix.
Illawarra has now lost four straight, though, to be 1-5 and in last place on the NBL ladder and the last two games on back-to-back Monday nights have sent off some definite alarm bells.
Across those two games against the New Zealand Breakers and Brisbane Bullets, the Hawks were outscored by a combined 170-118.
On top of that, they have shot 34 per cent across those two games from the field, been outrebounded by 27 and superstar Tyler Harvey has managed just a combined 25 points on 10/33 shooting from the floor and 3/13 from three-point range.
Tim Coenraad initially wasn’t part of the Hawks roster this season, but the 356-game veteran has since come on board as an injury replacement player. He didn’t hold back on what he sees wrong with the team right now, and what they need to quickly improve before it’s too late.
That starts with a rematch against the Bullets on Thursday night this time in Brisbane and then hosting Melbourne United on Saturday.
“Right now we’re soft on rebounds, we get picked and we don’t fight over screens,” Coenraad said.
“We’re in a real hole and no one’s really feeling good about themselves, and the only way we can get better is if we look in the mirror and say we are really soft. That’s everyone across the board.
“There’s no real bite to our defence and we need to get that back. Maybe we just have guys who are too nice right now. Maybe I need to step out of character and start hitting guys at practice.
“We’re not going to give up and I’m not going to let them give up because we do have some talent in that room. This was a bad game, it was embarrassing to get bounced by 30 but we get another chance. We are holding on that it’s still early in the season.”
Phoenix win ends Breaker’s winning run | 01:05
BUILDING BAYNES JUST WANTS BULLETS TO WIN
Nobody was happier than the Brisbane Bullets breaking through for their first win of the season on Monday night than Aron Baynes, but he knows it counts for nothing if they don’t build off it.
On the back of a 576-game NBA career and being an Australian Boomers stalwart, it was quite the story for Baynes to make his return from a career-threatening neck injury in the NBL season.
That put plenty of eyeballs on his Bullets but the start to the season they had attracted all the wrong types of attention. They lost their opening five matches and first-year NBL forward DJ Mitchell was even suspended after a heated argument at practice with his coach.
However, everything finally clicked into gear in Wollongong on Monday night with Brisbane dominating from the outset leading 18-6 on the way to the eventual 82-56 victory.
It was quite the emphatic way to open their account for the season and they dominated by shooting 42 per cent to 30 from the Hawks, winning the rebound count 52 to 41 and scoring 20 second chance points to nine, and 42 points in the paint to 28.
A big part of it all was Baynes who delivered his best NBL performance. He set it up with 13 points and nine rebounds to half-time on his way to 17 points and 14 boards for the game as he showed just what a dominant presence he can be.
The tank of Baynes is still building and when he plays big stretches of minutes his exhaustion is obvious which is why he’s barely able to break through the 25-minute barrier right now.
However, clearly he is on the improve and so are the Bullets around him which is where Baynes’ focus lies heading into Thursday’s rematch with the Hawks at Nissan Arena as he chases his first ever win in Brisbane.
Baynes knows that if teams provide single coverage on him then he can have his way offensively against most NBL opponents, but he’s just as happy to be getting his teammates involved too moving forward after avoiding going 0-6.
Bullets officially unveil Aron Baynes | 01:09
“It’s better than 0-6 right, glass half full. We were able to put a few more minutes together and that was the biggest thing for us,” Baynes said.
“I’m just trying to make the game easier for the other guys, that’s always more fun for me. I love being able to be out there and whatever focus I draw, it makes it easier for the other guys.
“If they want to deny me then I have all the confidence that the other post guy is going to be open. If they want to try and hang back then I have a clear lane to screen and get my guards downhill. Then I just try and finish the plays they try to make for me too, that’s always the most fun for me.”
WHAT IS GOING ON WITH ROAD TEAMS WINNING
The Sydney Kings have won 16 straight NBL road games yet lost their last two at home, and overall, 15 of the last 18 games have been won by visiting teams in a bizarre trend nobody can quite explain.
Of all the things remarkable about the first month of the NBL season, the trend of road teams continuing to win might indeed be topping the list.
Things started relatively normally with eight of the first 11 games of the season won by the home teams, but it’s been quite the dramatic transformation since.
Over the last 18 matches of NBL23, 15 have been won by road teams and already this season the Kings have won four times away from their home floor, the New Zealand Breakers three and Cairns Taipans three.
All three teams have won just once at home for a combined 3-5 record on what should be friendly surrounds.
Even Melbourne United is quite the anomaly having lost four of their five matches at home so far this season while in their one and only road game to date, they made it seven straight wins in Perth against the Wildcats.
Sydney and Cairns remain the most fascinating case studies though.
The Kings have bought into their self-proclaimed ‘Road Dawgs’ moniker and have extended their NBL record road winning run to 16 following Sunday’s 18-point win against Melbourne.
However, that came just two days after losing a second straight home match to the Adelaide 36ers.
The Taipans were the team to hand the Kings the first of those home losses with the Snakes still winless at home in Cairns and unbeaten on the road this season.
After his Taipans lost at home to the Breakers on Sunday despite holding their opponents to five points in the first quarter, coach Adam Forde didn’t have too many answers for the road teams winning trend.
Although, he did have a thought that the players might have been trying too hard at home to please their loyal Cairns fans.
“I’m not sure and I can’t speak for anybody else, but I know for us and it’s something I have to adjust for, maybe I put a high expectation on this group at home that we’d have an exciting crowd getting behind us,” Forde said.
“Maybe I tightened them up because of that a little bit when our style of play is to play a little bit loose and free, and go with the wind type stuff. It’s just an idea that we’ll look to make adjustments to but I don’t have an answer in terms of why everyone else is doing so well on the road at the moment.”
