I'm not touching this one in terms of betting.
36ers are rightfully favourites but their end to the season throws in some added uncertainty for me.

The main key to the game for Adelaide is being able to pick up where they left off several games ago when they locked up the #1 spot.
(from that point of view, it could prove a nice move by Randle to stir things up so that his teammates know they'll be in for a fight)

This season has been all over the place and there's no reason why the finals seasons won't be as well.

There are three seasons. Pre-season, regular season and FINALS season. Now is the time for the All Star Sixers to shine. First up Hawks.....

Everyone's second team the Hawks venture to the Dome. Hoops own, Oscar "the iceman" Forman will be looking to lead the feathery team to their first flag since 2001. It’s a solid team. “Rocket” Rotnei Clark is a former MVP, “Marvellous” Marvelle Haris, “Evander” Holyfield, and let’s not foget AJ “AJ” Ogilvy. He and “DJ” go back a long way. I’m sure they would share PJ’s.

Hawks opened this season with a smashing 122 to 88 home win over the Sixers. A series of losses followed before they got their season back on track. R6 saw them beat the Sixers on the road 85 to 74, before a R14 beating 117 to 85 on the road, with the final matchup in R17 seeing the Hawks steal the game 95 to 92 in the second half.

With the Sixers it’s all about the second half. They are either unstoppable, or else they are like reality TV.

Whoever wins this game will win the series, and tonight that will be the Sixers.

I backed the Hawks, but only because (a) the price was good and (b) it was a bonus bet so it doesn't cost me anything. And I only do minimal ($10) bets for fun anyway.

I've made a grand total of $300 since Centrebet started sponsoring the NBL about 5 or 6 years ago. :)

I'm struggling with the nerves today! I hope they don't shit the bed.

So what are the factors to look out for?

If you're Adelaide:
» Randle causing damage and knocking down shots
» Hodgson & Jacobsen battling and getting tough baskets down low
» Someone like Teys, Deng or Drmic to pipeup with 8-12 points
» Sobey to play possessed - driving to the basket, hitting jumpers, causing turnovers and grabbing big rebounds
» Limit Clarke & Forman from the perimeter
» Don't let AJ Ogilvy get many offensive rebounds

If you're the Hawks:
» Clarke and Forman to have serious impact from the perimeter
» Grab as many offensive rebounds as possible
» Harris to "run riot" as best he can
» Randle to go missing for stretches and look fatigued
» Sobey to be defended until he's out of his depth
» Outmuscle Adelaide's bigs and slow 36ers movement

This shaping up to be by far the "prettier" of the two semis.

Both teams like to extend the d full court as a way to speed up the game and to hide the many poor one on one defenders that they both have.

6ers in my opinion get a lot more out of their pressure than the Hawks.

This usually makes for a few flowing affair and potential high scoring.

Don't think this will change due to the playoffs.

Hawks start off with a more physical team but at times when the other team gets off to a high scoring start the Hawks starters can struggle to put points on the board and did an early hole for the team. If the starters can hold there own the scoring pace pucks up a lot once Rotnie and to a lesser extent Forman hit the court.

Head says 6ers at home heart says Rotnie and Oscar fire from 3 and Kay takes DJ's apart in the block. DJ has made huge strides in his P&R d but is still soft in the post.

The big question is. Will Joey be doing 5 on 5 off subs so the players can walk on and off holding each others hands like they did at the awards night lol.

Sign of the closeness of the league when nothing in this series would surprise me. Adelaide could unleash at home and then carry the confidence to Wollongong to go 2-0. Or the Hawks could bury them and then grind out a home win to sweep. Or anything in between.

With either team, I think the gulf between their best and worst is significant. Hawks have looked pretty horrible at times and Harris has gone quiet or Ogilvy has thrown silly passes. But they were excellent against Brisbane. And Adelaide's run and gun is second to none, but their second unit can falter too.

I don't always enjoy these match-ups as though one of my teams wins, another loses. Wish this could've been saved for the grand final. That said, at least I'm guaranteed one of them getting through!

Tight game until 5 minutes to go.

Adelaide by 13.

We haven't mentioned the Adelaide curse of choking when it counts...

Ridiculously hard to pick who's going to win. I wonder how'd you feel if your brother is the one that sink the game winning three at the end of OT in game 3 Isaac? This season feels like it has more dramatic close finishes than usual and I wouldn't discount that scenario how unlikely it may be :).

