That melbourne v cats game was crunch on the weekend. Melbourne were one Barlow 3 from turning both teams chances on their heads

Yep - it was the difference between 3rd & 7th on the ladder (and now with the kings & taipans winning last night - perth have dropped to 5th) - what a crazy season

There are some huge games in both round 18 and 19. We will probably have to wait until the last 3 games in round 19 to see how 2nd - 4th is decided.

As Dazz discussed in another thread, we could potentially end up in a mini ladder with 6 teams tying for the same win loss record.

Interesting to note that it ends up a 4 way tie with Hawks, Cairns, Perth and Sydney - the Hawks will miss out of the finals regardless of the results in the next 3 games.

The Hawks v Taipans game on Friday is huge - If the Hawks get this one, I'm going to call it and say they make the finals - i can't see them losing to Brisbane at home. So those 2 wins will give them 15 wins for the season and will see them make it.

But it will be tough against an in-form Cairns team. Interesting.

Adelaide are obviously in.
I think Hawks and Cairns will make it.
4th is a toss-up at this point.

Hmmm - i think Cairns prob has the hardest run home - 2 games against Adelaide, 1 x Perth and 1 x Hawks.

My pick

Adelaide
Illawarra
Perth
Sydney

Cairns
NZ
Melb

Gut feeling 3-4 teams will finish 14-14
Cairns have Adelaide twice,unless adelaide gives Cairns a win?Syd have Perth so that game could decide 3/4th

Melb Utd to win last 4 games and make finals with 15 wins !!!

I don't know that I like Sydney's chances - 1 game against Melb (who I think have had their measure this season?) and once against Perth & their red army.

I think 36ers, Hawks and .....maybe Perth & cairns (long shot Melb)

That last game is in Melbourne, not in Perth.

I hate to say it, but my (very flawed) system of guestimation says Cairns will miss out:

Adelaide
Illawarra
Perth
Sydney
____
Cairns
New Zealand*
Melbourne*
Brisbane

Same record, I couldn't be bothered working out the ties.

Best teams in the league are 36ers, and Hawks. The Kings, United Perth and Cairns are fighting for 3rd and 4th. It's a toss up literally. Could come down to a single play in one games.If I picked two it would be the kiss of death so i do't mind who goes through. But of the 4 who do qualify could be anyone's championship.Best of 3,5 guarantees no real home court advantage.

We will know more after this rounds biggest matches between Hawks v Cairns,Sydney vMelb,Cairns v Perth,Hawks v Melb.If the hawks split this week they then play Bris in rd 19.I have no doubt the league want Perth & Sydney to make playoffs and Perth to get 2nd & two home finals in the 1st week.A Perth crowd of 13,000 =nbl $$$$$.

Too hard to call. Round 18 is definitely the nailbiter round for the teams vying for Finals spot. The one team I'm wary of if they managed to get into the Finals would be the Snakes.

What happens if perth owns the split on kings, kings on cairns and cairns on perth?

It's impossible enough just to tip one round correctly, let alone two, so I'm not going to get carried away with predictions either. Will just enjoy the ride as things unfold.

My main interest is Perth of course, and 2 games both weekends combined with key players in poor health and/or poor form means I don't really like our chances.

What happens if perth owns the split on kings, kings on cairns and cairns on perth?

Within the mini-table I believe it is determined by wins and losses, then points differential, then percentage.

I'm saving myself the trouble and not bothering to predict- countless permutations still possible with 2 weeks left!

As far as United goes, it's looking unlikely. But, beat Sydney on Saturday night then all of a sudden it's looking likely again (a team they told a 2-1 record against and beat last time in Sydney). Anything can happen. Got tickets to the open air game- just my third live game of the season- should be good!

"My main interest is Perth of course, and 2 games both weekends combined with key players in poor health and/or poor form means I don't really like our chances."

With the split over Illawarra, Sydney, Melbourne and most likely Cairns, I think the Wildcats would have to go 1-3 to miss.

With the first game of each round being at home against Brisbane and Sydney, it would be a bit of a choke to miss out. I think they'll get there.

"A Perth crowd of 13,000 =nbl $$$$$."

Forgive my ignorance but how does a big crowd in PER translate to more money for the NBL?

"Within the mini-table I believe it is determined by wins and losses, then points differential, then percentage."

...then amount of games that were decided by the refs instead of the actual recorded result

Paul,
Haven't quite got my head around it, so was just thinking out load, but in a mini-table, with equal wins, wouldn't differential and percentage yield the same result? ie team with highest differential has the highest %??

Either way, makes for some interesting scenarios...

That's true, if you had a mini-table where all teams involved were actually level on head-to-head and points differential then percentage would be the same.

It's a very unlikely scenario, usually someone gets eliminated by the earlier measures, but I'm not sure what would happen in that instance. Maybe percentage across the whole season? Don't know.

If mini table comes up all equal, then and only the. Does it go to season percentage