The first week of 2024 was a beehive of activities as all the 10 teams in the NBL 2023-24 season went into action against familiar rivals. If you have been following our authoritative NBL24 news here, you already know that Melbourne United are the league leaders, a position they have held for the better part of the season. 

Nevertheless, the tournament’s 14th round concluded on Sunday 7th January; this is how the league stands. 

Having considered the overall tournament outlook so far, let now shift gears to moments that mattered in the competition’s 14th round that took place between Thursday, Jan 7 and Sunday, January 7th, 2024.

Bryce Cotton Dazzling Performance Bright Inspires Perth Wildcats To New Zealand Breakers 

Having bagged three MVP prizes previously, Bryce Cotton is seemingly unstoppable to his fourth crown. We wait to see if this fete materializes when the season finally concludes after the ultimate 20th-round matches on Sunday, February 18th, 2024.

Perth Wildcats Point Guard, Bryce Cotton shoots during the round 14 NBL match between New Zealand Breakers and Perth Wildcats at Spark Arena, on January 07, 2024, in Auckland, New Zealand.

In the round’s defining game between the two arch-rivals; Perth Vs Breakers, Cotton showcased moments of brilliance that were monumental to Perth’s win of 108-102 against the Breakers. The win, now squarely puts Perth Wildcats into the title race albeit with a game in hand relative to Melbourne United, the NBL24 league leaders. 

The fixture took place at the packed Spark Arena and Wildcats continued their longest winning streak of the season having won all four of their previous matches. 

Ordinarily, the game had interesting turns and twists from the first quarter. Interestingly, the winners conceded 35 points in the opening quarter, but fortunately, found their footing in the game from the second one. They worked their way up from the double-digit hole and managed to outscore the New Zealand Breakers by 55 points against 44 in the second half. 

Bryce Cotton rose to the occasion as expected. Although the New Zealand players were on his toes occasionally fouling him on the rack, or on when shooting the jumper, Cotton’s efforts masked all the stumbling blocks after finishing the game with 31 points. 

Besides, Keanu Pinder stepped up for the Wildcats with his impressive rim-protection skills and a further 18 points to his name. 

On their side, New Zealand Breakers were determined to climb the league ladder past S.E Melbourne and Brisbane Bullets who they closely trail but Wildcat’s weight was too much to bear. 

The Kiwi’s standout performers for the match were Tai Webster (11 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals) and Hyrum Harris (11 points and 8 boards) could not go unnoticed, especially in the initial moments of the game when they had exerted their pressure forcing Wildcats to concede with a whopping 35 points. 

Following this win, the Perth Wildcats coach, John Rillie commended his men for paying attention to the small details that enhance the ultimate winning elasticity. 

He said, “After quarter-time, we respected the little things in the game”. 

He continued in the post-match interview, “We talked about rebounding at half-time and we ended up winning the count by 13 in the end and it’s about winning those sort of things, and respecting that end of the floor so we can get out and play some offense.”

On his part, the Breaker’s Coach Mody Maor reiterated his team learnt a few lessons from the defeat about what winning games entails. His eyes are, however, trained on the next match against the league leaders, Melbourne United on Friday, January 9th at TSB Stadium, New Plymouth starting at 5:30 PM AEDT. 

Brisbane Bullets Deflates Sydney Kings’ Hopes of Scaling Up To The Top 4 

Before this fixture, our Australian basketball stats and pundits had predicted a dominant performance from the debutant NBL champion Casey Prather, but eventually, it was Nathan Sobey who took Bullets’ credit for his massive contribution in their win of 101 against Sydney Kings 93 points on Sunday, January 7 afternoon clash. 

Casey Prather of the Bullets drives to the basket during the round 14 NBL match between Sydney Kings and Brisbane Bullets at Qudos Bank Arena, on January 07, 2024.

Historically, this was a heated-up match with the Bullets determined to turn the tides to their side. They had previously lost 7 matches against the Kings and the last ten in the renowned Qudos Bank Arena; a poor run of events since 2017!

The crowds, estimably over 13k roared on the stands and added the much-needed psych to players who were equally determined to erase the poor historical records. Eventually, their resilience paid off as they defeated Sydney Kings who have now lost four successive home matches. 

Bullets were trailing the Kings by a point at the end of quarter one but later established their authority in the fixture. They outscored their rivals in the second quarter with 29 points against 15 and went into halftime with a comfortable margin of 52 against 39. 

Overall, it was a competitive match. From the look of stats, both teams had equal shots from the floor; Brisbane Bullets went 5-of-10 from downtown and 13-of-15 at the foul line with just 3 turnovers to the Kings who were 1-of-10, 4-of-5 and managed to turn it over 8 times. 

In terms of individual performance, Sam McDaniel managed 10 points, and  Shannon Scott 6 points and 4 assists. Isaac White, Prather, and Sobey, all had memorable stats with 12 points each while Josh Bannan had 13 points and 9 boards helping Brisbane Bullets emerge top in the third quarter. 

In the last quarter, Kings came out guns blazing determined to close the gap. Nevertheless, Sydney Kings showcased their mettle side as they snapped out the rival’s runs to close the game with the quarter’s gap of 11 against 9. 

Ultimately, Sobey led the Bullets to the win with 27 points while Prather made his Bulleys debut with almost 11 minutes for 8 points. The renowned NBA champion and Olympian Aaron Baynes also announced his presence in the game scoring a record 8 points in 20 minutes. 

With Brisbane Bullets set to host Tasmania JackJumpers on Wednesday 10th January, and Illawara Hawks on Sunday 14th January, in the next round, their coach Justin Schueller is happy and optimistic they will scale up the ladder to the top cream positions should they manage to register two wins out of two.