What's going with ticket sales? I could've sworn that last night about 90% of the lower bowl was sold, with the top tier slowly but surely going. Now the whole place is only about half sold.

Randle and Clarke get into a blue first half. Both get ejected and 1 game each.

Let's spice up the series a bit

Really interesting matchups and different styles of rotations.

Scoring:
Clarke starts on the bench and averages 27 mins/game. Lets White "take the shine of the new ball" before coming on. Averages 17.3 ppg, or 0.64 pts/min.
Forman on the bench too and averages 13 min/game for 7.1 ppg (0.55 pts/min)
They're the danger men from the Hawks re scoring over 0.5 pt/min.
Martin scores at the rate of 0.27 pt/min and White 0.31 pts/min so Sixers fans will want them on court when the Hawks are behind.
With the Sixers, Randle scores at the rate of 0.68, Sobey 0.56, DJ 0.50, Creek 0.50, Deng 0.50. The "slowest scorer" is Teys at 0.28

Not surprisingly Sixers average more PPG.

Rotations:
Clarke has the most minutes of the Hawks but starts on the bench. Their starting 5 soaks up 51% of court time, Sixers starting 5 soak up 56%. Hawks seem to rotate the players more than the Sixers with shorter, more even minutes. Hawks have Clarke (27), AJ (24), Harris (23), Norton (21) and Kay (20) over 20 mins/game, with Sixers playing Randle (31), DJ (30), Sobey (27), Creek (24) and Jacobson (21), then Deng and Doyle both under 10 min/game

The big man department is where a lot of action happens and I think the Sixers have the wood on the Hawks in this area. Guard wise I think Clarke and Randle are pretty even, but Sobey is the difference. In transition I think the Sixers have the jump on the Hawks who go better outside the arc.

Bring it on!

@twenty four, I'd say they released unsold member tickets? Sales not looking that amazing at the moment, which seems to be common for semi final games.

I think the result also depends on the crowd. Even if it is a small crowd it really needs to be loud in support for the entire game. Last game the crowd was flat just expecting the team to win and the team played flat as a result.

^^^ Good point. Let's hope there's a lot of activity in the next couple of hours, because it's looking more like a 2005/06 crowd than a 2016/17 minor premiers crowd at the moment!

That was @NBL Fan, btw.

The Semi Final crowds against Melbourne 3 seasons ago were very average too. People saving their cash for Grand Final games.

It is also because Junior basketball is on tonight.

Love the NBL promo on their facebook page, very nicely done! Only criticism is, "who you got?" sounds silly, "who will rise" is more emphatic

The one thing we do know is someone will drop Randle. He'll see more screens than a Hoyt's Cinema. He's a big boy(okay not a big boy,you know what I mean) and he's asked for it. Let's hope he man's up when it comes. If he rises above it and scores 22+ then good on him. If he cracks and scores 14 and the Hawks win,he owes the team a huge apology for putting himself ahead of them.

"Who Will Rise?" sounds like something they were going to use for one of the Nolan Batman films until market research told them how silly it sounded...

twentyfour, they did "who will rise" in their promo video during the awards night

Now the whole place is only about half sold.

You never know, it might be better for the Sixers not to have a packed house. Some of them seem to play better on the road when they don't have the pressure of crowd expectations!

Sobey is the barometer.
If he shits himself (ala CG43) then Hawks will sweep.

Teys replacing Creek in the starting lineup :(

Bevo with the fighting words!! Fire up hawks

Commentators NFI. Ferg been starting for a long time.

FSTOS,

Creek replaced Ferguson in the starting lineup towards the end of the regular season.

Nice start from Hawks. tempo electri

Kevin White hitting 3s. Frightening omen for Adelaide!

Just goes to show how important momentum is going into finals, and we have none of it.

Horrible call on AJ.

Nothing in that as the commentators said

Great first quarter. This is going down to the wire.

COME ON SIXERS.

Sobey takes the bump, pretty sure he initiated the contact and pushed the defender away.

Suck it AJ!!!

White was moving and airborne hahahahahahahahaha

Hawks have stopped sharing the ball, it's killing them. However adelaide clearly has the best home cooking in the league, my gosh, every drive seems to result in free-throw, make or miss.

