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.
slane
Guest
The atmosphere of NBL games always remind me of the 90's.
slane
Guest
Careful mate. The entire A-league only had 1.8 milliion people attend their games over the course of the entire season. One AFL team, the Richmond Tigers, had 1.1 million people and only played 23 games.
Justin Mahon
Guest
Just one football club, Melbourne Victory, will have more fans attend it's home games this year than the entire NBL. Now add in attendances at the other nine A-league clubs, the FFA Cup, NPL Finals and the Australian games for our three Asian Champions League clubs (i.e all of Australian football's men's top flight club football competitions) Is that beginning to give you a sense of how absurd your statement is? Don't even get me started on the national youth league, national women's club football competition and football's 9 national teams headed by the Socceroos.
Michael DiFabrizio
Expert
Good comment Scott. Last night leaves plenty to work on. Hammer pointed out Cedric Jackson's difficulties with the three point shot early in the game and it proved to be a consistent theme as the night went on.
Michael DiFabrizio
Expert
I think they'll test the waters with the different timeslots and if a 'marquee' game emerges with more viewers, it opens the door for a half hour panel show. NBL 360 anyone?
Tony Loedi
Roar Guru
Aren't they trying to make it a 2 hour product? Not sure how long game went for last night but could be why no pre and post game analysis.
The Gronk
Guest
I can see Basketball challenging soccer for the number two summer sport in Australia. The sport has so much more potential than soccer due to being indoors in Australia's summer.
AussieBokkie
Guest
This really is looking like a great season -- Comment from The Roar's iPhone app.
Ryan Buckland
Expert
I reckon that'll come in time, once they've built up the product a little more. Those shows offer a lot to brand, but are just cost centres for the broadcaster.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Yeah Ryan, It was really nice coverage. The only thing missing was a bit of pre game or post game analysis.
Ryan Buckland
Expert
I completely agree on the quality of the coverage, it was excellent. Miles ahead of what Channel 10 had been producing, which makes sense given the scale economies of broadcasting five or six games a week versus one. Will be tuning in regularly.
Swampy
Guest
The game was ok - Hammer struggled a bit at times getting words out I thought. I have one gripe though - and I've had it since about 1992. What's with the ceaseless music and sound effects. Less is more people. Any time the crowd gets a little excited the natural atmosphere gets drowned out by Tay Tay or whoever. The BBL is very guilty of the exact same thing (but with hits that your grandad likes).
Scott Pryde
Expert
Nice write up Michael, I have to agree it's not 'panic stations' yet, but the Breakers were incredibly poor last night. I think though, down to one quarter, some foul trouble and laser like accuracy from Ere. In saying that, their attack was pretty poor. I know they were missing Abercrombe and Pledger but shooting percentages were way down and I thought it wasn't just that, but many of their options were just bad. They couldn't land a shot from three point land but kept attempting them. In saying that, the 36ers won't be over the moon with the win either. Plenty to work on from their end. What a game for Hodgson as well. Looks like he is going to be really something. Fox Sports coverage was pretty good. The commentary was of a strong standard and the half time coach segment was really good I thought. Also, the crowd was almost 5,000 which is awesome for a Wednesday Night. Going to be interesting to see the first home game in Wollongong tonight and what sort of crowd they can get. The game it self should be interesting as well. Hawks look good on paper this year.