The drama never stops in the NBL as the playoff race heats up with the second last round of the season already underway with the South East Melbourne Phoenix getting an important win, the Cairns Taipans losing their superstar again and unfortunately the wrong focus coming on Pride Round.
There remains seven teams locked in the battle over the six spots that will see teams take part in post-season action in NBL23 beginning with the play-in tournament leading to the semi-final match ups to determine who goes to the Grand Final series.
While the Adelaide 36ers, Brisbane Bullets and Illawarra Hawks are out of that race, the other seven teams are locked in a battle over six spots with only the defending champion Sydney Kings having so far locked in a position.
The Cairns Taipans just about have, but now having lost their past two matches and with Keanu Pinder likely to be sidelined again for their matches this Saturday and Monday at home, they are still not quite guaranteed of anything.
Then one of the New Zealand Breakers, Tasmania JackJumpers, Perth Wildcats, South East Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne United are going to miss out altogether – when the best basketball of each is also capable of winning a championship.
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However, the focus this week has unfortunately fallen on it being revealed that members of the Cairns Taipans team were unable to take part in Pride Round celebrations due to their religious beliefs, and the club was forced to unexpectedly deal with that publicly.
That’s been a distraction from the good the NBL was attempting to do by initiating Pride Round and also the exciting action on the court, and the race to the playoffs.
Two, though, into Round 17 and already things have become more interesting with the Phoenix beating the Taipans 85-80. That’s a third straight win for South East Melbourne to strengthen their hold on a top six spot, but they have just one game to go.
Then the Brisbane Bullets were routed at home 99-71 by the New Zealand Breakers, a win that helps the Kiwi team close the gap to the Taipans and that all-important second place.
On Friday, the Tasmania JackJumpers host the Sydney Kings and the Perth Wildcats play the Illawarra Hawks.
There are two more games on Saturday with the New Zealand Breakers hosting Melbourne United and the Cairns Taipans at home to the Brisbane Bullets.
That leads into Sunday where the Tasmania JackJumpers take on the Perth Wildcats before the Sydney Kings play the South East Melbourne Phoenix.
Things then wrap up for Round 17 with the Cairns Taipans at home to an Adelaide 36ers on a five-game losing slide.
PRIDE ROUND BECOMES UNFORTUNATE DISTRACTION
The NBL putting in place Pride Round this week was done with all the right intentions but unfortunately it’s been dragged into the headlines for all the wrong reasons when it was made public that some Cairns Taipans players were reluctant to take part.
It’s unlikely that there are not players on other teams across the league that either through personal or religious beliefs are reluctant to be part of the Pride Round celebrations. For some reason it was the Taipans players who were drawn attention of.
It created quite the storm leading into Wednesday night’s opening of Pride Round where the Taipans players were forced to come to the conclusion to not wear jerseys that featured the pride rainbow flag added into the Champion logo.
Rather than risk having individual players thrown under the bus for not wearing the jerseys, the entire Taipans playing group decided not to. The great disservice it has done is force that to become the focus and not Pride Round.
MORE: Pride jersey drama takes late twist as club pulls out amid ‘barrage of abuse’
The Pride Round itself is an idea that should be a great positive and it comes on the back of Melbourne United centre Isaac Humpries coming out as gay earlier this season.
His announcement was met with universal support and it appeared at least the basketball world was ready to fully embrace and support the LGBTQ+ community, but now this whole debacle has taken the whole process significantly backwards.
Now if there are players who hold their beliefs, then they should not be forced to take part in something that goes against that.
At the same time, when someone like Humphries is so brave to come out like he did and to reflect on the dark places the whole process took him before he could make the announcement, then one can only imagine how he feels to find out fellow players are unwilling to take part in Pride Round.
There are no winners in the whole situation. That includes the Taipans, because now the organisation has had to be in damage control this whole week with statements from both the club itself and the playing group seemingly only putting a larger target on their backs.
After losing in Melbourne on Wednesday to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, Taipans coach Adam Forde was blasted with questions over the stances of his club and the playing group.
“I’m really proud of this group that we came to a collective decision,” Forde said.
“We support the NBL’s initiative and this is what’s really important, the message of what this round represents with the individuality, unity and love.
“We weren’t unfortunately the recipients of it for some unbeknown reasons. We’re doing this because we got around our brothers and we want to protect each other rather than any of us getting singled out for any particular reason.
“This is us and I’m proud of them for it. It doesn’t diminish our support at all of what the league initiative is, we back it 100 per cent.”
The Phoenix got a much needed win on Wednesday night, but even that took a back seat to the Pride Round discussion. South East Melbourne coach Simon Mitchell made a strong point why it’s such an important occasion.
“We’ve had this thing with Isaac coming out this year and talking about the issues he’s gone through and the depths of despair that he went through,” Mitchell said.
“If that doesn’t hurt everyone in our league to a degree, it’s like man, I want to pick a brother up. I don’t have a relationship with Isaac, but I shook his hand and told him I was proud of him when we played Melbourne. And I hate Melbourne.