Moving screen when he wasn't moving???

The problem with the screen was Randle was moving when the screen came, yes it's a bad call considering some of the screens they let go. But that one was Randle fault for not waiting.

JEROME IS FIRED UP!!!

Hahahahaha Rhys Martin

This is a joke. Nothing wrong with Martin's screen, Randle has a flail so it's a foul. Well done let's all save some cash and crown the sixers champions, 30+ free throws a game will do that for ya.

KAY LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

WTF was that.

Can someone give neroli meadows some other questions to ask other than " is the Hawks dirty". 'Headdesk'

Carn the Hawks

6ers on fire. Hawks need Kay, Oscar and especially Rotnei to get into the game.

How does Randle do it

No one puts Randle in the corner

I've watched them all in the NBL but with the depth and athleticism he is up against in todays NBL I think Randle is as good a PG as we have ever seen.

Sixers up by 10 at half time. Need to bring it home boys.

GET THAT WEAK STUFF OUTTA HERE!!!

That was not a foul on Aj, and I can't stand the guy

Are you fdk serious. 2 shocking calls on AJ

Looked like a foul in live action, but in the replay you could see that Sobey was just moving forward and AJ barely rested his arm on him.

Another adelaide flail another rubbish foul. Seriously that was straight from the redhage playbook and the bottom of the barrel too.

Fkn piss week Drimic

FFS Adelaide don't blow this lead

Drmic flop up there with the best.

No comment from the locals on Drimic?

It was a flop, FSTOS

Knowledgeable crowd....maybe the lack of power to the aircons have fried their brains

Just quietly Cody Ellis is goddam awful

While I hated Homicides commentary, I wish Randle would embrace the nickname Ant-man, So appropriate. Love watching him play.

Hell of a game.

Oh nooooo.... Randle down....

Kay and AJ show some balls please

Noooo , hope he is ok

Randle WTF??? This is not happening!!!

As much as I want Hawks to win - I do not wan't to see that happen to Randle.

Yeah, that would be awful if it's serious for Randle. Hopefully it's just a bad cramp or something not too serious.

Jerome all good!!! Thank god!

He's back!

"Why is randles wife apart of the bench?"

Who cares.

That is not a block. This is home cooking at its best. You may not like it but you're all riding the refs to a championship

Randle gets to have his whole extended family on the bench if he wants. He is the MVP!

Randle's wife on the bench is the greatest NBL scandal since the uproar on here about guys wearing non-regulation coloured sleeves.

Randle's strategy of influencing the refs seems to have worked. Fair play to him and foul play to the refs (pardon the pun)

creek has lost that lift

Creek bailed again..

Pretty soft 5th on Harris from that angle

How was Harris not found yet Creek and Hodgson were?? I just want to learn

This is our house baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adelaide too good. Hawks missed so many decent looks by taking the thing too soft to the hoop.

Hahaha another foul?

Goodbye Conehead. Piss off.

*sniff, sniff* Is that home cooking that I smell?

Johnson drops the elbow and a foul on the defender.... ok sure no home cooking.

No hate just disappointment, this should be a close game.

Bevo that why you didn't get coach of the year. Joey out coached you.

Home cooking didn't win Adelaide this game, their complete dominance around the hoop on defense has.

Home cooking comments = most honest comments in this thread

Adelaide didn't need it to win though which is what makes me most frustrated.

And another magical and one. I'm just calling it how it is, please tell me if that was a foul on norton

Hawks don't deserve to win. Who said Bevo a good coach.

Hawks just didn't get it going today. Needed someone other than Coenraad to hit some shots. Plenty of opportunities but they just weren't falling. Can't blame the refs for that.

"Home cooking didn't win Adelaide this game, their complete dominance around the hoop on defense has"

Yep. Killed us inside.

Bevo is an awesome coach. He wasn't the one out there getting swatted around the hoop.

Well done Sixers on a well deserved win.

I just wish the officials called it down the middle.

Hawks lacked polish.
6ers looked good.

Refs cooked that shit at home to perfection.
A shame.

And large, loud crowds giving their home team a slight edge with the refs has been happening forever. It's one of the main reasons you strive all season to get home court advantage. That's not "home cooking".

A dominant display from us tonight

We would have won without a few calls going our way. Stop crying.

Thanks for coming. See you in a few days.

