It was the shot that handed the Sydney Kings a crazy victory. But fans have been left questioning if all is as it seems. Check out the photos now.
The NBL won’t overturn its controversial decision to award Sydney Kings guard Shaun Bruce a match-winning three, despite inconclusive images of the play emerging online.
Bruce’s final second heroics on the buzzer helped the Kings claim a thrilling 83-82 win over the heartbroken Hawks.
The NBL’s Replay Centre reviewed the match-sealing play after full-time to clarify that the guard’s foot was behind the three-point line.
The Replay Centre gave the three the all-clear despite Bruce’s front foot appearing to touch the three-point line.
The crucial decision sparked passionate online debate, with images emerging of the guard’s foot on the three-point line.
However, an NBL spokesman told News Corp that the Replay Centre had eight camera angles and none had a conclusive view of the three and the league will uphold its decision.
The league also maintains that the online images showing Bruce’s foot on the three-point line also aren’t clear.
“The referee is in great position … and there was no other angle to definitely dispute the on court call,” he said.
“Both are still photographs that are quite obviously not available to the Replay Centre.
“For what it’s worth neither of those photos are conclusive either so even if we had them, we couldn’t overturn based on these.”
News Corp contacted Illawarra coach Jacob Jackomas about the contentious match-winning three, but he is happy to move on.
“It’s close, they reviewed it – we can’t ask for much more,” Jackomas said.
-Martin Gabor
Shaun Bruce proved that lightning does in fact strike twice after the Kings veteran drained the most clutch bucket of his career to ensure the defending champs avoided a shock defeat at home to the battling Hawks.
On basically the same part of the court that Kouat Noi drilled a three to down the Taipans, Bruce stepped up to sink the unlikeliest of long bombs as time expired after his side had battled all afternoon from downtown.
“It felt pretty good, I’m not going to lie,” Bruce said afterwards.
“Sometimes they feel good and rim out, sometimes they don’t and go in. The basketball gods were with me today.”
As Sydney sizzled under some summer sunshine, the Kings went ice cold under the Qudos Bank Arena roof.
Last year’s champions shot a paltry 7/32 from deep, with the usually reliable Dejan Vasiljevic the worst offender missing all eight of his shots from beyond the arc.
But that all changed when Bruce stepped up to save their blushes to break Illawarra hearts 83-82 to stay top of the table.
His heroics came seconds after he had a shot blocked at the rim that would have tied things up, but he made the most of his second chance to make it eight wins for the season.
“I don’t think the better team won,” a deflated Kings coach Chase Buford said.
“I’m really sick right now.”
BRUTAL BEAT
They were written off before tip-off but the Illawarra Hawks marched into Qudos Bank arena and nearly pulled off the upset of the season thanks to an epic shooting display from Tyler Harvey.
The Hawks headed to Sydney on a seven-game losing streak and with just one win to their name, but form counted for little against their biggest rivals.
It’s been a tough year for Illawarra but Harvey provided the spark they’ve sorely missed with a game-high 32 points, including a clutch bucket to break a 78-all deadlock in the final minute.
“It was a slow burn for him,” coach Jacob Jackomas said.
“I thought he was poised today and it was a real class effort.”
KINGS MISS THEIR CHEF
The Kings found out just how tough life is going to be without Xavier Cooks.
Last year’s finals MVP hurt his ankle against the Breakers which ruled him out of Australia’s recent trip to Kazakhstan, and his absence left a giant sized hole on the court.
Cooks leads Sydney for points and rebounds this season, but the team also missed his leadership and presence in the paint as the Hawks were able to have a field day under the basket.
It’s unclear when he’ll return, but the Kings need him back before their schedule gets hectic next month.
“We have to be a lot better without ‘Xav’,” Buford said.
“We’re going to have to better without Xav for probably another round or two.”
ROYAL HANDOVER
The Hawks are on the lookout for a new import with George King back in the United States where he’ll begin rehab on an ankle injury that has plagued him for most of the NBL season.
There’s no timeline on when or who the Hawks are looking to bring in, but it’s a major setback for a team that has lacked attacking potency this season.
The pieces are there and they showed they have the spirit to remain competitive after going on a 9-0 run in the third and then a 12-2 run to start the final term which gave them the shock lead.
“It has to be ASAP,” Jackomas replied when asked when the search for a replacement would begin.
