Honestly, I think with the disruption in the Kings locker room I'd tip Townsville to take a scalp here.

I think the Crocs will get this one. Sanders knows he's getting the boot, so I doubt he will give a stuff about putting in a good performance.

Could go the other way though.

Sanders could drop an "F you, this is what you're going to be missing" type performance.

Could Mick but doubt it, too fresh. Kings will be blown out, and its not going to be pretty if Heal has any wise cracks to make in timeouts. No harmony at the Kings with THIS team now, too hard to compete in such a tight comp. Crocs arent as bad as there pathetic crowds think they are. I mean really its Townsville, there is NOTHING to do but hook ip with a fatty at the Madcow... GO TO THE GAMES SUPPORT THE LOCAL TEAM!

Sanders is a professional, I have no doubts that he will give 100% for his team mates.

That being said, I think there's a good chance that the Crocs could get this one... Coming in with some form and much less to lose...

Hopefully the Kings can maintain their form and get the ball to the right guys and get it done... Keeping AJ out of foul trouble (which he's done pretty good of lately) is important, as well as rotating around to the outside shooters, we don't want to let another team start nailing them from outside, which other teams are fond of doing at the Kingdome...

On paper, pre-season, the Crocs roster was terrible.

But give Dennis and the players a huge amount of credit.

Defensively, they are a very very good team. Just the defensive fundamentals (rotations, communication, high hands, boxing out)

Offensively, they are efficient too. Don't take bad shots. Good ball movement. Spacing.

Just a very disciplined and well coached team

Crocs half-court defense isn't great. Their guards allow way too much penetration especially on P&Rs. Most one-on-one scenarios end up with an opposition player getting into the paint. The key for this team will be figuring out how to win games when the tempo isn't in their favour.

Despite what's happening with sydney's imports I still think Sydney will get up in this one. Ogilvy playing MVP level ball and Madgen in great form. Kings by 6

Agree mick, crocs need to be able to grind out a few wins when their uptempo game isn't flowing. I think in both the Wollongong and Sydney games, the crocs were out of sync for big patches and they lost one on the buzzer and one by 4 points. So a bit more fine turning and hopefully the crocs can surprise a few people.

Jesse Sanders ‏@jessesanders25
"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men" Colossians 3:23

It's not often a modern NBL game is over at the half. Absolutely pathetic showing by Townsville. How many opposing guards do we have to get shredded by before we do something about our woeful perimeter D?

I'm not watching tonight, but I watched last week and Townsville were well drilled on the trapping defense, real scramble stuff. I can't see how it wouldn't work against Sydney either. I mean look at their guards...

Sanders - can't really bust a double team and make something happen
Madgen - not the quickest of cats, nor a premier ball handler
Carmouche - haven't seen him dribble much
Brad Hill - As good as his handling looks in the half court, he sorta struggles getting it over the timeline.

Plus, Townsville are quick and long in the backcourt.

Well that was ugly. Echos of last season there. Wonder if it's the coaching not being clear with coverages in the half court or just the players failure to execute.

Statsheet Stuffer, that's why you pass you way through it. I though the Crocs players, in their enthusiasm to make the game a scramble early in the game, abandoned the quality sets that have made them dangerous and never recovered.

Markovic has been very underwhelming. He just refuses to play defense and outside of his long range shooting (he has been our most reliable 3 point shooter so far), brings little else to the table to counter it. I'm all for giving Mitch Norton the reigns next year.

Paul, I do understand the concept of trapping defense. It's clearly not as easy as just 'passing out of a trap'. Case in point Perth vs Cairns on Thursday. Of course the ability to trap well depends on the position of the other four offensive players on the court (if they're spaced well, then recovering on D would be hard). I guess I was saying Townsville should have trapped when they had the opportunity, i.e. when the ball handler was close to the sideline and maybe not the full 91 feet; if so, making it quickly so the defender couldn't plot a way out of it, such as off an inbounds pass. Maybe Sanders was told to bring it up the middle of the floor so that wouldn't happen, I don't know.

Do a lot of travel calls get missed in the NBL? I thought there were a few times where players shuffled their feet and it didn't get called. I don't play the game so I could be wrong.

The NBL is probably the tightest league I've seen in terms of calling travelling violiations