Cats looking to do the sunshine swing 2 wins first time since 07, I wonder what the record of sides ar in the past for this double, it's like the doomsday double, I believe in all its years, only 4 years got the double done.

Seems a winnable game for the Cats, but the Crocs are the one team in the league we have a losing record against this season, so you know they will go in with genuine confidence against us on their home court.

Crocs $2.95
Cats $1.40
at Sportsbet atm.

On paper Cats are the far better team, just like they were the first two times they played the Crocs.
Really need a win here.
Knight and Beal should be looking to step up after quiet games against Cairns.

Just out of curiosity has the sunshine swing changed to 2 games over 3 days now?

Always thought it was back to back nights?

Extra day recovery may be huge.

Casey Prather out for this one ("ankle")

Nate smash

God Hire is the most overrated player.

That implies that people rate him

Cats very sloppy, letting the crocs hang around when it should have been a much bigger margin. So just a few shots later and it's a ball game again.

Excellent last shot defense by the cats.

This is the worst the Wildcats have played all season. This is your league leaders people.

If i had a dollar for every time Hire turned the ball over...

Two games in a row the Cats have played some of the worst offensive basketball of any side this season. It's disgusting.

Know way he can hold his spot next season. Just make him community officer or something. He adds nothing to the team anymore.

*No

44 points at this stage of the game is amazing

Perth have absolutely no answer for this zone defence.

Anon serious you are the tool. Where were you when the cats won in cairns. Cats 6 of last 7 at home box seat for top spot

Couldn't be happier for the Crocs. They just play every minute never take a possession off.

Perth are every bit as reliant as Melbourne on guys being hot from 3 to win. Otherwise they just can't score consistently.

Nz still have road games to cairns twice and crocs once and united once. I think Perth would have been happy with a split on the sunshine swing and 2 of three overal in the past 6 days.

Prather hasn't hit the court tonight, but his MVP credentials have improved by the quarter.

Seems like a better crowd than we've seen most nights in Townsville. Well deserved, I love watching this team play.

I don't think the cats would be happy to split this road trip at all. It's a concern with the way they have fallen apart in this one. And for all the laughs on social media about the crocs scoring 8, it's the cats who can't seem to get to 60!

Jawai gets blown by too easily, may as well just tie a baby elephant up under the ring.

Anon you are the tool. We are still on top of the ladder. Have you looked at Gleeson record? 6 out of 7 season in the finals glad his wildcats coach.

Jawai's pick and roll D killed the Boomers too at the last world cup. If it's a NZ/Perth final, will be interesting to see how Perth play Webster/Jackson on the PnRs.

Kobe24 why wouldn't the cats be happy? Cairns tough to win at home and crocs tough too so tell me what team currently would go 2-0 on this trip. 3 games in 6 days not easy in this league. Cats 6-5 on the road best road record in The league. Still have got kings 3 times for the rest of the season in the last 9 games I think cats still favourites to finish top

Because I reckon they saw the Taipans game as the tough one and this one as the very getable one. They shouldve been able to go on with it after the start they had. So i dont think they will be happy with that split, especially with home court advantage all through the finals on the line.

Anon we have beaten Hawks 3 times this season and 2 on their home court and I believe we beat united by 30 last week. Explain on current form why we would beat nz and Hawks, we are 4-2 against those 2 teams and smashed Hawks on our home court. How many teams this year have played 3 games on road in 6 days and gone 2-1. You are a wildcats hater and are jealous and prefer the cats to lose rather than your team to win which is vey very sad

I dont think the Breakers have the fadeout issues that the Cats have, i think that is a real concern for the Cats. Crocs were able to legitimately bully them in the second half, title favourites dont get bullied nor make excuses about 3 games in 6 days etc etc

Anon who do you support? If Adelaide try a 15 point lead with 3 mins to go and Losing. Now that a choke.

Well that was shite.
This is why the championship is wide open. Perth may be on top, but they are too inconsistent, especially on the road. Too vulnerable to injury, and its going to be tough for their aging stars to run out the season.

I don't understand what has happened to Beal. He has gone from a reliable all-round player, to a streak shooter. When he's hot, he's incredible, but this is the 2nd consecutive game he's failed to fire.

In hindsight, Redhage has been struggling for a while. Ennis probably covered it a bit in their championship year, but it was clear last season that he was nolonger up to starting. Why they persist in flogging him?

