Breakers vs Taipans 9th Oct.

[Teve0]

CJ > Mee

Penny > Black

Rickett > Crosswhite

= Breakers by 18..

[Cussy]

Why compare Rickett to Crosswhite? What about Abney?

[Mammon]

CJ > Mee

Penny > Black

reborn 4man = dave

rono < Abney

Rickett > Crosswhite


4got the Cat won't play for the taipans in this game?

[Brew]

lol at Forman being = with Thomas....

either way, Breakers should win this quite comfortably without our go-to clutch man catt out :cry:

[isaac]

Danger game for NZ if they don't take the Taipans (without Cat) seriously.

[Soft Copy]

Danger game for NZ if they don't take the Taipans (without Cat) seriously.
I don't think there's any chance of that. To me this Breakers outfit look extremely focussed, though calm and confident. I don't think the absence of one oppositioin player is likely to alter their mindset (two players out of the 36ers didn't see any drop in intensity from the Breakers) and their resolve to protect their home court is clearly a huge motivating factor for them.

With Cat I wold have us winning by about 10, without I'd have us winning by about 13. I don't see Catalini's absence being a huge factor; the Taipans are deep and well organised and for some reason seem to always shoot the lights out against us. Once again I predict close going into the fourth with our range of scoring options being the difference down the stretch.

As I said in different thread, we've won all of our fourth quarters well and the Taipans are yet to win one of theirs this season. If we're there or thereabouts at 3/4 time, we'll take it out.

[NZB]

I'm not shitting you, but I am expecting the Breakers to win this one, and perhaps with a degree of comfort, if they continue to play at the level that they have been playing in the first three games.

Taipans will no doubt look to post Mee on CJ. Mee could always have a great shooting game like he did last season (when the Taipans beat the Breakers sans their imports by 25). Black would have to fire in a big way, and Grabau will need to play long stretches and have a strong game on both ends. Abney will get his.

Could you consider the Taipans a legitimate contender? I don't. The Breakers? Not yet. But at home, the Breakers should win this one.

[Teve0]

does anyone know the capacity of the NSEC??

apparantly the breakers are anticipating their first ever sellout..

[angry ant]

does anyone know the capacity of the NSEC??

apparantly the breakers are anticipating their first ever sellout..
3400 i believe

[Big Shot Joey]

The Breakers have had a dream start having built on an already strong base during the off season. The crowds are up (are all nz sport fans band wagoners?) and the side is on a roll. Cairns have had a bad week and history tells us that it is hard to turn your form around on the road. Kirk Penny is red hot and the Breakers have all the momentum.....Breakers by alot

[isaac]

My bets for the game are Cairns (insurance bet) and Cairns at the half, Breakers to win.

Mee and Black are good match-ups for Bruton and Penney. DT may trouble Forman (remember Chappell last year causing trouble for Oscar and Phill) though Boucher will be helpful there. Abney and Crosswhite vs Ronaldson and Rickert will be interesting.

[Soft Copy]

does anyone know the capacity of the NSEC??

apparantly the breakers are anticipating their first ever sellout..

In the configuration the Breakers have it set up (i.e. corporates taking up the floor area on the TV side of the court where about eight rows of seating could otherwise be) I think the capacity is around 3,800.

Last week's crowd was apparently 3,400 which was described as a "near sellout" which would be consistent with his figure.

[Brew]

My bets for the game are Cairns (insurance bet) and Cairns at the half, Breakers to win.

Just curious... which betting agency do you bet with? (thinking of getting account)

[isaac]

Centrebet. Not going to pretend it's high stakes or anything - I put in some money at the start of the season and see how long it lasts. Thanks to an insurance bet on John McCain at $2.70 (at least if he wins, I have some money to drown my sorrows), I have almost run out and we're only in Round 4...

Article from the NZ Herald about the Breakers quoting Lemanis and Forman:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/ar ... 558&pnum=0 (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10536558&pnum=0)

Mentions that Behrendorff is likely to be out. Will Matt Smith terrorise the Breakers again as a result?

