Hoops

R2: Illawarra vs New Zealand

Only got to watch the last quarter ... absurdly good performance from Penney. And man that was a bonehead play by Tai with the USF.

Penney on fire!

What was crowd for this one?

Harvey turned out fine. He was obviously nervous at the start & after a few repeated comments (Cedric DNA) got it together.

CJ the only non keeper so far...

Loved the Hawk's performance last night in this game, always thought they were going to turn it around for a win soon and under Bevo this team especially when it is fully fit will be hard to beat.

Breakers will still be dangerous at home this season, but their dominance and away game record seems it will fade away with their confidence.

Penney was a delight to watch and Ogilvy had the right mind set, showed what he could do under the right system.

I have always subscribed to a theory that great guards don't always make great coaches, because they just don't understand how to work a big player into a game and ignore them too much, but this is a generalisation only...

The Breakers have a big guy (Tai) in the post who was almost unstoppable when they fed him last night, maybe they should have gone to him more often?

I thought Harvey was a star tonight, found him really entertaining .

Ogilvy has been my dream team captain for both rounds and boy was he efficient tonight.

Penney is just an out and out legend and his release is awe inspiring.

Coenraad and Foreman seemed quiet... That's a good sign that when Penney is in beast mode and Ogilvy is dominating inside that others aren't putting up silly shots... Let Penney go to work and AJ will clean up everything

Weeks deserves a gig, he is proof the league needs more teams.

I thought Charles was the Breakers most effective player tonight, he wasn't super in any way but atleast he looked like he was trying.

So hard to understand who the Breakers are and the play Perth on Friday and on current form the Wildcats could thump them but they certainly lift against their greatest rivals.

Once were Breakers

I really liked James Harvey's calling of the game tonight....

I think sometimes when an ex player has to put the ball and the bong down at the same time positive things can happen !!

Is it possible for Webster to remain on his NBA salary and not make the 15 and simply play D-League i.e. is a situation possible whereby he earns coin to play for their D-League team.

Could it be possible that he stays there and plays D-League?

I am just thinking..he could put in a year of work training and developing in the NOP environment. He won't miss much back here..the Breakers will be here for him for a few more years yet. This is a one in a chance opp.

Would he have a D-League out clause? ;)

Yes, I thought the entire team's body language was rather poor.

The defining moment came at halftime when they showed the NZ change room and it looked as if someone had died. They looked terribly flat all night. Contrast that to their engagement and energy levels at Vector last week. There also appeared to be quite a bit of bickering tonight between players on missed rotations, fouls, turnovers.

It shows you Vukona's value as a leader and energy generator.

Marcus, plays like that are why I dislike Wesley.

Only cares about offense - as for anything else, meh.

Hopefully Vukona absolutely burns him in the locker room. It would be deserved.

The stats show he goes OK. But he misses a lot of rotations, gives up rebounds, overfouls etc.

This may however just be due to being a young professional and new to the NBL.

I think in year's past, we had exceptional balance and a great range of pieces covering all facets of the game.

This year we appear to have a bit of deadweight - and the balance seems off.

Wesley, Bartlett, McDonald, 2nd Import spot are massive weaknesses at the moment.

Jackson having his worst game in his NBL career, in his 100th game. Nailed it

Its scary to think that Ced could be a helluva lot better than what he is.

For all his basketball skill, his IQ isn't quite high.

Simple maths suggests he should put away the long bomb and take it to the rack, yet he persists with firing up 3 after 3 - with similar results.

It's a dumb play - he has got away with it for so long because he is Ced, but enough is enough.

Cedric 'Action Brick' Jackson

Ogilvy is an absolute stud.

With him in the middle and shooting threats such as Lisch, Penney and Forman on the outside this team has a deadly inside-outside game.

Hate the NBL and its slow grinding 59 point games :-/

Gotta love Penney in this mode :)

Massive credit to the Hawks.

Their defence and ball movement is superb.

Pretty handy quarter by the Hawks after the 0-7 start

Yes I think the talk last week at Penney being way over the hill was very premature.

People said he looked slow.

Personally don't see any difference between this Penney and the old Penney. He never has been lightning quick TBH.

Does anyone have an update on the injury to Angela Marino?