Got some change left over from y'day's cup so went on the crocs @ $2.10

I agree with you Isaac but I am not as convinced as I first thought. I firstly thought that Blaze would be favourites to win and that majority of people would feel that they would win however it seems to be the other way around.

I then thought about it further and thought that Blaze should win it easily however their coach is terrible. Blaze have some really good bigs in Mcgregor, Melmeth (NBA quality ;) ), Cameron, Whitehead, Frank and Vanderjagt. unfortunately these players only get about 20-25 minutes (Perhaps they have too many bigs) so therefore they can't really establish them selves in the game. They should be able to dominate in the inside against the crocs however they will instead look for Harvey, Heal and SOJ to shoot from the outside for the win.

Blaze are desperate for a win and have been playing really well lately. Maybe the reason they have started to do well is because of Vanderjaqt however he needs consistent minutes. Also what does this mean With the inclusion of the new import. A player will need to be cut to make room for him, so who will be that player? Vanderjaqt is playing against his former team so hopefully he is extra motivated and has a big game.

The win also depends on how the Import goes and what sort of motivation he brings out of the rest of the team for this game. Imports usually have a big first game however sometimes they disrupt the teams chemistry which could have an outcome on this game.

On the other hand, the Crocs coach is probably one of the best in the league and as a result is getting the best out of his players. However, I'm not really convinced of the Crocs skills on the road. Also they are missing Cedar whom is a good bench player but don't think he would be terribly missed.

I don't usually like betting on teams that I haven't seen play at least once. So I think I wont bet on this game however I am tipping Blaze to win by about 6+

KingJames - IF the import suits up tonight (and he has publicly said he wants to) then Vandy will probably miss out.

I also agree with the bigs not getting enough minutes to establish themselves. I dont think this is due to too many numbers, rather its the fact BJ plays 3/4 of the game with 3 guards (Junior, Harvs, Heal) on court at the same time. If we actually played with those 3 only playing in the 1 and 2 positions then there should be plenty of minutes to go round for the other guys.

Tonight will most probably depend on Homicide - IF we can stop him (only way I see it happening is if Pero demolishes him on a drive early) then we should get the W - if not we are toast!

Thanks for the inside information Statman. I think I will definitely not bet on this game as there is too many variables.

Vanderjaqt has been one of their best players since coming into the team so that's a bad coaching move I think.

score update pls - not on nbl.com.au

Also looks like the game that we all thought was breakers v sixers tomorrow at 4 is now a replay of tonights game.

game is looking interesting- though can someone tell me- in fiba livescores- the column fo under fouls- is that fouls or what?

http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/1329/00/34/35/53qxvbK0gQ1G/

GO BLAZE!

my bad- it's foul's on!- as in how many times players has been fouled!

Damn the curse of DJ's basketball betting continues.
Let's see if Heal can top harvey, elliss and egan for scoring.

DJ, you should listen to what I say more often! Let's try "Scotch and Porterhouse delivery around Christmas, please". ;)

I'm glad I didn't listen to Statman and decided to bet for the Blaze :P However, Brendon Joyce is a hopeless coach no wonder they were 0-10. SOJ is still pathetic also and helped the crocs get back into it with stupid play. A team could come back at any time to be Blaze I think.

The free throw shooting was astounding! The Crocs are known for there woes from the line but 20/40 at 50% is pathetic

The Blaze didnt shoot much better 31/46 at 67%

Homicide shot 3/10!

I think an interesting comedy show watching the crocs play is watching Tovey shoot foul shots :P Poor guy would be so unconfident at the moment with it. Lucky for him his team picked up most of the offensive rebounds of his foul shots. I hate the camera work for foul shots (maybe it was just last night) when they just use the baseline camera to show the foul shot. That is crappy footage! Just show the normal view!

Haha good call Isaac. Give me a GOOD tip and it's a deal.
Picked up on Heal highest scorer which covered my loss so still got some play money.

For those interested, there's a thread over on OzHoops about free throw shooting in the NBL. The Crocs have been very poor this season, but the league as a whole is only a percentage below the Euroleague, I think someone said.

To all the other 'Blazefans', how good was that?

Crowd size was easily the lowest of the year and we were very lucky we had so many Masters Games participants in the stands as it would have looked like a Sydney Spirit crowd (no offence) without them.

Can't understand why management kept most of the lower northern stand empty as this looked awful on the live/delay/replay.

After a bit of local build up, very disappointing to see Justin Bowen in street clothes during the warmup. Was the Blaze front office too slow with the paperwork or did the NBL enforce one of its "any team except Tigers or Dragons" rules (sorry Dicko just joking!).

As for the game, big improvements from McGregor (41 minutes wow) and L-Dub Whitehead made a huge difference at both ends of the court. Crocs shooting didn't help their cause, but the last team to shoot so badly in the first half on the Coast were the Spirit, and we know what happened to them after half time.

As usual, the Blaze lifted the foot off the accelerator and we all thought "Not again". SOJ-TMM (Too Many Minutes) racks up some dumb fouls, including a 'T', and commits some dumb turnovers and presto, we're back to a single figure margin.

With momentum well and truly with the Crocs though, they weren't able to nail the critical shots that would have made the game even closer, and the result was pretty much sealed with a couple of minutes to go.

The officiating was horrible and I'm not sure if the instruction was to swallow some whistle for the Fox boys, so the live telecast didn't cut into the sheepdog trials, or so they wouldn't have to use as much video tape or some other dumb reason.

Pero did OK for the 4 minutes he was on, but given SMag's game, 'the rock' may be the fall guy who has to be injured next game to allow Vandy to play when Bowen suits up.

All in all, after 14 consecutive losses over the past 9 months, it is so good to get a W. BJ is soooooo right, lookout playoffs.