NBL 2004-2005 Season Thread

[Arcane]

haha yeah probably thinks hes roy jones jr too

[Arcane]

bullets had a nice comeback from behind win tonight

A big third quarter has helped the Brisbane Bullets to a 105-97 win over the Hunter Pirates in their opening match of the Philips Championship in Newcastle on Thursday night.

The Pirates closed out the first half with a 12-point run to open up a 62-52 advantage at the main break, but were then outscored 11-24 in the third term, as the Bullets regained the upper hand that they had held for most of the first half.

After turning for home up 76-73, Brisbane pulled away again and held on behind 29 points from star import Kevin Freeman and 24 from Derek Rucker. Stephen Black added a handy 18.

Former Cairns skipper Brad Davidson led the way for the Pirates with 24, local product Ben Melmeth, another off-season signing, netted 15 and imports Brian Wethers and Kavossy Franklin 14 and 13 respectively.

[J@3]

Decent game by the Pirates, I think they'll surprise alot of people this season. They've signed some pretty useful players.

[Arcane]

yeah ive heard thati hope they do better they were last place last seasson weren't they

[J@3]

Yeah I think they only won 2 games or something ridiculous like that

[Arcane]

if they dont beat that record then their retarded

[Fresh8]

nice work by Brisbane- how old is Rucker? he's ancient!

[Arcane]

ruckers 38 and into his 14th nbl season

[Fresh8]

Hey Dragon- whens the next Bullets home game? Do we get tickets at the door?

[Arcane]

1st Bullets home game is Oct 16th you can buy tickets at the door

[Fresh8]

Who they playing?

[Arcane]

Bullets v Razorbacks @Brisbane Convention Centre 07:40PM AEST

[J@3]

Here's a run-down of Round 1:

36ers 106 beat Breakers 94

Bullets 105 beat Pirates 97

Hawks 96 beat Tigers 88

Wildcats 120 beat Razorbacks 97

Crocodiles 114 beat 36ers 111

Tigers 99 beat Taipans 96

[Arcane]

i hope this season is an interesting 1 it is too premature to say after round 1 but it looks promising

[Fresh8]

I saw highlights of the Tigers game... Tigers came from behind to win!

Gaze scored two free throws to extend the lead to 3 and this rookie couldnt score a three to win it.. it hit the front of the rim!

[Andrew]

(Thanks to the addition of Foxtel, I can now watch NBA and NBL games. It's been a great investment so far, though I've had to cut back on luxuries such as food.)

It was a pretty good game to watch, the Tigers were simply terrible in the first quarter. Cairns cooled off in the second but the Tigers really did a great job storming back in the fourth. A few nice dunks in the first half, but the second half's entertainment was Melbourne's comeback. First NBL game I've seen in a few years, all in all pretty entertaining though I must admit I'm more excited about the NBA season.

[Fresh8]

Damn u Andrew- lucky bugger! Foxtel... how much u payin for it? And u got ESPN right for NBA games?

And anyone who wants to know! I got dunked on today!

[Arcane]

hahaha you got dunked on...i've only been dunked on once by 1 of my boys on 10 foot ring i've been the one doing the dunkin on in the past and present and future

[Fresh8]

I am 5'8" so it wasnt that bad... lol

[Arcane]

lol aight i'll pay that

[Andrew]

Damn u Andrew- lucky bugger! Foxtel... how much u payin for it? And u got ESPN right for NBA games?

$68.90 per month. I've had to cut back on some luxuries, but it's been worth it. And yeah, I've got ESPN for NBA games. They'll be showing some pre-season games starting with Houston vs Sacramento over in China mid-October. I've been able to catch some Classic's Vintage NBA though, with profiles of former greats and some portions of significant games.

And of course, I've been watching NBL games since the season started, including last night's offering - Adelaide vs Townsville.

First of all, I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised by some of the athletes in the NBL these days. The last time I watched the NBL on a regular basis (ie the last time it was on FTA), even the softest dunks were hailed by the commentators as an "awesome jam!" There were quite a few nice slams last night, including a nice alley-oop to finish the contest.

But predictably, Paul Rees made a simple layup and it was referred to as a highlight. I had to laugh out loud, it couldn't have been a less exciting or fancy move. Not that every player has to be highlight reel material, but it was just ridiculous that they hyped it up as being spectacular.

The highlights certainly were the dunks though. As far as the game itself, it was getting pretty ugly. Pretty much every shot that missed in the second half was an ugly brick. Desperate to catchup, Townsville started launching threes. When it was clear that shooting threes wouldn't work...they kept shooting threes. This is a strategy of Australian basketball that needs to change. We saw the same thing in the Olympics.

Despite the ugliness, it was definitely worth watching. Robert Brown is capable of throwing down some nice dunks, though the primal scream is a bit too much. Larry Johnson could pull it off, but he's about the only one. And it's nice to see the headband craze hitting the NBL, even if Brown only wore his for half the game.

The final result: 111-91, the boxscore if you care to take a look at those shooting percentages.

Edit: Typo, and the final result was actually 111-91, not 113-90. So much for my short term memory.

[Arcane]

daaaaaaaaaaaamn that is some ugly fg%

[J@3]

I'm gonna sticky this thread because I can.

and it's getting alot of replies

[Arcane]

haha nice

[Bonster_11]

yeah i went to the tigers game last satdurday... was good second half but i still think gaze should be replaced in the starting line up with D-Mac.

this weeks game should be good even though the tigers have another away/home double in 2 days ... spewin