Wow anon thanks for calling me a loser, the fact you couldn't explain some of those foul calls says it all doesn't it. If your frustrated at me constantly posting about it, maybe I'm frustrated there are that many pathetic calls to keep posting about.

Adelaide outplayed Hawks I agree, but if even the commentary team was constantly pleading for a lot of those calls to be let go then maybe just maybe there were some really soft calls.

If adelaide keep getting half as many fouls called and double the number of free throws it's not even close. And it's not their style of play.

Lets hope the Hawks can get the business done at home and take it back to Adelaide.

Too many players MIA tonight.

This home cooking has been worse than at the Arena

Yeah FSTOS there's clearly a lot of scope for improvement from the Hawks. This series certainly doesn't look over to me.

"And large, loud crowds giving their home team a slight edge with the refs has been happening forever. It's one of the main reasons you strive all season to get home court advantage. That's not "home cooking"."

Stop being a prick Luuuc.

Hawks missed so many good looks, both inside and outside, that if they can get G2 they'll feel they can have a good swing back in Adelaide.

The 36ers were locked down early, will be very relieved to have got their swagger back in that second quarter, which was the difference in the end.

I think they are withholding the crowd figure until they get a clear call on whether Randle's Mrs was part of the bench or part of the crowd.

Adelaide were +15 rebounds in the 2nd half.
5 Blocks to 1 for the game.
17-2 fast break points.
We wanted it more, plain and simple.

I remember 2014 GF game 3 the Wildcats shot 49 foul shots. Instead of crying I realised we were reaching, holding and pushing all game. It cost us the title and we deserved it. Suck it up Hawks fans and haters of the Sixers, we were the better team tonight.

See you Sunday

Townsend and Beattie should be shot.They are by far the two worst refs in the league.Give as Mayberry and Aylan game two please.

Loved the intensity in the game, it's clear these teams don't like each other much and that creates the potential for this to be a great series to watch. As a Sixers fan, it was great to see the team seem to get their mojo back - was shitting myself though when Randle went down in the 4th and the Hawks were coming hard but unlike the previous 4 games, the team was able to stabilise and put the game away. The big guys were dominant and were the major reason we won. It seems that Hodgson and DJ are almost the perfect big men to be playing with Randle as their work on the offensive glass and Randle's ability to attract multiple defenders when going to the rim gets us a lot of second chance shots and easy putbacks - a huge part of our success this season.

While the Sixers did get the better of many of the calls, Bevo likes his teams to push the boundaries on defence and the refs were calling the game tight - the Hawks players failed to adjust to this and gave up a lot of unneccessary fouls. But the home cooking level was nowhere near what 'j' and other anon posters who have completely derailed this thread are making it out to be.

As a Sixers fan, the Hawks still worry me a bit. They were in the game for a lot of it and many of their top performers didn't fire tonight. While Coenraad playing out of his skin offset this a little bit, I expect Clarke, Ogilvie and co. to make it very difficult for the Sixers in game 2.

Bevo's aftergame interview was correct and also all class. The second game will be absolutely a clash of coaches.

if bevo does get his team up then anything could happen in the third game in Adelaide.

I don't see the calls being biased one way or the other, or that they affected the game, but it did show that the very large majority of current crop of referes, are not at the same level as the best players. One howler per game per official is sort of OK, especially if the crew have the maturity to accept an overrule. But I just don't see that happening.

the commentary of "that should have been a double foul" when two bigs entangled arms and threw each other to the ground in sequence, is precisely the type of behaviour that the old school refs were told to, "double foul that immediately and with heavy emphasis and authority, make very player on the court know that they will get slammed for participating in such crap".

and it worked.

Just the one "wabbapp" from Tommy Greer's tonight. I thought he did well.

Dunno. It's some kind of exclamation when he's watching a replay of someone hitting a three generally, but tonight he used it on the replay of Ferguson's put-back dunk.

It's as though he has a mini stroke.

"Oscar Forman get on my poster... WABBAPP"

Fkn weird man.

Home cooking this, home cooking that. We get it, teams tend to get preferential treatment at home. It isn't necessarily a bias from the referees, and has more to do with the crowd influencing their perception of play. Frankly, you have to get over it. Adelaide earned home court advantage, so they earned every little thing that comes with it - even the crowd that is doing their very best to sway the minds of referees. That's professional sports. Shut up and quit whinging like babies, you'll get your share on Sunday I am very sure.

