The score was Taipans leading 84-79 at the point of the technical foul. Bruton made all four and it was Breakers ball with a 84-83 game. Wilkinson just missed a WIDE OPEN three from the 45 to put them ahead by two. Lucky!

Not sure whether that post is sarcastic^ considering Fearne's tech with the game in the balance and the fact that we are just one win from our last five games.

...against a road-weary Breakers who are 1-4 on the second of a back-to-back

Pulling a tech foul at that moment, man, Fearne, you are so lucky they only stung you for four points. Could have been eight if CJ hit the 5th and Wilko hit the 3.

Breakers didn't look that road weary.

Casey Franks beard looks even more majestic up close.

D Wade doesn't even get calls like that anymore.. soft foul and a soft tech by a rookie ref. If we lost Fearne would have probably booked the next flight to Alaska himself.

I always get the feeling Abercrombe should be much better than his numbers suggest.

They didn't look that weary, true. But regardless of what stage of the season you're at, if you play four games in nine days, including trips from Wollongong to Adelaide, back to NZ, then to Cairns, it'll take a toll.

Turnovers (mainly live ball turnovers) were simply the difference in this one:

- Cairns had 6 turnovers compared with NZ's 16
- Cairns had 9 steals to 1
- Cairns had 10 points off turnovers compared with NZ's 3

The parity between the teams in other stat categories was incredible.

You can argue fatigue on those turnovers.

Gliddon did a great job with those steals.

that's pretty much our season in a nutshell there. Turnovers.

NZ i think were sloppy and Taipans did well getting into their passing lanes.

Breakers and Taipans have had mirror seasons, up and down like granny's old undies... flashes of brilliance and the deepest depths of defeat.

Still can't work out how much better the Breakers have looked without Pledger and with Frank.

What they have looked is simply more fluent, like more practiced.

Be that the season wearing on and the more games/trainings/practices that come with it, or the Christmas break to regroup, I don't know. Doubt it would be Pledger though, he's a class act. Then again, I haven't looked at numbers like rebounding, paint points etc. Since Pledger went down.

yeah that's what i found strange - weird. I rate Pledger as the best big man in the league (sorry matty knight).

Frank is one of those intangibles guys, which i think they missed without Boucher.

I thought Mitch Young had a great all round game tonight. It's easy to forget he's a rookie sometimes.

True, but I absolutely cringe every time I see him go up to score. Thank goodness he tries to dunk at every opportunity, because the boy just cannot finish haha!

haha yeah he's got some work to do on his touch around the basket - but damn he's an exciting prospect.

Young Vs Mika was work the price of admission alone.

Young is a keeper pho sho. It really was a great matchup.

What I'd love to see Fearne do -- now I know, I'm being real kinky here -- is run some Hammer action for Clint Steindl. I saw some decent interior help from NZ tonight, but their perimeter defense is Swiss cheese if you play with any kind of smarts. In general though, we need to get Steindl more looks.

If memory serves we do run it - maybe not tonight, honestly can't remember, and with Clint being in early foul trouble probably wasn't much chance.

I love a good hammer - part and parcel of being a Spurs fan.

Off the top of the head, I can't remember us running it once this season.

I'm sure we have - though sometimes when you watch so much basketball it just blurs........

Nathan, it was indeed was five foul shots for Bruton. Was too busy writing the thread to notice. In real time, it looked to me as though Bruton was well inside the arc while shooting.

Why was Fearne so upset in the first place? Was it because of the travel Bruton did before his shot or was it because he may have been inside the arc? Either way, was the dumbest move since Glenn Saville did something similar last year.

I think Fearnes colorful laungauge to the ref helped in his tech. He got right in the refs face and the ref got pretty flustered then called the tech. It happened a few metres in front of me and Fearne was fairly expressing his thoughts to him .The flustered look on the refs face was gold when he called the Tech but Fearne was giving all the refs a good serve last night for some pretty average calls Im surprised a Tech didnt happen earlier on Fearne with some poor calls happeneing I know he was pissed at Vakonas deliberate trip in the last quarter as I could hear some choice words

Yeah, i wondered why that wasn't an usf.

Exactly my thoughts too WS Should of been an unsportsman like as it was so deliberate

The USF and the CJ call happened right in front of me.

KJ took Jamars legs from under him - should have been an automatic USF

Fearne was upset at the CJ call because CJ literally jumped a meter and a half forward to make contact with the taipan player who'd gone straight up. Like I said earlier D Wade doesn't even get that call in the NBA any more. Was awful.

Given what a passed during the game - hell the entire NBL season - soft tech from a rookie ref.

Mind you, in the NCAA you can do this and not get T'd;

http://deadspin.com/mick-cronin-needed-to-be-separated-from-referee-ted-val-1534275655

Podge, if you're talking about that Wilson runout early in the game where Johnson fouled him and he landed flat on his back, I honestly don't think Johnson touched him. I remember watching the replay and thinking 'wtf, there was literally nothing in it'.

Can someone clarify?

Maybe it's the angle I saw it from - but it looked to me that he took his legs out.

Haven't watched the replay though

Maybe it's the angle I saw it from - but it looked to me that he took his legs out.

Haven't watched the replay though

You know what Jamar's like haha. A genuine crazy cat.

He doesn't really know what he's doing with his body until after the fact!

Looks to me like Statsheet Stuffer and King Podge need to get a room, or at least exchange phone numbers............. LOL.

Haha no doubt! he has no concern for human life on that court!

Still remember his first 5 minutes on NBL court time, he went into the crowd twice chasing balls!

Brilliant performance by Jamar, made a real statement in his first start of the season. Great to see some spirit again from the Taipans as a group too.

I'd love some context to this statement from the press conference from Fearne, talking about Wilson.

"He had to earn it (his starting spot) but it was the best he's trained for some time and he carried that on tonight."

Without context, it's a rather curious statement to make and seems somewhat provocative. A two-time club MVP, league MVP runner-up and the team's best player had to "earn" a starting spot, in round 20, when the team is already out of playoff contention?? One can only wonder how or if things would have been different had he started all season, injuries notwithstanding.

Yeah it is 'just you' of that opinion, buddy.

Oh btw, I do remember him flying out of bounds, over the Taipans bench into the first row.

Also, remember he had the short sleeve compression shirt? The league didn't let him wear it after his debut though. Wonder why.

i think it had to do with the old NBL marketing phrase 'Welcome to the gun show' & thier full bicep policy.