Being embarrassed on opening night for the most anticipated NBL season in years is not the best way to start a championship defence. One game in, that’s where the New Zealand Breakers find themselves.
But despite the Adelaide 36ers’ impressive 90-71 win that really looked over by half time, now isn’t the time to jump to drastic conclusions about the Breakers. Far from it.
Much has been made of the fact Corey Webster is not around as he shoots for an NBA deal – and his absence absolutely does hurt – but there’s also a couple of very handy players in Tom Abercrombie and Alex Pledger sidelined.
Promisingly, both are expected to return for Sunday’s home game against the Townsville Crocodiles.
Abercrombie’s presence should be felt immediately, while Pledger will be the man to watch. Whether he can overcome injury questions could give us more of an insight into the Breakers’ true chances this season.
Certainly, the paint didn’t belong to the Kiwis last night.
On that front, there was perhaps another excuse for last night’s performance – a man presumably among the least scouted in the competition chose to announce himself.
That would be Adelaide’s Matt Hodgson, a development player at Melbourne United last season who spent most of his first NBL year rehabilitating a torn meniscus in his knee, an injury from his college career at St Mary’s. During the off-season he landed at the 36ers on a two-year deal but the NBL world still knew very little about him.
It’s fair to say they do now. The 211cm big lefty put on a show after coming off the bench in the first quarter, helping to build the early lead that was never reeled in.
He showed plenty of athleticism in the paint – those knees must be fine – in weaving around players and using that left hand to finish off some pretty tough shots.
His final stats? 18 points at 70 per cent shooting, nine rebounds and three blocks.
The best bit? All that was in just 18 minutes of game time.
It could be the last time this season Matt Hodgson plays less than 20 minutes.
The build-up to the season opener was certainly big and ultimately, the game itself turned out to be more one-sided than was to be expected.
But the lovely thing about the NBL this year is that a new day typically means a new game – and that’s the case tonight as the Cairns Taipans host the Illawarra Hawks, which is also full of intrigue.
How will the new-look Hawks go against last year’s grand finalists? The discussion rolls on…
Fox scores a tick for first-night coverage
Last night’s game was also the first game of the new broadcast deal with Fox Sports and the host broadcaster passed the test with flying colours.
Anthony Hudson was professional and callers like him – Fox’s play-by-play team being borrowed from its AFL and NRL stables – will give viewers who don’t typically watch the product a familiar voice at the helm. That’s a good thing.
Shane Heal was insightful as always and we can only look forward to the contributions of Andrej Lemanis, Derek Rucker, CJ Bruton and James Harvey throughout the season.
Despite a brief glitch with the scoreboard, the graphics and presentation were of a high standard and the new features – the refs being miked up and a grab of Dean Vickerman’s half time speech – added value and, importantly, were not of the gimmicky variety.
The NBL should have a very watchable product this season.
News from on and off court around the NBL.
Josh Giddey's Oklahoma City Thunder brought Adelaide back to earth with a thud.
The Adelaide 36ers have shocked the star-studded Phoenix Suns 134-124 in an historic NBA pre-season victory for the touring NBL club. Adelaide have beaten…
Mitch McCarron's captain's knock and a dominant second-half performance have guided the Adelaide 36ers to a 83-57 thumping of the Cairns Taipans.
The Tasmania JackJumpers have banished their fourth-quarter hoodoo, claiming a 76-71 NBL win over the Adelaide 36ers behind a late blitz from guards Josh…
After a 28-match 2019-20 NBL season, these are my player rankings for the seventh-placed Adelaide 36ers. Jerome Randle: 7.5/10 Jerome Randle is believed to…
