Hoping that Perth get the win and pretty confident that they will. Interested to see if the matchup with Ennis will get Young motivated enough to play with intensity for most of the game rather than his usual contribution of short periods here and there.

Any thoughts that Perth might 'give' this one to Sydney in order to keep the more dangerous Hawks out of the 4? Im sure at seasons end the Cats would much rather face the Kings in the SF. With all due respect to Sydney, this is a huge game for them so they will come out firing, Wildcats have their own agenda to worry about and no doubt the Hawks are on their minds with their current form.

A suggestion that im sure will be dismissed as stupid as you dont want to flirt with your form at this time of the year, but with top spot almost secured, Perth would not want to face a red hot Hawks if they continue their streak into the postseason.

No chance, Wildcat fan. Sydney pose more of a threat to Perth than Wollongong.

The three-pointer is what beats the Wildcats, but I don't fancy the Hawks at all. I think they're just having a good stretch like any other team this season. Remember, they haven't had one prior to this.

The Kings are all over the shop at the moment, even though they have Sanders back, which is huge for them. Right now, I would not want to face the Hawks, who will have absolutely nothing to lose so all pressure will be off them. I like the Kings but dont rate them as well as the Hawks.

Plus their 3 point shooting is extremely worrying for Perth to defend!

Yeah, I'm sort of both looking forward to and dreading this game... The last game against the Hawks at home was a must win and we had a better chance and the Kings came out flat... I'm sure Sanders being back will have revitalised them, and he certainly fills in a skills set that they need, but unless they rebound and make their outside shots, the Kings will get run over again...

I have no doubt, even though Trev likes a bit of game throwing to manipulate the order, that Perth will come out with the mentality to thrash the Kings again.

To guarantee a top four finish, the Kings really need to win 4 out of last 6, it's going to be tough and win or lose, how they play in this game will go a long way to determining how they end the season and when that end will be...

If the Kings can put it all together on the floor they can win the title.

Ogilvy - Best big man in the game.
Young - Can take over a game at any time (if he wanted to)
Madgen - Any night can play at MVP level
Sanders - Great all around PG
Harvey - Old but can light it up in a hurry

I don't think they WILL win it all, or even make the grand final series, but on paper they have the goods.

"I don't think they WILL win it all, or even make the grand final series"
Really? Assuming it doesn't take forever for them to adjust to Sanders being in, it seems likely they'll beat out the Tigers for third and knock off Adelaide.

I hope it doesn't happen, though; between Valentine's Day and the Adelaide-Perth rivalry over the years the grand final needs to be Wildcats/Sixers.

I think the Kings Tigers game next week will decide 3rd. At home the Tigers will be still slight favourites to win that game.

Of course if the Kings knock over Perth tonight those odds will shorten.

Looking forward to this one. Dont let the kings losing streak against the cats cloud your judgement. Potentially they have the best match ups for perth. They have been unsettled most of the year but if they can gain some momentum they will be super dangerous in the finals. They have the wood over adelaide and i dont expect the tigers to trouble anyone this year. Wollongong are on fire right now with nothing to lose but come finals like pressure i cant see them beating perth. This game could be the gf preview.

Interested to see how Knight goes up against Ogilvy second game back.

Perth W by 2 pts

"I think the Kings Tigers game next week will decide 3rd. At home the Tigers will be still slight favourites to win that game. "
'Home' in this case is a venue they've won at once in two years, or something. If I were the Kings, I wouldn't be too worried.


"Of course if the Kings knock over Perth tonight"
Tomorrow afternoon ;)

Anyone watching this via NBL.TV?

Is the commentary volume unusually low against the game volume?

Great game. terrible charge call on young. Sanders giving great energy.

I don't think it was very nice of Ennis to throw the ball at Kevin White's head.

White was only trying to prevent any chance of a continuation and very softly at that.

This would be a Tech elsewhere.

I didn't know Ogilvy had an attitude problem until Rosen hinted it...and that play at the end where he posted up was simply childish. He just flailed around and tried to draw contact, subsequently turning it over. What the heck was that?!

I guess it's evident with all the foul trouble he gets himself in though...

Great win cats,top spot all but secured. But I found it funny, Carfino brings up a stat that in the last 5 games several teams are 3-2 at home, he said Adelaide in their last 5 home games are 3-2, well someone tell me how he got that figure when they are 10-1 at home this year

Yes, people still call him the best big man in the league but he's done little to deserve that title lately. He's still scoring at a good clip for the few shots he takes but his rebounding is way down on what you'd expect for a guy of his size. He's always been prone to silly fouls so I don't know that his foul troubles are due to attitude. What has surprised me in a few games they've been down in crunch time is seeing Ogilvy laughing and messing around while walking back onto the court after a time out and it looks as though his heart isn't in it.