[Soft Copy]

Mentions that Behrendorff is likely to be out. Will Matt Smith terrorise the Breakers again as a result?
Ouch, that will hurt us for sure. And Matt Smith does have a habbit of putting up good numbers against us (I actually thought he would have been a good pick-up in the off-season and, with Tanner's non-participation thus far, even when fully fit, I'm still thinking he would have been a better way to spend four cap points). Behrendorff has really done his job well so far this season, peaking in his display last week when he scored pretty freely with Schnschenschescher guarding him.

How much do we worry about the Taipans inside game in general though? I'm thinking not too much. Abney will get 15 or so and he rebounds pretty well, but Crosswhite has a personal best in this league of just 20 points (scored against us of course) and is averaging under four rebounds a game this season.

They can sure hurt you from outside on their day though and Boodnikoff seems to always score heavily against the Breakers so our defensive hustle will ned to match or surpass last weeks efforts I'm thinking.

[NZB]

No Behrendorff means we are in big trouble tonight, but it also highlights the major problem with the Breakers this season, something which I think will stop them from progressing past probably the semi-final stage (assuming every goes to plan from here to then)...we have no big-man depth.

Cairns for any other team would be fairly washed up, but the team have all killed the Breakers before.
Mee, Black, DT, Abney, Crosswhite, Grabau, Matt Smith

After coming into this game with a bit of optimism, I am suddenly feeling a little worried. Breakers by 2, hopefully.

[Soft Copy]

No Behrendorff means we are in big trouble tonight, but it also highlights the major problem with the Breakers this season, something which I think will stop them from progressing past probably the semi-final stage (assuming every goes to plan from here to then)...we have no big-man depth.

Cairns for any other team would be fairly washed up, but the team have all killed the Breakers before.
Mee, Black, DT, Abney, Crosswhite, Grabau, Matt Smith

After coming into this game with a bit of optimism, I am suddenly feeling a little worried. Breakers by 2, hopefully.
I still think we'll win well, because a tired defence won't be able to stop us in the fourth if we shoot well and share the ball like we've been doing.

Oscar really needs to continue his good rebounding form - a double double from him would be pretty handy tonight.

I'm in 100% agreement you re big man depth. If Tanner isn't going to get minutes, then what's he doing there? This Breakers organisation are serious about winning a championship, so there may well be a personnel change if his non-participation continues I'm picking. I'm pretty sure cutting Tanner would only give us four points to spend though, so what calibre of player we could pick up, I'm not sure.

[Essen]

I wouldn't be too alarmed yet. It could possibly cause some issues, however Behrendorff rarely gets off the pine some nights. Rickert can play big minutes though he hasn't needed to yet and as long as he stays out of foul trouble, the Breakers will be fine. I'm sure Ronaldson and Oscar can rotate the 4 spot sufficiently, though it would've been an opportune time for Tanner to get some burn. Anyone know if he is back from injury or will he again remain in civvies?

This is a big game for the Breakers. They've got some serious momentum going now publically and in the media. They can't have close to 4000 turn up and send them home not happy.

Cairns will definitely look to exploit Mee's height over CJ. I would hope though after the Tigers game where we gave away 5-6 easy lay-ups to Barlow down low that the Breakers have considered some options to limit teams that are able to exploit this.

Essentially, I see this game being decided in how well Mee, Black, DT and Abney are contained. Though Crosswhite, Grabau and Matt Smith have troubled us in the past, I think that if we can stop the first four, the next three aren't going to be able to do enough.

[paul]

CJ will guard Black and Penney will guard Darnell.
For Cairns to win Abney will need to be hitting his mid range shot, or else Rickert and Ronaldson will be able to handle him comfortably in the post

INteresting stat on how talented NZ are offensively. Off the top of my head there are 7 players in the NBL who have averaged double figures at WC's or Olympics, and four of them play for the Breakers.

[Soft Copy]

INteresting stat on how talented NZ are offensively. Off the top of my head there are 7 players in the NBL who have averaged double figures at WC's or Olympics, and four of them play for the Breakers.

Penney, Jones, Ronaldson & Bruton?

If so, who are the other three? Did Cameron?

[Teve0]

Anstey, Cameron and..............Rogers??? Maybe Maher?? oh wait heal!!

