United by 30....hard held.

Hopefully CG43 shoots the lights out for the fans :)

This is what frustrates me with the Crocs, trying to save money i can basically guarantee they do not replace Conklin with a DP player to atleast make up the numbers, already carrying one in Froling which is shocking.

If they only travel with 9 and the bigs get in early foul trouble they will not be able to play great D and well the United score could be anything

Hopefully Flopper43 can keep upright for 40mins

this isn't going to be pretty !

Every chance they play the bench after halftime,so tricky to pick a number. Let's go United by 45, just the 2 flops from the boy wonder. Maybe 3 back pat's and cuddles by ref's to boy wonder. Kickert to shoot 6 three's. Dennis to drop 4 "F" bombs during the timeouts and Fox to show Conk's blow to Creek 5 times.

Only chance the Crocs have of a semi respectable loss is if they game gets very scrappy. But at home on a Friday night coming off a loss and the Crocs just having no scorers its got to be 20ish.

Some nice insight into the job at hand from Shawn Dennis here:

http://www.nbl.com.au/featured-news/r7-preview-melbourne-v-townsville/

Townsville had little chance with Conklin - they have NO chance without him.
If I was Townsville I'd start Henry at the 4 to keep Young and/or Kay from getting in early foul trouble.

Melbourne down 6 yet the coach leaves the starters in the whole quarter. Interesting tactic.

Norton with the blocking foul for head butting pattons elbow, nice!

United have definitely been better than NZ and Perth, but wow the Crocs are playing some great basketball. So happy to see them compete and some! Imagine if they had a spare $150k for even one more star. None of this make 'King Conk' look all that flash either imo.

Crocs playing with real desire in this one, melbourne seem like they just expect to rain threes and blow them away without running any kind of offence.

Yeah I dunno, Conklin isn't a big out for me. No one on this team is. He can't defend or rebound and stops the ball. The young guys move it better and rebound better. An undersized scoring power forward who can't shoot from deep isn't exactly who you want to be basing your attack around anyway.

And look how they're playing tonight.

I've said it a million times but Todd Blanchfield should have been paid his old contract salary PLUS Conklin's if that's what he wanted. I would have had no problem whatsoever paying him 300k a year.

Games like this make you question the mentality of both teams

Agreed Mick about if Blanchfield and Conklin are on the same $$$ I'd be disappointed in Townsville for choosing Conklin.

Townsville are showing that if you play with heart and effort anybody can beat anybody in this league love how they play for each other. Hope they can keep this up in the second half.

Crocs that's right Crocs 47-31 at 1/2 time. United 7 2 pointers in a half. We are kidding. Basketball in this country is a joke. Junior teams play better offence than these clowns. Goes to show you that United have taken the Crocs too easy tonight. I'd Crocs win & win by double figures surely the coach goes & a couple of players get pulled from the next few matches. As a United fan it's simply unacceptable that United can put in this sort of performance.
I know what the Crocs to win & want to see the fallout against both players & United coach.

Hahahaha obligatory instagram question.

Seriously, as a Crocs fan the first half makes me annoyed more than anything else

Easy to say you dont think Conklin is a big out when they have a double digit lead at the half though!

FWIW, TVL were paying $41 to win by more than 10 at the TAB!!

Melb was sloppy and complacent early. Now getting frustrated. Would want to get back on the same page quickly.

This is an incredible effort from the Crocs tonight. I have a feeling United will make a comeback in the last quarter.

The Crocs aren't as bad as they are made out to be. They just have no one who I would say is even in the conversation for top 15 players in the league. They're like the Boston Celtics, sorta, a team full of 7th men, but our guys 7-10 are generally better than most other teams'. I would almost go so far as to say our bench is better than our starting five.

Their problem is they have a really unbalanced roster, too many duplication of skillsets, a coach who isn't great and no one who can score efficiently off the bounce, so their only choice is to play pure team ball if they want to win.

Oh boy. 3 point game. I saw this coming. Hold on Crocs.