Kobe24 no excuses but doesn't help. Cocos were better but people saying cats are pretenders is a bit rich after one loss. Nz and Melb have much tougher runs than Perth leading into playoffs so long term cats are in a good position

Anon who is your team??

Their not pretenders but its performances like that, which have me liking NZ in a series against them. Not enough fire power to cover Beal when he MIA. Breakers deeper and just as tall.

Anon again, is that you MRS BEVO

Kobe24 having Prather releases beal somewhat but I'm not making excuses but we are 1-3 without Prather. He's underrated.

Perth have won a few games where they required their 2nd and 3rd string players to have blinders to cover for their starters. This was just one of those nights when almost nobody was firing.
It's not end of the world stuff, just shows that Perth are far from being a lock.

Dazs that's what makes this season so close. No team stands out.

Mrs bevo can't decide which side she goes for

Correct.
I suspect that the "top 4" may be obvious at this point, barring calamities, but I reckon any of them could win it from here.
I reckon a Perth-NZ series would probably go with home-court advantage, but any other series could go either way.

I also have to wonder, how badly injured is Prather?
Did the Cats err on the side of caution by resting him?

They really need to snap out of this funk. They now have two well-spaced road games, including a return to Carins in 2 weeks, and need wins.

Haha relax, Perth fans... seriously. They were tired. A couple of bad games in a row but prior to that you put on a masterclass against Sydney and whacked 113 points on United. Chill. Absolute children up in here!

Seems Cats and Sixers fans are tarred with the same brush when a loss comes around. WEILD THE AXE! Didn't see the NZ folk calling for anyone's head when they started the season poorly. Perth are always top of the table, it's just a blip on the radar.

"Cats 6 of last 7 at home box seat for top spot"

They actually need NZ to lose two more games than them now to get top spot, which is going to be tough. I'm sure the Cats will be barracking hard for Illawarra today.

Full credit to the Crocs, they were just too good last night, and had they made some of those open shots in the first quarter and a bit.

Townsville had 15 points after 16 minutes, and then scored 60 in the last 24! Incredible.

Townsville is Perth's bogey team this year

It's pretty clear that the Cats are a very ordinary team who have only won the most games in the league up this point because of reasons. If those reasons didn't occur then they'd be somewhere between 2nd and 8th, just as everyone here tipped. In some games, they have a player scoring more points than any of his teammates. Talk about a one man team!

They need to stop kidding themselves because Hoops.com has got them figured out. They really should be playing perfect 40 minute games at this stage of the season like all 7 other teams below them are.

Cats have height and size and a lot of it. Is anyone going to question how they are worse since Martin back ???

No one in their right mind would suggest that Martin returning has disrupted the team.

It's pretty clear that this years schedule is having an impact on teams in their wins and their losses.

For the NBL to think that it will balance up in such a short season they are mistaken. This is not the NBA where with the enormous number of games the advantages and disadvantages will balance out along with the series of games in finals and conferences.

I am loving Steindal getting out and about the court and giving so much that we haven't seen due to the boring 3 point game many teams have fallen in to per the years. When you're bottom you have notting to lose hey and willing to try new things.. It's working...

SC Happy to think differently and be not in my right mind. We will see then. There is always a point when change kicks in and what was is no longer there. Maybe some just see that point a little earlier. Sometimes an alternative can be even better that what you originally thought was pretty good too. It's about balance wind combinations and more importantly how that matches the opposition and how they respond to your team.

So what is it you're seeing that Im not?

SC, 13-6 top of the league yet still an ordinary team, what does that make the Breakers, United and Hawks, even more ordinary

I was sarcastically summarising the unique analysis Perth gets from people here.

"It's pretty clear that the Cats are a very ordinary team who have only won the most games in the league up this point because of reasons."

One of those reasons is pretty clearly that they've also played the most games in the league to this point.

That's because the schedule is always rigged to favour them.

Chalmers your such a sensitive cats fan. Of the hoops crowd is so off the mark why even post? Cats aren't as great as you have them pegged.

I'm not saying they are great and I don't give a shit that you don't like them. You can dislike them as much as you want. I'm commenting on the way they are critiqued. They're held to different standards and what ifs than every other team by you lot.

Cats will get run off the floor by high scoring/running teams unless they control the pace? No, they hold their own and can put points on the board better than anyone no matter if it's a shoot out or a grind.

Cats rely on one player shooting the lights out each game or they are just a middle of the road team? No, they mostly have an even scoring spread, but obviously Beal and Jesse's recent games have led to that theory.