“Not that there was anything wrong with the guys who played today, but one more player and maybe it’s one point the other way.”
– Greg Davis
Rising Taipans star Keanu Pinder won the ding-dong big man battle in the paint with Bullets man mountain Aron Baynes as Cairns claimed a hard-fought 90-82 victory over Brisbane in the NBL’s “Sunshine Stoush” on Saturday night.
Pinder and Baynes went at each other all night in a bruising, bustling and brilliant clash between Boomers centres past, present and future in a seesawing Queensland derby.
But the athletic Pinder got the points decision over Baynes with a game-high 25 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block with the Bullets gun recruit returning eight points and 11 rebounds.
Pinder had a matchwinning 15 points in the last quarter when Cairns repelled a spirited Brisbane surge to cut the deficit from 10 points to one. But Pinder’s ruthless execution on offence and desperation on defence got the Snakes home.
The win moved Cairns to a 6-3 record to solidify their grip on third place on the ladder while the Bullets slipped to 3-6 with their three-match winning streak coming to an end after too many defensive lapses.
Cairns led by four points at quarter-time and halftime and kicked away in the third term only for Brisbane to mount a late challenge after two quickfire DJ Mitchell triples.
*It was an unhappy night for Olympic bronze medallist Nathan Sobey who continues his comeback from a serious knee injury.
He was scoreless in the first half with no field goals from four shots and picked up three fouls before the main break.
He was understandably frustrated by a series of no-calls when he was in possession but he drew a charge call late in the second quarter.
He hit a three-pointer to start the third term but also picked up his fourth foul.
A thundering dunk on a fast break in the fourth term was trademark Sobey – a rare sight on a clunky seven-point night.
*Bullets seven-footer Tyrell Harrison reminded the Taipans that Aron Baynes was not the only Brisbane big man to worry about when he “posterised” Keanu Pinder with a monster jam in the first half.
Harrison grabbed an offensive rebound, powered up with two hands and threw the ball down with bad intentions – right in Pinder’s face.
The Bullets bench went berserk as Harrison reminded Pinder that he dunked on his head.
*It is a very obscure statistic but Cairns had lost their last six Round 7 away games before entering Nissan Arena on Saturday night.
But the Taipans are genuine road warriors in the 2022/23 NBL campaign with five wins from six away games.
The clinical way they started against the Bullets was impressive. Their ball movement was efficient and their defence was much more intense than Brisbane.
The poise in front of a hostile sellout Bullets crowd stood out.
*Some of the cavalry returned for Cairns with Tahjere McCall (hip), Sam Waardenburg (foot), Jonah Antonio (illness) all making their comebacks to the Taipans line-up. McCall and Antonio had a quiet night but Waardenburg exploded in the third quarter with nine points for the term to help the Snakes extend their lead at the last break. A 14-0 run at the end of the third quarter was critical.
– Jarrod Lawler
THE JackJumpers have found their bogey side after falling to New Zealand for a third straight time in a tense and emotionally charged game as tempers boiled over at Launceston’s Silverdome on Friday night.
In a gritty back and forth affair involving 48 foul calls, it was the visitors who came through when it mattered most as the Breakers overcame foul trouble to four key players to storm home and register a 84-76 win.
With scores tied at 65 apiece with 8:27 left in the game, the Breakers turned on the afterburners in the closing minutes as Dererk Pardon (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Izayah Le’afa (17 points, five assists) played through foul trouble to lead a 19-11 run as tempers flared before New Zealand took Tasmania down for a third time this season.
After threatening to boil over all night the emotion became too much for Josh Magette and Barry Brown Junior who followed on from a third quarter altercation with another in the dying stages of the game.
After Brown was called for an unsportsmanlike foul in third period for a stray elbow to Magette’s head, the two were at it again with just 12 seconds left in the game as they got tangled diving for a loose ball which required the intervention of the referees, teammates, and even Breakers coach Mody Maor to settle things down.
Brown Junior seemed to thrive on the emotion throughout the game with the confident American often seen pumping up the crowd before waving a final goodbye at the final siren following the home side’s defeat.
While Pardon and Le’afa were big throughout the night they were well supported by Brown Junior (12 points, four assists) and Jarrell Brantley (12 points, eight rebounds) who all overcame foul trouble to lead the Breakers to their seventh win of the season.
