Isaac
Years ago

Crocs-Spirit and Taipans-Breakers, Oct 22

Two games in the NBL tonight and both are up in Queensland. Townsville face the Spirit with both teams coming off losses at home, while the Breakers have a chance at revenge when they visit Cairns.

Unless I'm mistaken (I don't have Foxtel so don't pay a lot of attention to it), tonight is the return of the NBL on Fox and the Crocs-Spirit game is their choice.

The Spirit report two injuries with Jason Smith still out through a shoulder problem but with Clint Reed likely to play despite a foot injury. Townsville have lost benchie Steve Costanzo to a foot stress fracture and brought in ex-Kings big Anthony Susnjara as possible help in the paint (no interest in Mottram or Dench?).

Cairns have Martin Cattalini back for this one and have their full squad, while the Breakers are still missing rookie Adam Tanner and have Dillon Boucher (shoulder strain) and Tim Behrendorff (ankle problem) playing despite minor injuries.

Centrebet picks both home teams as favourites with the Spirit paying $4.75 and the Breakers $2.50. The lines are -9.5 and -4 respectively while the game total in Townsville is pitched at 198.5 and in Cairns at 202.5. Nothing overly exciting in any of that unless you think Sydney can win by double figures (paying $16) or the Breakers by a similar margin (paying $7.35).

Two good contests which could go either way. I think Townsville will be intent on restarting a winning streak while the Breakers might suffer some jitters in their first road game against a tough Cairns team.

Who do you think will win?

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Anonymous  
Years ago

4.75 is great odds for a 2 horse race with those 2 teams involved.

I will be getting on that!

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DB5  
Years ago

Pretty sure I saw an ad last night saying NBL on Fox tonight, sio I think that is correct Isaac.

Townsville and Cairns would be my tips. Upsets would not surprise me though at the moment (is the top team winning an upset?).

Jason Smith said last night he is a month away still..

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KingJames  
Years ago

The Injuries/Replacements in the Townsville vs Spirit game are pretty much irrelevant in terms of the outcome of this game. I think it is an interesting match up. Townsville are always hard to beat at home however just got beaten quite convincingly against Perth. They could fire up from this loss and come out pumped to get the win. However, Spirit just lost to the team playing the best team basketball and have had a few good wins lately so their confidence will be up.

I think the Spirit's big's are much better then the small Townsville bigs:

Khazzouh, Knight, Gruber, Rush, Rampton

Vs

Ellis, Hinder, Egan

On the other hand Townsville Guards have a huge dominance:

Williams, Rillie, Robertson, Williamson, Tovey

vs

Low, D.Martin, L.Martin, Dann

I think Rush will be able to contain Williams but I think Rillie will have a big game. Also Robertson, Williamson and possibly Tovey will step up in this game. Due to Townsville having a dominance in the guard position I think that is why the odds are so highly in favour of them. However, the spirit have been playing so good lately so I think the odds should be more closer as it is possible the Spirit could win this one.

My guess is Townsville will win by less then 11 (Tab's line odds on the game). However, if they have a good 3 point night expect to see the margin blown out to 20.

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A  
Years ago

Very good point Isaac, I cannot believe a team like the crocs have not signed Mottram, they desperately need more height and he would be a great fit in that system, they will have no chance in the finals(if make it) without more height.

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Isaac  
Years ago

For those not following the Crocs closely, after releasing Ben Pepper, they more or less have PF Russell Hinder and then not a whole lot of other height. Perhaps Mottram wasn't interested, but surely they would've asked as he's a much stronger player than Susnjara.

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KingJames  
Years ago

I think NZ will win the other game even that it is at Cairns. The reason is because there was some crazy stats which helped Cairns win by ONLY 11. These stats include:

Cairns scoring 41 points from the foul line out of 50 shots (scott Cook with 12 out of 12 I have barely heard of this guy). NZ 14 points out of 16 from the foul line. 41 points vs 14 points.

NZ 37 fouls, Cairns 24. Including Penney, Forman, Boucher all fouling out (Henare with 5) whilst Cairns only had Black foul out.

Cairns had an extra 10 points from turnovers.

Darnell Mee and Dave Thomas found the fountain of Youth water to score 26 and 22 points respectively.

Crosswhite going 9/11 while also getting 5 assist.

Forman and Ronaldson going for a combined total of 5 points on 2/16 shooting in 27 and 36 minutes. They usually get about 23 points combined.

