A lot is riding on how much Melbourne want to avoid facing NZ in the SFs. If I were them, I'd make sure the Breakers' hopes were snuffed because they have finals experience and all the tools to roll through any other team in the league.

If NZ make it they're just as likely to win as anybody. Should be a great game Friday, NZ desperate and Melbourne coming off road wins in Perth and Wollongong looking to lock up top spot.

So your saying there is a chance!!!! :)

Definitely interesting to see of Randle is actually back to normal. Even if he's physically mended, his game style requires a huge amount of faith in his body so mentally he could be a few games away from being good again. I hope for the 36ers chances, and also from a spectator point of view, that he's ready to roll.
He's made it clear that he wants to be on court helping his team, so hopefully he can do that and doesn't end up just making up the numbers, or worse, aggravating the injury that hasn't quite got there yet.
I've got a feeling though that the 36ers might just fall short of the finals this year. I hope I'm wrong.

Randle will come to play.

Whats really important is that Joey gets his tacticians hat on and ensures Gibbo doesn't go missing again in offense and Ebi gets a good start with some open looks.

Jerome needs to start as a team first man early getting others on a roll and then when the focus on himself hiccups, bingo!

If Joey gets it wright it wont matter who the other sides would prefer to face come finals.

Go Sixers

If the results go the way I expect them to then this final round won't be that exciting after all.

ie If Sydney beats Perth, and then Illawarra and NZ both win on Friday, then the top 4 will be set and Sunday's games will be meaningless.

There's potential for this round to be a massive fizzer, and there's potential for it to be nothing short of epic.

I hope the 36ers do make the finals.. otherwise finding a conversation in here for the finals is gonna get difficult.

As an Adelaide fan I find some of the suggestions made in this thread to be quite considerate and generous. I do however fear that international sporting relations with New Zealand maybe setback 30 years after this weekend.

Great news, keeps things interesting! Im guessing both Perth and United would rather have Adelaide first up than NZ, so who knows how this will play out.

If the results go the way I expect them to then this final round won't be that exciting after all.

ie If Sydney beats Perth

"I do however fear that international sporting relations with New Zealand maybe setback 30 years after this weekend."

I think they're already set back 30 years. The Kiwis still take every opportunity to bring up the Trevor Chappell incident.

if the 36ers make the playoffs, then there is such a thing as luck. pure luck. i cant see it happening.

The Kiwis still take every opportunity to bring up the Trevor Chappell incident.

I hear ya Anon, it reminds me of a story I heard many moons ago regarding a guy at my school. People called him Dick, which caused him all sorts of consternation because his name was Richard and he could never understand why the other kids never called him by his proper name.

That guy was really cool, really cool.

Anon, pretty sure most of us were talking about playing him if he wasn't cleared to play... He's fine.

"When Randle went down I stressed at how he had to play at least one game before the playoffs."

No you didn't anon.

May the Aussies continue their rampage today, and may United destroy NZ twice, and may Randle be Randle and get the 36ers into the playoffs!