Round 8 showed again just how close the NBL is. New Zealand went from the high of the double over Perth to losing both games this week. Perth got a measure of revenge and Sydney split the games with Cairns.
GAME REPORTS
The official team of the week for Round 8
Sydney 81 ( Tyler 53, Cadee 39, Randle 34)
Cairns 72 (Egwu 40, Gliddon 40, Smith 33)
Jeremy Tyler put in a huge performance in the middle in this one. 15 points and 7 rebounds along with 4 assists. This was the player Sydney fans hoped they had brought in. Jason Cadee continued to thrive in his role behind Randle. Randle scored buckets well but 5 turnovers hurt his fantasy points but this is to be expected in the high ball handling role he will continue to have for Sydney. Newley, Humphries and Garlepp all scored in the 20’s as well and deserve mentions but it was truly the Tyler and Randle show.
For Cairns it revolved around Gliddon. He scored 20 points and a handy 40 fantasy points. Egwu put in an efficient performance which saw him score well also once again. Smith was inefficient shooting which hurt his score but the assists helped his score. Loughton also scored 31 fantasy points in this one and deserves a anonorable mention as his 19 points were big on a poor shooting night for Cairns.
New Zealand 73 (Pledger 38, Newbill 36, Sosa 36)
Perth 89 (Tokoto 65, Walker 51, Wagstaff 43)
Perth showed off in this one and made up for the bad round against New Zealand. Tokoto had one of his high flying nights where you think he can do anything. Walker continues to improve week on week and its hard to bet against him continuing this run now and Wagstaff contributed a performance earning him 43 fantasy points. Bryce Cotton was off a little bit scoring under 30 but not bad enough to expect anything but good things for Round 9.
New Zealand’s guards performed reasonably and Pledger takes out top honours with a strong performance but it was more a score based on no one else doing the work. Pledger has been up and down in fantasy points but they still have two games this week and keeping him in the side if he is there is the attractive option. Newbill seems to be unable to score lower than is average which is great for the SG spot so far this season.
Adelaide 84 (Creek 47, Childress 37, Sobey 25)
Brisbane 83 (Buford 64, Te Rangi 29, Trice 28)
Brisbane couldn’t hold it together and paid for it against Adelaide. Buford continues to dominate the NBL and is laying claim to be one of, if not the best player in the league. No matter how his side does he contributes big and lives up to his growing value. Another near double-double game for him. Gibson starting now over Holt who cannot find his form scored 25 fantasy point also. Poor shooting from most of the team hurt them in this one.
Josh Childress looks more and more a part of this team each week and made a big difference in this one. He was efficient throughout which helped his fantasy score. Mitch Creek top scored the game in almost every way and was efficient also. Adelaide overall were weak from 3 point range in this game and Shannon Shorter had is first bad performance of the season unable to contribute meaningfully in anyway.
Cairns 80 (McCarron 43, Egwu 38, Evans Jr 36)
Syndey 71 (Tyler 53, Cadee 49, Newley 41)
In almost a mirror image of the first game of the round Cairns were able to split the round with Sydney. McCarron was near a double-double, Gliddon and Loughton did the scoring. Evans Jr was the surprise packet. When he was put into the fantasy game he was overpriced and remains that way still but he showed what he can offer in this one. 15 points and 6 rebounds went a long way to push Cairns over the line.
Sydney didn’t play badly but were let down by poor shooting. Rebounds galore see their fantasy point’s rocket higher than deserved given the overall performance. Tyler dominated again though with 21 points and 9 rebounds and looks to have bounced back from the rocky start to the NBL. Also Randle had 6 turnovers keeping his average turnovers very high so far. This could begin to hurt his price as the weeks go on.
Brisbane 81 (Trice 51, Jervis 43, Buford 39)
New Zealand 76 (Newbill 41, Abercrombie 35, Pledger 30)
Brisbane bounced back in a big way with the only real upset of the round. It was a well-deserved win. Buford made it too a double-double again but 5 turnobers hurt him. Trice was not overly efficient but contributed the points he needed too. Jervis continues to show potential for big scores but has not remained consistent for any stretch yet this season.
New Zealand had a poor shooting night overall. Newbill performed as expected but 25% shooting from Abercrombie hurt them and his score. Although his fantasy points were high a few more buckets and he would have been nearer to performance of the round.
Melbourne 91 (Prather 57, Boone 53, Wesley 52)
Illawara 73 ( Clarke 35, Kay 32. Ellis 32)
Melbourne punished Illawara who had a team of 9 players with Conger absent and Ogilvy injured. All of the starters made double figures. Boone clocked a double-double and Prather was nearby too. Ware and Goulding contributed but not huge amounts and the 3 point shooting was not a very high percentage which is a worrying indicator for tougher games. Chalking this one up to an undermanned Ilawara it doesn’t provide much indication for the double round this week. Prather and Boone remain the best bets on this side. Wesley is the cheaper option and at PF could be useful this week.
Just as Melbourne’s scores this round doesn’t tell us much new, Illawara’s are worse. The side was depleted. Clarke was the only man scoring which eventually led to him being shut down for much of the rest of the game. Kay continues to score well and had a lot to do. The side that played this game is not the week in, week out and using the information from this game to inform any choices is not a good option. All that can be said for sure is Clarke is having an amazing shooting season.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT THIS WEEK
Consider bringing some Adelaide players in. Double round this week for them and another double in round 11. Getting the trades in now for down the track could help when they hit a block of doubles. If you can afford him Mitch Creek is the star man. If not Childress can fit in at PF and remains cheapish at around the million mark. Need a bargain? Hodgson seems to be finding form again and is now a bargain price of $693k at centre. He is at the price of the average bench player and could play a rotation for you in the coming rounds.
Keep Cairns players as they hit a bust period again soon and keeping one or two around will help save trades for down the track. Sydney will be almost useless after this round so keep them in for now if you have them but start thinking about the exit strategy. Tyler could turn out to be good bench value if he keeps the form from this round and may be the only one worth keeping. Humphries has been rising in value but the money in him could be used elsewhere in coming weeks.
Join us in the game. League code is LC32MXAH.
That’s it for now. Good luck with Round 9
Disclaimer: All of the news in the this article are at the time of writing and from publically available material.
Jonathan Prestwich is a Melbourne United fan introduced to the game by his children. He missed a half-court shot but they gave him the prize anyway...... maybe they felt sorry for him. Follow him on twitter @johnoprestwich
