Will be close.

Pace/tempo of the game is critical to the result IMO.

Breakers will be trying to speed the game up. I would think the Wildcats would be trying to do the opposite considering how effective they are in that situation.

Wouldn't be surprised to see OT.

I don't think the Cats have any fears about the pace of the game. Against the Hawks and Sixers, both teams tried to run them off the court but the Cats matched it and won.

Breakers just, wouldn't be surprised if we see OT.

To all those people banging on about Greg Hire shooting at the last second all the time.. every point counts.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/30249377/crunch-time-as-cats-chase-split/

Yes Corey Webster is playing and Tai Wesley may play, they'll make the call later today after the shoot around depending on how his blood tests came back last night.

NZ should get up at home for this one but will need to play a ton better than they did in Perth, especially at the freethrow line.

I also won't be surprised if NZ need overtime to get the W.

If NZ win by more than 1 point they win the season series against Perth which will be big come the business end of the season.

"To all those people banging on about Greg Hire shooting at the last second all the time.. every point counts.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/30249377/crunch-time-as-cats-chase-split/"

people give Perth shit about this because the Wildcats kicked off in the media when someone else did it to them in garbage time last season from memory.

Don't remember hearing about that one, but that would be poor form considering the bust up they had with Adelaide in early 2014 when Gary Ervin called out Hire..

Either way, would love the Cats to win tonight with a last second three by Hire. ;)

"people give Perth shit about this because the Wildcats kicked off in the media when someone else did it to them in garbage time last season from memory"

I dont recall Perth media ever kicking up about this happening to Perth. It was Ervin/36ers going nuts about it a couple of seasons ago though when Hire did the same thing to the 36ers.

"I dont recall Perth media ever kicking up about this happening to Perth. It was Ervin/36ers going nuts about it a couple of seasons ago though when Hire did the same thing to the 36ers."

It wasn't the Perth Media, someone kicked off to the media in regards to this and my anti-perth memory instantly attributed this to a Wildcats player.
I thought it was Greg Hire who kicked off at Ervin for putting up a shot, my memory isn't that flash so apologies if I was full of plaque.

I think Breakers are 6-0 at home. A win by the Cats would be massive and send a shot across the bow of the SS Breakers.

This will be a great game and with plenty to play for. The Cats should win the rebounding game, so I'm expecting two different styles of play.

Corey Webster in MVP form is scoring nearly a point per minute (0.85) at home. Beal is scoring 0.45 points per minute on the road, but Prather is killing it at 0.67 points per minute.

Therein lies the Breakers weakness. All the other Breakers are scoring at an average 0.366 points per minute. If the Cats can negate Webster, then they have a chance of bagging this bad boy. Surely 5 flops should create 5 charging fouls on Webster.

The reffing in NZ is just about Street Ball standard, so fouling out players is rare. I'm sticking with the Breakers to play a fast flowing game with only the worst argey bargey calls made. Breakers by 2.

Breakers to win big. I reckon they will be so pissed with how they played in Perth, and if they are legit about winning it all, they will want to counter real quick. Perfect chance it today!

I loved that match preview where Jack Toft mentioned the Wildcats flopping. Classic!!

It wasn't the Perth Media, someone kicked off to the media in regards to this and my anti-perth memory instantly attributed this to a Wildcats player.
I thought it was Greg Hire who kicked off at Ervin for putting up a shot, my memory isn't that flash so apologies if I was full of plaque.

I wish this thing would just die already .If you have the shot attempt, take the shot. If you wanna burn time , then burn time till the game is over. Dont feel forced to adhere to some BS Basketball etiquette created Furphy where people dont shoot on /near siren.

You are plaing a professional sport here.

This game has a bit of a playoff feel to it.

So much more to this game then just a win or lose. The winner of this game could very much decide 1st and 2nd position at the conclusion of the season or which of these 2 teams gets home court advantage over each other come finals time.

