AUS - Boomers skipper on the mend; Gaze game mark broken

MELBOURNE (NBL) - There were ominous signs for rivals of the defending champion Melbourne Tigers in Week 7 of Oceania's NBL.

After winning last year's title the Tigers lost a number of key players, but quickly replaced them with last season's NBL leading scorer, Nigerian international Ebi Ere, former Washington Wizard Rod Grizzard, and 2007 NBL MVP Sam Mackinnon.

But despite boasting such a talented lineup, the Tigers spent the first quarter of the season stuck in the middle of the table, as their new players struggled to adjust to the new game plan. Mackinnon, who missed the Beijing Olympics after suffering blood clots in his lungs, had particularly struggled to regain his old form.

The former Boomers captain showed he isn't a spent force last Saturday though, recording 22 points, 10 assists 7 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals in the Tigers 123-111 triumph over the Gold Coast Blaze (0-10), collecting NBL Player of the Week honours for his troubles.

Mackinnon was well supported by former Unics Kazan star Chris Anstey (25 points, 8 rebounds) and Ere (24 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), as the Tigers fought off a gallant Gold Coast team to record their fourth home victory for the year and move to third on the table.

Melbourne (6-3) this week face the second placed New Zealand Breakers (7-2), who posted two impressive wins in Week 7, defeating the Perth Wildcats (6-6) 103-99 on Thursday, before traveling to Townsville (4-4) and defeating the Crocs 106-97.

Australian point guard CJ Bruton was the standout of the weekend, averaging 19 points, 4.5 assists and 4.5 steals in the two wins. He was ably assisted by Kiwi Kirk Penney and import centre Rick Rickert (12.5 points and 9 rebounds).

The story for the Breakers though was veteran Australian international Tony Ronaldson, who played his 613th NBL game against Townsville to break the record held by the legendary Andrew Gaze. Ronaldson, who collected 17 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, said: "It is more about the people who I have surpassed, names like Andrew Gaze who's been retired for four years now and is still the most recognisable name in the game."

In other games, impressive 22 year old power forward Julian Khazzouh put on a display for the Sydney Spirit (4-7) against the first-placed South Dragons (8-2). The 209cm prospect racked up 19 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals to be the dominant player on the court, and state his case for Boomers selection.

Another Sydneysider pushing for a place on the national team is 203cm small forward Liam Rush, who tallied 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. It wasn't enough to foil the surging Dragons, though, who rode a ferocious home crowd to their sixth successive victory, 96-87.

Reserve Nathan Herbert was the game winner for the Dragons, scoring 13 of his 19 points in the last quarter as South rallied from a double figure deficit late in the third. FIBA World Championship representative Mark Worthington was the Dragons most consistent, tallying 21 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals.

The Wollongong Hawks (6-5) defeated the Cairns Taipans (5-5) twice in a week - once at each venue - thanks largely to the play of Olympian Glen Saville, who averaged 15.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4 assists across both nights.

Sav received excellent support from potential Boomers Anthony Petrie and Cam Tragardh, while import Kavossy Franklin continued his resurgent form. For Cairns, Canadian international Dave Thomas averaged 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in the two games, while import Larry Abney was superb averaging 19 points and 9 boards.

In the last game of the round, the Adelaide 36ers (3-5) broke a five game losing streak with a massive 106-78 win against Sydney. Big men Adam Ballinger (24 points, 8 rebounds) and Luke Schenscher (19 points, 18 rebounds) were most impressive for the victors, while Sydney was paced by Rush and Khazzouh once again.

Paul Kennedy
FIBA Correspondent in Australia