Not surprised by the result. Perth are all class and made it look easy in the end.
The Kings just can't get it together when it counts. They have a defeated look about them.
Heals days at the Kings are numbered, the writing is on the wall.
So who are the realistic replacements?
1. Brian Goorjian
2. Daylight
3. Rob Beveridge?
Any other names to add to that list?
No more smoke & mirrors celebrity hiring coaching candidates.
Get a true professional coach, like Gleeson, or Wright or Gordie.
Any chance of bringing Gordie to the big smoke?
Time for the Kings to step up and be professional - the overall gameday entertainment is tired and shite. So B grade.

You're being a little dramatic, JW21. They showed real heart (mostly due to Sanders) for the first time in ages.

Sydney may have been beaten but they were far from disgraced. Ogilvy needs to find his early season form quickly. Matty Knight adding toughness to Perth line up. When Beal plays like that Perth are hard to stop.

I'll take a healthy Knight over Ogilvy every day of the week.Knight offensive repatoire is inside/outside and is a incredible post defender.

JW21 the kings were fantastic tonight. They have one or two minute lapses which lets themselves down so if they can play at that high level for longer then they will be very difficult to beat. Even with their lapses and ogilvy in foul trouble they only lost by four points. There is a lot to like about them. True, if they had a bevo or goorgian coaching them they could be even better.. but what team wouldn't be. I think heal is doing ok and the team should get better with more games with sanders.

Great to see knight hasn't lost too much of his touch and will keep getting better. Ogilvy only dominated when matty was off the floor. Imo knight is the best big man in the league.

Ennis' jump shot has really deserted him since the xmas break. It doesn't look fluent at all but he still manages to rack up some scores. Hopefully he will improve his shooting again like it was earlier in the year. Still he was great to watch and lifted defensively in that last quarter. Was probably the best game of the season to watch.

One of the best games I've seen all year. Kings played great but costly turnovers.. Kevin White, is he the shittest player In the nbl? Gees he offers nothing, was horrible today

Ennis and Redhage both have been very wayward in their jump shots. Really hoping both of them pick it up in the finals.

Agree, can't see anyone beating Perth.
How lucky has Gleeson been? Yes, it has just fallen in his lap IMO.

Garlepp had a shocker and Ogilvy in foul trouble early but the surprise to me was the poor use of James Harvey in the second half.
Has been little comment on Sanders who seems to be taking minutes away from Harvey without making much purpose/sense. Not on court together much? Kings' supporters were looking forward to raising value of Ogilvy thru playing a true PG, but didn't get a chance to happen.
Kings are still far from settled and surely that's the responsibility of the coach. Don't think they'll have it together to produce Finals surprises.

The Kings were fantastic compared to their last game against Perth!
They have a full team now, with a proper point guard, no more excuses, they had their chances today. Those are games that good teams are suppose to win.

You're being a little dramatic, JW21. They showed real heart (mostly due to Sanders) for the first time in ages.

Being over dramatic is JW21's MO...

I think the Kings played really well for a large portion of the game... Garlepp didn't have a great game but still had that hustle, AJ was in early foul trouble (again - and while I think he's a victim occasionally of getting soft fouls called on him but not when others do the same to him, he puts himself in that position sometimes) but it just didn't seem like they had that urgency in the last minute or so when they were down 4pts and really had a chance to take a lead or tie... It was like they thought it was just the end of the 3rd quarter, or something... really weird...

Great that Madge had his eye back in, not having to run things really freed him up, I think Jesse had a very positive impact on the game, taking pressure off some players and pulling down some tough interior rebounds...

Beal and Knight were just too good though... Kings had that early lead and then BAM BAM BAM! Cats up by two... No-one could stay in front of him all game, he was either getting to the basket or pulling up for a shot as the defender sailed by...

I couldn't agree more with D4444 on their review of AJ, it's disappointing as we've seen him so dominant, but against more mobile bigs he's been outplayed and his extended D has been tested and found wanting... I think he CAN be the best big man in the league, but he has to have that toughness and desire... Matty Knight certainly holds that title and will take some work to get it off him...

Getting close or putting up a good fight is not good enough for this roster Wookiee.
They should definitely be better than 10-11.
Lets stop celebrating mediocrity and start closing out games.

well they are, technically, they're 11-12...

I expect better from them, I expected them to beat Townsville and certainly wanted them to get the last game at home against the Hawks, I'm just saying that this game itself, there were times they played really well, but Perth just managed the tough plays to get them back into it and to keep the lead... Not sure if it was here or elsewhere that I said it, but it was like they didn't think the last few minutes of the game were that, but the 3rd quarter... there was no urgency to get points on the board or to get the stops... That still doesn't take away from the fact that we nearly took out the league leaders at full strength... I'm not saying we should give them an award, I'm just saying it's not all doom and gloom...

With how much upheaval (for better or worse) and injuries that they've had to deal with, it could be in a much worse state...