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#NBA #Straya Never Forget! Hoist ‘em up! 25 years ago today, the Big Unit himself, Mark Bradtke — the Aussie Arvydas Sabonis — tugged his No.50 Philadelphia 76ers jersey over his gloriously voluptuous chest hair, followed an arguing Allen Iverson and Jerry Stackhouse out onto the hardwood and threw his sweaty chassis into battle with the Charlotte Hornets with all the reckless ferocity of big Tex Walker charging into the back of a pack… AND HAD THE BEST NBA GAME OF HIS CAREER! That’s right, the Noarlunga Leviathan — after not getting out of his Target ‘Big & Tall’ suits while not playing for the entirety of February — took on the Serbian durrie-puncher Vlade Divac and the Hornets, playing 23 minutes (the second most he’d rack up all year) and giving Charlotte the ol’ one-two-Kostya Tszyu on his way to SIX CAREER BESTS!
Answering the question ‘What would happen if you crossed John Travolta with a Mack truck and Arvydas Sabonis?’ and showing off an array of skills longer than the Ocean Grove fish’n’chip shop menu, Australia’s hairiest and sweatiest export since Merv Hughes bodied Vlade and Matt ‘Counter’ Geiger in the post on his way to 4-of-7 shooting — his most attempts AND makes EVER — for a CAREER HIGH 8 points! But not to be stopped there, the man as big as the Flinders Ranges also vacuumed up the rebounds like the world’s biggest, sweatiest, hairiest Dyson, tearing down a CAREER HIGH 10 rebounds. TEN!! The 6 defensive and 4 offensive boards would also BOTH go down as a CAREER HIGH for Aussie Sabonis! That’s more impressive than the time my mate Tall Kane jumped his dirt bike over my mate Matt’s Torana on a homemade ramp out the back of his East Keilor double-fronted brick veneer! Unfortunately, Aussie tennis legend Nicole Bradtke’s husband didn’t register an assist, so those in attendance didn’t get to witness the magical passing touch that could see him (rumour has it) be able to hit a five-buck note from 97-feet away with enough force to turn it into a tenner. STILL! Big Bradtke’s 8 points and 10 rebounds would go down in history as his BEST EVER NBA game… but he’d not play more than 9 minutes in any other game for the rest the season (and, therefore, the Melbourne Tiger legend’s NBA career)…. Reckon that joker of a coach Johnny Davis was more of an overrated spud than Ross Lyon. Oh well. Raise ‘em up to the man with the virtuoso body hair, the man with more skills than a room full of happily-grinning Rik Smits’, one of ‘Straya’s all-time greatest, Mark bloody Bradtke! #ONYA Big Bradtke! **Smash the *DAILY* NBA Straya podcast** Also – smash us at twitter.com/NBAstraya – facebook.com/NBAStraya – NBAStraya.com And check out Ben Simmons merch HERE