As for the rest of the game, the Sixers won fair and square. After a sluggish start they outhustled Illawarra on both sides of the floor, and if anything could have pulled the game out even further.

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but I am betting Sixers in 2 games.

If you want people to have regard for your posts than add something more to your posts than just "home cooking by the refs".

A dozen posts repeating one line looks more like someone who has no interest in the game and just wants to cause a stir.

--

36ers slow start was saved by Sobey - what a first half!

Sobey's spark was game changing. Terrific match and loved his drives to the basket - this was a key factor!

Randle made some suspect decisions in the first quarter including a wide open drive which he refused to layup instead passing it off causing a turnover. With that said, wasn't a terrible first Q, in fact he had 7 points.

Jacobsen gets so awkward when receiving the ball on a cut, it seems like in his mind he doesn't know whether to attempt a hard layup, get away with a travel or try to sneak a dribble in.

Teys had a very stable match, i'm not sure if moving him to the starting 5 was the right move, but the way he acted as an anchor of sorts particularly on D seemed to work.

Creek had a great match working with the ball down low. Didn't get major stats but his performance was highly valuable.

Hodgson had a terrific match. That defence just killed the Hawks bigs. And then the rebound putback and the dunk gave him a few offensive highlights which he didn't even need after all those massive blocks.

Drmic looked pretty ill but he did his job - hit that big shot and got himself to the line a few times. Yes, Drmic causes sh*t, and he probably flopped on that occasion. If i'm an opposition fan, i'd be pissed off with him.

Ferguson was either a bit over-awed by the situation or too keen with his three point shot, but total credit to him - good defence, a great putback jam and that nice little jumper showed he's got some maturity through his veins.

Johnson had a good match - nailed those threes and worked well down-low to make things happen and conjure up a few baskets when Adelaide looked under the pump. This seems to be his modus operandi - don't try to take over the game when things go well, but when batman and robin are silenced a little or the 36ers are struggling, he will make his presence known and work on those baskets.

If redhage failed like drimic, Ferguson, and sobey and got calls you would get all over how poor he is and how biased the "home cooking is".

Home cooking: Funny a term that seems to be used exclusively for every perth game played at the arena by those on this forum and thrown out in multiple posts every game, is now somehow irritating and so easily dismissed by all of you when the shoe is on the other foot...

Open the other eye, your team played for multiple calls and the refs took the bait. "The Hawks push the boundaries, they are so dirty" please, every team pushes the boundaries every game.

Rotnei will be wanting cheeseburgers on Sunday

Thought Ferg was really good tonight. You could see him really moving his feet and keeping at his man. Overall was a pretty good game, but the nbl needs to sort these umpires out. So much hate and confusion from everyone watching .

Rotnei and Coenraad looked like had they had some support would have gotten this game over the line..
G2 will be tight as hell!!

Try the game highlights on the NBL app, under 'latest'. It's about a three-minute vid

Yes, the Sixers got the clear advantage on the fouls on in the second half, that was pretty obvious from the crowd. That said, it was probably evens on the bad calls in the first half, and the Hawks major run was spurred by that embarrassing decision on the Jacobsen screen which changed the momentum for a time there.

Acknowledging that, I defy anyone to suggest with a straight face that some soft foul calls changed the outcome of this game. Sixers completely shut Clarke out of the game, and kept changing shots at the rim and that was the key difference. Check the shot chart for the two teams - there is a stark difference in points scored within the no charge zone. The team that goes to the hoop more aggressively usually also draws more fouls.

Anon did you see Drmic at quarter time after nailing that three when he went to the bench? They're all celebrating on him and he's dead in the face looking like he's about to vomit

Home Cooking?
I didn't see anything too outrageous.

Reality is that all Season the 6's have been playing the game the way the NBL wants it played. Other teams need to adapt, and they have been slow.

Yes, its pretty miserable to see 3 players fouled out, and two others in trouble. Not what you want to see in a final. Kinda wish the refs would put the whistle away a bit more. Pretty obvious that cost them the game, but what are ya gonna do?

I can recall a particular final, where 3 stars got in massive early foul trouble. Coach had no choice but to play them, and the refs just swallowed their whistles in the 2nd half. Nobody wants to see a repeat of that, so they can only call them as they happen.

