Line was 10.5 last night but started to shorten to 7.5 (some even 6.5). Some bookies were pretty late to change it so i got on Cairns +10.5 and Wildcats -7.5 for a nice little middle.

Also got on Damo Over 3.5 Assists and Under 5.5 Assists

I get the feeling this year that either Perth won't be as good as expected, or Cairns will be better than expected. Worth a couple of bucks, even just for a (nother) reason to root against Perth. ;)

I like the Ida of Perth at 0-2. Just in case another team doesn't get up tomorrow.

Cairns need to lift. Might be putting a movie on otherwise, could get ugly.

It's ridiculous how much Martin gets away with.

Is it too much to ask to loosen the hoops up a little at Perth Arena? An average rebound is taken at the 3 point line.

No wonder the scores are always low there!

I don't think I can watch much more of this Cairns are so bad, they haven't got anyone who can score.

23 points at half time!

Yep, 23 in a half, and still in it.

So they have this "pool" of refs to make it all fairer, yet choose 2 Perth refs to do this game. They've just let Perth manhandle anyone from Cairns as well as rewarded every flop.

Until every Team is reffed the same we will see shitfests like this. It's so much different to last weekend.

Wowsers!

I don't think I can watch much more of this Perth are so bad, they haven't got anyone who can score.

31 points at half time!

Am I the last person to realise that the Perth court doesn't have a single mention of either Perth or Wildcats? Not enough space next to all those advertisements, I guess.

It says Perth Arena?

That's the name of the Arena though.

Looks like another second half choke by the cats

Both teams may have watched too much golden state I reckon..

Loughton's threes look like what I imagine Curry would look like blindfolded - the occasional make, but the rest nothing but backboard or iron.

Good to see Fearne letting Weeks off the chain

Lol Ive never seen a basket via a ricochet falcon before.

Well done Brandt!

Cairns score more points in that quarter than they scored in the first half.

I'm guessing "enjoy the movie retard" was directed at me. Pretty obvious I'm still watching. Cairns needed to lift and they have, doesn't make their first quarter any better.

That anonymous coward calling people retards should take a hike. We're here to talk basketball, not hear your foul insults.

These Wildcats don't have the bulky defensive rebounders I'm used to seeing from them without Knight on the court. A lot of athletic guys who will scrap for the o-boards, but not the bodies to box out and eat the d-boards.

Be nice if we could see the clock.

Wow...clutch from JJ.

Slightly better second half than first in my opinion.

JJ pretty handy when he's not on the bench hey

On the one hand, the Wildcats are going to get the lucky win tonight. On the other hand, their uniform still looks like the spare uni at the stadium for when two teams are wearing the same colours.

JJ starting to show a bit

Gleeson is still a flog

I'll add a note for you next time anon so you don't miss the sarcasm.

Hard to figure out whether it was good defense or crap offense for a lot of that game. Perth's class got them over the line in the end.

argh

I be out in Jersey, puffin' Hershey
Brothers ain't worthy to rock my derby
Though I'm never drug free when I'm the club, G
Though I know the thug be wantin' to slug me (uh-huh)
Could it be I move as smoove as Bugsy? (yeah)
Or be at the bar with too much bubbly? (c'mon)
Yo I think it must be the girls want to lust me
Or is it simply the girls just love me
Brothers wanna: rock the rolls, rock my clothes
Rock my ice, pull out Glocks, stop my life (uhh)
I'm like, "Damn, how these niggas got that trife?
Used to be my man, how he gonna plot on my wife?"
Do you think he snake me 'cause he hate me?
Or he got his Ph.D; Player Hatin' Degree? (Ahaha!)

The post game interviews are TOO quiet for the video. Can't hardly hear what anything is said.

Most of the game was grueling to watch until JJ hit that massive buzzer beater.

That was mostly a rather painful 2nd half by the Cats.

I thought at the time that Wortho would have been better off missing his 2nd free throw. 2.8 seconds to go coast to coast & score, assuming we even got the rebound.

An even more obvious one just before that: ~10 seconds left in the game and Cats on only 2 team fouls, with JJ on 4 PFs. Why the hell did Gleeson leave him out there??

What a finish. It only took over 7 quarters of basketball but finally we saw a bit of this high octane basketball that Gleeson has been promising. Lets just hope it was a matter of settling in and we get to see more of what we saw in the last bit of the final quarter and overtime. Jermaine who ?

I think every game involving Perth needs to have TWO threads.
One where we can actually discuss the game, and another where anytrolls can invent new ways to say "I hate Perf coz thay suk."

For a game we almost lost, there were a surprising number of positives for Perth.

Their perimeter D has gone up a notch and basically kept them in the game. Be interesting to see if that troubles teams with more offensive options.

Cairns tried to exploit our lack of size early on, and it didn't work, but they adapted.

Perth's emphasis on athletic rebounding was a joy to watch, especially without Knight.

If JJ can pull out more games like that, we'll soon be saying "Dolla WHO?" On first impressions he's taller and more athletic than Beal, and plays better D. If he can keep hitting clutch shots like that, especially 3's, he's going to be invaluable.

McKay can certainly deliver when he's fed, but he needs to get more of his own ball. Unfortunately it looks like we're going to be relying on him to score a LOT.

Now on the downside:
In front of 13,000 screaming red fans, we barely scraped past the team many tip for the spoon.
The problem is that apart from our imports, we just have too many "role players" and not enough scoring depth.

I hate to say it, but I fear the league has left Wagstaff behind. He has been an awesome 6th man for us, but he has never quite made it to "starter" material, and now I fear the league has stepped up a notch. How on earth does he shoot 9% on his home court?

I was all in favour of keeping Redhage as the 11th man. I think at times his experience will be invaluable. Love the guy, but lets not kid ourselves, he's way past his best, and if we're looking to him for a major contribution, then we're in trouble.

I have high hopes for DKD, but not playing as a DP has probably held him back. That's really the role he's filling now. Got to give him time, and minutes, and hopefully he'll come good, but for now he's another spot on the bench that's not contributing much.

I was impressed with Brandt last season when he stepped up in Khazza's absence. At the moment he's looking like a decent enough bench player, but we're missing Jervis who was good enough to start and play big minutes in Knight's absence. Hopefully as the season progresses and he learns the team and plays, Brandt can become a real force off the bench.

It will be interesting to watch upcoming games. A lot of teams are bedding in new players, so its going to be test of who can gel the quickest.

PS: Missed seeing Big Nate make a return to PA, is he injured?

@Dazz - I believe Nate hurt a finger early on in the preseason. He was only suppose to miss 2-3 weeks of the NBL season last I heard.

A healthy Matt Knight will go a long way to fixing Perths offence. He is a totally different PF then what Redhage and Wagstaff are. Will be interesting to see Knight and Mckay going together.

Wagstaff won't go 1/10 from outside the arc too often.

I thought Walker did well in his limited time on the floor. Not sure why he was a DNP in game 1 but I reckon tonight he earned himself some more minutes. Seemed to fit in pretty well with what we were doing at both ends.

Barlow had 37 points and didn't miss any shot- including free throws. Vs NZ 27/10/2007.

Both of these teams will be strong defensively. Of concern to Cairns is the lack of output from Trice.

Wow, can't believe my Cairns +10.5 and Wildcats -7.5 middle got up. Thought it was over when it was close at the end, then it went to over time and looked half a chance, but it was a 12 point margin at the end. But then that dunk in the last seconds brought it to 10. Was probably the only one in the stadium celebrating that last dunk lol.

Also Damo made it through overtime without an assist and the over 3.5 and under 5.5 middle hit too.

Onya, B! :)

Wagstaff is now 2-of-17 from three this season. He has been getting wide open looks as well. Last season he was at least having 3-of-7 type games. He's gonna have to shoot non-stop at training this week, he's in a career-worst funk

I hit some AFL exotic ones this season, but none compare to this. Thought it was well and truly over, the amount of things that had to go exactly right after it looked done (the buzzer beater to make it to OT, running away with it in OT, the dunk to make it 10 points) is absolutely ridiculous, still shocked haha

Ok I said it first- the Wildcats will struggle tremendously on offense this year.
I agree with much of what Dazz says.
Their imports are top notch and saved their butts in OT last night.
Thank God for imported greatness because without it, the wildcats would be minced meat this year.
This is their problems on offense:
1. No post up presence at all- Nate was unguardable down low last year yet everybody who knew nothing said get rid of him.
2. Jaron is their only legit 3pt shooter from the long is of it
3. Everything they do score is off penetration or from their defense
4. They will not score enough from the free throw line to make up the shortfall from the lack of post and 3pt shooting.

One more thing- they are not a great defensive team. They are a good defensive team simply and only because the refs let them get away with grabbing and holding their opponents without whilstling fouls. This doesn't make them great on D, I will say Prather and Martin are great defenders but it ends there. Remember defense is like a chain- it's only as strong as its weakest link

One more thing- Gleeson gets exposed for the non- coach he really is this season.
Just watch.
The only thing good I can say about him is that he is an excellent recruiter

Having Johnson on the floor with four fouls, in a fouling situation, with only two team fouls was inexplicable.

@ JR.
I agree totally with your first half.
We need Knight back, but even so its scary to see the Cats so dependent on transition and turnovers to score.

I like the look of McKay, but he's more of an athletic 4. Between Nate, Matty, and Tommy, we had a lot of size inside last year. This season I think several teams have gone bigger, and we've gone the other way.

JJ was on fire last night, but as somebody said, we can't rely on him hitting ~90%.

In the past, Redhage, Wagstaff, and Hire, have all been reasonable 3 shooters. With Beal that has at least kept us semi-competative from range, however they have fallen away in recent seasons.

I do think Perth are a very good defensive team, last night their perimeter D was outstanding. But again, I fear their lack of size inside may be found out against quality big post players.

@Dazz you sound like a coach a knows a thing or two about the game