Breakers Sneak Past Crocs

The Harvey Norman NZ Breakers have grabbed their first win of the Hummer NBL Championship season with a thrilling 98-97 victory over the Townsville Crocodiles at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland.

Kirk Penney and Rick Rickert top-scored with 23 points each, Penney nailing 3-from-5 three-pointers to follow his strong performance in his debut match last week.

Townsville were in control for the first-half of the game and held a 15-point lead during the first-stanza, meaning the Breakers were always up against it.

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Deadline Approaches

Time is running out to register for Basketball New Zealand’s 2007 Labour Weekend Coaches Workshop from October 20-22 at AUT, North Shore.

This year’s workshop focuses on coaches across the basketball community with topics aimed at elite, development & participation coaches and the most comprehensive line-up of speakers in the events history!

The workshop will feature key note sessions as well as concurrent sessions aimed at different coaching communities. For the first time this year’s workshop includes a special reduced registration option for participation level coaches.

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Bush Suspended

Bay Hawks veteran Clifton Bush has been suspended for two months by the Sports Tribunal of NZ for committing an anti-doping violation involving cannabis.

Bush (34) tested positive for cannabis after the Hawks’ NBL semifinal win over Harbour Heat on June 24. Cannabis is a prohibited substance under the Prohibited List of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

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Ferns In Good Company

New Zealand is now one of seven countries that have qualified directly for women’s basketball at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Russia became the latest team to progress when they won the FIBA European Championships last weekend. Beaten finalists Spain join Belarus, Latvia and Czech Republic in the 12-team pre-Olympic repechage tournament to compete for the five remaining spots at Beijing.

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Vukona's Pain Relief

Harvey Norman NZ Breakers power forward Mika Vukona is looking to use this week’s Hummer NBL Championship home match against Townsville to overcome the pain of a devastating rugby weekend.

The Fijian-born Tall Black watched his two favourite teams exit the Rugby World Cup on successive days and says a win over the Crocodiles would be the best form of pain relief.

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Top Marks

Kiwi centre Sean Marks emerged as a star of the show as the Phoenix Suns warmed up for their NBA pre-season with an intra-squad scrimmage attended by 7500 fans.

The former NZ Tall Black contributed 11 points and 11 rebounds to Team White’s 97-91 win and provided the individual highlight of the night. When forward Rawle Marshall soared towards the basket for a tomahawk dunk, Marks met him about a metre above the rim to block the shot, then sprinted the length of the court to finish the fast break with a dunk of his own.

Wanted - Coaching Development

Harbour Basketball is looking to recruit a Coaching Development Officer, responsible for the development of basketball coaches in our regional area.

The key functions of the position are as follows ...

Marino, Pardon Win Debuts

NZ Tall Fern Angela Marino debuted for the Adelaide Lightning with 12 points as they defeated her old club Perth Lynx 78-57 in the Australian WNBL.

Marino shot 2/9 FG, 1/7 3pt, 7/8 FT, adding six assists and three rebounds in a team-high 32 minutes.

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Bradshaw To The Fore

NZ Tall Black Craig Bradshaw continued his impressive debut in the Australian Hummer Championship NBL, averaging 17.0 points as his Brisbane Bullets gathered to more wins in Round Three.

Bradshaw had 13 points (5/11 FG, 1/2 3pt, 2/2 FT), four rebounds and a block in the defending champions’ 116-107 win over Perth Wildcats. He then accumulated 21 points (7/11 FG, 3/6 3pt, 4/7 FT) and six rebounds in Brisbane’s runaway 113-84 win over Townsville Crocs, running their record to 4-0 for the season.

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Godden Joins 400 Club

NZ-based official Alan Godden has joined elite company in the Hummer Championship NBL.

The respected whistleblower became just the 10th referee in the history of the NBL to officiate 400 games when he suited up for the West Sydney Razorbacks clash with the Perth Wildcats at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre last week.

Godden, the former Basketball New Zealand referees manager, joined Bill Mildenhall, Ray Hunt, Eddie Crouch, Geoff Weeks, Roger Shiels, Steve Bignell, Ian Watts, Mal Cooper and Robert Barnett as the only men ever to reach the 400-game plateau.

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Sirens Silenced by Fire

Ben Hawkes, Basketball Australia
The Townsville Fire doused any hope of a fairytale first-up win by new Australian Defence Force Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) franchise Christchurch tonight, defeating the Sirens 72-47 at the Westpac Centre in New Zealand.

Despite the 24-point margin Townsville were made to earn the win, which gave Peter Buckle the perfect start to his head coaching career after a six year stint as assistant to super successful Canberra coach Carrie Graf, by a gallant Christchurch outfit.

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X's & O's - Pick And Roll Solutions

by New Jersey Nets assistant coach Ryan Kruger

Pick-and-Roll Philosophy
Guard Notes
The guard must set up his defender. If he wants to use the screen and gtet to the middle, then his setup is to gake to the baseline, the opposite if he wants to go to the baseline.

With the dribble, I like to teach the inside-out move to get the defender leaning away from the screen. Now, with him off balance, I like teaching a quick crossover dribble to run the defender right into the screener in the direction he wants to attack.

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