Cats players can't shoot so their non shooting Prather was a bad choice? No his penetration has opened the court up for their shooters so he is exactly what they needed. When Prather plays well, Beal doesn't go MIA.

Then there is the yearly "Cats won't make the playoff if a few of their key players get injuries". That hasn't happened for thirty years but you'll get that prediction correct one day, Corey.

When you and Marcus Camby get in to your daily disagreement about Ebi, why do you post? You don't think he's right with his views. Just don't respond.

Classic. The anon who waits til I post something so he can make a personal attack while ignoring everything I've written just accused me of baiting. They don't make them smart in Tassie, do they Bruce?

Charmers you are the single reason I ant the Cats to get home court advantage and lose game 3 at home of the gf. You antagonise and try and bully your opinion across to everyone, you make Redhage seem like a top bloke.

And I'm the sensitive one? I don't care enough about you to even think along those lines. Sorry about that.

I've antagonised or bullied nobody in this thread. I'm responding to what has been written here collectively recently and that is more than a few people, likeminded with you, who openly dislike Perth (which is fine, we all hate teams and players) but use that a reason to make predictions, discuss things etc. When those predictions or points of view aren't accurate, I'm going to call them out on it.

You seem to think that you're an entitled to an opinion that's never allowed to be challenged or else you complain that someone is whinging or you're being bullied.

If I or anyone else started saying that Adelaide are playing badly because Daniel Johnson shoots too many left-handed threes, Randle is a hog and Ere needs to see more court time because he's easily been the Sixers best player,what would you do?
You'd probably respond with the same disdain except your post would have more typos ;-)

Yeah your right and you have played nice in this thread, but sometimes your just a complete douche bag towards others. You lose a lot of credibility when you go down that path.

Aah, the fuckwit anonytrolls are out in force again.

Simple FACT is that Perth are top of the table.
If this was a league without playoffs, and the league finished today, they would be champions. Ie at the MOMENT they are the top team.

I think most Cats fans have a realistic view of our chances going forward. Finishing out the season with out veteran players is always tough, and the same concern probably applies to Jawai.
NZ is now looming as the threat, and if we finish even we have lost the split and a NZ home final will kill us.

That said, Perth are still top and NZ is 3 games behind. Perth have 9 well spaced games to finish the season, 6 of them at home. The "toughest" it gets is February where they play H-A-H in 10 days.
If Perth continue at their current clip, they would finish on 19 wins. NZ would have to improve to draw even, and they have the harder road home.

Perth and NZ have the same number of losses, the only reason Perth are ahead is they've played more games.

Is the NBL.com.au ladder not up to date?

Perth and NZ have the same number of losses, the only reason Perth are ahead is they've played more games.

Ah, no. Why do people persist with this silliness?
Perth are ahead because they have WON (three) more games, that's how it works.
For NZ to draw equal they would need to win 100% of the differential, and no team ever wins 100%.

It also shows that Perth have had a tougher run to date and get the easier run home.

Yes, no team ever wins 3 games out of 3.

At this point of the season, when assessing the top end of the ladder I'm with kobe. I look at the losses column.
Sure, wins in the bank are always great, but teams at the top are expected to win most of their games, so it's losses that are the real separator.

The biggest reason to look at the loss column is if you're behind there, you need the other team to lose. If you're ahead, you control your own position.

Wins are meaningless in that respect.

And catching up to a win deficit is always possible. To say teams never win 100% of those games is absurd given that the team currently in front must have won that many extra games for the situation to exist in the first place.

Beal has scored in single digits 6 times this season.

Perth has lost 5. The win was the 3 point victory over Cairns where Cairns led all game, lost Starks to injury during the game, missed some open jump shots in the last few minutes and had calls going their way (Martin sending Worthington- who was in position- into the first row and somehow avoiding the foul call).

When Beal scores 10+ points, Cats are 12-1.

When Beal scores under 10, Cats are 1-5.

Stop Beal, stop Perth.

that was meant to say "had calls going against them" ie: that call I mentioned favoured Perth.

Oh and I should say, somehow that call went *against* Wortho

That should make Beal the current MVP frontrunner by that logic. Perth has the top spot and Beal is the one carrying them there thus far?

How many of those losses has Beal had to play without either Martin or Prather (or both), forcing him to be both the primary ball handler AND scorer, which is not his preferred role? Its far too simplistic too say that Beal not scoring enough is the main reason for their losses.

Agreed, Chalmers.

But it is fair to say that he's the one who, more often than anyone else ignites the Perth machine.

And yeah, he'd be up there in MVP calculations. Ogilvy is still my pick right now, but Beal would be top 5. I can think of several games where he would've got a big proportion of the 20 available votes.

Personally I don't think playing badly on a semi-regular basis is a claim to be MVP.

I also think if you look more closely into the Wildcats' losses you'll find other reasons that consistently pop up, at both ends, which impact on Beal's ability to score.

I think the same goes for their wins too. He will be the biggest benefactor of the offence clicking, having Jawai and Knight being influential early, or Prather attacking the rim.

In a strange way, he is their match-winner and leading scorer but not their most important cog in the offence.

Who's the most important cog in their offense, then?

For mine, if you take Jawai out they're still a very good team and a championship threat.

Take Beal out and I can't see them having enough overall firepower, the floor spacing or the offensive pace. They wouldn't even worry NZ or Illawarra.

Prather.

The offence revolves around Jawai and Knight, but needs shooters (Beal) and slashers (Prather) to capitalise on the attention the bigs get, or make plays when teams (NZ) don't collapse the D.

I think the biggest thing is the D though. When they're forcing bad shots, dominating the d-boards and forcing turnovers it allows Beal and Prather to play in the open court where they're at their best.

I thought SC summed it up perfectly about Beal.

I'm probably being a bit too simplistic as well in putting it all down to Prather but I'm basing that on the difference between last season, with Daniels provided no penetration and never attracted any help D, and this season, where we have the Ennis-type slasher who has provided the spacing for Beal and others to regain their form from outside.

I think the combination of Jawai and Knight on the inside is more responsible for the better spacing this season than Prather. I thought Knight at PF at this stage of his career wouldn't work, but it has worked a treat. He's a smart cutter, decent 14-15 foot jump shooter and attacks the boards hard. Defenses must collapse.

But at the end of the day, you need the shooters to take advantage of that spacing. Only Beal (And Wagstaff on occasions) has been really taking advantage of that spacing by hitting substantial numbers of threes. And Beal can *get going* in a way that other Cats either don't do, or only will do on rare occasions (eg Wagstaff hitting a bunch of threes in a row vs Sydney the other week).

Beal is also the only guy on the Cats team who has the combination of skills: Can shoot from loooong range, can get to the basket, can create plays.

No one else on the team can do all of those things anywhere like as well as he can.

I suspect Gleeson agrees with me; hence why Beal is leading the league in minutes.

Beal and Martin have been amongst the leaders in minutes the past three years, mostly due to the Wildcats' lack of guard depth.

Yep- and that lack of guard depth is part of the reason why Beal's so important to them.

I think Beal gives them things though that are more valuable to the overall team than Martin, too. Take Martin out and you lose the best defender in the league, but they're still a good defensive team without him. Whereas Beal's absence leaves them with notable, gaping gaps in the team's overall combination of individual skill sets.

Take Martin out and you also lose the preferred ball carrier, which hurts Beal because when he is forced to do it all, he falters. (Thats not a criticism of him because he shouldn't be expected to do everything.)

Anyway I think we're looking at this from different angles. You're saying that Beal is their most important player as he has the most complete skill set. I definitely agree about his skills.

What I'm saying is that he needs those other guys in order to excel, more than he can rely on his skills, and going back to your original call about his production in their six losses, the fact that Martin and Prather were missing or under done for most of those five games says it all (Jawai missed one game too).

One game that they did win without Martin and Prather was in Illawarra. They outgunned the Hawks in one of the most high scoring games of the season. The ball carrying duties were given to Kenny, Redhage and Hire for that game. That's not saying they are superior in any way but by not forcing Beal to do it all allowed him to score 25 and come away with the win.

Beal is not, and has never been, a "go-to" guy.
He is not the primary instigator of good Wildcats offence, he is one of the main beneficiaries of it.
He is at his very worst when he is forcing shots up. When he is well guarded and continually tries to score anyway, that's when the Cats offence sputters.
Beal is a very good player, don't get me wrong, but he needs to operate within his own limitations to be effective and to be valuable to the Cats.

For my money, Prather is easily the most valuable Wildcat this season because his role is the one we can't replace with anyone else, and it's a role that completes the team offensively.

Interesting comments, well to be fair, the Wildcats results this season do seem to validate your calls about Prather's value. Especially this game vs Crocs.