[Soft Copy]

Brings back memories of Pero's performance in those world champs. Fantastic to watch and he was voted into the all-star five along with the likes of Ginobli. He did everything. He shot brilliantly, passed incredibly well and defended bigger, high-quality players like his life depended on it. It was easily the most exciting time New Zealand basketball has ever seen.

It also reinforces my perception that Pero is much better in a tournament situation, rather than in the league format. It seems to me that his weight, fitness and enthusiasm for the contest all fluctuate over the length of a five month league campaign.

Last game (maybe the one before) I saw he only got nine or so minutes of court time. That smells of pissing off the coach somehow. A player of his calibre should be providing much more to a team like the Blaze - I mean, his teammates aren't exactly setting the world on fire...

[paul]

The other three are Cameron, Heal and Ere.

I will check my files when I get home but I think Anstey and Mackinnon have both been around the 8-9ppg mark on more than one occasion, as was Jason Smith in 2006. Rogers was at about 9ppg in 1998 and I think Sav was 8ppg in Athens and poor old Mahersy has never got a decent run, or he would have for sure.

[Mammon]

of course cameron, he didn't earn his World All-Stars for nothing, he was a beast...... long long time ago.....


one of the other 2 is heal, no sure about the other one, maybe cattalini? :)

[meg]

Wow...Rickert with 19 points before the end of the first half! :shock:

[Sutty]

WOW, live scores is actually announcing things before the radio!!!! AND it's the 4th quarter and still working AND Taipans are winning, will wonders never cease

[Arnold]

Scott Cook 10/10 from the stripe. That's almost as amazing as the scoreline!

[Arnold]

Dabe Thomas living up to his reputation also.

[Sutty]

That radio announcer is jinxing just about every NZB shot. Every time he calls it early it seems to miss.
Keep up the good work!!!

[Polar_Bear]

I would like to know if any bookie/bookies have gotten big bets on Taipans :)

16-50 in free throws, away from home :roll: :shock:

[angry ant]

I tipped Cairns! 8)

[Brew]

ROFL what an upset

[angry ant]

I think this means we have 9 GOATS

Melbourne were the origianl GOATS. Perth and NZ have beaten them making them GOATS. The Crocs, Dragons and Cairns have beaten either Perth or NZ making them GOATS. The 36ers beat the Crocs so they're GOATS and the Spirit beat the 36ers and Hawks beat Sydney. So there four our league has 9 of the greatest teams ever in the NBL, wow :o

[Big Shot Joey]

I would like to know if any bookie/bookies have gotten big bets on Taipans :)

16-50 in free throws, away from home :roll: :shock:

Bookies always get big bets on the underdog..no matter how unlikely the odds of un upset are, there are alot of value bettors out there.

I know sportsbet darwin took a 4K bet on the taipans for the win

[bigdog]

What an attrocity. John Dybvig should apologise to the nation for raising the ire of the Referees. We get one fair call in six years at home the one time Dybvig sticks his ugly beck in to offer us his ill informed opinion and all of a sudden the Refs blow NZ out of the game. Ban him from the gym, it has been done before, this time it is deserved.

What kind of sadistic individuals (or three of them in this case) so obviously blows the home team out of the game in front of the biggest crown ever for a Breakers game (circa 4100). It is as though they want to be hated.

Lemanis. Clueless. Doesnt help when you players cant make a layup, but his rotations were bloddy disgraceful. Give me strength.

Cairns. Fine display. Send two to box out Rickett, and you wrap up the rebounding. No one else is going to hurt you - Boucher and Ronaldson wouldnt shoot from under the bucket tonite even when unattended. Excellent perimeter defending by Cairns - full credit. Black and Mee always kill us, every damn year. Yet we insist on playing the likes of Henare because of his defence. After 6 years, give me a break.

Hate to say, but I told you so. Breakers couldnt buy a basket from the outside (except for Jones who sat far too long) and this was bound to happen sooner or later (as I forecasted last week). It wont happen every game, but when it does we are like a donut on the inside. We need some help at 4

Lovin CJ, missing Mika, questioning Tanner...

[NZB]

Disappointing loss tonight.

