Round 5 was filled with surprises. Coaches being sent off, dramatic buzzer beaters and Sydney lost twice. Ok not all surprising, but two away wins for Illawara was. Also they continued the somewhat repetitive debates over the best PG in the league is.

Without further ado, below are game reports for each game this week. Following that there is a special section on the Brisbane Bullets players.

Brisbane will have 4 double rounds in a row from round 7 and some forward planning may be helpful for your team in these coming weeks. Think past the one round with your selections and plan to make the most of this period.

THE AUSSIE HOOPLA NBL OPEN STANDINGS

Ranking in the Aussie Hoopla NBL Open Standings from Round 6

SLAM DUNK SONNY coached by Milo Cassidy remains at the top. Another excellent week for them,

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Game reports

The team of the week for round 5.

New Zealand 92 (Abercrombie 53, Sosa 44, Newbill 42)

Adelaide 88 (Creek 38, Shorter 32, Sobey 29)

Thomas Abercrombie back to his best again with a top score in the game.Je was everywhere in this game clocking up 7 rebounds and 3 steals as well as 21 points with several 3 pointers. He was finishing at his best in this game. Edgar Sosa and DJ Newbill seemed to share points rebounds and assists in this one driving them both to solid scores. New Zealand look really good when everyone is playing well like in this game.

Adelaide stayed with them and Mitch Creek with a career high point score again topped out the Adelaide scorers. Shannon Shorter remained up amongst the top guards in the fantasy points once again. Nathan Sobey scored consistently and no Adelaide player should disappoint the coaches here. Daniel Johnson got to 27 and Josh Childress also got to 27 fantasy points in a solid team performance from Adelaide. Somehow they lost massively on the boards which cost them in the game, also leading to lower individual scores.

Melbourne 87 (Ware 57, Prather 56, Goulding 35)

Cairns 65 (Egwu 35, McCarron 23, Weigh 20)

The top 3 Melbourne scorers tell the story. All three of the big 3 scored big and impacted the game across the box score with Casper Ware even notching a block. Casey Prather was everywhere with 5 steals in game. Chris Goulding bounced back with a large scoring game. Chris Goulding’s score is based on a great shooting night and more performances like this are expected but Casper Ware and Casey Prather’s scores look more sustainable looking at how they scored the points. They answered a lot of critics in this one.

Majok Majok got increased minutes with Josh Boone going down on his knee and never really getting back into the game. He got to 27 points based on 9 rebounds. His minutes have dropped this season but any doubt about if he can still be a rebound machine may have been answered here. Josh Boone got to 21 on limited minutes.

Cairns had a bad day out but Nnanna Egwu still scored well with the 35 fantasy points. He was battling for the boards and stays consistent. Other than him Cairns really never got going. Michael Carrera top scored in game at 19 points, but was rattled in the game and had a large number of turnovers which really hurt him bringing him to 14 fantasy points. He is a fiery player and could be volatile in the fantasy points. He can add blocks, rebounds and points though and still looked the most dynamic player for Cairns in this one.

Brisbane 82 (Buford 51, Trice 33, Kickert 28)

Illawara 112 (Ogilvy 59, Kay 48, Conger 48)

Perin Buford was the shining light on a dull night for Brisbane. He continued to do a bit of everything and was impressive at the 3. Travis Trice kept a good score thanks to a 7 rebound haul. This would not be expected every night from him though but he has demonstrated already his ability to score and get assists. Daniel Kickert remained as expected with very few rebounds added his scores are not likely to jump much higher going forward. On a very bad night for Brisbane the main men still delivered fantasy points though which is a good sign.

Illawara were flying in this game and looking to make a statement. Outside of the top 3 scorers they also had Oscar Forman on 40 points, Rotnei Clarke onto 38 points and Mitch Norton on 31 points. This is highly unlikely to continue. AJ Ogilivy did it on both ends and was a rebound or two short of the best individual performance of the season. He started slow but by the end of the game had taken over the fantasy points. Only worry is that Illawara could easily have rested him through the end and this may have padded his stats in this game. Nicholas Kay was scoring at will and provided some valuable assists to get his name up there. Demitrius Conger was all over the court and the battle with Perin Buford was intriguing. His unselfish play with 6 assists added to his tally. Much like with Ogilivy he could have not played half the game and as it loosened up in the 4th started adding stats which pushed his score up. Great blowout for the fantasy coaches as Illawara wanted to get all their players firing as they look to build some form.

Perth 93 (Brandt 52, Tokoto 41, Cotton 35)

Sydney 69 (Ellis 36, Newley 30, Leslie 20)

This was embarrassing for Sydney. If not for how bad they have been all season you could blame the home court advantage but this was never a contest. The game prior at least was competitive for the first half. What we learned though is what work does get done has to be done by some one and Perry Ellis does that work. Brad Newley has remained consistent also. When he doesn’t score big at least he is still assisting and getting rebounds. Travis Leslie had a very poor night and his score is kind to him. As the Wildcats went into drill mode he started collecting stats, getting onto the scoreboard in the 4th. This was a game against arguably the best team early on this season though and it could still be turned around.

Perth has a few double rounds coming up and this game was very promising as it provided a lot of option. Angus Brandt clocked is first double-double of the season. This could be the first of many for him and could be worth the huge saving on Josh Boone or AJ Ogilvy. JP Tokoto and Bryce Cotton just keep doing it also. Cooke JR, Walker, Martin and Wagstaff all also topped over 20 fantasy points. Perth are on a roll. However we are yet to see how this team goes on the road and it may not be as rosy as it seems right now. That being said Perth have options everywhere and need to be high on the considerations for next week.