I just hope they don't ref tomorrows game as closely, or both teams will run out of players.

Or better yet the teams tomorrow night play without going to the extreme boundaries for once...

Great posts KET and XY - agree with all of that.

Awesome rim protection by Hodgson and Jacobsen in particular and Sobey's block was pretty special too on Kay.

The Sixer's bigs are incredibly athletic for NBL level. That has been a bit of a surprise for me this season and no doubt a reason for them being on top of the ladder - I didn't expect Jacobsen to be so athletic and Hodgson to improve so much on last season to become an excellent shot blocker and rim protector. You can see that they got in the Hawk's heads where they were scared to attack the ring. I loved Hodgson's quick dunk too in the second half where he kept the ball up high and rose up for the very quick dunk.

The weakness for both Jacobsen and Hodgson is that they can be foul prone and if some 50/50 calls go against them in Illawara they could find themselves unable to defend so aggressively.

I've been highly critical of DJ in the past for poor shot selection and not playing hard enough. But tonight I thought his shot selection was pretty good and he grabbed some crucial offensive boards and played tough when it matters. One of his real strengths is his ability to draw fouls and then a very much underrated strength of DJ is that he shoots free throws exceptionally well for a big.

I can see game 2 being a very fiery affair - the Hawks do push the boundaries more than other teams especially with the way they guard Randle. I can't see so many Hawks having such poor games either especially the likes of Rotnei Clarke, AJ Ogilvy and Marvelle Harris. Also hoping we get Casey again for game 2! Loved his "did a lap of honour" call tonight ha!

Hawks are not up to the standard.


You need to 'cotton' up Randle..... Cats have that capability. :-)

I believe 'wabapp' is the sound a springback ring makes in the effects mic on a jam. I do chuckle when Tommy uses it on a blocked shot.

Re the refs, as someone who watches every game as a neutral, I really didn't like the two months of phantom calls that came with the refs figuring out how to call the game clean, but I think the past three weeks the balance has been good overall.

Last night there were a few calls that went Adelaide's way when they shouldn't (and Townsend had a couple of phantoms each way), but I don't think it had a big influence on the game and it was called pretty consistently throughout.

The refs didn't alter the outcome of the game but they still cooked it for the local team. No question in my mind.

And I am a neutral.

Let's hope game 2 is a close one!

Yep the refs made a few bad calls, but fact remains Adelaide were the better team.

Is it the refs fault Illawarra shot 35% from the field ?
Take Coneraads shooting out of it and it would have been a whole lot worse

A lot of the Hawks players went missing when the heat was on, tell me when was the last time Ogilvy stepped up in a big game that meant something.

I'm sure Hawks will win game two, but that will be there last win IMO.

No one can stop Randle when he wants to score or create, that will be the difference in this series, he is too good for any of the hawk guards.

"A few bad calls"
Understatement of the year!

Refs -1 Hawks -0 in the series.

As for the drama queen,he'll get a job at Easter after that comeback!

Both sides started well in an entertaining first quarter. Patches after that showed that the four losses in the lead up were no issue for Adelaide. 36ers rebounding was very good.

Second half was pretty frustrating to watch as someone also a fan of the Hawks. Don't think it decided the game, but there were at least four calls by the refs I thought were pretty questionable (one being Jacobsen wrenching Holyfield's arm, Holyfield gets whistled).

That said, all Sixers were pretty decent at worst while without Coenraad, the Hawks would've been smacked. Sixers defence denying Clarke shots was very good. I thought as a young team, they might've struggled to regain their form from the best of the regular season, but they appeared to have no trouble. Could well snatch the second game on the road.

Sixers crowd wasn't large, but loud as usual. Should be a serious menace if the 36ers carry through to the GF series!

Oh, and the MVP chant for Randle was pretty awesome. To think that Adelaide fans have waited so many years for a legit chance to do that.

Only 5056 bums on seats according to Boti. Sounds about right. Disappointing turn-out, but unsurprising for the Thursday, with conflicting sporting commitments and other factors in play.

Considering we got 2 or 3 home crowds of around 8k during the regular season (including one that was only around 20 less than our home record) then 5,606 for a Semi final seems small.

Still, if we win on Sunday I'd expect full houses for GF games.

