To The South: Best of NBL Round 18

Another packed week of major league Australian basketball produced plenty of sights to be seen - close contests, high scoring shows and games that finished very differently to how they started. Here is a rundown of the best from NBL Round 18:

Illawarra Hawks vs Adelaide 36ers

Nine points without reply put the Hawks ahead by double digits by the end of the first quarter. Adelaide then began the second with a 15-0 run of their own to retake the lead, Deng Deng kept Illawarra within one before Isaac Humphries and Daniel Johnson made sure the 36ers ended the first half leading by four points.

Both teams led by four throughout the final period, with the Hawks leading by a point ahead of the final two minutes. With both teams seemingly feeling the pressure, it would be Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup who would and see Illawarra prevail with the win, 71-66, with Harvey leading all with 23 points.

Brisbane Bullets vs Perth Wildcats

The Wildcats, behind a 14-2 run, finished the first quarter ahead by ten points, the Bullets followed with a string of points in the paint to close the gap to one by half time. Late in the third a streak of nine points to Brisbane's two saw them lead by seven with the final quarter about the get underway.

A flurry of threes from Perth saw them quickly re-take the lead and continuing their fiery streak outside the arc, complimented with plenty of points inside the paint, their advantage grew larger and larger to the point where it was insurmountable for the Bullets.

With fifteen threes in the game, five coming from top scorer Todd Blanchfield who finished with 31 points, the Wildcats completed the comeback and with authority - the final score 102-90 in their favour.

Illawarra Hawks vs New Zealand Breakers

There were nine lead changes in the first half - five in the last three minutes - at the end of which Rasmus Bach and Finn Delany put the Breakers up by the end of the first quarter. The Hawks responded by holding their opponents to just eight points in the second quarter, as they finished the first half with an eight point lead which became eleven shortly after the re-start of the game and fifteen midway through the third.

Seven points in a row from Delany followed by a three from Bach narrowed the Breakers' arrears to one. Froling tried to push Illawarra's advantage further but the Breakers kept within touching distance of the lead.

After Tai Webster put them up by one with 1:30 on the clock, Tyler Harvey put the Hawks back up by one and fortunately for them New Zealand's shots kept falling short. The Hawks had survived the forty-minute onslaught and prevailed victors 73-71.

Melbourne United vs South East Melbourne

There was nothing between the neighbouring teams for both the first quarter and again in the second half, with the Phoenix's three-point shooting equalling United's work from within the arc. At the back end of the third quarter SEM started to pull away with thirteen points in the last three-and-a-half minutes of the period.

Continuing that form in the fourth, led on offence by Keifer Sykes who led all scorers with 26 points, the Phoenix rolled home to victory over their closest rivals, their second half surge propelling them to the eleven-point win.

The top performance of the week came courtesy of Finn Delany. He was the Breakers' leading scorer in all three of their games this week and against South East Melbourne on May 12th, he dropped 32 points on ten-for-twelve shooting from close range. Sadly it wasn't enough to win the game for the Breakers but was the epitome of what had been a wonderful week for the New Zealand forward.

The results at the end of Round 18 have seen Illawarra jump the Sydney Kings into playoff contention, along with South East Melbourne, United and the Wildcats, who look assured of contesting the NBL Championship this year. There's still time and every chance they playoff picture could look different when the regular season comes to its end.