We come out very poorly and trailed 25-11. We had an inspired 2nd quarter where we turned it around to lead 60-52 at the break. We come out after the half and play very poorly. Taipans lead it 87-83 at 3Q. Then we go miss 13 of 14 shots and fall down by 14, before we come and make a comeback of sorts through Jones. Then 7 down and possession, Oscar clunks another 3. Just wasn't out night.

Must tip my hat to the Taipans in a big way. Everyone played their part.

Crosswhite didn't miss a shot all night, and dominated us, scoring on Rickert at will.
Mee hurt us when we left him open, just as I feared. Was clutch from the stripe, I expected that.
Black killed us, I expected that, but he didn't get away on us.
Cook came on and didn't miss a free throw. He did a handy job.
Abney made some big plays at the end, and rebounded well, as I expected.

Penney had one of those nights, couldn't fire in the final quarter.
Jones came on too late, he was shooting better than Forman, I don't know why we didn't use him.
Rono struggled against Abney, Rickert did great for the first half, then blew some easy shots.
Henare actually made me eat my words - he was ok, apart from leaving Mee open a few times
Behrendroff hit a 3, did nothing else

Just can't get it done when you concede 122 at home. Plenty to work on for us. Great win the Snakes, they scare me. Breaker-killers galore.

[Essen]

The blocking foul that saw Boucher foul out was the worst call I've ever seen.

The Breakers should've won it elsewhere. However, the refereeing definitely detracted from the viewing experience. Certainly for the 4000 odd fans, many of whom are probably unfamiliar to basketball or the NBL, it would've been horrible the constant stop-start for negligible calls.

Surely if the NBL wants to attract fans, the referees should do their best to accommodate an attractive game. It's almost like the referees wanted to be the center of attention.

Otherwise, hats off to the Taipans. They played a great game, particularly on defence.

[NZB]

Yeah Shiv, Boucher didn't even do much. The fact that a foul like that was called at that stage of the game with the Breakers on the road back was appalling. There were many other instances of that occurring.

That said, I still want to re-iterate the fact that the Taipans played a fine game

[hendrix]

I realise the Breakers were fouling late in the game to try and get back into it, but beyond that can someone explain the free throw count?
50 to 16???????????

[Julian]

Bookies always get big bets on the underdog..no matter how unlikely the odds of un upset are, there are alot of value bettors out there.

I know sportsbet darwin took a 4K bet on the taipans for the win
Imagine a Wildcats-Taipans multi @ $36.00.

[Mammon]

classic battle.


breakers played fantastic bball (again 15 3pts @ nearly 50%, 87.5% FT, 28asts) and did enough to win this game comfortablely, but the taipans just outperformed 200% of its ability to upset the host. all 5 taipans starters plus scott cook (who shot 12/12 FT) played superbly. on the other hand, ozcar 4man and the bear let the home team down and no doubt they will be attacked throughout the season cos they are the 2 weak spots for the breakers. especially 4man, too soft.


also, the refereeing was one-sided in favour of the visitors, a very rare scene in nbl.

[Steve]

## Name P FG 3 Pt FT PTS ORB DRB TR PF AST TO BS ST MIN
2 * Tony Ronaldson 0/7 0/3 0/0 0 1 2 3 3 6 3 0 0 36:03

As a Cats fan, I really don't miss the above performances from Tony. Those assists are nice, but not what he's on the court for...

Steve

[Soft Copy]

Man, how wrong was I about Crosswhite's influence? He was excellent and I'm pretty sure his 21 points is a new PB for him in this league (overtaking the 20 he also scored against us).

I was also completely wrong about the relative strengths of the two teams as the games wore on - the Taipans just seemed to get better while the Breakers ran out of ideas, hustle and brains.

Our O was okay if unspectacular; our D was appalling. You can't give a visiting team 120 points in front of the third biggest crowd ever at your home venue "fortress". It just shouldn't happen.