The things going against NZ is this is their first road trip so it will be interesting to see how they go out of their comfort zone. Also Martin Cattalini will be back which will take the pressure of other players having to score. However, this could also work against them as Cairns will give Cat the ball and expect him to do the scoring whilst it is more beneficial for a team to get a variety of scorers as they did in their last game against NZ.

If NZ can stop Cairns getting to the line for easy points I don't think Cairns have enough scoring power. NZ by 10+

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Herka  
Years ago

does anyone know what the story was with Ben Pepper ? knew the crocs got rid of him but never saw a reasoning for it ?

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Dog 79  
Years ago

A bigger story! who believes Isaac doesn't have foxtel... ferrari payments during the financial crisis must be crippling

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Isaac  
Years ago

Herka, was cited as 'personal reasons', possibly a family problem.

Dog 79, over the years I saved up the money that would've otherwise been spent on Foxtel, and put that towards transport instead. I then sponge off Ben Fitz or my parents by watching NBL games at their respective houses.

Seriously - $70+/month to watch more lame TV just for a handful of NBL games!? Instead, catch the odd game at the pub and save the $800/year. A few years of that (combined with the 36ers being poor on the road anyway) and you can almost get the Ferrari serviced or filled up at the station...

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DB5  
Years ago

He may be going to the USA with Melmeth to make an NBA roster..

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DB5  
Years ago

Crocs with 2 turnovers in 5 seconds have given Sydney a chance. 102 - 101 Crocs. 7 secs. Missed foul 1 to go Crocs.

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DB5  
Years ago

50/50 call cost Sydney the win, Crocs by 2.

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cLaRkY  
Years ago

has anyone got the radio stream for the Breakers game working??

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cLaRkY  
Years ago

never mind, it's all good now....

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Ballinger Fan  
Years ago

Cannot believe the Crocs got so many calls in the last quarter
and still only won by a point..
Gotta love Sydney,
but i wish they were still called the Razorbacks.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

any score in the cairns game thanks

Reply #208422 | Report this post


cLaRkY  
Years ago

Taipans up by 1
87-86 with under 3 mins left in the game

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cLaRkY  
Years ago

we have OVERTIME!!!!

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Anonymous  
Years ago

whats the scores

Reply #208426 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

any score cairns game please

Reply #208427 | Report this post


Surmdog  
Years ago

95-92 cairns are up 2 mins left in Ot Simon Black isnt playing tonight

Reply #208428 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

any score

Reply #208429 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

any score

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Surmdog  
Years ago

cairns won 101-92

Reply #208431 | Report this post


KingJames  
Years ago

In four quarters of basketball plus 5 minutes of over time Cairns only got called for 11 fouls!!! That has got to be an NBL record! I dont Believe that is possible. New Zealand got robbed I think!

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djrod  
Years ago

The Crocs only had 3 points to use!

couldn't fit Mottram or Dench under the points cap

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Sturty6ers  
Years ago

Surely, they must be able to apply to the league and have the points for Mottram and Dench re-assessed. They were cut from Adelaide who finished outside of the 8 last year, had hardly any court time, scored hardly any points and no-one else wants them....

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Isaac  
Years ago

NZ got to the free throw line just 6 times, to Cairns' 34!

Really need to work on that defense if they're getting whistled for it too often.

DJRod - of course. Didn't think of that.

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Isaac  
Years ago

On the foul count, NZ taking 38 attempts from long-range might have limited their chance of causing trouble inside. Probably a case of weighing true-shooting percentage against opportunities to get your opponents in foul trouble, etc - good or bad tactic?

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SVD  
Years ago

What shocked me the most about this game is that the music at The Swamp NEVER STOPS when the ball is in play. They play music the whole game - and they change songs when the ball changes posession. It is insane - who can you get behind your team when they are blasting bad 90's pop through the speaker system the whole time.

I was listening to when they would stop the music - on free throws and that is it. I couldn't believe it.

Glad I don't watch games up there.

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Isaac  
Years ago

DJRod, your reply?

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Camel 31  
Years ago

My son asked me for a ride home, after Woodville training, and he's got Fox but I haven't!
Not having seen an NBL game for a month, that was good.
A few turnovers and silly mistakes, but I loved it.. watching that big young team against a small shooting team.. go right to the last second, enloyed it.

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djrod  
Years ago

Re: Music at the Swamp...