For the JackJumpers, Rashard Kelly (17 points, eight rebounds) continued his great season in his sixth man role while Magette (16 points, 3-17) struggled from the field but was 9/10 from the foul line in an up and down performance.
In good news for the JackJumpers, the returning duo of Clint Steindl and Will Magnay both got through unscathed with Steindl hitting a pair of big threes and Magnay showing signs of his elite defensive capabilities with two big blocks.
Tasmania will look to bounce back from its consecutive losses in a week’s time when they face Melbourne United next Saturday at John Cain Arena while the Breakers will look for win number eight when they return home to host the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday.
– Ronny Lerner
Melbourne United centre Isaac Humphries has capped off an emotional week on Thursday night by playing his first game since announcing he was gay a day earlier.
Humphries took to the floor against the Adelaide 36ers at John Cain Arena, and had a modest stat line in his team’s 91-86 loss, recording eight points on 4-10 shooting, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
But he went out there with a massive weight off his shoulders after making global headlines on Wednesday when he announced to his teammates, and the world, that he was gay, making him the first ever openly gay Australian male professional basketballer.
He is also the only gay male basketballer to be currently playing in a top-tier league anywhere in the world.
Video of Humphries’ tear-filled announcement to his teammates has already garnered almost 2.5 million views on Twitter.
pic.twitter.com/YTMc5bzLKc
Not only did Humphries enjoy full support from the entire Melbourne organisation following his announcement, but he also got a rousing cheer from the crowd when he ran out onto the court for the first time since coming out, including Australian recording artist Dannii Minogue who was courtside wearing a hat featuring a rainbow-coloured United logo.
Some United staff also wore T-shirts that had the team logo on them incorporating the rainbow colours, as a show of support for Humphries.
Humphries spent most of the match opposed to Adelaide veteran Daniel Johnson, but also spent some time against Kai Sotto.
He made a quiet start to the game, with just two rebounds and one unsuccessful field goal attempt in the first term, and his first meaningful involvement came early in the second quarter when he facilitated a huge Rayjon Tucker dunk, with a clever bounce-pass assist.
And half a minute later, Humphries put down a two-handed jam of his own to send the home crowd into raptures and give back Melbourne the lead after they gave up 14 points in a row in the first term.
Shortly after, Humphries produced another authoritative dunk, which really got his confidence up – so much so that the big fella attempted a three moments later, but much to the disappointment of the crowd, it failed to drop as a huge groan reverberated around the stadium.
The third quarter was a mixed bag for Humphries as he air-balled one shot, squandered a pair of easy lay-up attempts, and also produced a clumsy attempt to block Anthony Drmic’s three attempt, which resulted in him barrelling into the smaller Drmic and giving away three free throws, all of which Drmic drained.
But Humphries also produced a pair of huge blocks on Drmic and Robert Franks and helped snap another monstrous 15-0 Adelaide run when he breezed past Franks, by dribbling the ball through his legs, and bounce-passed it to Mason Peatling who scored a lay-up and drew the foul, making it a three-point play.
Humphries got Melbourne going in the final term as he trimmed the deficit to eight points, and despite missing a pair of free throws soon after, he executed a reverse lay-up halfway through to period to trim Adelaide’s buffer to 76-75.
But despite a spectacular second half from Tucker, who ended up with 23 points on 8-14 shooting, including 4-6 from three, United couldn’t get the desired result for such a momentous week in the club’s history.
Franks (21 points, 10 rebounds) and Drmic (21 points) were the chief architects of Adelaide‘s win and the result saw the 36ers replace Melbourne in the top six.
An accidental Franks shoulder floored Chris Goulding in the third quarter and left the Melbourne captain dazed face down on the floor for a long period.
The star shooter was eventually helped up by medical staff and assisted from the court, but after a lengthy assessment, returned to the game in the final quarter.
Matt Logue is an award-winning sports journalist and author who brings more than 20 years’ experience to NCA NewsWire and CODE Sports. Starting out in regional newspapers in Dubbo and Bathurst, he moved to Sydney in 2006 and spent eight years at Rugby League Week magazine. He has also worked at the Newcastle Knights as a senior reporter under seven-time premiership-winning coach Wayne Bennett, Big League magazine and the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs. Matt is passionate about all sports, but has particular loves for rugby league and basketball.
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