But for me the refereeing was as bad as it gets. Tim Brown shouldn't get another game. The off-the-ball blocking call on Boucher was an absolute joke. Also the charging call on Penney in the first half - in that instance, Penney had picked up his dribble and had a clear lane to the bucket. As he took his steps, the defensive player (can't recall who) moved out towards him from where he had been directly under the hoop and was still moving forward, tunelling under Kirk as he layed the ball up. Atrocious! If someone did that to me, I would smack them in the mouth. It is a witless, dangerous move; illegal and very likely to cause serious injury. The shame is that referees so often call in favour of the defensive player that it will continue to be a blight on the game in this league. To add insult to likely injury, Brown waived away the basket which should have counted, despite the stupid foul call - the ball was in the air and almost in the basket by the time there was contact. Hell, Kirk was on his way down!

And I'm with you bigdog - fucking Dybvig should shut his fucking mouth.

[paxson]

What an attrocity. John Dybvig should apologise to the nation for raising the ire of the Referees. We get one fair call in six years at home the one time Dybvig sticks his ugly beck in to offer us his ill informed opinion and all of a sudden the Refs blow NZ out of the game. Ban him from the gym, it has been done before, this time it is deserved.

What kind of sadistic individuals (or three of them in this case) so obviously blows the home team out of the game in front of the biggest crown ever for a Breakers game (circa 4100). It is as though they want to be hated.

Lemanis. Clueless. Doesnt help when you players cant make a layup, but his rotations were bloddy disgraceful. Give me strength.

Cairns. Fine display. Send two to box out Rickett, and you wrap up the rebounding. No one else is going to hurt you - Boucher and Ronaldson wouldnt shoot from under the bucket tonite even when unattended. Excellent perimeter defending by Cairns - full credit. Black and Mee always kill us, every damn year. Yet we insist on playing the likes of Henare because of his defence. After 6 years, give me a break.

Hate to say, but I told you so. Breakers couldnt buy a basket from the outside (except for Jones who sat far too long) and this was bound to happen sooner or later (as I forecasted last week). It wont happen every game, but when it does we are like a donut on the inside. We need some help at 4

Lovin CJ, missing Mika, questioning Tanner...

Slightly exagerated with the biggest ever crowd but close. This from the NBL website:

"The crowd of 4,066 was the Breakers third biggest ever at the North Shore Events Centre"

[LegoSHAQ]

## Name P FG 3 Pt FT PTS ORB DRB TR PF AST TO BS ST MIN
2 * Tony Ronaldson 0/7 0/3 0/0 0 1 2 3 3 6 3 0 0 36:03

As a Cats fan, I really don't miss the above performances from Tony. Those assists are nice, but not what he's on the court for...

Steve
Maybe he can come to the Tigers and play PG?

Good game by the Taipans .. good all around team performance.. 6 players in double figures.. 5 of those in the 20's :shock: .. and they did it without Cat.. so do the Snakes also suffer from the "too many cooks" syndrome? Shall see what the chemistry is like with Cat re-inserted...

[Hulk Hogan]

Just trolling through the stats - I can not believe that the Taipans got to the line 50 times in this game and converted 41. NZ only got to the line 16 time and converted a very very respectable 14. I love Scott Cook. How the hell can he get to the line 12 times? Andrew Gaze would love those types of attempt numbers.

[isaac]

Not surprised at the result. Even without Cattalini, they had the players to trouble the Breakers. Crosswhite had 20 against the Breakers last season, and Matt Smith's caused them difficulties inside before. Then, you still have Black, Abney and Thomas.

Only times Darnell Mee's scored more than 12 points in the last two seasons has been against the Breakers and on both occasions he's got to the FT line 10 or more times. He had 18 and 15 against them in 06/07 as well. To those at the game, how was he getting to the line? Penetrating and drawing fouls?

Five points total from the two starting forwards is a big hole and they did well to manage 111 points despite that. Watched the live stats while I could and saw that Oscar's three first fouls resulted in shots for his opponent though, for once, they weren't three point plays.

Breakers look to have shot pretty well (45% and 48% 3P), kept the TOs down, but simply coughed up fouls and gave up a hoard of FT. 50 free throws is a road record for Cairns. I think 37 fouls is a Breakers record too.