That is not a foul on Goulding

Karma there for C3P0, or whatever they're calling him these days....

Refs trying to save United again?

Would have been massive controversy of that layup went and Goulding had the FT to tie. Looked like hardly any contact.

Steindl the iceman

WOW !!! Crocs are giant killers this year

Amazing win for the Crocs. Heavily undermanned in the front court and go to Melbourne and win.

Lots of heart in the team and the fans need to start appreciating it.

Crocs going to win it. Sack United coach & all players. Pathetic effort against a pretty poor team. Shows you that basketball in this country is rubbish. Explain how a team, United a $1.04 in betting to win the game pre match with a -15.5 handicap & lose with no players of any note in their team? It's not about heart or effort. It's that basketball here is rubbish. Better watching my kids under 16 game last night. The effort, skill & ability to work for their coach & their team mates was much better.

Great win for the Crocs. Fans should appreciate this team more.

Absolutely amazing. Credit to the Crocs. Played superbly..pure heart.

Awesome effort by the Crocs. Thoroughly deserved!

Match fixing alleged by a mate of mine in Melbourne. Apparently a huge plunge on Crocs to win this game outright at ridiculous prices. Will we hear more about it over the weekend? Doubtful!

The effort, skill & ability to work for their coach & their team mates was much better.

Ummmmm, yeah there was a team out there that did all that, and more. Not sure how that equates to basketball in this country being rubbish - a massive underdog just did what most thought unthinkable, that's pretty much what sport's all about I would have thought.

Looks like the Crocs replicated their efforts in the Perth wins.

So the Cats and Breakers both lose at United and its a conspiracy potentially, then the worst team in the league minus a major cog come in and blow past them. You gotta love sport!!! Feel really happy for those Crocs boys they must be working their asses off to stay that competitive with that minimal amount of pure talent. Forcing is going to be a player too, that 3 before the half was nice.

@George...

"Shows you that basketball in this country is rubbish. Explain how a team"

How is this an indication that basketball is rubbish in Australia?

Isn't it the opposite? Its great that night in night out anyone can beat anyone if they are on their game and the opposition takes it easy.

Sooooo George guess you lost the house huh Throwing those 'gimme' anchors into a multi will get you every time. Be angry at yourself, not the NBL...

As others have said this is the great thing about sports. Any team can win on any night.

Well done Townsville for getting the win.

Re the Townsville chose Conklin over Blanchfield comments that consistently pop up. That's something a regular poster here appears to have made up and contains no truth whatsoever.

And the game?! Wow, what a great performance by Townsville, executed their game plan to near perfection. Mitch Norton was just superb in his 100th game, and Shawn Dennis continues to grow this young group, he's done an outstanding job so far this season.

Gotta give the Townsville boys credit. Kay, Norton and Steindl played some incredible ball. Love to watch this team grind away from home.

I hope the Crocs fans really get behind this team and fill their stadium.

Although I don't support Illawarra (Wollongong) I have always admired their ability to make the most of what they have.

With the Crocs beating the Wildcats twice, once at home and now United at home....that admiration extends to the Crocs organisation. This is a great endorsement for the NBL that every night you have to fight to win, regardless of who the opposition is.

I would really hate to see Brissie come in just for the Crocs to die off, this team has guts, thats to be respects (feared).

No excuses for the people of Townsville now. If they care about this club they will start to turn up to their home games. The team deserves better.

They are no longer an easy beat. A young, very competitive team that plays with a lot of heart and are now giant killers.

If the support doesn't improve, then Townsville don't deserve a team.

What a game!! A few patented flops by "Flop 43" took away some of the gloss. Goulding is so good that He shouldn't have to take some of the silly flops. If it wasn't for the flops I'd love the heck out of Him, as it is I can't stand to watch Him!!

Didn't see the game but hats off to the Crocs. Incredible effort to turn the tables against a team who smashed them twice and on the road minus two big men.

Shawn Dennis was asked how it felt in the presser and replied, "It feels a lot better than the last time we were here!"