Melbourne 101 (Ware 54, Prather 45, Goulding 42)

Adelaide 84 (Johnson 37, Creek 34, Shorter 32)

Joey Wright getting himself sent from the sidelines, Nathan Sobey not getting onto the court (15 fantasy points) and unable to get it going throughout the game. Daniel Johnson was the attacking spark for Adelaide and tops the fantasy points as well with 37 fantasy points. Mitch Creek and Shannon Shorter remained consistent. However they now have several single rounds in a row and holding any Adelaide players for the next few rounds could impact your scores massively. They have had a loaded start to the season and with this currently their prices also seem fair and holding for value doesn’t seem like a good plan.

Casper Ware straight back top of it all. Providing, scoring, adding some rebounds. If their is a ‘best point guard in the league’ bar a few bad weeks he is right here. Things were clicking this week, with the big 3 taking the top 3 spots in each game. Chris Goulding deserves the most applause as this week was a huge turn around for him. He even got 6 assists in this one for his highest fantasy points yet. He remains a good gamble as he is at $1.13 million and could produce another similar week and be worth every penny. On top of that he would gain some good value with another solid performance.

Cairns 70 (Carrera 34, Loughton 26, McCarron 24)

New Zealand 73 (Abercrombie 34, Vukona 34, Delany 33)

Last second craziness will make this game one that will be remembered for a long time. Edgar Sosa with what would eventually be found to be the winning points. Cairns were much tougher in this game. Noticeably Michael Carrera’s usage is through the roof with over double the amount of shots on his fellow team mates according to NBLFacts. He scored 34 fantasy points for his efforts. If Cairns keep this strategy, Carrera could be an ongoing option. If this is his best though don’t expect many blow out games as he could hardly have the ball any more than he already does. No other real stand outs in the fantasy points for Cairns.

Nw Zealand’s individual scores may appear lowered in this game but it reflects the battle of this game. Thomas Abercrombie and Mika Vukona take the honors with Finn Delany with a handy contribution from the bench. Quite a few double rounds coming up and Vukona could take over for Ellis or Carrera in the starting PF squad. Banking on Ellis soon? Consider Vukona to free up funds and get a bunch of double rounds in the coming weeks.

Sydney 83 (Ellis 52, Newley 48, Blanchfield 31, Cadee 31, Humphries 31)

Illawara 93 (Clarke 50, Kay 46, Conger 34)

Hooray Isaac Humphries made a 30 point game. Perry Ellis continued once again and not much else can be said on him at this point. Capable of scoring everywhere, good for rebounds, blocks and assists also. Brad Newley appears to be hitting a run of positive form also. Cadee and Blanchfield continued their up and down performances. Overall Sydney’s troubles are real but based on the fantasy scores it is not as bad as it seems.

Rotnei Clarke finished a huge week with an all-round performance in this one. This was individually excellent and its tough to fault him in this one. Nick Kay was also strong again. Unfortunately Illawara hits a dry patch of games now. They were excellent this week with two away wins.

Brisbane Bullets

Top averaging players for Brisbane.

Tom Jervis (C): In Centre he has been one of the most uninspiring choices so far. Against Melbourne and Cairns he has been strong, but Illawara and New Zealand have shut them down. He may be stronger against Sydney and Adelaide therefore than Perth in the long run they are about to go on. They play New Zealand in rounds 7, 8 & 9 and he may not be worth the risk going into the run of doubles as other options may net you more points consistently week on week.

Daniel Kickert (PF/C): Amazingly stable scores for Kickert. This is good as we can expect 50 – 60 points each round on the run and at around $1 million this is valuable. He still has the potential to blow out some games too and he is an option for Centre during this period too. Worth considering as a constant through the 4 double rounds at a cheaper price tag.

Perin Buford (SF): Wide-ranging scores but also right up there with all the other SFs in the game. I imagine most teams will be jumping on him in round 7. He is likely to remain a top scorer due to how involved into the game he is. Also, it will save you trades for 4 full weeks to bring him in early. Having him in this week will probably not hurt too much.

Stephen Holt (PG/SG): His scores may not look great but there is other value here. Similar to Kickert he is at $1 million-ish. The PG / SG spot has been one of the more expensive ones to fill and swapping for him frees up funds for the forwards. His low round has been 18 and he has got too 33. His results are similar to Goulding and Clarke. There remains potential for him to have some big games just like them. If he scores 25 each game an average of 50 each round could come out of the run, again very handy.

Travis Trice (PG): started well then evened out around 30 average. This won’t get you over the line in the coming weeks at his price tag Bryce Cotton and Rotnei Clarke are better options as they can truly blow out and average a low around 20. The big warning sign is in his first two games he recorded steals. In the last 3 games – no steals. His scores plummeted along with this. He is not as involved as we need him to be at his price tag.

The main recommendation is Perin Buford. He has been excellent and could be the captain for the whole 4 weeks. Daniel Kickert and Stephen Holt should also be considered as it will likely free up some cash to spend on a superstar each week and it will save you a transfer for the 4 weeks they are centre stage.

Join us in the game by our open to anyone with no limit traditional fantasy league. League code is LC32MXAH.

That’s it for now. Good luck with week XX

Disclaimer: All of the news in the this article are at the time of writing and from publically available material.