We have done this since day 1 and OUR fans love it... they clap their hands to the music all night long. A measure of a great night's basketball and entertainment is the redness of your hands!

We call it 'Atmosphere'... you should try it sometime ;)

I have a list of about 120 songs, mixed from very recent music like Just Dance - Lady Gaga to Thank God I'm A Country Boy - John Denver.

AND - it was our throwback night so I concentrated mostly on bad 90's music to fit the night's theme!

Oh and by the way - I don't care what you think because I do what CROC'S FANS like - not anyone else around the league :)

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KingJames  
Years ago

You can keep "Thank God I'm A Country Boy - John Denver" we don't want it here :P

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Ben Fitz  
Years ago

Anyone know where i can see some box scores?
nbl.com.au does not even seem to know that 2 games happened last night.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

djrod I don't think there was any need to be so aggressive.

I personally think the Crocs do a great job with their game night packages.

I've been to a few games up there and they always have plenty going on, without taking away from the game itself. I wish Murray was as interactive as the Croc!

The throwbacks for the 250th home game, the ex-players shoot off etc these are things us 36ers fans are begging for. (Does anyone know how many 'home' games the 36ers have played? Or even how many games the 6ers have played at the Dome/Powerhouse? I doubt the current club admin do!)

I have to agree with the above comments about the music. In person it's not as bad as on TV but IMO it is way over the top. The crowd get into it and clap along when the Crocs are firing but when the Crocs aren't on fire I felt the music just drowned out what support the crowd tried to give the team.


On the Fox coverage Carf and Gaze work well and I'd much rather that duo than having a return of Casey.

Hinder was very honest post game which was good to hear as opposed to the stock standard responses you hear from sportspeople these days (although I'm not sure his team mates would have appreciated it).

I saw Jason Smith on Fox Sports News on Tuesday night and he strongly denied the figure of under 1,000 for the Spirit v Dragons game. Official attendance was 1,300ish and personally it bothered me that Gaze (who's also on the Interim BA Board) had a dig about the 800 who were at the Spirit home game, when both the club (through Jason Smith) and the NBL (through their official attendance) have stated otherwise.

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skip  
Years ago

Aint played country boy yet this year, maybe this week :-)

Re: Music - General rule at sixers games are get the music pumping when the opposition has the ball to drown them out but keep it quiet when the sixers have the ball. Exception being when the sixers are on fire.

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Isaac  
Years ago

I wouldn't believe NBL crowd reports half the time. I remember being told "5,000 or so" for the Slingers first game and then finding out it was probably 800 or fewer while the NBL reported 1,800ish.

For the Spirit game, the NBL and a biased team player reported 1,400ish while fans at the game said it would've been under 800.

Often teams count sold but unused tickets, but would that have accounted for 40% of your seats?

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SVD  
Years ago

djrod - hey if you think that is what the fans want that is fine ... I just think it is mental - I mean every second the ball was in play there was music blasting - just found it strange.

When the 6ers used to do it I couldn't handle it - especially when the team is down - I want to cheer but when competing with music it is a stuggle.

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Ballinger Fan  
Years ago

Ben Fitz

i think last night's scores have just been moved from Live Scores to Match Report box scores. Its not the easiest most consistent web site to find info on. Tis very annoying the way they keep moving stuff around.

And don't get me started on their stats....
Individual match stats show correct info, but then why can't they display that same data aggregated in the team info stats ?!?

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Ben Fitz  
Years ago

Thanks for that. The site says to me the last NBL game played even in the results section was 5 days ago.....

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Isaac I doubt either crowd figure was 100% accurate.

IMO the official total is what Gaze should mention (if he's going to talk about it) as a Fox Commentator and especially as a BA Interim Board member.


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DJRod  
Years ago

Hey guys I'm realy sorry for that post coming off as aggressive - I honestly didn't mean it ike that but reading it back - it didn't sound right...

all of that was tongue in cheek - that's why I threw in the Country Boy reference :)

MY BAD

We have a rule that a song is played for offense and we score - we keep that song playing because the crowd are into it.

I don't always play 'uptempo' music when we are on D... I throw in a few defense beats - we say 'NO WAY' instead of defense by the way... also some Addams family, if ya happy and ya know it etc

We did try playing nothing on defense and just 'uptempo' on offense but the crowd complained.

It is just what we are used to.

So guys, once again - sorry for my post coming off the wrong way. I am new here and I don't wanna piss people off so soon! :)

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