Blaze fend off Wildcats to force decider

Updated April 04, 2012 23:18:59

The Blaze's NBL championship hopes remain alive after surviving a Perth Wildcats semi-final onslaught to claim a nail-biting 72-70 win on the Gold Coast on Wednesday night.

The series will now be settled with a third and final game in Perth on Saturday, with the winners to progress to the grand final.

The Queensland club surrendered a 20-5 first quarter lead and then several seven-point advantages as the six-time champions came at them again and again.

Controversially, Shawn Redhage was called for an offensive foul and his basket waived away with less than 30 seconds left, before Adam Gibson and Jason Cadee both made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe.

The game still hung in the balance until the final buzzer when a desperate Damian Martin heave went wide to hand the Blaze victory.

Hudson showed he had come to play with a monster dunk to open proceedings, while Mark Worthington stroked home an open three-pointer as Gold Coast set up its 15-point advantage.

That lead was slashed back to just three points at quarter-time as Perth capitalised on a spate of turnovers and fouls from the Blaze - including an unsportsmanlike one from Stephen Hoare and a technical foul called on Worthington.

Gold Coast streaked ahead again before Perth cut the margin to just one with little more than two minutes remaining in the second term.

But six straight points from Adris Deleon, the defensive pressure from the Gold Coast bigs and a buzzer-beating basket from Jason Cadee put the home team ahead 45-38 at half-time.

A huge block and a steal to Martin allowed the Wildcats to again close within one point in the third quarter through Matt Knight, but the desperate Blaze held them at arm's length with a 60-57 lead heading into the final quarter.

The Wildcats had two chances to take the lead with just over three minutes left on the clock, but Luke Nevill travelled on his way to the basket and then put a foot on the line with the ball in hand.

The Gold Coast's crowd had their hearts in their mouths in the dying seconds, but the Blaze did enough to win and now face a deciding semi-final in Perth on Saturday night.

AAP

Tags: nbl, basketball, sport, southport-4215, qld, australia, perth-6000, wa

First posted April 04, 2012 23:18:59

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Wildcats force grand final decider

Updated April 20, 2012 23:37:56

Shawn Redhage pulled off a last-second rejection to hand the Perth Wildcats a nail-biting 87-86 victory over the New Zealand Breakers in game two of the NBL grand final series at Challenge Stadium on Friday night.

In a bizarre finish to the match, the Wildcats hit the lead with a minute remaining after Breakers forward Gary Wilkinson accidentally tipped the ball into his own basket.

Then, with the clock counting down, Breakers guard CJ Bruton charged in for what he hoped would be the game-winning lay-up, only for Redhage to come over the top with a massive block to secure the win.

Redhage had endured a dirty night up until that point, but the forward erupted in pure joy after pulling off the game-deciding move in front of a sell-out crowd.

Perth's win levelled the series at 1-1, with the decider to be played in Auckland next Tuesday.

Wilkinson top-scored for the Breakers with 28 points, while CJ Bruton (20 points) and CJ Pledger (14) were also important for the visitors.

The Wildcats hit just one of 18 three-point attempts, but still managed to come away with the win courtesy of an even scoring load.

Star guard Kevin Lisch and Jesse Wagstaff each scored 15, while Matthew Knight (13), Greg Hire (12) and Redhage (12) also chipped in.

Wilkinson was unstoppable in the first half, with the centre nailing 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting to silence the Perth crowd early.

Bruton was deadly from long range as the Breakers opened up a 46-33 lead midway through the second quarter.

Tempers threatened to boil over late in the half as the teams engaged in a push-and-shove, and the extra heat seemed to help the Cats as they closed the deficit to six by the main break.

However, the half ended on a controversial note when Wilkinson was awarded a basket on the buzzer despite Wildcats players believing time had already elapsed.

The Wildcats failed to hit a three-pointer in the opening half, and it took them until the dying minutes of the third term to finally register one.

Several bombs from Bruton in the final term looked to be enough to give New Zealand the win, but the Wildcats kept plugging away and eventually wore down the Breakers.

Star Breakers swingman Tom Abercrombie managed just six points in his first game back from an ankle injury.

AAP

Tags: nbl, basketball, sport, perth-6000, wa, australia, new-zealand

First posted April 20, 2012 23:12:35

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Injuries force Yao to retire from NBA

Updated July 9, 2011 12:48:00

Yao Ming, the 2.29m Chinese giant who became the NBA's first superstar player from Asia, has notified the Houston Rockets and the NBA he has retired, according to multiple reports.

The Houston Chronicle, ESPN and Sports Illustrated reported that Yao has decided against trying to make another comeback after injuries limited him to playing in only five games over the past two NBA seasons.

The Chronicle reported that Yao told the club a month ago he was not coming back.

With NBA players locked out by owners in a contract dispute, there was no immediate confirmation from the Rockets or the league regarding the status of Yao, whose groundbreaking career helped the global growth of basketball.

The 30-year-old from Shanghai made his debut for the Rockets in 2002 after a stellar career for the Chinese national team and the Shanghai Sharks.

While Yao was not the first Chinese player in the NBA, his engaging personality made him a favourite for sponsors seeking a way to attract interest in China and for NBA fans across Asia.

Beyond that, there was a formidable set of skills.

Yao had a shooting touch for shots away from the basket, a quickness with the ball that enabled him to baffle even the best of rival centres, including NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, who himself retired last month.

"Ni hao, brother," O'Neal said in a video posted on Twitter.

"You are one of the greatest players ever to come out of China, one of the greatest players period.

"I'm going to miss you bro. Enjoy retirement. Let's go on vacation, bro me and you."

Yao's former Rockets team-mate Tracy McGrady paid tribute to Yao on Twitter as well, saying, "Join me with standing ovation for yao ming. I wish Yao continued success in all his ventures in life.

"yao ming absolutely instrumental in the growth and popularity of our game abroad."

Yao's NBA career with the Rockets had been plagued by numerous injuries, the most recent of them a stress fracture in his left leg suffered in a November 10 loss last season at Washington which proved to be his farewell bow.

In 486 NBA games over eight seasons, Yao averaged 19.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.9 blocked shots and 1.6 assists.

But because of broken bones in his left foot, Yao missed the entire 2009-2010 season and played only five games last season before what was originally diagnosed as a high ankle sprain was found to be a career-ending stress fracture.

It came in the first NBA meeting between Yao and countryman Yi Jianlian that Yao wound up losing to Yi, although Yao barely made an impact before exiting in the opening minutes.

Yao was the top selection in the 2002 NBA Draft by Houston, becoming the first player from outside the United States to be selected as the top choice.

With tremendous support from his fans in China, Yao was voted an NBA All-Star Game starter eight times.

His 2007 initial NBA match-up against Yi was seen in more than 200 million Chinese homes.

-AFP

Tags: sport, basketball, china, united-states

First posted July 9, 2011 12:06:00

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