With the rematch only 5 days apart it will be interesting to see how the teams adjust to their respective deficiencies from last Fridays game.

I'm tipping NZ on this one, but if Perth can get hot from outside it could easily swing Perths way.

Well, we bring it up because tonight's game could have a lot deciding on it from a points differential view if the series is tied.. and using to also to tell ppl to stop whinging about ppl like Hire shooting in garbage time.

If the three Hire put up at the siren last week went in, and the Breakers win by 2 or 3, Perth would still win the season series.

Yes, they did thrash the 36ers in the final. It's like Lisch awaking the Ahlpa-Beal. Just don't p off the cats, they'll come back and bite.

Tipping the Breakers to win - easily.

Still don't rate Perth. Tonight could change me. 1hr till tip off :)

Half a game off top spot, injuries all season, form team of the comp but you don't rate them? Wow.

Apparently, first choice starting five have only played 35 seconds on court together this season.

Supernintendo Chalmers, I get the hook, I put a nice piece of floppy meat on the hook, but not one pussycat.......

I think the meat is getting stale ;-)

How does the tie-breaker work if NZ wins this by 1 point?
I assume Cats get it somehow? Commentators mentioning NZ needs to win by 2+

Why are NZ allowed to have a band play during FTs????

Very strange call to count the cats 3 after the foul

wow.. with all the Anonymous posts I thought it would be us down, but NZ is down. Wow.

Hope we can get the win.

In the Cats 4 losses this season, Beal has averaged...

7.8ppg
3.3apg
2.3 to pg

While shooting at 21.3% from the field.

Beal 12pts on 5/7fg, 3 Assists and 3 steals in the first 1/4....WOW

Beal came to play.

Threes are dropping yet we're only up 3. That's a concern

Try 97.3 sport fm (for Perth people). Sometimes they play the games.

Refs call fouls on Jawai for just standing there. What a joke

He brings 0 fouls...which is a bonus right now

This is a joke!!!!

nice foul count split, look like jervis will be enjoying the bench for much of the 2nd hlaf

Charles Jackson is the new Redhage. King flopalot

Referee must have money on NZ. No way that was two fouls on Jervis.

Ugly quarter for Perth :0

Bald headed gimp is what that referee is. No freaking idea how to ref. Go back to the junior domestic comp you idiot.

Breakers fan but not happy with Charles Jackson's flop against Jervis.

I'm not saying that 7 PF's to 16 is proof of anything, but it certainly matches up with the eye test of this game so far.

Wildcats have to play against 8 while they have 5 on the court themselves. That's a hard ball game to win.

Not much going right for the cats

Yeah, clearly the better team when the Breakers fortunes have gone hand in hand with the refereeing of the game.

What i need right now is for Homicide Williams to pop up on the commentary. I really need someone to point out that the next few minutes of this game are crucial.

Wildcats coming back when the referees decide to call a true game. That second quarter stuff was a disgrace by the refs.

Breakers started to play well again. Musst be the refs. Couldn't possibly be the players.

If you don't understand how one-sided reffing that sees three of your players sitting due to foul trouble in the first half impacts your teams game, don't bother commenting.

Don't you have some sheep to screw Dave?

The opposite of your retardation isn't me being biased.

Websters hit two 3s. Bloody refs

A true basketball fan, no matter who they follow, could say that game was well reffed

Breakers are 1 - 6 this year on the road - went 0 - 3 without Webster.

Perth outclassed there in the end. They are a bit a Jekyl and Hyde team :/

How are NZ trash on the road? 3 of their 5 losses were by 1, 3 and 6 (the other two obviously not good losses!!)

Seriously!!

NZ has been unlucky on the road, being undermanned and going down to good opponents in very close games

Only concern for NZ was falling apart a bit offensively when Cedric was in foul trouble in the 3rd. Otherwise a strong effort and they've cemented themselves as the clear favourite over these past 2 games imo.

