It all added up to some standout D1M performances as we pick out five of the best from last weekend.
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We'll pick a Player of the Week and four other selections to round out the Team of the Week, paying attention to the following criteria:
Other players will also receive a shout out as honourable mentions at the bottom of the piece.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Bradford needed to ease their relegation worries, and Reading needed to capitalise on a rare Hemel loss. Neither of those things came to pass thanks to Derby's Walker.
Two stunning double-double performances helped the Trailblazers pick up a pair of wins on the weekend, dashing hopes at both ends of the table in the process.
Saturday's rebounding masterclass in Bradford saw Walker pull down a wild 17 boards, 10 more than the next closest player on either side, as DTB won the battle on the glass 50-36.
His 11 rebounds on Sunday was a lower total, but still a solid contribution around his scoring output. Twenty three points against the Dragons on 66% shooting (10/15FG) was somehow bettered 24 hours later, with 25 points on 68% shooting (11/16 FGs) against Reading.
Four assists against the Rockets also showed another string to Walker's bow, providing further production for his side.
With the regular-season finish line in sight, no team will want to face Derby with Walker in this kind of form.
With the Rockets scrapping to get a firmer grip on the last of the playoff spots, forward Jackman stood tall and produced the performance needed to help his side get over the line in the narrow 86-84 road win against Essex.
The gold medal man contributed across the board with a balanced 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, chipping in three steals at the other end to sweeten the deal.
Those numbers came in a sub-30 minute outing as well, with just 27:32 of action off the CoB bench for Jackman this weekend. That's some going.
Martyn Gayle received plenty of well-deserved recognition for his NBL landmark against the Rebels, but it was Jackman who did the most to get the Rockets a valuable win.
Malachi Boakye-Yiadom didn't have the biggest numbers in Worthing's road win against London Cavaliers, but he did provide two things. One was the main performance in a huge team win, and the other was to significantly outperform his season averages.
For a player averaging 10.2PPG, Saturday's 28-point effort was timely indeed. More importantly, the Manchester product dropped 18 of those points in the fourth quarter alone, turning a 66-64 ball game going into the final frame into a 91-85 win.
Draining five triples, more than half of his team's eight total, Boakye-Yiadom hit four of them in a row to start to final quarter. That allowed Thunder to lead the fourth quarter from start to finish, trailing for nearly all of the previous three frames.
A pair of near-triple doubles, with one of them coming against league leaders Hemel, make Essex's Busumbru an easy pick for this week's five.
Saturday's performance was a solid one despite the Rebels dropping a close on against Jackman and the Rockets, but it was Sunday against top dogs Hemel where the former Solent man really shone.
Busumbru led his side in rebounds, with two players coming closest to his nine boards with six each. No player on either team could top him in the assist column though, which is no mean feat when the opposition contains D1M assist leader Sam Newman.
With five games to go, Essex are still very much alive in the fight for the top four. If they can get more performances like this from their star man, you wouldn't bet against them edging up the standings over the coming weeks.
Nottingham continue to keep themselves just above the D1M drop zone, and their latest 76-72 victory against Milton Keynes came courtesy of a big double-double from Greg Skoric.
The Breakers shoot a D1M second-best 48.1 FG% this season, thanks in part to their efficient work around the basket. In Sunday's 76-72 loss, MK's shooting was off the mark, with just 36% from inside the arc and 33% overall.
Nottingham also lost the rebound battle 68-48 thanks to big double-doubles from Adrian Scarborough (14pts, 18reb) and Nate Robinson (21pts,13reb), but Skoric stood tall down low, pulling down a weekend-high 20 boards for over 41% of his side's total.
Saturday's narrow loss away to Newcastle also produced another double-double for the Hoods' standout forward, with the visitors falling just short in the 87-80 loss.
With calls from multiple quarters that D1M may be at its most balanced in years, including MK head coach Billy Beddow-Patel labelling the league "a different beast" back in December, results continue to provide plenty of proof for those claims.
D1M's longest win streak currently belongs to Derby at five, aided by a pair of Ws this past weekend. After that? Five teams have won their most recent game - if one win can be classed as a streak!
It shows just how volatile the league is right now, making for some thrilling viewing each and every weekend.
With Reading pushing Hemel at the top, MK, Essex and more scrapping for fourth, Bristol, CoB, London and Newcastle battling for the playoffs, and Nottingham, Bradford and Worthing trying to keep themselves out of the bottom two, you wouldn't want to look away over the next month.
Few players are likely to admit it in comparison to the overall goals of their teams, but a number of individual honours are on the line across the coming weeks.
Worthing's Elijah Maynard (22.5PPG) currently leads the race for the D1M scoring title, ahead of Bradford's Justin Williams (21.6PPG) and 2023 winner Hafeez Abdul (21.2PPG), though Maynard would surely trade it all in for keeping Worthing in D1M.
Bristol's Daniel Edozie (21.1RPG) is currently top of the rebounding charts, and Hemel's Sam Newman (8.7APG) is some distance ahead of Essex's Luke Bumbru (7.3APG) for the assist crown.
The numbers show just how good those players have been across the season as a whole, and that's more than likely to continue as the regular season moves into the final stretch.
K.J Johnson (MKB) - 25P/4R/3A/2S/24EFF (Thurs vs BRI)
Vilmantas Dilys (BRI) - 21P/8R/2S/27EFF (Thurs @ MKB)
Hafeez Abdul (NEW) - 24P/4R/3A/2S/22EFF
Mitch Clarke (REA) - 28P/4R/10A/2S/36EFF
Hakeem Sylla (HEM) - 21P/7R/21EFF
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Main image credit - Nick Higgins
