NUMBER Crunching for round 16 is back, and once again watching the race for scoring champion, an amazing round for Australian basketball that proves that our game can be as entertaining as the NBA, our top three teams are locked in for the finals, and Andrew Bogut continues his stellar season.

SCORING TITLE BATTLE CONTINUES

After a brief hiatus in covering the scoring title race…. Nothing has changed. Both Melo Trimble and Bryce Cotton are still separated by less than a point. Once again, the margin is 0.1 of a point. This race has been extremely exciting from a statistical point of view, and one that readers of this column will be aware, I have enjoyed covering weekly.

RECORD BREAKING ROUND

Round 16 was the highest scoring NBL round in the last 10 years. There were a whopping 1383 points scored at 98.78 per team per game. Converted to 48 minutes, that works out to 118.5ppg. From Friday to Monday, the NBA averaged only 109.1ppg! This round also saw the 45th time 100 points was scored by an NBL team this season. This is remarkable considering there are more than 20 games remaining this season. 100 point games since 2010:

2010 x 16

2011 x 12

2012 x 19

2013 x 5

2014 x 19

2015 x 18

2016 x 31

2017 x 20

2018 x 30

2019 x 45

TOP 3 TEAMS LOCKED IN

This will be the first season in NBL history the top three teams will be a team from Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Four teams can still finish fourth!

BOGEY MAN

The Kings will be delighted with Andrew Bogut’s performances this season. The star Centre averages not only a league high 11.6 rebounds per game, but he also leads the league in Blocks with 2.7 per game. In 22 games, Bogut has passed the “most blocks in a season” mark in the last 10 years. AJ Ogilvy’s 65 blocks were set in 28 games in 2014.