In one of the tightest decisions of the season, Singapore Slingers star Mike Helms has taken out Player of the Week for Round 11 of the 2007/08 National Basketball League HUMMER Championship, narrowly edging out Gold Coast Blaze sharpshooter James Harvey.
Helms led his team to the upset victory of the season when the Slingers toppled the reigning champion Brisbane Bullets 119-102 on Sunday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Helms led from the front scoring a game-high 31 points as well as eight rebounds, three assists and one steal as the bottom-ranked Slingers beat the third-placed Bullets by an impressive 17-point margin.
Despite sitting at the foot of the HUMMER Championship table with a 3-14 record, the result allowed the Slingers to split their two Round 11 games. In their 126-95 road loss to West Sydney earlier in the week, Helms still managed to score 22 points as well as contributing six rebounds and three assists.
For the week, the talented American averaged 26.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists, while shooting 79% from the free throw line and 42% from the field.
The Blaze’s Harvey was desperately unlucky to miss the weekly honour after he averaged 28.5 points in the Gold Coast’s two triumphs over Wollongong and Adelaide, scoring 28 and 29 points respectively. Harvey lived up to his reputation as one of the NBL’s best shooters, making a sizzling 64.5% of his attempts from the field and 91.5 % from the free throw line for the week. Harvey also averaged 3.0 rebounds, 3 .0 assists in Round 11.
Cairns Taipans star Stephen Black was another player in the running for the weekly prize, scoring 29 points and adding six assists in his team’s 125-96 win over the South Dragons. Black made a perfect 10-of-10 free throw attempts and sank 62% of his three pointers as the Taipans improved to 8-7.
Another Round 11 stand-out performance was by Dragons import Bakari Hendrix, who had 32 points and 11 rebounds in the same game. Hendrix averaged 24.5 points and 9.5 rebounds for the week but was unable to stop the Dragons dropping both their games for the round.
Frequent Player of the Week nominee Kirk Penney of the New Zealand Breakers was once again a strong contender after scoring 24 points and contributing nine rebounds and three assists in his team’s only game for the round, a 107-104 win over the Dragons.
Other players considered for the Player of the Week award included CJ Bruton (Brisbane), Ebi Ere (Brisbane), Darren Ng (Adelaide), Darnell Hinson (West Syndey), Peter Crawford (Perth), Chris Anstey (Melbourne), Kavossy Franklin (Wollongong), Corey Williams (Townsville) and Dontaye Draper (Sydney).
HUMMER Championship Player of the Week 2007/08
Round 1 - Chris Anstey (Melbourne Tigers)
Round 2 - James Harvey (Gold Coast Blaze)
Round 3 - Darnell Hinson (West Sydney Razorbacks)
Round 4 - Shawn Redhage (Perth Wildcats)
Round 5 - Rick Rickert (New Zealand Breakers)
Round 6 - David Barlow (Melbourne Tigers)
Round 7 - Chris Anstey (Melbourne Tigers)
Round 8 - Corey Williams (Townsville Crocodiles)
Round 9- Adam Ballinger (Adelaide 36ers)
Round 10 - Dusty Rychart (Brisbane Bullets)
Round 11- Mike Helms (Singapore Slingers)