Before the NZB @ PER game last friday, I was of the opinion that if New Zealand stay fit, they would lose two more games for the season to finish 22-6, then be about a 70/30 chance of a 5th title.

I expected one of those two games to be that Friday night, and was right on that front. I'd kinda hoped that this might be the other one, since everybody loses at least one home game ... but unfortunately not to be.

Given we scraped in wins over them at Perth Arena, and just got utterly drilled over in New Zealand, probably going to have to revise that prediction. Still think New Zealand will lose another, but they'd have to be hot faves for the title now.

Webster and Cedric Jackson stay fit and they'll win it all.

Perth were hard done by on a few calls there but welcome to what the rest of the league has put up with in Perth for years guys.

Efficient game from Abercrombie at both ends. Pledger and Jackson played great but I don't condone flopping. Jackson did well to draw attention to the first couple of hits he took and got some legit calls before he started acting like Bubbles. I like his game otherwise, he bought energy and made shots and blocked a few.

4/17 from deep for 3 quarters, then 4/5 in the 4th. Been looking at andrewbprice's spatial jam, and that's the story of the series. Breakers averaging about 25% in the first three quarters, then >50% in the last. Clutch little buggers.

The Breakers do have to start winning on the road. Have managed to in their 4 championships in the last 5 years. The year they did poorly,(without Cedric) they got hung up by the refereeing. A bit much moaning and not enough adjusting.
They'll start winning on the road and will soon be back at full strength.
they may not win it all, but they will be thereabouts ass will Perth. They are better than they played in that game. Regardless of what you thought of the reffing, Perth were very ordinary after the first quarter.

Well, we won the first and the third quarters (the latter after digging a nice big hole for ourselves to start with) but in the 2nd and 4th, completely lost the plot.

Second quarter, okay, that was probably the height of the interesting refereeing people have been mentioning above. But the fourth quarter, only 14pts, not good enough. 31pt in the first, 17, 16, 14 after that. Just not good enough. Sure, the Breakers would have rolled us with that hot shooting streak, but our inability to score ourselves during that streak is on us.

Result was obvious at half time. Fouls 14 to 7.
Perth are fragile mentally, which is not surprising with their coach bleating at every call. Why is Jackson allowed to flop time and again when Vucona is warned early for less? Refs in most games seem to be really scared of the physical part of the game and the calls are so inconsistent. Jawai won't hang around this league if they don't let him play.

Just to be clear, no one said its the direct reason. But it definitely had impact.

You haven't added anything about the game either.

@Anon
"Im not saying you are using that excuse, but other have, just insane. Wasn't even close, Breakers hit 4 straight 3's in the 4th."

Ahh.. look, refereeing has its impact. Even Rhys Carter on twitter early in the game took note of three soft fouls being called on Wagstaff and said it was a momentum changing moment, and that was before Jervis got drilled similarly in that really bad last few minutes of the second quarter (which is probably where we "lost" the game).

And the team really does have a problem with letting those kinds of reversals get them down, which needs to be sorted out.

But in any sport, no ONE THING wins or loses a game. We really let ourselves down with the poor rebounding (especially during that second quarter, we got murdered) and the dry spells.

Breakers nailing four 3's in a row was definitely brutal, though. That sort of thing does happen, of course. We did that to the Hawks in the 4th quarter of our game against them, and we were on the receiving end of it this time.

We seem to frequently have these really great starts against NZ in NZ that go wildly pear-shaped, frustrating stuff.

On the other hand, at least we didn't have a 9-31 quarter against the Crocs, like the Taipans just had. Holy crap.

Anon, don't take credit for other anons posts. That's really ordinary.

We contained New Zealand from beyond the arc fine for most of the game. They just then nailed the last 4 in a row after shooting below 25% up till that point.

They made 8/22 3pt, we made 9/21 (which hides that we went 2/7 to end it). So I wouldn't say failing to contain them from beyond the arc was the problem.