[DDFan]

Watched the live stats while I could and saw that Oscar's three first fouls resulted in shots for his opponent though, for once, they weren't three point plays.They missed from the line? Just kidd'n. :wink:
quote from Jake the Fake-Flatshot, "Those Breakers play $hit defence against a full squad".
Jake, you owe me. :P

[isaac]

Spotted this from Alan Black:"This league is an unbelievable league," he said. "I look at the standard each week when I start scouting players...when I scouted the Breakers I looked at the Tigers game and there were periods there when I thought there's not a hope in hell we're going to beat them.

"Then the other night the Wildcats who had a pretty ordinary start to the season beat the Tigers in Melbourne. This is a fantastic league and the Breakers are just coming on to the cusp as something pretty special here, as I think the league is.

"That was a great spectacle tonight, and a great crowd. It's all good."

[paxson]

Not surprised at the result. Even without Cattalini, they had the players to trouble the Breakers. Crosswhite had 20 against the Breakers last season, and Matt Smith's caused them difficulties inside before. Then, you still have Black, Abney and Thomas.

Only times Darnell Mee's scored more than 12 points in the last two seasons has been against the Breakers and on both occasions he's got to the FT line 10 or more times. He had 18 and 15 against them in 06/07 as well. To those at the game, how was he getting to the line? Penetrating and drawing fouls?

Five points total from the two starting forwards is a big hole and they did well to manage 111 points despite that. Watched the live stats while I could and saw that Oscar's three first fouls resulted in shots for his opponent though, for once, they weren't three point plays.

Breakers look to have shot pretty well (45% and 48% 3P), kept the TOs down, but simply coughed up fouls and gave up a hoard of FT. 50 free throws is a road record for Cairns. I think 37 fouls is a Breakers record too.

Matt Smith playe 2:28 minutes for 1 turnover. His only stat of the game!!!!! :oops:

[Soft Copy]

Spotted this from Alan Black:"This league is an unbelievable league," he said. "I look at the standard each week when I start scouting players...when I scouted the Breakers I looked at the Tigers game and there were periods there when I thought there's not a hope in hell we're going to beat them.

"Then the other night the Wildcats who had a pretty ordinary start to the season beat the Tigers in Melbourne. This is a fantastic league and the Breakers are just coming on to the cusp as something pretty special here, as I think the league is.

"That was a great spectacle tonight, and a great crowd. It's all good."
Blacky makes good points about the crowd, the teams and the league, but last night's game as a spectacle didn't rise to great heights. The refereeing was abysmal (and not just against the Breakers), which detracted severely from the enjoyment factor for me. Inconsistency of calls is the worst thing a player has to deal with as far as officiating goes and it was there in spades last night.

And, at the risk of labouring a point, something has got to be done about defenders tunneling a player driving to the hoop. Once a player has picked up his dribble when driving, all the rights to the space in a line to the basket should be his, unless it is already occupied by a defender. In my opinion, if a defender is still moving into a "charge-taking" position at that point in time, the foul should be called on him.

[paxson]

Spotted this from Alan Black:"This league is an unbelievable league," he said. "I look at the standard each week when I start scouting players...when I scouted the Breakers I looked at the Tigers game and there were periods there when I thought there's not a hope in hell we're going to beat them.

"Then the other night the Wildcats who had a pretty ordinary start to the season beat the Tigers in Melbourne. This is a fantastic league and the Breakers are just coming on to the cusp as something pretty special here, as I think the league is.

"That was a great spectacle tonight, and a great crowd. It's all good."
Blacky makes good points about the crowd, the teams and the league, but last night's game as a spectacle didn't rise to great heights. The refereeing was abysmal (and not just against the Breakers), which detracted severely from the enjoyment factor for me. Inconsistency of calls is the worst thing a player has to deal with as far as officiating goes and it was there in spades last night.

And, at the risk of labouring a point, something has got to be done about defenders tunneling a player driving to the hoop. Once a player has picked up his dribble when driving, all the rights to the space in a line to the basket should be his, unless it is already occupied by a defender. In my opinion, if a defender is still moving into a "charge-taking" position at that point in time, the foul should be called on him.

