There’s just eight games left in the NBL regular season and still seven teams with a chance to reach the playoffs and just three teams guaranteed to be there while the MVP race between Xavier Cooks, Mitch Creek and Bryce Cotton reaches fever pitch.
Cooks, Creek and Cotton all delivered MVP level performances across Round 17 of NBL23 with Cooks producing the first triple-double in the league since Josh Giddey, Creek doing all he can to secure the South East Melbourne Phoenix a playoff spot and Cotton putting up 40 inside The Jungle.
With the Sydney Kings, Cairns Taipans and New Zealand Breakers guaranteed of top six positions, it leaves the Tasmania JackJumpers, Perth Wildcats, South East Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne United fighting over the last three spots.
Watch every game live of the 2022/23 NBL Season on ESPN on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
The quirk in the fixturing means that the Phoenix have already played their last game of the season with a round to go so they need to hope their 15-13 record is good enough to see them hold onto a place in the top six.
That leaves the JackJumpers needing to beat the Illawarra Hawks, the Wildcats needing at least one win against the top two teams in the last round and United must beat the 36ers at home this Saturday but even that might not be enough.
Round 17 began back on Wednesday night with the South East Melbourne Phoenix beating the Cairns Taipans 85-80 before the New Zealand Breakers won big over the Brisbane Bullets 99-71 on Thursday.
There was two games on Friday night with the Sydney Kings beating the Tasmania JackJumpers 91-77 before the Perth Wildcats beat the Illawarra Hawks 106-86 on the back of the 40 points from Cotton.
The New Zealand Breakers then guaranteed their playoff position beating Melbourne United 80-74 to start the double-header on Saturday before the Cairns Taipans overcame the Brisbane Bullets 94-87.
There were two more matches on Sunday with the Tasmania JackJumpers overrunning the Perth Wildcats late to win 102-94 before the Sydney Kings defeated the South East Melbourne Phoenix 111-106.
The round will wrap up on Monday night with the Cairns Taipans looking to lock away second spot at home to the Adelaide 36ers.
COOKS VS CREEK VS COTTON FOR MVP
Ask their respective coaches and they have no doubt their star player is the MVP of the NBL this season and in Round 17, Sydney’s Xavier Cooks, South East Melbourne’s Mitch Creek and Perth’s Bryce Cotton all showed how good they are.
While Keanu Pinder made his case to be in contention, he’s now missed too much for the Cairns Taipans to slip out of contention for the Andrew Gaze Trophy for NBL23 while New Zealand’s Barry Brown Jr and Tasmania’s Milton Doyle are probably that rung just below.
That leaves Cooks, Creek and Cotton as the three men vying for the MVP honours this season and they all had standout Round 17 performances.
Cooks had a solid game on Friday night with 12 points and six rebounds against Tasmania but then on Sunday with the Kings beating the Phoenix to lock in a top two finish, he delivered the first NBL triple-double since Josh Giddey in 2021.
It was the first from a Kings player since Dontaye Draper in 2008 with Cooks finishing with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists showing his all-round talents.
He is now averaging 16.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists a game across the season while shooting at 60.3 per cent from the field, 34.6 per cent from deep and 55.0 per cent at the foul line.
His coach Chase Buford has talked all season about how he feels clearly he’s the best player in the league, should be the MVP and get an NBA chance. That’s why his triple-double on Sunday was of no surprise.
“Honestly he was great but it doesn’t shock me or surprise me,” Buford said.
“It almost seems like just what I come to expect from him. I know he had a triple-double but he gets close a lot of times for us and he was great at attacking the rim, great creating plays for everybody else. He was terrific.”
Then there’s Creek who has carried quite the workload for the Phoenix. While he’s had a terrific 316-game career now across Adelaide and now South East Melbourne, this has been his best season.
The Phoenix played their last two games of the season in Round 17 with Creek delivering 21 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the win against Cairns, and 29 points and nine rebounds in the loss to Sydney.
He barely sat down late in the season and has logged 33.7 minutes a game across the season averaging 23.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists.
His 46-point game against the Kings in Traralgon was likely the best individual performance of NBL23 too and his coach Simon Mitchell would have him as the MVP.
“I think he’s had an incredibly consistent season and has done so for a number of years, more so maybe than Xavier at this level,” Mitchell said.
“Sometimes when the new guy or the flavour of the month rears its head, basketball’s a bit of an echo chamber and guys seem to repeat themselves and what others say. They just keep hammering the same narrative and I think that’s probably been sung at a pretty high volume for Xavier.
“But I think Creeky’s definitely the best player in the league this year and I think Bryce is probably second. Xavier’s had a wonderful season as well and he’s on the best team, and out of any of those three guys and you can throw Milton Doyle in there and some other names.
“Either way you’ll have a worthy winner but I hope it’s Creeky. There’s only one trophy we really want to focus on, though, to be honest.”
As for Wildcats coach John Rillie, he has no doubt his superstar Cotton is the MVP and best player in the league. Even JackJumpers coach Scott Roth has said he is the best player in the world not in the NBA.
It’s hard to argue and he’s already a three-time MVP, but a combination of his team struggling for much of the season and then him being judged against his previous greatness might mean many don’t have him as MVP.