“To know that there’s people out there who are feeling that way, we have to open our arms up to them and make sure that they know that we are a safe place, and an ally and friends. Your sexual orientation or how you identify just doesn’t matter to us, who you are matters to us.”
PINDER LIKELY TO AGAIN BE SIDELINED FOR SNAKES
Not only have the Cairns Taipans been blindsided by the storm of Pride Round thrust upon them, blending superstar Keanu Pinder back into the group hit a significant speed bump thanks to Dane Pineau’s elbow on Wednesday night.
Already having turned himself into a star last season at the Taipans where was the NBL’s Most Improved Player, Pinder has gone to superstar level in NBL23 as a genuine MVP contender before going down with an ankle injury.
He missed six games as a result and while his team handled things well without him winning all six, integrating him back into the line-up ahead of the playoffs was the focus. Having the final three rounds to do it was going to work out perfectly.
However, the Taipans saw their winning streak end to Tasmania last Friday in Pinder’s first game back. Then on Wednesday night, not only did they lose to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, but he is likely to be sidelined as a result.
While battling for a rebound, Pinder copped a stray elbow from the Phoenix’s Dane Pineau and it did some damage. It opened up a cut around Pinder’s eye and to his lip, he was bleeding from the nose and the timing couldn’t be worse.
The Taipans now return straight home to Cairns to host the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday and then the Adelaide 36ers on Monday. They need to bounce back too after the last two losses to firstly lock away a playoff spot, and then to try and stay in second position while the NZ Breakers surge in their rear-view mirror.
They will be without Pinder, though, and that likely will mean he only has one more game of the regular season, next Friday in Perth, ahead of the playoffs, which coach Adam Forde knows isn’t quite ideal.
“His eye is pretty swollen and it was bleeding. He was bleeding from the nose, from the lip, from the eye,” Forde said.
“We’ll get him checked out but I’m not preparing for him to suit up again for this week again for us, and we’ll make sure he’s right first.
“Now to potentially be out again is disappointing, but we’ll wait and see how bad he is and reassess when we get home to have a clearer picture.
“I’m more disappointed for Keanu because he’s eager to get out there. The group does well with adversity and we’ll find our flow again, but I’m just more disappointed for Keanu that he’s worked so hard to get back to this.”
PHOENIX FIRING BUT NERVOUS WAIT TO COME
The South East Melbourne Phoenix have responded in the best possible way to an upset loss that could have been season destroying to the Brisbane Bullets. Now despite almost two full rounds remaining, circumstances mean they have just one game left.
If you go back two Mondays and the Phoenix lost to a Bullets team who just five days earlier had been thrashed by 49 points by the Sydney Kings, and it appeared it could be a devastating blow.
That sent South East Melbourne tumbling outside the top six and it was going to be an uphill battle to qualify for the playoffs. While they aren’t guaranteed still, they have responded impressively.
Since that loss to the Bullets, the Phoenix have now scored terrific wins over fellow playoff contending teams Tasmania, Perth and Cairns, but now it’s where it gets interesting.
Because the Phoenix had to step in and play a rescheduled game in Brisbane back on December 21 with the New Zealand Breakers unable to take part, they now only have one game remaining.
That is this Sunday on the road to the Sydney Kings with the Phoenix then forced to sit out the final round with no control over their destiny, which is of a degree of frustration to coach Simon Mitchell.
The Phoenix currently have a 15-12 record and the result on Sunday against the league-leading Kings could determine their future, but at the same time, they could have that destiny out of their hands next week.
If they are to finish on the same records as other teams, their rivals might know the margin they need to win by next week going into their last games and potentially knock the Phoenix out as a result.
It was a similar scenario back in 2020 in the last round with the Brisbane Bullets needing to beat the Cairns Taipans by at least 33 points. The Bullets pulled that off winning 124-88 and while Melbourne United won the next day to still knock Brisbane out, it’s a scenario exactly like that which Mitchell is petrified about.
That’s where the problem over them being forced to give up their game in the last round might cost them dearly, but Mitchell knows that’s out of his control and his sole focus is ending the regular season with four straight wins in Sydney on Sunday.
“Our focus is going to just be on Sydney and what we can control. Whatever happens, happens,” Mitchell said.
“You go back a few years to when Brisbane played New Zealand (actually Cairns), and Brisbane needed to win by 400 and they won by 401 and Glizzo went for 50 (Cam Gliddon scored 25 with seven three-pointers) or whatever. Those things can happen.
“But right now, firstly we have to get our guys fit, healthy and recovered, and then we’ve got to go up to Sydney and whip them. That’s what we have to do, that’s our job and that’s what we can control. Wherever it falls after that we’ll just do our best.”
SACRIFICING GLORY FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM
The longer this NBL season is going and the greater an all-round talent New Zealand Breakers forward Jarrell Brantley is proving to be. He has all the tools to be an MVP level player, but all he cares about is winning and that’s an admirable quality for an import.
