To The South: The Last Push for NBL Playoff Places

The 2021 NBL playoff picture was all but set: Melbourne United, the Perth Wildcats and the Illawarra Hawks had all secured their spots in the knockout phase with two more teams still in the running for the last one. It all went down to the very last game of the regular season to decide what the championship run would look like.

The week started with two teams whose playoff place was guaranteed going down to the wire. Starting strong in the paint, Illawarra Hawks went into an early nine-point lead but that was cut down by the Perth Wildcats towards the end of the first quarter. In the second an 8-0 run put the Wildcats in the lead, but finding open looks from all distances the Hawks regained their grip on the game and had the half-time lead.

The Hawks continued their low-post scoring to start the second half, holding on to their slender lead until a three from Josh Wagstaff put Perth in front with just over two minutes remaining in regulation. Tyler Harvey responded with two threes himself - the last of his game-high 27 points - to restore the Hawks' lead and see them prevail 81-79.

South East Melbourne began the week in fourth place and looked to secure it with a win over the Brisbane Bullets. Early shooting success gave them a double-digit first-quarter lead, but after a second quarter spent playing catch-up, the Bullets erupted in the third with 31 points to the Phoenix's 15. SEM did their all to try and turn it around at the end, but a fifteen-point deficit proved too much to come back from.

After suffering Brisbane's 91-84 turnaround, the Phoenix avenged this loss later in the week against the New Zealand Breakers: after the two were level at the end of ten minutes, the Phoenix finished the first half leading by ten. Despite Tai Webster's scoring (23 points) and Colton Iverson working to prevent any more score from SEM, the Phoenix were able to work around these obstacles and maintain their lead. With a game-high 29 points from Keifer Sykes, SEM reinforced their playoff push with the 83-78 win over the Breakers.

The other team left in the playoff run were the Sydney Kings. SEM's win against the Breakers had put their chances out of their hands, still another loss would definitely see them out. Their first opponents of Round 21 was the Illawarra Hawks, who they opened with eight unanswered points and their three-point shooting gave them an early double-digit lead.

Deng Deng began a 16-2 run for the Hawks, putting them up by two shortly after the start of the second quarter. Isaac White and Justinian Jessup tried to protect that lead but Jarell Martin and Xavier Cooks combined to restore Sydney's ten-point lead just before the half. Eleven points without reply late in the third returned the lead to the Hawks, Sydney responded with 12 of their own in the fourth for a seven point lead which then became nine with just over a minute on the game clock.

A lot of desperation threes fell short for Illwarra, a lone one from Emmett Narr reduced their final deficit 79-73. The victorious Kings saw a double double from Jarrell Martin, 23 points and 12 total rebounds.

Meanwhile the two teams at the top of the table, Perth and Melbourne United, faced off in what would be a battle for first place. Twelve points in the last three minutes of the first quarter put United ahead 24-12 and continuing to clear up from close range, maintained their advantage in the face of an attempted comeback from the Wildcats.

In the absence of Bryce Cotton, Todd Blanchfield stepped up to lead the scoring but could not make up the numbers the Wildcats needed. United saw an amazing performance from Jo Lual-Aculi, who had 16 points in just fourteen minutes played for Melbourne, who secure the first overall seed with the 78-64 defeat of Perth.

They followed this up days later with a blowout win over the stricken Adelaide 36ers, whose continually disappointing season was finally at an end. Tony Crocker finished his season on a high with a game-best 27 points for Adelaide, while with five players reaching double digits, Melborune finish the season with a 28-8 record after defeating the 36ers 100 points to 82.

Sydney's playoff push went down to their final game against the Brisbane Bullets. They did not get off to a good start, falling behind to Brisbane by seven points at the end of the first quarter. They rectified that by dominating the next two periods to build a twelve-point lead ahead of the decisive final quarter.

Not about to lie down and accept defeat, Brisbane began the fourth quarter with nine unanswered points, then after a later 9-0 run went up by a point in the last 1:30 of regulation. The lead went back and forth between the teams in the last minute, with Shaun Bruce putting the Kings up 83-82 with thirteen seconds left. BJ Johnson had one last chance to save the game but unable to get his layup to drop.

Sydney had the win they needed to keep their hopes alive, but for those hopes to become reality, they now needed Brisbane to win big over SEM in the final fixture of the regular season. After a tight first half which ended with only a point between the teams, Brisbane's low post play saw them surge in front while the Phoenix dried up at the end, leaving the door open for the Bullets to win 94-84.

Lamar Patterson led all in the game with 19, one of five Bullets players to score in double digits.

Good news for Brisbane: they ended the season with a win, bad news for Sydney: the win wasn't big enough to save their season. The best news was for SEM: they qualified for the playoffs.

They will be the fourth seed and will face Melbourne United for a semi-final spot, while the Perth Wildcats will begin their title defence facing the surprise package of NBL 21, the Illawarra Hawks. The playoff semi finals, each a best-of-three series, begin just days after the regular season end with the winners advancing to the grand final. Check back here for updates on the playoffs and visit the official NBL website for more.

Picture Credit: Darrian Traynor