Generally after the player has picked up his dribble he takes 2 steps!!!!! Its actually when he elevates/jumps that the defender cannot occupy the space where he wants to land unless he was there before he took off. Just picking up the dribble doesnt mean the defender cant move to a position prior to the offensive player jumping. there is a difference.

[paul]

That's spot on Paxson. Unfortunately our refs dont seem to know that rule, as they regularly reward defenders who take position after the offensive player has left the ground.

Ive watched a few other leagues around the world and the NBL seems to be the only one where the defenders gets the benefit of the doubt. It needs to be a major point of emphasis for our refs, as does not punishing defenders when offensive players clearly initiate the contact to the defenders body - that is a major point of difference between NBL reffing and most of the rest of the world too.

[Soft Copy]

Paul & Paxson, you're both correct of course. I perhaps didn't explain myself well enough. My view is that the interpretation of the charging decisions should be along the lines of the way I described it, not how it is currently interpreted (and wrongly adjudicated in many cases).

If I had the technology, I would post the clip of Penney being wrongly called for a charge (and wrongly denied the two points regardless) and I'm sure all would agree that driving to the basket in traffic is not a part of the game we want to see discouraged or even erradicated through defenders being given the benefit of 50/50 calls as you rightly point out paul.

[isaac]

Matt Smith playe 2:28 minutes for 1 turnover. His only stat of the game!!!!! :oops:

Yeah, wasn't saying that he had an impact in this game, more so that the Breakers have had trouble with high-percentage inside players before. What was Crosswhite last night, 9/10 FG? I remember Smith having similarly accurate numbers in one of his past outings in NZ.

[Essen]

If the refs can't interpret it right, then we need a no-charge zone!

Soft Copy, the one you're referring to, Penney was on the way down and we was really high. He crashed onto the defenders shoulders. I didn't even know Kirk could get that high! There was three on Kirk in total? Also a soft one on Rickert too?

Like others, I don't want to detract from the Taipans. They played a great game. But FFS, I know of much better refs at the local recs!

[bigdog]

Just to pick up on a few comments made here and there.

Alan Black said it was a great spectacle. It was bloody awful and I have been in a "foul" mode since. The only people who would have enjoyed the game were those that came to watch the refs - their close family.

Cairns can take nothing from the win, just as Adelaide should take nothing from their loss last week at the NSEC. Sometimes events transpire outside the control of the team that just uneven the odds to the point that the game is foregone. Last week the 36ers lost their 2 best players. This week the Taipans got such an unbelievable ride from the refs.

Consider this - of all the 8 players that played more than 4 minutes for the Breakers. Everyone had 4 or more fouls except for:
- Ronaldson - who should have played far less (3 fouls)
- Jones - who should have played far more (3 fouls)

3 of the 8 fouled out.

Further, I have no idea what Lemanis was doing out there - and cannot believe more people do not lambast him. For Jones and Rickett to go for 49 points and 14 rebounds, but to only play 53 minutes between them. - Unacceptable.

He constantly puts lineups on the floor, and has done so for years, designed to react/ match up to the oppositions line up - instead of playing his own game. Hence the guileless approach of playing Henare and Bruton at the same time.

[NZB]

We haven't played Rickert for big minutes. Despite going 12/15 last night, Rickert didn't play that much. He did bungle a couple of easy lay-ups for which he got hooked for.

Boucher's gotta take the ball to the hole, the kick-out is become a little telegraphed.

Henare and C.J. just don't work, and it never will. This despite Henare actually playing quite well.

Jones came back on way too late...we were down 102-88 before he got on and made his succession of shots. It wasn't Forman's night, he was seen saying 'bullshit' after he was called for a 'pushing' foul.

We were down 7, had the ball after a 5-second call, Forman misses a 3 that would've cut it back to 4. Just wasn't our night.

[Soft Copy]

He constantly puts lineups on the floor, and has done so for years, designed to react/ match up to the oppositions line up - instead of playing his own game. Hence the guileless approach of playing Henare and Bruton at the same time.
I'm with you 100% there and have said exactly the same thing in the past. Check it out when we play the Dragons in particular - Andrej seems to have real trouble coaching against Goorj and shadows his every move, swithching lineups willy-nilly in a frantic attempt to mirror the personbel configuration of the opposition.

