Tom Abercrombie and his ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne colleagues started their quarter final series against Limoges in the French National League play-offs full of optimism. Continue reading
Mika Vukona made a stunning debut for Lebanese club side Byblos on Sunday. After two weeks confined to practice and side line support Vukona was unleashed by coach Nenad Vucinic to great effect. Continue reading
Tom Abercrombie had a quiet game for ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne as they cruised to victory, 106-74 against Roanne on Monday.
Abercrombie scored 4 points (2 from 3 f/g) playing just 13 minutes.
The win in the final regular season game of the French National Basketball League season secured ASVEL (17-13) a best of three game quarter final match up with Limoges (20-10).
Seventh placed ASVEL lost both league games against the second placed Limoges this season but with the margins just 3 points and 5 points they will be optimistic about their chances of progressing to the semi-final.
The first game is scheduled for May 12th at Limoges
Lebanese National Basketball League side Biblos secured a 70-66 road wins in the second of a best of five game series against Moutahed on Thursday.
Once again Mika Vukona was a spectator as Biblos moved to within one victory of a semi final play-off spot. The Breakers and Nelson Giants forward has linked up with Biblos to provide injury cover.
Vukona will bump into a familiar foe if he is required to play in the pivotal third game this weekend.
Moutahed, facing the prospect of elimination from the play-offs have drafted Corey ‘Homicide’ Williams into their team for their must win game. Williams played four seasons in the Australian NBL, three with Townsville crocodiles (2007-10) and one with Melbourne Tigers (2110/11). He was voted the MVP of the League in 2010.
Tom Abercrombie and his ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne team are leaving their qualification for the French National League play-offs a little late.
The eighth placed ASVEL (16-13) lost a home game against second place Limoges (19-10) on Tuesday. Continue reading
The surprise news in the past few days has been the jetting-off to the middle east of Mika Vukona.
I’m not sure the Lebanese correspondent for eurobasket.com had done his homework when writing about the Breakers power forward describing him as an “ex international forward”.
He then went on to describe Vukona’s game; “needs to expand the range of his outside shooting because most of his field goals come from lay-ups, also needs to improve his 32% free throw shooting”
Well I doubt Mika has shot 32% free throws since Year 5 in primary school. In fact that has become quite a strong point in his game during the past 18 months. In the last Breakers season he shot a commendable 78% from the charity stripe. In addition that mid range jump shot has become quite a weapon for Vukona.
More research needed from our Lebanese basketball writer I think.
The 2014 SKY CITY Breakers MVP had been anticipating playing a couple of games for the Nelson Giants over Anzac weekend. Instead he answered an SOS call from Tall Blacks coach Nenad Vucinic and within a matter of hours was heading to Lebanon to link up with Vucinic’s club side Byblos. One of the American imports playing for Byblos has suffered an injury and Mika has been called in to provide cover at a critical stage of the season. His stay in Lebanon could be as short as a week as Byblos are involved in a best of three quarter final tie in the Labanese Championship. Byblos won game one against Moutahed 74-65, Mika’s services not required.
Tom Abercrombie has played four games for his new club in France. In his first game for ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne he only logged a couple of minutes having had just one training session with his new team mates following his arrival from NZ. Since then he has been playing good minutes although not required to take on too much offensive responsibility. ASVEL are in 8th place in the league with two regular season game remaining, one more win will secure them a play-off berth. Their next game is Tuesday night (NZ time).
Gary Wilkinson has returned to Puerto Rico to link up with club side Indios de Mayaguez, the team he played for in 2013. Wilkinson is averaging 16.6pts/7.1 rebounds but Mayaguez languish ninth in a ten team league.
The Sky City Breakers ability to recruit quality players for next season just got a whole lot easier.
The club will benefit from a revision of the rules surrounding the NBL Points Ranking. Each player is ranked between 1 and 10 points depending on their performance in the previous season. Continue reading
The James Blond Super City Rangers entered their Easter weekend double header on the back of a 0-3 start to the 2014 Bartercard NBL season. The weekend’s games were not quite make or break for the Rangers in terms of making the end of season play-offs but two further losses would seriously dent their chances. Continue reading
The Waikato Pistons, defeated the James Blond Super City Rangers, 85-75 in the opening game of their 2014 Bartercard NBL season.
The Rangers, without the services of star recruits Dillon Boucher (injured) and Daryl Corletto (overseas), made a strong start to the game keeping pace with the Pistons to trail 18-17 at quarter time. Continue reading
Four to follow in the NBL in 2014 –No 3
Alonzo Burton is another player whose star is on the rise.
Burton has been a member of the HBS Bank Hawks for the past two seasons but has taken himself “out of his comfort zone” for the 2014 season, joining the Darron Larsen coached Manawatu Jets. Continue reading
LACEY LOWDOWN 