To The South: Very Best of a Record-Breaking Round 14

The fourteenth week of competition in the 2021 NBL season saw more exciting and competitive basketball and some of the best individual heroics of the season in a packed slate of games across the week. These are the very best moments:

Cairns Taipans vs Adelaide 36ers

After a tight start, Daniel Johnson and Jack McVeigh lifted the 36ers to a double-digit lead shortly after the second quarter got underway. Cameron Oliver and Mojave King brought that difference down to two before George Blagojevic put the Taipans up by one, only for McVeigh and Johnson to strike once again for Adelaide, ensuring they went to the locker room in the lead.

Ten in a row from the 36ers restored their double-digit lead, but Oliver was quick to lead the fight back for Cairns. Jordan Ngatai made it a two-point game by the third quarter’s end, the Taipans then tied the scores twice before Ngatai finally put them in front.

Tad Dufelmeier took over the scoring and Cairns suddenly had a seven-point lead with 1:30 to go. McVeigh got Adelaide to within one with thirteen seconds left, but he and Josh Giddey both came up short in trying to save the game at the death for the 36ers. Johnson finished with 24 points with McVeigh adding 22 in the loss. Oliver was the stand-out with 25 points and 17 total rebounds in a surprise win for the Taipans, 91-88 over Adelaide.

Sydney Kings vs South East Melbourne

Didi Louzada got Sydney off to an early five-point lead and the Kings kept hold of their advantage despite SEM getting to within a point three times in the quarter. They kept up that offensive pressure in the second quarter before Izayah Mauriohooho-Le Afa gave them their first lead of the game. Sydney now found themselves on the back food and trailing until Daniel Kickert returned the lead to the Kings with eight points in a row.

Sydney’s lead became a double-digit one shortly after the start of the second half, it reaching seventeen points in the third. The Phoenix began the fourth quarter trailing by twenty-one but they tried to cut the gap down from three-point territory, hitting six three-pointers in the quarter, but at the final buzzer they could only get within seven points of the Kings. Mauriohooho-Le Afa impressed with a game-high 29 points in 27 minutes played with Louzada leading Sydney with 28 in their 97-90 win.

New Zealand Breakers vs Brisbane Bullets

The key player for the Breakers here was William McDowell-White, facilitating the New Zealand team's command over the Bullets with 13 points, 14 assists and 10 total rebounds. The Breakers were lifted even further into the lead by Finn Delaney (17 points), Thomas Abercrombie (16 points) and game-leader Levi Randolph (20 points) in the contest. Abercrombie put up the first points of the game and the Breakers led for the rest of the way.

Sydney Kings vs Cairns Taipans

This game was all about Casper Ware: he started the game getting Sydney to a 16-2 lead after four minutes he went on to keep pouring in the points in the first half and them dominating in the paint in the second. He outclassed everyone on court to finish with a career-best 40 points against the Taipans.

Cairns, though, looked to spoil the celebrations: trailing by eleven points at the start of the second half, they quickly brought that gap down before going in front midway through Q3. Almost immediately Ware returned the lead to the Kings and they held it until Dufelmeir put Cairns in front by six the following period. Ware once again came to their rescue late in the game and with Lozada making the final points, the final score line stood at 89-84 to Sydney.

Perth Wildcats vs New Zealand Breakers

Early on Perth led by five points, then by seven, both times the Breakers levelled the scores and did so three more times at the top of the second quarter before Levi Randolph gave them the lead. Five lead changes followed, at the end of which the Wildcats took a double-digit advantage after thirteen unanswered points.

Four three-point shots kept the Breakers within touching distance of the Wildcats, two more from Corey Webster put them back in the lead. Perth saw the game turned on them, they now were now trailing and having to keep it close. Randolph and Finn Delany combined to give the Breakers a late seven-point lead and while Todd Blanchfield got the Wildcats to within three in the last two minutes, Abercrombie ended this late rally with a decisive steal in the final shot clock.

John Mooney was the Wildcats' top scorer with 22 points, just behind Randolph who had 23, one of five New Zealand players in double digits in their impressive win over the NBL's top team which finished 83-78 to the Breakers.

Melbourne United beating the Illawarra Hawks 87-76, along with Perth's loss sees a change at the top of the table, United displacing the Wildcats as the top team. South East Melbourne are also looking comfortable in the playoff zone, but there is still a long way to go in the season and given the results of this week, the playoff picture could look dramatically different by the end of the regular season.