Hoops

36ERS fail to stop the Bullets, bow out of finals

After much discussion about finals format and the consensus being that it is not a fair system to have instant knockout for 3rd or 4th placed teams, I was curious to know how the NBL came about this format and if there was likely to be any changes to it. I sent an email to Marc Howard and this is his reply;

"Finals formats are always contentious. Some people like their team having a week off to rest up, whilst others think they get rusty. Some like single game series, some like best-of formats. However the current system was originally approved by a vote of all teams and then reaffirmed prior to this season. The teams that finish third and fourth still have a significant advantage over the teams below them. They need to win just one game, playing at home against a team that has played just a few days before, to advance to the Semi Finals."

This has led to more questions being asked as to who was the representative of each team that approved it. From listening to Phil Smyth after Friday's game, he seemed much against this format and even mentioned comments from Lindsay Gaze who did not seem to think highly of the format. A particular Sixers player also stated his disagreement to this format. I have not come across a single person who likes this current format, so I'm still curious to know who would approve it. There was no mention in the reply as to whether the format would change, but I guess they will follow the same procedure before the next season starts to get clubs approval.

Once again, while some of my questions were answered, even more questions were raised.

Would be nice now if Townsville win the GF but as much as I hate Brisbane to win, they need to justify the knockout against us. It would be a disgraceful waste of all the good work the Sixers did throughout the season, if Brisbane can't carry it all the way through. We would have had a good chance against any of the other teams still in with a chance so our instant elimination needs to be justified.

Looking at the finals schedule in the Advertiser today, really points out how unbalanced the finals format really is. There's been much debate about how coming 4th can lead to an instant knockout of the finals. I don't know if its hit any of you but it really made me feel how unfair the whole system is. What struck me for the coming semi finals was the fact that Wollongong (2nd) vs Townsville (3rd) was reasonable for one series, but then Sydney (1st) vs Bullets (5th) was very much unbalanced. One would have to ask what happened to 4th. It is so unfortunate and unfair that the 4th team can be completely disposed of in 1 game. Especially when they not only played well all season, but actually played well in the knockout game (score of 110). For some reason, the Gods were smiling on Brisbane on Friday night and as a result of that, our championship aspirations went flying out the door.

It was a hard game to watch as a 6ers fan. Brisbane has the same characteristic as Adelaide in that if they play well they can beat any team in the league. Their scorching 3pt shooting and ability to find the open man was uncanny last night.

I agree that the refereeing was inconsistant but didn't come close to deciding the game. One specific play i'd like to ask those of you who were at the game for clarification, just before the 'posterization', it looked on Fox like Simon Kerle had completely laid out Brett Maher to steal the ball, which lead to Matthews' dunk. Fox's many replays didn't quite go back far enough, just showing Kerle collecting the ball with Maher on the ground. Did any of you at the game have a good angle of this?

Superb game by Coops and Oscar, both tried valiently to no avail.

The sportsmanship of Kerle and Hill was unfortunate, but you've gotta expect that from Kerle as the player everyone loves to hate. I still think Reggie Miller does it with alot more class.