{"id":934553,"date":"2026-10-20T05:02:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T05:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/934553\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T05:02:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T05:02:26","slug":"team-by-team-hooyah-harden-up-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/934553\/","title":{"rendered":"Team-By-Team: Hooyah & Harden Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Damon Lowery.\u200d<\/p>\n

Round 5 Edition<\/p>\n

Author\u2019s note: These opinions are mine and mine alone. It\u2019s NEVER personal and always about the basketball. <\/p>\n

A Hooyah is given for exemplary play and standout performances so if you get one \u2013 bask in the glory. <\/p>\n

A Harden Up signifies an underwhelming effort or poor play so if you get one of these – cop it and just move on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Defeated Tasmania<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Bryce Cotton: You took the braids out, rocked the afro and gave the JackJumpers the business with 35 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Beware \u201cAfro\u201d Bryce.<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Nick Rakocevic: 13 points and 8 boards was great, but what\u2019s going on with the free throws, my man? 5\/13 from the stripe ain\u2019t it. You don\u2019t want teams to initiate Hack-a-Rak!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Defeated South East Melbourne<\/p>\n

DOUBLE HOOYAH ALERT<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Mitch Norton: You started as a ball boy for your home team, the Townsville Crocs, and now you\u2019re a captain and two-time champion. Congratulations on 400 games \u2013 only the 54th player to reach that milestone. You celebrated with 11 points, 9 boards and the all-important win. You\u2019re one of the good guys.<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Max Mackinnon: You\u2019re only 23 and you\u2019re having a helluva rookie season. You opened a can of \u201cwhoop ass\u201d on the Phoenix and damn-near had your first triple-double with 24 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists. Rumble, young man, rumble!<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Crowd: The Bullets are playing some elite, entertaining ball under Will Weaver and deserve more support. The fans have just gotta find a way to get to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Boondall and get behind this team.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u200dDefeated by South East Melbourne<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Jonah Bolden: This is the version of you I knew was lurking inside \u2013 you just needed good health and the right environment. 17 points, 5 rebounds and a couple of dimes was big-time.<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Losing the absolute plot: To say the game against the Phoenix got away from you would be a gross understatement. After leading at quarter time 35-27, you scored just 48 more points, gave up a crazy 28 offensive rebounds and 115 points.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Defeated Melbourne<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Makur Maker: I\u2019m riding shotgun in the Makur \u201cMak Truck\u201d. That was some of the best 20 minutes I\u2019ve ever seen. You showed off your impressive skillset, knocking down mid-range turnaround jumpers, 3-pointers, and fell out of the sky with multiple dunks. Then you proceeded to hit the go-ahead 3 to secure the win. My Man!<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Lamar Patterson: It\u2019s great to see you back in the League getting your first start, but not great watching you go scoreless. You left me no choice; rules are rules and STARTERS MUST SCORE.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Defeated by Illawarra<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Cole Anthony: I know you\u2019re frustrated by the whistles. I\u2019m also frustrated and feel ripped off anytime you\u2019re on the bench for an extended period. You only played 26 minutes due to foul trouble, but those minutes were scintillating. Scoreless in the first quarter, you managed to rack up 24 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. #unguardable<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Malith Machar: You\u2019ve been providing consistent impact all season so it hurts me to give you this, but I\u2019ve got a job to do. STARTERS MUST SCORE! I know you\u2019ll bounce back.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Defeated Sydney, defeated by Tasmania<\/p>\n

DOUBLE HOOYAH ALERT<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Sam Mennenga: The Kings had no one to guard you, so they double-teamed you the whole game, which is the ultimate compliment. But that didn\u2019t stop you from giving them the business with 27 points and 13 rebounds. Then you went to Tassie and had a massive 36 points and 11 boards.<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Carlin Davison: It\u2019s clear you\u2019ve studied at the Parker Jackson-Cartwright Point Guard School during the many training sessions you\u2019ve had together. Filling in for the injured \u201cLil Big Man\u201d, you exploited the Kings\u2019 defence and made history by becoming the first Breaker to produce 20 points, 14 assists and 4 steals. Then you went to Tassie and notched up another double-double with 17 points and 11 assists.<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Kouat Noi: I know you\u2019ll take this the right way. You started the season underdone, but it\u2019s been 8 games now and you haven\u2019t shown that instant impact that earned you a Sixth Man of the Year. 4 points and only 1 rebound in 12 minutes begs the question: When will \u201cBig Shot Kouat\u201d show up?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Defeated by Sydney<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Dylan Windler: Missing Kristian Doolittle and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr, you had to shoulder a much bigger load and you didn\u2019t disappoint with a near triple-double, 19 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds.<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Elijah Pepper: You had one helluva run, my man: 4 straight games with 25 points will likely stand for a very long time. I knew the streak would have to end, but I didn\u2019t think it would end with a big fat jam-filled donut. 0 points in 22 minutes on 0\/7, damn!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Defeated by Brisbane, defeated Cairns<\/p>\n

DOUBLE HOOYAH ALERT<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Jordi Hunter: Fatherhood suits you. A couple days after welcoming your son, August, you turned in a classic \u201cDad game\u201d with a big double-double, 19 points and 11 rebounds.<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Nathan Sobey: Coming off an embarrassing loss, you were an emotional catalyst and dominated with 29 points, 8 boards and 6 assists.<\/p>\n

DOUBLE HARDEN UP ALERT<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Yannis Morin: I\u2019ve got an endless supply of \u201cHarden Ups\u201d and you\u2019re leaving me no choice but to slap another one on you for that 2-point, 3-rebound game in Brisbane. I know you were only out there for 15 minutes, but you\u2019re better than that. You proved yourself against Cairns with a solid 11-point, 10-rebound double-double.<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Defence: The 39 3-point attempts you\u2019re averaging is no longer an issue for me; it\u2019s your team defence that\u2019s been \u201cholier than thou\u201d. You let the Bullets treat you like traffic cones on their way to 115 points.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Defeated by New Zealand, defeated Perth<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Torrey Craig: You finally exploded and showed off your arsenal against the Breakers. You gave \u2019em turnaround jumpers, step-backs and 7 threes on your way to a team-high 28.<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Bench mob: You guys hung the starters out to dry. You played a combined 38 minutes against the Breakers and went 1\/8 for just 4 points. Brian Goorjian was probably thinking, \u201cCan you help a brother out?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Defeated by Adelaide, defeated New Zealand<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Taran Armstrong: In a League dominated by import guards, you reminded everyone that you\u2019re the real deal, racking up your first double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 assists. Then you gave the Breakers your career-high 32 points.<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 Foul discipline: This is desperately needed on the island. You put the 36ers to the line 29 times and they converted 20 of \u2019em. Stop hacking!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

HOOYAH \u2013 Competitiveness: You can throw a blanket over a bunch of teams who can win it this year. Eight teams are just one win apart. This season is as tight as I can remember. After each round the ladder almost gets turned upside down.<\/p>\n

HARDEN UP \u2013 The social media curse: To the social media team that pumped up Elijah Pepper and called him \u201cMr Consistent\u201d after he had 4 x 25-point games in a row \u2013 you did him dirty! The curse is real because he went out and had a big donut versus the Kings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Damon Lowery.\u200d Round 5 Edition Author\u2019s note: These opinions are mine and mine alone. It\u2019s NEVER personal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-934553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}