Goorjan must love it - he's no doubt aware that he can effectively have a significant say in the players the Breakers put out on the floor.

[paul]

Havent seen the game yet - so not defending Lemanis, but the Breakers scored 111, so to say Rickert and Jones should have played more because they were scoring freely prob isnt a strong case.

Given the Taipans won the inside battle, I would say Rickert should have been out there more - was he in early foul trouble?

[bigdog]

Jones and Rickerts scored 43% of the points, 42% of the Rebounds and played 22% of the minutes!!!!!!! They had another 43 minutes they could have played. Their defence was as good as anyone elses. Their shooting percentage was enormous and they had 2 turn overs between them.

Lemanis f ucked up, as he so often does.

The Breakers got zero points and only 9 rebounds from the 4 position (Ronaldson + Boucher). As raised by myself and many others previously, this is a very serious issue.

[tim]

apparently the breakers have asked for a aussie ref to come over for there home games and they will pay because they were so angry with tim brown and dallas reffing

[bigdog]

I would suggest that this is a smart buisness decision...

It is my belief the Breakers would have comfortably won this game had the reffing been neutral, despite Lemanis. The bigger crowds that flock to the game on the back of wins will pay for the cost.

[Soft Copy]

This issue has been raised before. Pickering and Godden have been the subject of a fair bit of head-scratching from the Breakers organisation, and indeed other referees, regarding the way they officiate at their games. I think I'm right in saying a fairly high-profile official stepped in a couple of seasons ago and had words with Dallas after one particularly bizarre performance at which there happened to be a gathering of officials in attendance for training purposes. I think it might have been the same game that Pauli got into trouble for saying on radio at half time that all they wanted was a level playing field from the officials and calling the opposition "arrogant pricks"...

I'm sure for those two, it's that mentality of not wanting to be accused of favouring the home team which causes them to lean completely the other way and blow the Breakers out of the game. Tim Brown however appears to completely out of his depth and simply not quick of mind enough to referee at that level.

And (at the risk of sounding like a cheerleader for him) bigdog is once again correct. If the Taipans had attempted only [edit]16 free throws like the Breakers and not the 50 they were awarded, the Breakers would have probably made it four from four and the sold-out signs would be up next week as well, easily covering the cost of a couple of return air fares.

[edit] I've spoken to a few people who were at the game who, without exception, were absolutely amazed at the refereeing performance from Brown. The calls that looked utterly didculous on TV were apparently even more glaringly incorrect to the naked eye. Having said that, everyone I asked said it was an incredible atmosphere and didn't think anyone who was in attendance would have been disappointed with their night's entertainment. A couple of them are now purchasing season tickets having previously been of the opinion that it's a sport they preferred to watch on TV. Let's hope for the Breakers sake that all who were there will come back next week and for subsequent home games, drive the season ticket membership up and have the organisation turning people away for every home game.

[tim]

they are going to keep godden and fly another aussie and rotate andy 'dallas' tim
and gavin but the nbl have to approve godden is n't too bad considering the guy has done over 400 games but remember did he leave bbnz in a good frame of mind

[Soft Copy]

they are going to keep godden and fly another aussie and rotate andy 'dallas' tim
and gavin but the nbl have to approve godden is n't too bad considering the guy has done over 400 games but remember did he leave bbnz in a good frame of mind
Took me ages to figure out what you were on about tim. Some puctuation wouldn't go amiss next time mate.

Where did you get your info? If the league, or ref's association, or whomever it is that makes these decisions think Tim Brown should officiate again in this league without some serious remedial training, they're deluded. He was only one third of the team but made over half the errors (and that's saying something); his time should be over for a while.

[bigdog]

I think Godden has had some shocking games calling the Breakers. Having said that he has been a lot better this year. He wasnt the main culprit on Thursday, although he didnt help, Dallas and Tim had the barry crockers. Andy (English bloke) is quite capable. I dont think I have ever seen Dallas referee a decent game.

[Soft Copy]

Were you at the game bigdog? It must've gotten pretty ugly in the crowd at times when that foul count was mounting up!