Reesy & Cooper combined for 6 points & 0 (yep, 0) boards in just under 20 minutes of play. Clearly we have a deficiency at the 5 spot, and that production isn't going to win you many games.
Grabau really hurt us tonight. 20 points on 8/12 shooting (4/7 3s) is unbelievable. Sure, he's not the most dangerous shooter on the team, but after he hits a couple it'd be wise to pay him some respect.
I actually thought Willie did a good job on Darnell tonight. Seemed to frustrate him in the 1st half , and Darnell had some slack turnovers. Of course, when it mattered most, Darnell came up big & hit some very tough, clutch shots. He finished with a more-than-respectable stat line of 16 points, 7 boards & 7 assists, but was held in check until the final quarter came around.
I think in the 2nd half we did quite a good job on Boodnikoff, forcing him to put the ball on the floor, rather than be a stand still jumper shooter. The only problem was, twice we allowed him to follow his misses with putbacks. Giving up 17 offensive boards is partly the result of not having a 5 man capable of rebounding.
Crosswell was able to get into the key and make tough shots all night. Finished with 13 points on 6/9 shooting in 29 minutes. I think in the entire game, he dribbled the ball about 3 times with his right hand.
I thought our offense looked really good towards the end of the 1st quarter, and in parts of the 2nd, when we were creating stops & getting rebounds on D, and running in offense. We were trigger-happy & free-flowing. Unfortunately when we ceased getting stops & boards, our half course offense was stagnant, and quite messy. Too often we get bogged down, dribbling without going anywhere.
The production from Oscar (12 points, 6 boards in 33 minutes), Jacob (10 & 10 in just under 40) and Nash (9 & 12) was very solid. It's good to see these guys performing well, and I thought they were all quite good on D. Oh, and Jimmy - yes, I think it was a close call, though it was probably a marginal foul at worst. Probably a good no-call that let the players decide the game in extra time.
Cairns did a good job of not falling for Brett's shot fakes, and forced him into 6/18 shooting. He still controlled the game well though, and had 10 of the 6ers 16 assists.
Dusty was at his crafty best around the basket, and I thought he did especially well considering he was against bigger opponents. He also played some reasonable D on Catt. In fact, I think Willie & Dusty's defensive deficiencies were far less glaring tonight than they have been in the past.
In 51 minutes on court, Willie only had 13 FG attempts. He managed to hit 8, and score 24 points, and to me this was one of those rare times he probably needed MORE shots. He was in one of those crazy frames of mind where he was knocking shots no matter who was guarding him. While he did occasionally over-dribble, I think he was generally pretty good, and we probably needed to do a better job of getting him open & isolating him after he'd hit a few. I really think we needed to ride his hot hand more tonight.
I think Phil rotated his players quite well tonight. He essentially played with 6 players, plus just under 10 minutes each for Cooper & Rees. To me, his biggest mistake was not calling a time out at the 34 second mark in the 4th Q. He had 2 up his sleeve & I question the wisdom in not calling a time out in the 3rd Q (where we managed just 15 points) then not using his 'stored' timeouts in the crucial last couple of minutes.
The stats for the whole game were pretty close. Cairns shot 44% FGs, 36% 3s, 75% FTs to our 45%, 38% & 73%. Rebounds were 51-49 Cairns. Points off bench were 25-25 until Stewart's 3 in the last 2 seconds. 2nd chance points were 18-16 Cairns, points off turnovers 13-12 Cairns. Pretty tight the whole way. Probably the most glaring difference was in blocked shots (Cairns 8-1).
While I don't particularly think the refs had much of an effect on the outcome, I do think Tom Mills is a very, very ordinary ref. Why is he reffing NBL finals? Why is he reffing NBL games at all? I thought Butler & Thieisz were alright.
The attendance was quite disappointing, in my opinion. 4726 for a do-or-die final is below-par. Having said that, they sure made some noise and everyone was into the game.
I think there are some decisions to be made regarding next seasons lineup. If we return with the same group, I think we'll likely achieve a similar result. It's pretty obvious that something needs to be done about the 5 spot, so it will be interesting to see if/who we target to fill that gap. Do we look at the Aussie talent, or make a tough decision to go for an American & not re-sign Dusty? If they were to go with the latter option, I'm sure Forman is ready to step into a starting role.
Finally, I think the NBL really needs to evaluate its finals format. In the semi's we now have the #1, #2, #5 & #7 ranked sides. While Cairns & Perth deserve credit for winning when it matters most, I think that the #3 & #4 ranked sides have earned the right to more than 1 finals match.