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One month into the 2016-17 NBL season and despite it being billed as having the potential to be the closest ever, cracks are already starting to appear for some clubs while the Sydney Kings are moving ahead at a rate of knots.
Since losing their first game of the season, the Kings have barely looked back, winning five straight to rocket to the top of the table and hold the outright lead of the competition.
While the Kings are pushing ahead at the top though, the Perth Wildcats are currently without a backcourt despite sitting in second, pre-season favourites Melbourne United are struggling to find consistency and the Illawarra Hawks are falling apart.
For the New Zealand Breakers and Cairns Taipans, things are also starting to get tense and they must find a way to pick up some wins this weekend, despite respective victories last weekend.
Round 5 of the competition kicks off in Melbourne with no Thursday night game for the first time this season as United take on the Breakers in what shapes as not only an exciting and fast paced game, but a huge one for each side given recent form and ladder position.
As mentioned, United are struggling big time to find any real consistency this season sitting outside the top four with a record of three wins and four losses, while the Breakers have only won two of their five games.
The round won’t get any easier for the Breakers either, with a match on Sunday afternoon at home against the Brisbane Bullets.
The Bullets have been a little more than unpredictable so far this season, putting up quarters of offence that are brilliant and others that are terrible.
Somehow though, they have won half of their games and sit in third place on the ladder without really hitting top form, meaning there is still plenty to come from the Brisbane-based club – not that a trip to Auckland is a way to find consistency.
Saturday brings with it a double header as the Cairns Taipans host the Sydney Kings. It won’t be the only time the two teams go up against each other in Round 5 either, as they head to Sydney for a return match on Sunday.
The Taipans might be coming off a pair of wins in Round 4 against Melbourne United at home and then the struggling Illawarra Hawks on the road, but the Sydney Kings will be another step up for the Taipans who lost their first three games of the season.
The Kings are firing on all cylinders with Kevin Lisch, Jason Cadee and now Steve Blake forming a formidable guard combination, meaning the pressure on import Travis Trice and youngster Jarrad Weeks will be immense.
It feels like the Taipans must win on Saturday to take momentum and have any chance for the away fixture on Monday – simply put, if they lost the first one they will lose both.
The other two matches see the Perth Wildcats take on the Adelaide 36ers, and the Illawarra Hawks take on Melbourne.
The former of those have the Wildcats, despite being at home looking down the barrel of a loss. With Damian Martin and Jarrod Kenny both battling through injuries, they are left with rotation players and reinstated import Jaron Johnson to run the backcourt.
With Jerome Randle locking down the point for the 36ers, things could get incredibly ugly defensively for the Wildcats.
Melbourne’s second game of the weekend meanwhile is shaping up as one where they can finally build some form and consistency at both ends of the court.
The Hawks look to be an absolute shambles at the moment, narrowly beating the understrength Wildcats and losing to Cairns last week.
For United, this is the dream match-up after a tough start to the season.
Fixtures (All times AEDT)
Melbourne United vs New Zealand Breakers at Hisense Arena (Friday 7:30pm – Live Fox Sports 503)
Cairns Taipans vs Sydney Kings at Cairns Convention Centre (Saturday 7:30pm – Live Fox Sports 503)
Perth Wildcats vs Adelaide 36ers at Perth Arena (Saturday 9:30pm – Live Fox Sports 503)
New Zealand Breakers vs Brisbane Bullets (Sunday 1pm – Live Fox Sports 503)
Illawarra Hawks vs Melbourne United (Sunday 3pm – Live Fox Sports 503, SBS)
Sydney Kings vs Cairns Taipans at Qudos Bank Arena (Monday 7pm – Live Fox Sports 503)
My tips
United by 7
Kings by 12
36ers by 6
Breakers by 9
United by 24
Kings by 21
Lock of the week: Perth and Adelaide to put on a show in the battle of the west.
While Perth enter this game understrength once again, these teams always seem to put on a show whenever they clash, with what has built into a passionate and emotional rivalry always on display.
Even without Perth having their backcourt of Damian Martin and Jarrod Kenny, Jaron Johnson needs to force the point that he should be the import Perth stick with for the rest of the season.
Joined by Casey Prather, the pair will be looking to put on an aggressive show for their fans, with Matty Knight back and in fine form roaming the paint.
That is going to force the 36ers defence, which has been questionable at best thus far this season to stay inside, rather than all roaming the perimeter to stop Prather in particular, who’s attack this season has been on another level.
On the other side though, no Damian Martin leaves the Wildcats vulnerable to a Jerome Randle onslaught.
Despite the 36ers being without captain Mitch Creek, they have found a way to keep scoring points and stay competitive, with a big part of that being from Randle and their guard rotation of Nathan Sobey and Brendan Teys.
This promises to be an explosive game, with both teams looking to run the floor and put up big points, and the battle of the west always makes it just that bit more special.
Big question of the week: Should Rotnei Clarke be moved on by the Hawks?
This is a very touchy issue at the moment, mainly because Clarke is a former MVP of this league – just two seasons ago matter of fact.
So how is it then, that after being re-signed by the club on a two year contract we are now talking about whether or not he should be let go.
The Hawks may not be able to afford the pay out for Clarke, but that is besides the point. Apart from the Hawks first game of the season when they dropped 122 points on Adelaide, Clarke hasn’t looked anything like himself.
He has a big role to play for the Hawks, and to this point he hasn’t done so. With the Hawks season on the verge of becoming unrecoverable, they must either start winning or make a tough decision.
Don’t forget to tune into The Roar throughout the week as we bring you live coverage of the NBL season.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde