Yep Sorry that I didnt mention Forestville Girls Well done Forestville girls

Holmes triple double.

Agree, Holmes was lucky as he clearly overreacted with the aggression he showed towards Spud.

He might have thought Bondy channelled him on the dunk, it all happened so quickly. I think something got under his skin after D Ng was put on his butt earlier by Spud.

Nathan "squared" did not not bring their best tonight and I'm sure their contribution will add to the rivilary between the clubs.

Sturt had too much class for west. Almost from the get go west looked to be focused on off the ball play. Davidson played very well but did let himself down by kicking the ball at the ref.

Thought that the refs had no choice but to call a double foul after West's ditry play all game.

Spud was tackling Jacob and deserved as much credit for the incident as he was the instrigator.

Davidson was a thug all game and winged whenever the refs called against him. Should have had at least 2 techs, as should the west bench. He's the kind of guy who you can only like if hes plaing on your team.

And truslove's brain snap probably cost West the game. Should have been teched as well before Belly ws smart enough to drag him before he blew up.

If the refs weren't going to stop Wests behaviour, they weren't able to throw jacob for reacting.

also neutral observer, couldn't believe the umpiring. Glad I am not a west supporter, they were robbed. Jacob holmes should have been evicted. Then he gets MVP. Youv'e got to be kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bahaha - get over the bad loser rants ("neutral" of course) against the 2 Nathans. How about dissing some blame on the unwashed potatoe who tunnelled an airborne Holmes and caused the spill and the temperature rise.
A couple of the more desperate Port players were so dirty last night the Port sewer was overflowing. Double bangers in Holmes back on a dead ball by an out of control player, tech fouls for the West bench, spud digging, shoving and burrowing all over the place, and role model Davidson leading the pack with his screeching at the refs - West got off light in the tech and unsportsmanlike fouls in my book.
Some of these players think the best way to neutralise talent like Holmes and Ng is to hammer them week in and week out – and when the refs call it, they are accused of “protecting” them? Get real! No amount of crutching, legging, shoulder dragging, etc., will get some of you overawed lesser talents into that league. So you West crowd, boo Holmes' MVP if that makes you feel better. Fact is he full ripped a win off you to get Sturt into the GF and played a mighty leadership game last night. You lost! Get over it.

As a Norwood fan I went to the dome expecting a bruising encounter and after the level that West played at last week to dismiss us I expected that it would go right down to the wire.

I think the levels of physicality at times were poorly managed by the umpires which lead to some out of control/dirty plays by both sides.Spadavecchia and davidson were lively all night, Ifelt that most of their aggression was because of some of the umpiring decisions that went wrongly went against them.

Fromwhat i remember,i thought Jacobjumped over Josh Bonds back to follow his shot and came crashing down on Bonds back. Spadavecchia put his two cents in and Jacob retaliated.

As for dirty play i think the dirtiest from each team were:

Blake Truslove (West) Couldnt handle being beaten by the sturt bigs and threw huge elbows at Jacob a few times that were lucky not to connect. Played little game time and was outclassed when he was on the floor.

Jacob Holmes (Sturt) Was heavily protected by some umpiring and was never going to be thrown out. The last unsportsmanlike that was called on spadavecchia was a disgrace. Holmes clearly fouled him (was head high contact as well) and spadavecchia ended up on the floor with an unsportsmanlike. I'll agree he was niggled during the night but didnt warrant some of the elbows he threw at some of the west guards. Didnt see him pick on any of the guys his size. Was content with throwing elbows and spadavecchia, bond and davo but was very quiet when big truslove was throwing a few at him.

Tom Daly was absolutely fantastic, although Jacob did it all, both were deserving of the award, would've been nice to find a joint winner actually!

In the end Sturt were deserving winners, they outplayed West all over the court and did everything that was required to win.

AK-47 Norwood fan?

If you didn't see the spud tunnelling incident that started the blowout you weren't seeing too well - it was blatant and the resulting crash could have caused serious injury to Holmes and Bond. Did you also miss the elbows, singlet pulling, and arm throwing stuff? Sounds like you too have a Holmes complex. Thank goodness you weren't the ref old boy.

As for Davidson, he is not to be excused on the basis of frustration. He is routinely a thug these days - and in the twilight of his career that's sad. Spud, well spud is just spud, a good player with a dirty side.

Jacob and Draren have been targets all season.
To say they are protected is just comedy, go and get some of the tapes and watch them.
If I was the sixers coach I would not let them play, their creer is just not worth the risk.
Jacob had been bashed all season, it was a grand final he wasnt going to loose and he wasnt going to let 2 cent players hack him again all night again.
That is why he is a NBL player
The rest of you pathetic sooks, just get over it.
Dish out the shit, expect some to come back at you!

After saying that a few of the West guys were class.
Molly and Bond both played great games.
It has me gob smacked why the coach of the year insists on sitting Bond. FFS how many times does he have to come out and prove himself.

It was obvious that the West game plan was to come out and ruffle feathers and try to get Sturt sooking at the refs, well that one didnt work, time for a new plan.

Truslove was a complete disgrace as were half the West supporters who mustered all their IQ to boo!

Now the dust might of settled a bit Well done to sturt on the win,Yes the game was getting out of control a bit and yes the reffs have to take a bit of blame n.durant I think was the better reff on the night the other one needs to look at the tape and see alot of calls he let go, I dont care if your a west or sturt supporter what holmes did was wrong and should of been thrown out of the game. Anyone that throws a punch should be sat out of the game, If that was to happen in any other game there would be a report.Call it a brain fade or blame it that he was baited it is still wrong.

Well done Sturt
and it was good to see some of the young players doing well for both teams .....

Agreed! Well done to Sturt & Forestville.
The women thoroughly deserved their win by being dominant after a flying start. The 2 Jess's were on fire and impossible to stop.
The Men's game was unbelievable. Jacob was more protected than a 'Panda in the Adelaide Zoo' (Apologies to JackToft for using one of his possible lines).
To say that refs do not affect the outcome of a game was blown out of reality Sat Night. Two female refs would have had more 'balls' than the 2 grey shirts out there. They lost control and respect early, then put themselves in a hole too deep to dig out. Blanant errors in 'out of bounds' calls will infuriate most teams, never mind a Grand Final.
Even many Sturt fans could not believe some calls!
That "Monster" Spud should pick on someone his own size instead of someone 36cm taller. What a crock the refs called on that play!
As Brad Davidson said " Sam Daly played an unbelievable game and kept on coming up with some great shots, but there are some things you cannot control". When a spectator (or 2 or 300 called out "refs sucked", his response of 'you got it', summed it up.
End of day, the trophy will be engraved "Sturt"

Hanging Around - exactly what did Brad say? "Sam Daly" was sitting in the stands with his parents it is his older brother Tom who played the unbelievable game

Sorry- Bad mistake on my part
Tom played a blinder and it would be fitting to see him find a spot with a NBL team.
(Sam failed to score all night until later perhaps)

That's Ok Hanging Round, been hanging onto that one, but was waiting for the right time to bring it in - reckon you did well!

I think everyone at the game realised that West got a pretty tough run from the refs, one in particular doesnt like west and that dates back to his coaching days... Jacob should have been tossed, he was clearly in the wrong.

I guess now we will have to put up with Butler prancing around saying he is adelaides best coach but I think most would say he has ridden on the coat tails of Jacob pretty much all year.

Sturt definately the better team on the night!

Now ease up on the refs! Nathan Wieland umpired exactly how he umpired all season. Consistently terrible so did anyone expect anything different on Saturday night?

Umpiring standards in general in SA has been steadily decling so we should just all expect them to be bad and get on with it! Until we all take up umpiring we should zip our mouths and hail thier greatness and bow to thier strangeness and egotistical ways! Otherwise they will all be on here attacking the masses for criticising them!

As for Spuds 'dirty act' he wasn't the one underneath Jacob and from my view actually just held Jacob from falling? I don't think anyone was at fault and the 'Golden Child' Jacob took his chance to throw a cheap shot and then walked away like an innocent victim! He should of got thrown out simple as that! I think Truslove is the biggest wanker in the league and if he had done that he would of been tossed on reputation alone. Got to be consistent!

Sturt won on offensive execution alone because if you give up as many lay ups as West did you shouldn't win! 92 points is too many in a 40 minute game let alone Grand Final!

Interesting. As a neutral (yes really) observer, West were outplayed, Sturt got greater benefit from some spineless refereeing and the best team won on the night. Holmes should certainly have been ejected; he was spoiling for it from the outset but as an NBL player he could pretty much do what he liked. Truslove =tool. Davidson should have been ejected for a flagrant in legging Corey Maynard and trying to land him on his head.

If the two in grey at the best we have, no wonder basketball is in a parlous state.

Coach of the year- Not. Why would Bond be benched when he is on fire and then ignored for a quarter and a half before finally slipping him the ball occasionally and surprise- he scores again.

These are all in my opinion and I was at the game
Did Spud tunnel Holmes and inturn Bond on the rebound = Yes
Did spud deserve a unsportmanlike foul for this = Yes
Did Holmes retaliate = Yes
Did Holmes connect = Yes
Did Holmes deserve a unsportmanlike foul for this = Yes
Should Holmes been thrown out of game = No (Tecnically Yes)
Should Truslove been given an unsportsmanlike foul for shoving Holmes in Back = No (Warning given)
Should Spud have been given an unsportmanlike foul for the grabbing of Holmes uniform as he was falling to ground = No (Tecnically Yes)
Should Davidson be dealt with for kicking the ball at the referee after the game = Yes

Comment: Some things were called technically and some were not. Spud held a uniform = Technically a Unsportmanlike foul but Holmes connected with a players head during a dead ball which should have = ejection.

Hope that gave a balanced view.

A view other things

Molitor vs Holmes - Thoroughly enjoyed this battle. Thought Molitor guarded Jacob inside post moves really well.

Davidson vs Maynard - Davidson pulled some veterans moves early on and had Maynard in foul trouble. You got the feeling that as the game went on Maynard adjusted to this and did better.

Spud vs Daly - Damm spud is quick. Another good match up. However Daly was much better on the day and proved to be able to shut down his run. Spud missed some tough calls in around the bucket that could have seen him on line a couple of more times.

Bond.......................Well he needed to see more time. Lit it up when he first came on. Think you will see him starting next year.

Hangin around
Your Davidson quotes to the crowd after the game "some things you can't control" and to 'refs sucked’ calls from the West crowd - “you got it”. Davidson could make a very big start by trying to control HIMSELF.

This guy seems to have lost much more than his elite playing status lately. Constantly ranting at referees, firing himself and the other players up to a reckless degree and a breathtaking display of bad sportsmanship both during and after the match. What a disgusting display from a captain. If this guy instigated the rugby tactics that caused Wests’ own downfall on Saturday night, parents of younger kids down at the Port should be relieved his playing days are almost over. Good riddance!

The basketball culture is seriously twisted in this state and this post is a microcosm of that. And in a state where basketball struggles to survive, the healthiest thing going around is the tall poppy syndrome. Sturt won. Game over.

PS: Memo to Jacob Holmes, Please don’t ever try tip the ball in on a rebound again. Some reckless ferret might tunnel in under you, grab you and crash you down into a pack. Even worse, you might swing your arm backwards to flick off the armwrestle and do a backward connect. You’re lucky Davidson was held back Jacob.

yes anonymous, i'm a norwood fan?

As previously posted i agree Jacob's attempt to rebound was slightly over the top and should have resulted in an over the back foul.

Props to Tom Daly, really stepped up and proved himself. Was great to watch!

It was good to see the young players like daly maynard spear and even bond play the game like it should be and not dirty like some of the older players