Hoops Heaven’s Basketball Hustle – Season 4, Episode 13

Christmas Day in the NBL is now in the history books, New Year's Eve is upon us and the Sydney Kings are firing but we look at who their biggest challenger is on this week's Hoops Heaven's Basketball Hustle.

Co-hosts Chris Pike and Cody Ellis break down #NBL23 Christmas Day, Cody discusses refereeing and we look at building Adelaide 36ers, improved Tasmania JackJumpers, Brisbane Bullets getting a win and Perth Wildcats blowing one, and New Zealand Breakers, South East Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne United situations.

We open up this week's Hoops Heaven's Basketball Hustle by catching up on our Christmases and then getting stuck right into the NBL making history with the Christmas Day game where the Sydney Kings beat Melbourne United. We talk about the pros and cons of it all, and then look ahead to why it looks a near certainty for a double-header now in 2023.

On the back of that, we look at how the Sydney Kings do appear the standout team in the NBL right now but who their biggest challenger is isn't easy to determine. The Breakers, Phoenix and Taipans are directly behind them and are having their challenges, the Wildcats just had a slip up and then there's the JackJumpers and 36ers. We take a look at all those potential contenders.

Following that, we talk about the Brisbane Bullets breaking through for their first win with Greg Vanderjagt as coach but in the same game, the Perth Wildcats missed 18 free-throws and missed a golden chance to make it five consecutive wins to keep their momentum going.

The conversation continues by talking about the horror luck for the New Zealand Breakers who didn’t play a game for 18 days, now have 8 days in between games and are without three key players.

We talk the South East Melbourne Phoenix who finally got a break after 6 games in 17 days while playing on Christmas Eve without four key players and discuss if Melbourne United's season is now already done at 9-12.

We break up this week's show by then catch up with Adelaide 36ers Hall of Famer to get his thoughts on the current 3-game winning streak of the Sixers and then he selects his winner of the #TheGalen Best NBL Team for Round 12.

We're back then for Cody Ellis to talk about the current state of refereeing in the NBL before getting stuck into our preview of Round 13 including a double-header in Cairns and Wollongong on New Year's Eve.

All made possible thanks to the support of Hoops Heaven (www.hoopsheaven.com.au).