As a power forward, Brantley can do it all. He’s big enough and strong enough to battle with the bigger and stronger bodies. He’s athletic and quick enough to defend any position on the floor and became a nightmare to guard.
He can score in the block and around the rim, he can create his own shot off the dribble and go to the basket, or pull up and shoot, and he can hit the outside shot.
Brantley showed all that and more with the Breakers snapping a four-game losing streak on Sunday against the Sydney Kings. He ended up scoring his team’s last 13 points of the game including a banked in three-pointer that sealed the deal.
He ended up with 30 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and even more impressively did perhaps the best defensive job of anyone on Sydney’s Xavier Cooks this season too.
He then powered his team past the Bullets 97-71 on Thursday night with a game-high 22 points in as many minutes on 8-of-11 shooting.
Brantley could be the best all-round talent in the NBL. He can guard anyone, big or small or in between, and he has a vast array of an offensive arsenal. It wouldn’t be out of question for him to be averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists a game.
However, what this Breakers team has done so well this season is play exactly as that – as a team. They play with no ego, no selfishness and that’s why they’ve overcome a whole host of challenging circumstances that would have sent a team with less character to the wooden spoon.
Instead, the Breakers sit in third spot at 15-10 with three games to finish. They host Melbourne United on Saturday before games in the last round on the road to the Illawarra Hawks and Bullets.
Brantley is having a tremendous impact on everything the Breakers are doing. And while he’s capable of more than his 16.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists, he’s doing what’s perfect for this Breakers team and that’s his focus.
“The only thing on my mind is winning,” Brantley said.
“I think in those losses we’ve been doing a lot of growing. I’m glad we put ourselves in a good position early but you can learn a lot in them losses.
“We had our opportunity and guys had to step up with Barry (Brown Jr) out, and coach (Mody Maor) has been leaning on me a lot, but now we’ve got guys out. He’s been putting a lot on my shoulders and it’s been a blessing honestly.
“The same with Will (McDowell-White). We’re getting to see a special Will to be honest with you. It’s not just him, everybody who’s playing are stepping up.
“You can see I hit the big shot, but there’s a lot of possessions that got us there and it’s been special to see these guys all help us be who we are and trying to be the best come March.”
JACKJUMPERS CULTURE LOOKS EVEN BETTER FIRSTHAND
For more than a year now one of Tasmania’s finest basketball exports has admired the JackJumpers from afar. Now that he’s seen it up close three-time NBL champion Matty Knight has no doubt they’ve embraced all the best attributes he was part of at the Perth Wildcats.
Knight was proud of the culture he was part of while winning his three NBL championships with the Wildcats. That wasn’t just for what they were able to produce on the court, but also the connection they had with the community and the entire culture the organisation created.
He has talked this season about being somewhat disappointed to see some of that dissipate with Perth, but what he has admired is the way that already the JackJumpers have connected with the Tasmanian community.
The JackJumpers have been outstanding on the court fighting out of their weight division reaching the Grand Final last season and now sitting in fourth spot with three games to go this season.
However, what he has admired from afar even more so with the focus the entire club has put on becoming Tasmania’s team and then seeing how the entire population has fully embraced them.
It warmed his heart as a proud Tasmanian who grew up in Burnie before heading to the Australian Institute of Sport, then playing college in California and undertaking an outstanding 236-game NBL career on top of playing in Hungary and for the Australian Boomers.
But what Knight wanted more than anything was to experience it himself and recently his family took a trip to Tasmania. What he saw in terms of the JackJumpers connection community, surpassed his expectations.
“They have done an amazing job down there. They’re always out and about, and that’s even including Scott Roth,” Knight said on Hoops Heaven’s Basketball Hustle podcast.
“He’s always out and about, and there’s not too many head coaches you see out in the community doing clinics and everything but wherever there’s a JackJumpers clinic, he’s there.
“He’s building something down there and the state’s really jumped on board, it’s all about the JackJumpers.”
Knight has no doubt that having people at the JackJumpers from coaches Roth, Jacob Chance and Mark Radford, and players Clint Steindl, Will Magnay and Jarred Bairstow who have spent time in Perth has helped them implement that blueprint.
“It’s something special they are building down there and they have based it on the success Perth built and it helps they’ve got people involved who spent time at the Wildcats to see it first-hand,” Knight said.
“They know what it takes to build something special and it all starts with culture, and they are building that. The fans all absolutely love it down there, there’s JackJumpers everywhere you go and the state has really jumped on board, and full credit to everyone involved.”
Knight also got to experience the game night environment in Hobart at MyState Bank Arena along with his wife, their four children and his parents, and even that blew him away.
“They do it really, really well on game night too,” Knight added.
“They get the crowd involved, they’re on their feet, they’ve got their clappers and it reminds of the old Challenge Stadium days. You’re right on top of the action and I absolutely loved it.
“It gets loud in there and the players really feed off it. It was a great experience and I’m thankful I got to attend and experience that game night.”
