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The Brisbane Bullets have bounced back into the NBL with a bang, taking two wins from their first two games in physical, tight encounters that they were never able to fully control but rather, ground out wins and found a way to get the job done.
While it will leave the Bullets on top of the ladder, that doesn’t matter all that much when you consider there are still 18 rounds to go.
What does matter is the way the Bullets won, and who they beat. Both the Perth Wildcats and Sydney Kings are expected to be right up the pointy end this season – and that’s not to say the Bullets weren’t, but Brisbane were an unknown quantity so to speak.
Wins against both those sides is a huge way to start the season, and the fact they were able to play so physical and particularly against Perth come from so far behind is a massive positive.
Australian Boomer Cameron Bairstow is still yet to play as well, so as the team continues to gel and get used to Andrej Lemanis’ coaching style they are only going to get better and better.
I still don’t think the Bullets will win the competition, but it’s not beyond them in their return season.
This NBL season will be the closest ever
If you thought last season was good, then just wait and watch this one. Personally, my tipping this weekend was atrocious and it’s not as if they were major upsets for the most part – it’s just that every match is ridiculously hard to pick.
Even the safest match of the weekend, the Wildcats vs Taipans almost saw the Taipans snatch a victory – and they probably should have as well.
This season is going to go back and forth and I don’t expect us to have any idea about who will finish in the top four until the final month of the competition.
Jaron Johnson isn’t Jermaine Beal
Sometimes, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone and nowhere is that truer than in Perth as they found out when taking on the Brisbane Bullets to open the season.
They simply didn’t have a scorer who could get the job done, and against a physical defence you need a player who can suddenly be on fire.
To win the competition, overcoming those physical defences is going to be a key, and the Wildcats offence just doesn’t look good enough at this point with Damian Martin running the point.
While they got out of it at the last second thanks to Jaron Johnson against the Cairns Taipans they were still a long way from convincing, and need to find a consistent shooter in a hurry.
Is Melbourne United a good fit for Cedric Jackson?
When United made the trip to Auckland on Friday for Cedric Jackson’s first game against his old club, all the pressure was on the import, along with forward Tai Wesley.
Jackson shone for United in a losing cause, but the style just didn’t seem to suit him as he battled down low in the post and on the block for much of the game and struggled to play his normal, free-flowing game.
There were moments of excellence and no-one can question that, and he would have been player of the game had United got over the line – alas, they didn’t and Jackson turned into a rebounding freak, trying to push the pace of the game.
United didn’t seem to be in the same boat as their point guard – with Chris Goulding regularly trying to clear things out for himself, and players serving up shots that might as well have been from dumb and dumber, Jackson was left frustrated despite his massive statistics line.
With the vast talent at United, it just doesn’t seem like a fantastic fit for Jackson – particularly after all the success he had guiding the Breakers around the floor.
Illawarra will be as exciting as ever
I could leave this talking point with a two-word explanation – being Rotnei Clarke – and move on, but that’s cheating so I won’t.
Clarke though, in his first match back in the NBL for the Hawks was absolutely sensational, and orchestrated their offence wonderfully.
While he top scored, the likes of Marvelle Haris, Nick Kay, Michael Hollyfield, Oscar Forman and Tim Coenraad, along with AJ Ogilvy, Cody Ellis and Mitch Norton who never got going they have a stack of scoring in the squad.
Setting the all-time record for the most points in a 40-minute game was quite something, but the Hawks won’t stop there. They scored 100 more times than you could count on two hands last year, and we shouldn’t be expecting anything different this time around based on their opening performance.
The Sydney Kings need Julian Kazzouh back on court… badly
The Kings only game in Round 1 saw them go down to the Brisbane Bullets in front of over 8,000 at the Qudos Bank Arena, hosting its first NBL game since the turn of the century.
It just wasn’t to be for the Kings, and things could have been worse without the likes of Jeromie Hill’s effort on court – but they lacked size inside against a physical Brisbane line-up, and until they can address it, the issue will continue to kick them.
They play Illawarra next week, and so need their defence to be cooking with AJ Ogilvy lurking in the paint.
Julian Kazzouh, the big centre who was one of their best last season is still out through injury and so the Kings are relying on Aleks Maric for a majority of centre minutes at the moment.
Having Kazzouh back will add to the rotation and improve the team ten fold, so they need him back on court as soon as possible, because in a league that is close and physical they don’t have the size in the paint to trouble teams at the moment.
Roarers, what did you make of Round 1? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde