Both teams look woeful early.

Casey Franks commentary is so one-eyed. Horrid.

Oh...and Gleeson is a flog.

Way to hit your FTs boys

Good lord this is an ugly game,going on this no way either of these teams are contending this year if they keep this crap up.

Why does everyone say Kenny can shoot?
He is junk.

Hard to believe with all the money and resources we have, we bring in two imports who are average in a year when you are allowed three. Johnson and Mckay are right up their with the worst we have had.

Lol what a putrid game

'Hard to believe with all the money and resources we have, we bring in two imports who are average in a year when you are allowed three. Johnson and Mckay are right up their with the worst we have had.'

It's very strange that we'd have one cut price import let alone two.

Perth Wildtrash

Johnson and Mckay are right up their with the worst we have had.
Sunday Adebayo & Ryan Mendez say hi!

Perth shooting 25% LOL!

One of the world halfs of basketball I've ever seen.

LK should pull both their licenses for this.

This is horrible. Wildcats have a hall of fame but this team will make the hall of shame.

5/14 free throws you can't be serious

Not getting offensive rebounds, not hitting free throws, can't shoot the outside shot, NZ clogging the keyway.

Horrid Wildcats.

Lol, 23 points for the 1/2.
Wildtrash!!

Perth 23 points at the half.

Matt Nielsen will surely be smiling underneath as it's his job next season when the Wildcats sacks Gleeson.

Both teams shooting a combined 7/29 FT's. I just don't know what to say to that.

23 points at the half would have to be a Perth and NBL record for sure.

Highlight of the game for me so far... the three Santas dancing at midcourt... yaiiiii.

Melbourne Wildcats not that good tonite

Lol.
It just gets worse for Flogson!

lel

"Perth Wildbricks!"

Quality sledge

This is the most boring game i have ever watched in my life & if i didn't have a bet on NZ i wouldn't bother watching but my point is where does fox sports get these commentators That long bearded buffoon has not got a clue about anything he might be an ex player but he really talked so much crap in that segment at the half time report he stated this is only a game a mother could love then in the very next breath said its been a really entertaining half??? Like WHAT THE FU*K? Is he serious or just that retarded? He cant possibly be serious can he??? Both teams are playing with no intensity no passion NO SPEED and NO DIRECTION & to be honest i am very very lucky to be winning by 10 The NBL need to find a way to attract people to watch their brand as it is & games like this make people want to turn their TV off! Its a disgraceful performance from to under achieving teams that have no hope of winning the championship this year but my point is they are supposed to be professional athletes but i havnt seen anything close to professional about how either team have played & i would much rather watch a bunch of 16yr olds play than watch another half of that crappy basketball at least most teenagers playing have some passion for the game!!!

Matt Nielsen will surely be smiling underneath as it's his job next season when the Wildcats sacks Gleeson.

The Casey Prathers have cut the lead to 12.

Lol

Get Anthony Davis I mean Casey Prather some help

Refs even going for NZ. That's a f decision.

Gleeson putting the game well out of reach now.

F$@K

Lol

Streak is over, hope we get a discount next season or I know a few ppl that are not going to renew.

pathetic effort, the worst game I have seen this season without a question.

Perth have no fire power what so ever and still why they didn't get a replacement for damo will cost them the playoffs and a few members next season.

So anyways... why does McKay sit on the bench so much.. I heard it all regarding his supposed energy and advanced stat awesomeness..

Shocking shooting tonight. No effort on glass / blocking out on NZ off boards.. poor decision making.

Time for free throw practice to be amped up.

Get rid of Gleeson. Good night 30 year streak.

Play Bragg more, play Brandt more, play redhage less, sign curry and deactivate JJ

jj not the problem, coach is the problem, guy can shoot, reminds me of Daniels. had spurts not to consistently enough.

Perth shot 36% on free-throws

Kinda glad I wasn't able to watch this one live ... but I still won't be able to resist looking at the recording.
Who the hell shoots sub-40% from the free throw line as a team? WTF????

got 2 captains club seats or any one is interested for sale. Not kidding, not paying for a pathetic season.

Not going to any more home games next season, should start a petition to the Wildcats.

Not about where we are or the streak, it's about the attitude of the coaching staff and player's.

to many times this season, Wagstaff? wouldn't make a casual Sunday team.

Enjoying the dummy spitting from some Perth fans. Tonight was a case of two defences who knew they other team very well and two offences struggling with PG issues.

Neither team could really get into sets (the reffing on par with the level of play didn't help either!) so they just relied on individual bail-outs to score for most of the night.

I wonder what the situation with Ben Woodside's foot is? If he's not going to be back soon I'd write him off if I was the Breakers and bring in two new import guards while they have a two week break.

Kinda ironic comments coming from someone with the username "Cats 4 Life".

A lot of fans are disappointed dude but it's not the end of the world. Maybe you could donate your seats to the underprivileged who might appreciate them a bit more.

They kept Breakers to 69 points and got the game to within 5 in the 4th quarter after being down by 20 and beat Melbourne in Perth last week. Be proud of your team win or lose and stop giving Perth fans such a bad rep.

no surprise really. It's one of the funny, lop-sided things about this "rivalry": NZ do reasonably well in Perth, Cats not so in NZ.
ON the plus side it was good to see Prather play reasonably well on the road, and a decent score from JJ.

Good, tough game from both teams, but the Breakers were just tougher, steadier, and more consistent all night. That woeful 2nd quarter pretty much sunk the Cats.

We are proud of the Cats and coaching staff, let's go wildcats. Get behind your team.

Gleeson is a flog

ROFLcopter is a flog.

I'd say the reason Casey Frank talked down the game and then contradicted himself is because he's aware he's there to maintain interest in the product. His instinct was to tell it how it is. He then overcompensated to appear less negative.

Damian Martin is surely 2016/17 MVP.

ROFLoopter is a flog.

It's crazy when you see how much the Cats struggle without Martin. If you were to look at his stats, you would think that he wouldn't be hard to cover but you just can't measure his leadership and impact.

cats 4 life, not when you dish up crap

4 life.....as in until you die.....not until your team start playing bad.
Cmon dude, we have had a real good run and to be honest it wasn't that bad of a loss. Wasn't like we got pumped for 40. The rest of the league has caught up, good things will come out of this eventually. Perth are still only a few wins of the top 2.

They'd better not be pinning their hopes on Martin changing their finals fortunes. Yes his impact is immeasurable but he's missed half the season and we dont know what standard he can get back to playing.

They should have replaced JJ with a combo guard weeks ago to steady the ship until Martin comes back. It doesn't look like they're doing that and its an embarrassment to the club if poor management decisions are the reason for such a poor season.

Agreed, Imagine if they got Ware.

Perth now 1-5 on the road.

Just slowly confirming something I predicted on these forums after they'd played about 2 or 3 road games- they won't win too many away from Perth Arena this season.

that's my point, can't stay on top forever, seems the club doesn't give a shite, that's the part a lot of us members talk about. Martin gone and didn't replace him with no one?

I got two jobs, just to keep my membership. like I've said, if you lose you lose but this season is a circus and there a team with no direction other than going down.

I'd like to know who is making the recruiting decisions? In a well run organisation the coach should be given the control to build his own team and unltimately be responsible for on court performance. After all, the HC and assistants have the contacts to recruit the players they need. This season has been a bust in that area. Two very average bargin bin imports. Im not a huge fan of Gleeson but he seems to have his hands tied and hes trying to do the best he can with the players at his disposal.

That's a very interesting point. Here are the combined scoring averages of each team's imports:

Perth 43ppg
Melbourne 40ppg
Adelaide 36ppg
Illawarra 36ppg
Cairns 30ppg
Brisbane* 28ppg
Sydney 27ppg
New Zealand* 22ppg

If you do the same thing with rebounding:

Perth 16rpg
Sydney 14rpg
Adelaide 11rpg
Brisbane* 11rpg
Cairns 10rpg
Illawarra 10rpg
New Zealand* 10rpg
Melbourne 8rpg

Yeah, it is disturbing that we seem to be banking on Damo's return from a Severe Knee Injury, to save our fortunes. Things will get better, and we'll certainly be better if and when Damo makes it back. I'm just worried we'll be too far gone by then. There are too many good teams fighting for a spot. This isn't like some seasons where we could limp in 4th spot and proclaim "yay, extended the streak."

I think what burns from a Cats' fan perspective, is the puzzlement and lack of information from management. Cat's fans are not accustomed to that.
This is the team that dumped JJ after 3 games, ostensibly to get somebody who was a better fit. ie a team that appeared willing to make the hard calls to keep the 'ship hopes alive.
That was just a fiasco, the explanations were dubious, and now we just seem to be rolling along.
The Cats said they would "look everywhere" for a Damo replacement. So what happened to that??

Also, its not so much a question of "blaming the imports," but they are the hired guns brought in to plug the gaps, and they just are not good fits.
How many of our players would be sort as a starter by other teams?
Martin (missing with an LTI and not an offensive player) and Knight (also injury prone, and known to tire as the season drags). And of the imports only Prather. The rest are good role players, including our other two imports. If we had say somebody like Lisch to start in the 2 spot, we'd be stoked to get an import like JJ coming off the bench. Similarly with McKay.
Put it another way, if they both quit tomorrow and went home to the USA, would we look for identical players to replace them? Hell no.
I still think they're improving, and having Damo back will make all the difference because of how we use JJ, but I just worry it won't be enough.

Yes i agree and that is my point exactly. They have import spots where they can make changes because of injuries. Martin and knight are never going to shoot the lights out. They aren't those type of players. Prather isn't a perimeter threat either which means Johnson is the wrong player for this team. Gleeson knows that and it appears he is unable to make that call.

I wonder what the situation with Ben Woodside's foot is? If he's not going to be back soon I'd write him off if I was the Breakers and bring in two new import guards while they have a two week break.

They'd better not be pinning their hopes on Martin changing their finals fortunes. Yes his impact is immeasurable but he's missed half the season and we dont know what standard he can get back to playing.

https://pickandroll.com.au/not-all-doom-and-gloom-in-fact-perth-could-be-better-without-knight/

Jameel's 125.3 ORTG is top 5, 103.8 DRTG is top 6 and he has a +21.4 net rating, which places 4th overall amongst ALL players. He leads the league in offensive rebounding percentage, blocks per game and blocks percentage. He is top 10 in a number of categories.

As a club overall, Perth has been outscored and is utterly average: a 107.2 ORTG and 107.8 DRTG, indicative of a 6-6 record to date.

Simply put, Perth is quite clearly a much better team, offensively and defensively, with Jameel on the court.

He's top five in at least four statistical categories, leading three of them. Top ten in a number of others.

Not really sure what more you could want from the guy, but he's not going for 20 a night so he's garbage apparently.

Anon #229 stop using Damo as an excuse! The Breakers were missing Webster last night. In fact Perth's only road win was against a United team missing Goulding.

You make it sound like Perth are the only team with a friggin injury! smh.

"What do you think Stockton is?"

Not up to it, hence the two new import guards.

Imports aren't the problem, it's the Aussies... There's been a pretty big surge in local talent this year on a couple of teams, but Perth have declined in that category with the loss of Jervis and Jawai.

^^^^ Exactly why they needed to make a change with their imports.

Comparing statistics with other imports in the league is apples and oranges. Import role players is fine depending on what aussie talent you already have there. Johnson and mackay are good players but not what the cats need right now.

The salary cap punishes teams that have multiple 'star' imports as they cannot count as marquee players. Then there is a penalty tax. I am guessing what you are suggesting is not financially viable. Perth might be a rich and successful club, but has not become so by throwing away good money after bad.

Perth's sustained success has been generated from holding together a core of Aussies (and naturalised imports) and keeping that core together from year to year.

This year, that strategy has hit a couple of major stumbling blocks - aging and injured personnel (Redhage, Martin, Knight) and the next generation not quite kicking on to stardom.

I am not sure that upgrading essentially competent imports is the way to go. Name a team that has EVER been championship material based solely on the quality of its imports. I think you are ignoring the elephant in the room - you cannot win without a great contingent of local players.

Yes, isn't that what Prather is doing for Perth?

The issue is they replaced Beal with a different type of player in Johnson and now are struggling to cover Martin's injury, whereas in previous seasons Beal covered some of the load when Damo went down.

Anon, the all time low score for the cats was 52 way back in 1982

XY i agree with you totally. But johnson is a similar type of player to prather. A good SG would make a big difference to this side and still for around the same budget

"Pretty sure 57 is a new all time low score for Perth. Last I can find was 67 in 2006. Anyone else confirm?"

Apparently that was only the second-worst, with the worst being 54 @ Nunawading in 1982

Oh, and our next-worst score was 58, which was just 12 months ago against the mighty Townsville Crocs in this game
http://www.hoops.com.au/forum/38710-crocs-vs-wildcats-december-19/

There is a lot less leeway when your coach is a flog. It makes your team more reliant on individual talent. Melbourne can overcome it better because they have multiple dangerous individuals. Perth doesn't have that so they need a good system but instead they got a whiny flog running the show.

The Wildcats elected to remain with their steady core of Martin, Hire, Wagstaff, Redhage and Knight.
Which is perfectly fine, but there comes a time where it eventually runs out of steam as a collective.
Wildcats really needed to make some hard decisions and advise Redhage he's time was done and probably needed to seek a better fit than Hire.

But they stuck with loyalty, again, which is fine. But you can't be surprised when the formula is eventually superseded by other team and your success on the court begins to regress.

Everyone could see how horrible that game was, so I don't understand how both these teams were able to compete with the "flying" 36ers in the last 2 weeks.

Greg Hire is the Alex Loughton of the Wildcats team, minus the Hulk-RAWWWRR!! celebration that AL does when he finally hits a 3 for the first time in a month or two.

Here's the box score for the Nunawading game.

The 1995 media guide lists the lowest score as 67 in 1984.

Anon #280 you can only use Damo's injury as an excuse if other teams are at full strength or don't have comparable injuries. NZ did have a comparable injury last night. Webster hasn't been shooting well but teams are aware f he can catch alight at any moment. His potential to go off and drop 25 is greater than 90% of the NBL, hence his presence creates fear and attracts defensive attention despite his form.

United had Goulding, Blanchfield and Barlow missing all at once! Apples and oranges compared to the Cats missing one player last night.

Here we go again. "If we had lisch..." "if we had ware..."

Bol the rules allow you to spend more on Aussies than imports due to the local marquee allowances.

Compare Johnson and McKay to other teams second and third imports if you want to be fair. There's not much difference.

Dazz - cats fans haven't had lack of information from management. We'be been given the same we've always gotten.

Pretty ordinary basketball from both teams with Perth being absolutely horrendous before Prather put the team on his back and no better after he had cooled off a little.
I have no idea what is with Stockton. In transition he slows down to set up half court. He shoots as a last resort and he could not guard his grandmother driving the hoop.He must have been muzzled.
With Webster out I would have thought Stockton would assume more responsibility not less.
Shae Ili has disappointed, he's been given too much time and his decision making at the end of quarters is terrible.
I don't see us competing with the better teams at this stage. But we are still hanging around and no one is out of it, even Cairns who I think are one of the better teams.