Gliddon and Trice will be shut down.

Jawai would be pretty hard to guard but Cats will shut out the passes.

If Prather plays like Sunday then yes we are a good chance, he has been poor in Cairns of recent times.

Going to need a full effort from everyone to get up in Cairns though.

Both teams in good form winning 4 out of their last 5 games. The battle between Mitchell and Prather should be huge.

Perth need to contain Jawai. He made a meal out of Brandt and McKay last game. Perth gave up a lot of rebounds in the third quarter in that match and their transition game dried up as a result.

Cairns should be favorites for this series but you can't help but think that if Perth can sneak a win in on Game 1 they can clinch the series.

If we score more points, we'll win. No doubt.

This should be fierce, scrappy, gruelling and low scoring. An all out war.

All 4 contests during the season were close- so I'm expecting more of the same. 3 tight games. I'll tip Cairns 2-1 with all games going to the home team- again like the regular season.

Go Pans!

Ironically, I think you'll see Perth play with a lot more freedom these playoffs now that the dark cloud of the streak has dispersed.

There is a similar train of thought that players may lose focus, but there's way too much experience on this team for that to happen.

Similar to LV I also think Cairns will take it 2-1 on home games, but I'd like to be pleasantly surprised!

Seeing Vaughan is doing both games I suspect it will be a 2-0 series win to the Wildcats win with Cottono, Marto, Knighto, Shawno and Jesso out flopping Wortho :-)

Emergency Toni Caldwell is actually her full name.

Reid is the worst ref in the league...... I can't wait to view his mediocrity in person once more. It gives me tingles down my spine, and if i'm telling the truth a slight tingle in my loins.

thanks for the roster Anon

"Reid is the worst ref in the league...... I can't wait to view his mediocrity in person once more. It gives me tingles down my spine, and if i'm telling the truth a slight tingle in my loins."

lol!

Bless your little orange socks, Kingpodge, you are a credit to the board :P

Does any Taipans supporters know if Mitchell can shoot? He takes lit ike he can but ends up bricking it. Not even close.
Players like Wagstaff, Gladden, McCarron, MacKay, Kenny,Weeks, Brandt will decide this series.
Cairns have built nicely with Loughton, Weigh, Weeks just coming into form at he right time.

Why do Cairns play first game away? Adelaide plays first two games at home and third away if required, yet Cairns draw is the opposite,despite finishing 2nd on ladder, playing away and then at home. To me they are disadvantaged as they have to travel, play game 1 and then travel back for game 2 only 2 days later.
Yet Adelaide can wrap up their series without travelling to Illawarra. Is there a reason for this that I have missed?

I think you've missed the fact that none of what you said is true.

Adelaide and Cairns both have games one and three at home, Illawarra and Perth have game two at home.

@kobrulz
I am just going off the calender schedule on the NBL app. Looks like another oversight from the NBL techies.
It lists Adelaide at home Game 1 on Thursday 16th and game 2 on Monday 20th with game 3 in Illawarra on Thursday 23rd.
It lists Cairns playing game 1 in Perth on Friday 17th, game 2 in Cairns on Sunday 19th with game 3 in Cairns on Friday 24th.

Don't know why NBL app schedule was so wrong, closed down app and reopened and it has been updated with new schedule.

probably an organic interface error.

Perth should attack nate from the high post, get McKay to draw a couple of quick fouls utilising his speed.

If Perth rocks up for 3/4 per game they can win this. Unfortunately that has been an impossible task all season.

Although it seems obvious key players avoiding foul trouble will be key, cotton, damo, prather for perth and Gliddon and Nate for cairns.

Agree that McKay has to play this series at the level he did on sunday for the cats to prevail.

Im tipping Cairns to win the whole thing this year. They have defensive grit and a good spread of scoring options and in recent weeks have finished games off much stronger than their opponents.

It comes down to the Cats being able to neutralise Jawai. He dominates us,
If we can get him in early foul trouble, the game is ours for the taking.

Are the Cats in Cairns now?

Reid, That clown couldn't see from 1 mtr away the ball came off Ware's foot then couldn't see the ball came off Wagstaff's foot.
This has been the worst season for ref's in the last decade.

And won't Joey be happy to see Hogan?

Series was close, taipans got Perth twice at home once without Prather and last game knight was missing so with a full team I'm confident we can get the all important game 1

I'm wearing my Perth goggles and I'm not taking them off until we're eliminated. Perth to sweep Cairns 2-0 ;)

"Are the Cats in Cairns now?"

The commentary team on Sunday mentioned they believed they were flying straight to Cairns, however there was an article in the West today stating they had been excused from the Awards night so they could fly home and prepare...so who knows.