But he is the leading scorer in the league with 23.9 points to go with 4.8 assists and 4.2 rebounds. He’s shooting at 41.9 per cent from the floor, 38.2 per cent from downtown and 91 per cent at the foul line.
His 40-point effort against Illawarra on Friday night was spectacular and Rillie couldn’t speak more highly of it afterwards.
“He makes coaching look easy. That was a phenomenal performance and he understands the urgency of the point of the season we’re at,” Rillie said.
“In my shoes, when you can rely and know what a guy’s mindset is for the big occasion, it really helps and I think it gives our team confidence too when they see him perform at that level.
“I feel that Bryce really understands where we’re at in the season and every possession is very important.
“He played with that urgency and everyone looks at the 40 points, but defensively he keeps the guys engaged and focused in timeouts. That also helps him stay engaged in the game himself too because he gets a lot of attention.”
HUMPHRIES FOCUS ON COURT AGAIN AFTER PLENTY TO CONQUER
What a season and even what a past week it’s been for Isaac Humphries, but the Melbourne United centre was just glad to be back on the court on Saturday and he hopes now his season extends beyond Sunday.
The NBL celebrating Pride Round this past week was done with all the best intentions but unfortunately when it became public that several Cairns Taipans players had reservations about wearing jerseys honouring the celebration, that hijacked the entire conversation.
That was unfortunate and it also meant that Humphries was forced to deal with added attention to talk about that rather than what should have been a positive celebration after he bravely came out earlier this season.
That was on top of Humphries working his way back to playing after missing United’s previous three games with a knee injury he suffered against Tasmania so it was quite the hectic week for the former NBA big man.
Humphries was ultimately just glad to make it back on the court on Saturday in New Zealand where he had eight points and three rebounds in a narrow loss for United that makes their playoff quest now a significant challenge.
“It has been a big week and I had a few things to kind of conquer this week,” Humphries said.
“Mainly it was coming back and playing, and the loss in this game aside I felt really good out there. I felt comfortable and felt that every time I got out there I felt a little bit better. There’s definitely lots going on but my main focus obviously was how to help the team on the floor.”
Melbourne now has just one game to go this season and that’s this Sunday at home to his former team, the Adelaide 36ers.
Even winning that might not quite be enough for United to reach the top six and take part in a play-in game with other results in the last round to determine that. For Humphries he just wants to either finish on a strong note this season, or to build some momentum for the post-season.
“Personally for this last week I want to come out and have a really good game on Sunday, and hopefully it’s not our last,” Humphries said.
“I’ll have a good week of practice and then we’ll come out and focus on having a good game, and then who knows after that.
“This week is again going to be about coming together as a group and spending as much good quality time together on and off the court, and then smashing it on the weekend. A good win in front of a sold out crowd for us is absolutely where we’re pointing.”
PROUD MOMENT AS BREAKERS TICK OFF 16TH WIN
One of the first things Mody Maor did when appointed coach of the New Zealand Breakers was put up No. 16 in his office as the goal for the wins they wanted to rack up in NBL23 – that’s why getting to that mark meant so much to him on Saturday.
It’s been quite the journey for the Breakers to get back to the NBL playoffs. They had some rough early years when entering the league, but then under the ownership of Liz and Paul Blackwell, and with Andrej Lemanis as coach, became a powerhouse of the league.
New Zealand won championships in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015, reached another Grand Final in 2016 and their culture created became the envy of the league.
Then everything hit quite a significant speed bump. Some of that culture dissipated and they had an ownership change, and then COVID struck and the Breakers were forced to spend virtually two whole seasons based out of Australia.
This season has been anything but easy for the Breakers with only four games now out of 26 with a full roster available, a three-week COVID enforced break thrown in, and with a coach in his first season in charge.
However, what Maor has done with this Breakers team has been incredible. Firstly, they made all the right recruiting decisions. Their three import signings Jarrell Brantley, Dererk Pardon and Barry Brown Jr have been outstanding.
Bringing Izayah Le’afa and Tom Vodanovich back home has been important, having the veteran presence of Tom Abercrombie and Cam Gliddon has been crucial, Next Star Rayan Rupert has been exciting, and then Maor has got plenty out of Will McDowell-White and Rob Loe.
More importantly, Maor has his team playing for him, respecting him and that sort of bond between player and coach is hard to find, but when you get it right it can lead to special things.
Maor’s passion for his team to support them and embrace them, but push them to be their best and to get the best out of their team has been infectious, and that’s why he is so proud to have a playoff spot locked in.
The Breakers got to 16 wins by beating Melbourne United on Saturday and for Maor, it meant the world to him to guarantee a place in the playoffs but also to have 6488 fans in Auckland turn out despite the floods to support their team.
“The 16 wins has been up on my board for a very long time,” Maor said.
“It was the No. 1 goal and I’m happy we accomplished, we’re onto the next one now. I keep getting asked if I’m having fun and I told myself when we get to 16, I’ll have fun for a little bit and I’ll enjoy it. Then tomorrow I’ll go back to regular.”