That 44-31 rebound differential, and the 28/50 2pt vs 17/49 2pt differential was the real story.

Our big guys didn't perform to the standard that they ought.

Great analysis Nathan.

No secret that I'm a one eyed cats fan but you cant look at those stats and say the Ref's were the reason Perth lost. Its pretty dam clear looking at those stats where the game was won and lost.

The officiating this year in general has been below par but it doesn't favor any teams in particular.

wtf! you can't compete when you get calls like that against you on the road! Jackson must be diving all around nz!

I said I didn't rate Perth.

CONFIRMED!!

I wonder how much Cats fans would complain when they start letting New Zealanders referee the games.

Unfortunately for them, they don't have home town refs. They fly in from Australia

regardless of the result the refs need to get on Charles Jackson.....falls to the floor constantly then runs off with a smug grin.

Not a good look for the league.

In addition Jawai is copping a raw deal week after week cause of his size....punters want to see him play...have to look after him a bit better.

At least redhadge doesn't take the piss when he flops!

Jawai initiates a lot of contact, I don't think he gets as hard a time as some people think. Tim Mills really had a bad night, the guy who fell for Patty Mills' flop of the century hasn't learned from that lesson!

NZ got the better of the reffing, no doubt, but they also got some howlers against them, were the aggressors drawing fouls and were definitely the better team. Jackson, Pledger and Vukona controlled the paint, Perth couldn't keep Cedric in front of them and Abercrombie and Webster were lethal.

The Wildcats have been incredible in fourth quarters this season, so it was strange to see them fall away like that, but NZ's defence did a good job of getting them out of their offence and then they cleaned the D glass very well. I'm sure Perth will learn plenty from that game.

Looking forward to the rematch in the finals and hope Damo's jaw is ok. Was quite telling the way Cedric just stopped as soon as he realised what had happened, shows the great level of respect he has for Damo.

"Hardly touched"? It dislodged a wire that was glued to his teeth.

Jawai was allegedly racially abused by a member of the crowd. Just waiting for the league to investigate how this affects Melbourne's liveability ranking.

Flop party

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5sip69SMpTw&feature=youtu.be

Not the reason the cats lost. But pretty terrible reffing to fall for it twice.

That flopping is disgraceful.

Any flopping is shit.

Pretty pissed off that someone apparently yelled racist comments at Nathan Jawai whilst on the bench last night.
Hopefully if true the offender is pointed out and banned.

No need for that crap.

RMQ you do realise Knight flopped in that same video? Yeah didn't think so.

I am fine with the first call. Jervis went into Jackson and it should have been a foul there but referees let it continue but when there was more contact even that it was minimal they called it.

Knights non call was a flop.

Jackson's second call was a flop.

Aylen loves to give flopping warnings (Even when sometimes they aren't), so a bit surprised he wasn't calling them. Either way with both Aylen AND Mayberry out there it was always going to be a poorly officiated game.

An update here on the racism claims. The NBL refs coach who sits behind the visitors bench reportedly told the Breakers he heard no racist comments in the exchange between fans and Jawai.

Breakers also speaking to all members who sit in the vicinity, and awaiting formal complaint from Perth with more details.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/basketball/74685382/new-zealand-breakers-investigating-racial-abuse-claims-from-perth-wildcats

My thoughts at the time were the same as when Eddie McGuire didn't like someone getting stuck in to Krakouer, so he decided the criticism was "borderline racist" which means nothing. I don't think anything will come from this.

Of course he realises Knight flopped. The point was, how do the refs fall for flopping/minimal contact on one end but not the other...let alone the fact they didn't appear to give Knight a warning.

Fans making racists remarks to players when there is players of the same colour on their own team makes absolutely no sense.

Racist people are idiots and the scum of our society.

Of course he realises Knight flopped. The point was, how do the refs fall for flopping/minimal contact on one end but not the other...let alone the fact they didn't appear to give Knight a warning.