Semi-finals are generally the lowest-drawing games of the year, every year, it's just the way it is. Probably due to the lack of time to promote them and the fact mainstream media doesn't give basketball a free ride in that area.

It didn't suprise me Aj and Rotnei had quite games with them having to travel to Melbourne on Monday for nbl awards then hop on a return flight on Tuesday morning then having to go to Adelaide Wednesday and with so many players below par on performance bar Coenraad the Hawks have got a lot to give still,sure Adelaide executed better than the Hawks and got the rub of the green in the calls but the Hawks will come out swinging cause there a dirty team and just ask Ant Man (Randle) about the Hawks been dirty.

Great win agree with Rat10 loved the aggressive work of DJ, Hodgson & Jacobsen.

On 'wabapp' Heal used to say it regularly when a guy would hit a big 3 and he thought he was now on fire, Greer has only started copying him recently sadly.

On the small crowd that Casey unfortunately described as a near sell-out SF crowds are often poor because people want to hold off and save their money for possible GF home games.

It didn't suprise me Aj and Rotnei had quite games with them having to travel to Melbourne on Monday for nbl awards then hop on a return flight on Tuesday morning then having to go to Adelaide Wednesday

Does anyone know what was going on with Joey at the end of game? Security ushered him down the visiting teams race. When leaving we noticed ambulance down there getting ready to go. Al Green was in his car talking to security regarding the ambulance leaving, which direction, etc. Was any Sixer in the ambulance? Wonder if anyone has any info as it seemed very serious the way security led Joey down the race.

sixtiesrockstar I don't know but saw Creek after his interview being ushered that way also.

Intriguing and concerning. I hope whomever it was, player, staff, family, fan is alright.

Johnson, you are kidding right, a one hour flight is taxing now. Surely your taking the p1ss

I heard Ken Cole may have collapsed? not sure if that had anything to do with it.

"take the Boxing Day out of test cricket and how many watched that this year and they get wall to wall coverage, it's pitiful"

Here's your answer. Highest rating show on Australian TV on Thursday November 24th last year - test cricket.


"Almost 950,000 metropolitan viewers tuned in to see South African captain Faf du Plessis reach triple figures and youngster Matt Renshaw face his first ball for Australia.

It was a slight drop from the corresponding session last year when first pink-ball Test between Australia and New Zealand in November hit 1.05 million viewers on day one." - Sydney Morning Herald, November 26, 2016

Mainstream media will promote the life out of the product they have invested in i.e by buying TV rights. It's the only way they are going to get their money back. Channel 10 with the Big bash is the perfect example.
Other media then have to choose do they try to ignore it, just because they haven't got the rights, or do they then feel a need to also include it in there general sports coverage so that they can keep fans of that sport in their viewership- i.e. Chaneel 7 own AFL but 7, 9 and 10 all compete for the best news coverage and chat shows about AFL. SO 9 and 10 find themselves promiting a product which is only available on 7, but it would be too dangerous for them to ignore it.

I heard Ken Cole may have collapsed

I really hope Ken Cole or whoever it was is alright now.

"Why is Thurs junior night? Adelaide really is bizzaro world."

I believe its because SA doesn't have enough electricity to play all games on the same night.

Says FSTOS while sitting in his 1 bedroom apartment that he is renting for $700pw that has a 3m2 backyard and 1 allocated parking space which is used for storage cause he can't afford a car haha

Adelaide....proof Tasmanians can swim.

I can hardly wait until these jokes get to Perth next decade so I can LOL at them

hahahahaha this is awesome.

"Says FSTOS while sitting in his 1 bedroom apartment that he is renting for $700pw that has a 3m2 backyard and 1 allocated parking space which is used for storage cause he can't afford a car haha"

Hey I hear what your saying...but I have done really well for myself and own a palatial bedsitter thats over 20 sq mts in total (including my bathroom/laundry).

I should probably sell up and buy about 6 houses in Adelaide ....but come to think of it I have become accustomed to my air conditioner working when its hot and having something to do after 7pm....

No no I am not saying its not a great place...I went there once...but it was closed.

Only thing you own is a microwave and a couch. Your bed is on interest free and you cry yourself to sleep at night listening to domestic arguments on the floor above you and the sound of car alarms.

Adelaide. Best kept secret. We don't want you flogs visiting anyway

What happen to Sobey today, not good enough.