“My main goal was to make playoffs but another one was for us to play in a way that would gain the trust of the community here, and that they would see us play and something with how we do things would resonate with how Kiwis do things.
“If 6000 fans coming to this game in these circumstances for this occasion of making it to the playoffs means that all those players sees something in the Breakers that resonates with them, then I couldn’t be happier or prouder.”
PHOENIX READY FOR TITLE CHARGE SHOULD THEY SURVIVE WEEK
The South East Melbourne Phoenix will now have some sleepless nights this week awaiting to see if they hold onto a playoff spot, but they are remaining positive that should they hold their place they can make a significant impact.
The Phoenix were thrown a curve ball going back to Round 12 of this season. After pulling off a remarkable win over the Sydney Kings in Gippsland in a double overtime classic, they had an unexpected game three days later.
With the New Zealand Breakers forced out of their trip to Brisbane through COVID, the Phoenix filled the void which meant they played six games over a 17-day period.
The flow-on effect now is that they don’t play at all in the last round of the season with their destiny not in their own hands while the other teams in the playoff mix have the chance to know what they need to do to make it.
There are positive and negatives to everything. The positive could be that the Phoenix can freshen up and get healthy, and potentially get Ryan Broekhoff back ahead of their play-in game after a two-week break.
The negative of course is that traditionally teams don’t play that well after an extended layoff and the fact that the Phoenix might still be knocked out of the race altogether in the final round following Sunday’s loss to the Sydney Kings.
The Phoenix do currently sit in sixth position having finished with a 15-13 record. Their strong percentage should mean they finish ahead of the Perth Wildcats and Melbourne United if they end up on the same record.
A thumping Melbourne win against the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday combined with Perth beating both Cairns and Sydney are what could still cost South East Melbourne a spot, but they likely have done enough to at least finish sixth.
After a five-game losing run late in the season including a shock home loss to the Brisbane Bullets threatened to end their season, but they won the next three before Sunday’s defeat to Sydney.
Co-captain Mitch Creek has been at the forefront of their charge and noted the critics who wrote his team off, and now hopes they get the chance to keep proving them wrong.
“I’m incredibly proud from a standpoint of the culture we’ve built as an organisation,” Creek said.
“It looked pretty doom and gloom for us two weeks ago, everyone counted us out and I know all the tabloids were saying how much we sucked and weren’t going to make finals. Reink your pen and write a new headline because it’s looking like we could potentially make it now.
“You just never know in this league and it’s still so up in the air with a lot of teams, but I’m proud of what we’ve done. The job’s not done obviously but we have a lot to play for and it’s not just ourselves.
“This week has been huge and Sydney did a good job putting on another Pride Round for this game, we did a great job acknowledging Kent Lockhart as well with our armbands on our jersey.
“There’s lots to learn from this season and to enjoy, but the job’s not done and we hope to go into these playoff games in two weeks.”
CHANCE FOR UNDER SIEGE AND WALKING WOUNDED TAIPANS
The Cairns Taipans had to shake off a public relations week from hell and the loss again of superstar Keanu Pinder to lock away their NBL playoff spot with a top two finish theirs to secure starting Monday night against the Adelaide 36ers.
It was quite the tough week for the Taipans. It started when it was made public that they had some players uncomfortable with celebrating Pride Round. The fallout from that, and the decision to not wear the jerseys as a team, attracted all the wrong headlines and attention.
To top that off, they lost in Melbourne to the South East Melbourne Phoenix with Pinder copping a stray elbow from Dane Pineau which has now led to a fractured orbital socket sidelining him once more just as the MVP candidate returned from an ankle injury.
The Snakes were back home on Saturday night and worked hard to overcome the Brisbane Bullets despite Sam Waardenburg and Tahjere McCall getting hurt to various degrees throughout the game.
Waardenburg should still be right to play on Monday night at home to the 36ers and McCall won’t let anything stop him playing with the Taipans having now guaranteed a playoff position.
That’s a significant achievement after winning just nine of 28 games last season and they deserve enormous credit from coach Adam Forde down for the group they’ve put together, and the chemistry and connection they’ve built do now have won 17 of 26 games in NBL23.
The Snakes can go closer to securing a top two finish with a win at home on Monday against the out of contention but hugely talented 36ers. There’s nothing that will stop a proud McCall from being out there.
“I’ll be on the court on Monday but I know I’m going to be hurting tomorrow. Hopefully Fordey gives us tomorrow off so I get a little time to rest and stay in the bed a little bit. But I’ll be on the court Monday for sure,” McCall said after Saturday’s win.
“It’s super important for us to try and finish top two. Any time you get a chance for a bye it can’t hurt especially at the end of the season with everybody banged up.
“Just to be top two is also something especially coming where we did last year and what we had to go through, it means a lot and it shows a lot of what we’ve been able to do from the beginning together.
“A lot of people didn’t have us up here, but from the first time we sat down together, we looked each other in the eyes and had that chemistry and that want to win mentality and willingness to sacrifice our own for the betterment of the team and the community.
“Second place would be huge especially when going into the playoffs when it’s going to be as tough as it is in every game. You need as much time and rest, and things to go your way as you can get.”