There's absolutely no reason that ether team can't win this.
All their games have been close. Perth's last loss was without Knight, Cairns' earlier losses were without Mitchell, etc.

My biggest concern, and I'm only speculating, is that the Cats have already played their finals. That was a massive game against MU, and I reckon the collective sign of relief probably spawned a high-pressure system.

Same could be said for Cairns. They've played playoff games for the last month now

My biggest concern, and I'm only speculating, is that the Cats have already played their finals. That was a massive game against MU, and I reckon the collective sign of relief probably spawned a high-pressure system.

But facts.... Randle and Sobey played 30+ minutes in Adelaide. They weren't tanking. If you think they were, put down the box score and watch a replay of the game.

Even when Randle only played 11 (the rest of the started played close to their regular minutes) they were playing to win. Again, watch the game... don't just look at the box score.....


"cairns were always going to win the last 2" - is a statement that originated somewhere between your small and large intestines.

This series could go either way in my opinion. Both teams have had tough schedules leading into the playoffs. The Taipans played 10 games in 29 days with double headers (1 home and 1 away) in each of the last 5 rounds. The Wildcats played 9 games in that period but had one round where they didn't have to travel.

Interestingly, it seems that the Wildcats (even though they were in Melbourne on Sunday) were allowed to miss the MVP awards night on Monday yet Fearne, Gliddon, Trice and Worthington flew down from Cairns to attend. I wonder if Fearne knew the Wildcats had been excused and if he was given the same opportunity ?

This game will be harder than the 2 previous home games against the Wildcats as they are now at full strength and Prather seems to be back to his best. I think they are going to be very hard to beat with the one question mark I have on them being that I'm not sure they are as hungry for a title as they were last season whereas the Taipans certainly are.

The Taipans however, can be very shaky if it gets close at the death - as recently as the last home game against Adelaide they did their best to keep Adelaide in it at the end. They have been particularly vulnerable all season when they have started off well and built good leads and have been a far better team when they have had to chase down a deficit.

They were focused on winning, it was just focused on winnning by using their bench. You know, to develop their bench so they can build on their already dominating starting 5.

That first lost to Cairns was adelaide just flexing their muscles to say "we are that good, our bench almost beat you in crunch time".

So Joey didn't have all his best troops on the court during crunch time in Adelaide?

Nice story Anon. next.

I think you're right there Dazzamaniac

Even when Randle only played 11 (the rest of the started played close to their regular minutes) they were playing to win. Again, watch the game... don't just look at the box score.....

Zodiac, the point i was making was that the starting 5 got their run in cairns, minus Randal, obviously he was giving the bench guys minutes but the intent was to win. They weren't tanking.

The game in Adelaide, no one was resting.

and they did neither in Adelaide, they played to win.

I was talking about the Adelaide game kiddo, hence why the location is mentioned in the post......

Fight fight fight

congratulations. You just played yourself.

technically, yes it is.

Weight off Perth Wildcats' shoulders with playoff spot secure, says Casey Prather

"Thirty-one consecutive play-off appearances is an unbelievable accomplishment. Trying to get there and not wanting to be the team that didn't make it is definitely a big weight off our shoulders," Prather said.
“We’re a lot more free. We know we have the chance to compete for a championship so all of the pressure is off our heads.”

Wow, a Wildcats thread derailed by an inane and irrelevant discussion about the 36ers - there's a turnaround!

haha just like death and taxes.

Let us hope we don't see the same incompetent officiating that marred 2 (3 if you ask Wildcat fans) of the regular season matchups....

See the ref roster doesn't fill me with much optimism....

We're a lot more free. We know we have the chance to compete for a championship so all of the pressure is off our heads.

Is that a good thing?
With the pressure on, the Cats stepped up and played two of their best games all season.

Which games are you referring to?
The Kings game we played a broken team. Yes we play well at home as front-runners against a crippled opponent. No surprises there.
The United game I thought was far from our best. It was ugly and not impressive IMO. We out-shot Melbourne from outside the arc and still barely scraped home.

I believe we've got another level left in us, which is good because we'll need it to advance.

Going to be interesting to see how the games are reffed. With the one notable exception, Jawai generally gets a raw deal. If the Refs let the Cats get away with mugging him every time he gets near the basket, he can be contained.

At the other end, will they continue to role out the "little guy protection" for Cotton? Or will they be less inclined to blow the whistle in the finals.

Hawks couldn't handle Randle.

Can the Taipans handle Cotton AND Prather together?

That should give you the clue.

Bill's right, there's no question that barring foul trouble or them just having a really bad night, Cairns should struggle to contain the Cats' backcourt.

But the question is whether Cairns' frontcourt dominance can counter that.