NBL

In the end, the Illawarra Hawks beat the Sydney Kings on Sunday to finish second and earn home court advantage in a semi-final battle with their NSW rivals.

“There’s a lot of energy and a lot of excitement in our building right now. It would definitely be meaningful for me but we have a lot of work to do to get to that point. For us to be able to make it to the playoffs and be in this position is great, it’s a wonderful feeling,” Martin said. “Credit to Goorj for just always having our mindset focused on this game that we have coming up, but look man, in the back of my mind of course you want to win a championship. Sydney Kings – Speaking of full of confidence, that’s exactly what the Sydney Kings are and while they all ooze that little bit of arrogance, they can more than back it up and have put together a brilliant second half of the season to finish on a 19-9 record and finish in third position. This is what we sign up for as basketball players to be able to compete for a championship. They’re a team that plays really hard and gets after the offensive boards so we’re going to have to box out and scrap on the boards,” Dellavedova said. “You play for this part of the year so I know that myself and the team are very excited. Now in order to do that, you have to take it one game at a time, which we do well. Really, it’s a team full of role players but what they do is play as a unit, give their all and just make themselves mighty tough to play against, and beat. They went through a run of losing six of nine, and had lost their defensive bite and they had to find a cure. Melbourne United – They are the reigning champions who have backed up this year to claim the regular season championship with a 20-8 record to earn home court advantage throughout the finals.

Melbourne United has made a flying start to its quest for back-to-back NBL titles by defeating the Tasmania JackJumpers 74-63 in game one.

Josh Adams joined McVeigh to spark Tasmania’s attack with the visitors trailing 41-36 at halftime before closing the margin to three at the start of the third quarter thanks to a basket from Fabian Krslovic. Lual-Acuil brushed off a scoreless opening term with an explosive start to the second term, the league MVP finalist attacking the rim with vigour as Melbourne extended its advantage into double digits. Tasmania battled hard to stay in touch in the first half but an 11-0 run in the third quarter laid the platform for Melbourne as its superior rebounding (52-32) and shot-blocking (7-2) took its toll on the visitors.

Melbourne United showed the JackJumpers why they are the number one seeds of the NBL finals series in a 74-63 game one victory.

A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard. As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible.

Jo Lual-Acuil jnr was commanding as Melbourne United took a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three semi-final series against Tasmania JackJumpers on Thursday ...

The boys were giving me a bit of crap about those shots. Tasmania have refused to lose all season and they gritted their teeth and cut the lead to 72-63 late as Melbourne started to rest their players, but would get no closer. United can earn a place in the grand final series with a win in Hobart on Saturday night, if Tasmania win they will play a deciding game three in Melbourne on Monday night.

Melbourne United have made a flying start to their quest for back-to-back NBL championships by defeating the Tasmania JackJumpers 74-63 in game one of their ...

Josh Adams joined McVeigh to spark Tasmania's attack with the visitors trailing 41-36 at halftime before closing the margin to three at the start of the third quarter thanks to a basket from Fabian Krslovic. Melbourne looked to combat Tasmania's import guard duo of Josh Magette and Josh Adams by inserting NBL Sixth Man of the year Shea Ili into their starting lineup. Melbourne United have made a flying start to their quest for back-to-back NBL championships by defeating the Tasmania JackJumpers 74-63 in game one of their best-of-three semi-final series.