I love the NBL! It gives me an opportunity to play in front of friends and family in Hamilton (when they actually have a team) who can't always make it up to Breakers games! Unfortunately the last few seasons I've had some body part to fix and haven't been able to play but have followed the league very closely! Unfortunately its quite hard for me to write anything in-depth about each game since they aren't shown on TV and there is no live streaming service this year (that I'm aware of). So outside of Rangers home games there isn't much for me to go off besides stat sheets! So instead every couple of rounds ill post a few of my thoughts.
Nelson coming out of the blocks HOT!
I made my way out to the Otara rec centre in round one to check out the Rangers vs Giants game. Honestly I was expecting a somewhat comfortable Rangers win. Nelson only had 9 players suited up (only 7 wound up playing), two imports who, despite nice resumes, had never played in this league before, no Mika Vukona, a pulled out of retirement Phill Jones and a (I think) rookie head coach against a pretty stacked Rangers outfit. Boy did they make me eat my words!! They, for the most part, handled the Rangers very aggressive pressure well, had a nice balance of outside and inside scoring! It was definitely fun to watch!
They proved it wasn't a fluke by beating Hawkes Bay on the road the next day and then picking up a quality home win against the Southland Sharks!
Im not really sure why I was surprised with the result against the Rangers. To me to Giants are the San Antonio Spurs of the NBL, during the regular season they don't get a lot of attention, they just quietly go about there business, then playoff time rolls around and more often than not they are there...and with Mika Vukona back in into mix expect them to only get better as the season progresses.
Sam Timmons
When you think of young basketball prospects in this country the name that will pop into most peoples heads first would be Tai Wynyard but Sam Timmons is also starting to make a name for himself. The 17 year old big man is averaging 10 points on a pretty handy 63% shooting and 5 rebounds in just 16 mins a game through the first 3 games for the Rams...including a 20 point 9 rebound display, in just twenty minutes, against the Manawatu Jets. Without sounding like a hater the Jets had to play (very) small ball due to injury and foul trouble, but was a very impressive performance regardless. The future is looking very bright for the 17 year old.
Leon Henry's game against Hawkes Bay
The Saints forward scored 24 points against the Hawks in round two. A pretty useful haul for any player...But he somehow managed to do it with just FIVE shot attempts...FIVE. When you throw the 12 rebounds and 2 steals on top of that it makes it even more impressive. Im not really one who cares to much about advanced stats and analytics but I bet those who do loved breaking down that stat line!
Rangers Coaching staff
Theres a lot of them...
AP
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