Harris unavailability was the third observation listed, but yes it is huge and I could have led with that.

Cairns didn't choke, there was no clear second favourite, they lost to a deeper team with the same record (cats have played well below what most would have expected from defending champions this season)

The stars are right!

Hawks showed they could reduce a ball dominant PG's influence in the SFs, only really allowing Randle to have a big influence in the second quarter of G1.

Now they face a very different challenge, with Bryce Cotton playing as a pure SG with his lightning movement away from the ball and ability to score off a minimum of dribbles.

Am very interested to see how the Hawks go about defending him, because how effective that strategy is could determine the series.

If Wagstaff and Knight continue to hit as they have recently it will be a very tough ask to stop Cotton as well (not to mention Prather).

Very true about their lack of experience. Still, what they did for most of last night's game in a very tough stadium should give them a lot of confidence.

I'm sure nobody seriously believes Cairns were the 2nd best team in the league. Reasonably this is now 2nd vs 3rd.

In my opinion Ogilvy is a massive out. He may not have been missed against Adelaide, but I feel he would have been able to dominate McKay.

Harris is another massive out. His stepping up in the big game was a big part of their win.

I feel the Wildcats should win game 1.
How quickly can the Hawks get Ogilvy and Harris back. I think that if the Wildcats can take them at home on Wednesday, it will be hard for the Hawks to come back.

AJ out is not better for the Hawks regardless of the stats.

AJ has been out of form, however he runs the floor well and he will keep Knight/JMc/Brandt honest.

If MH and AJ both miss and the Hawks are unable to adjust to toning down the fouls ...they may be in a bit of strife.

Hawks choking last night please?.They were running the clock down and were using a lot of the twenty four seconds and stopped attacking like they were in the first three quarters and it was only Adelaide starting to hit some big threes in a row but they responded well cause Adelaide had all the momentum + Hawks are lucky to have a guy named Rotnei Clarke.

Another boring Wildcats championship incoming.

We love the underdogs tag and would of been underdogs even with Marvelle and Aj but without one of them maybe both we will truly have our backs to the wall but this is also what this team is all about finding a way to win when no one else gives you a chance.They will pull closer together and i expect Rotnei to go to another level.He wasn't rated by Blake Griffin as the best shooter he had seen in college for nothing so watch out cause it's now Rotnei Clarke time.

I hope Perth fans don't start throwing a plate of food at Hawks fans like someone from Adelaide did last night.I don't expect anything else from Adelaide who call Hawks dirty when there no angels themselves.Was it you Mrs Randle?i'm hearing it was and they better get a ban for a low act

Johnson, I suggest you pick up a book on grammar, punctuation, and how to tell if your post about Jerome Randle's wife is relevant to the discussion at hand.

Anon why don't you put up a username idiot or have you been to alchol anonymous and you think that's your name.You probably don't even go for Perth.The nbl won't allow a 3-0 result.

Johnson's some good post-season entertainment I must say

Bluh bluh bluh koberulz.Did you mean ilrelevant.

No worries Manu Fieldel and it's all free entertainment for you.

Watch it Manu Fieldel you didn't put a full stop at the end of your sentence and now koberulz will take marks of you for bad punctuation.

I agree with kobe on this one which is hard to say. Correct grammar and punctuation are a courtesy to the reader. They also make the author look more intelligent and credible.

Do you think Gleeson will switch things around to counter Rotnei coming off the bench?
Specifically, who does Damo take on D?

Or for the Hawks, who starts in place of Harris? Rhys or Rotnei?

No way Rotnei will start as it will be Coenraad coming into the starting lineup.

"Do you think Gleeson will switch things around to counter Rotnei coming off the bench"

Given how Gleeson has refused to change a thing all season I wouldn't count on it. (JJ excluded)

Gleeson did start brandt towards the end of the season for a game, I was shocked lol.

No need to change, why mess with a good thing

Are any of the GF games gonna be on SBS?

Sucks that the Hawks will not be able to field their full lineup for the first game :(

Hawks should be targeting game 3 as the one they want

"Given how Gleeson has refused to change a thing all season I wouldn't count on it. (JJ excluded)"

It's true I think that Gleeson tends to play the percentages rather than react to every little thing.

But his matchups for the smaller players have been slightly flexible.
I suppose my question is, if you have Rotnei playing as a SG with a PG on the court, who does Damian harass?

"Hawks should be targeting game 3 as the one they want"
Depends on when they get Oglivy and Harris back.
They really need to target game 2 on their home court.
If they come back to Perth down 2-zip, the Wildcats are likely to sweep them.

The Hawks aren't giving up game 1 boys.
Christ the Wildflops just fell into the finals,& are no good thing.

Come on now, we didn't just fall into the finals.
Randle bumped us and the impact smashed us into the finals at high velocity. It's just the momentum we need at this time of the season.

Anonymous with no name are just gutless pricks and all the anons out there remind me of drunks that have been or need to go to alcohol anonymous hence why they call themselves anonymous or there drug fucked that need to go into rehab so pull that needle out of your arm or pour that alcohol down the drain so you can all function better.

I swear one day I'm going to die from oxygen deprivation while reading a Johnson post.

Never thought I'd come to Hoops solely for the lols, but damn this site has turned it up recently

LOL

It is anyone's series....so long as they are from Perth.

FSTOS i'm loving this journey our mighty Hawks have taken us on but again we are up against it and with everybody writing the Hawks off i'm loving it.I'm glad we got a better chance of winning the whole thing than the DIRTYSIXERS who's MVP's wife loves going to the basketball for food fights.It would be nice to welcome her to the gong next season(if she's still allowed in the country)with a homemade super hot chili sauce with the chips she orders.Now that will be good to see her spitting chips.

Shano76 has spoken.The firtyfive y/o virgin on this site.Where have you been?.Living under a rock hey!Good of you to join us.Just letting you know i'm not here to please you and i didn't go to school to please my teacher but you wouldn't know about pleasing people especially the female variety.

Almost prefer people composing incorrectly about calls then the crap thats filled this thread...

Game day, aj news?

4pm WST so 7pm in the East

From the Sunday Times

Big shout out to the fantastic Sunday Times for keeping with their fine form and running a front page feature on the West Coast-Freo PRE Season match along with a fresh story on Ben Cousins.

I guess an actual meaningful Grand Final featuring a west australian team wasnt a big enough deal but an AFL preseason game is? Thats quite the agenda the media has.

I would be happy if they ran a story on literally anything else, but if they wanted to do a sports headline, you'd think there is a more important game to run on the front page.

Go Wildcats!

I was at my niece's birthday party yesterday. A couple of boys were there, 12-13 years old, each wearing Cavs and Jordan gear. Naturally I shot some hoops with them. They were ripping on the NBL despite never having seen a game as they genuinely believe it's a low quality spectacle in terms of talent and presentation.

I couldn't blame them for thinking it either. There's no media coverage and games aren't accessible to the curious to even pike their interest. Not one of them was aware there is a grand final series starting today and didn't know of any teams outside of Melbourne (where we live) despite playing in a local league themselves.

AC, a question for you (and anyone else I guess), what's United Advertising like in Melb/Vic?

in Perth nearly every bus in the CBD has a Cats player on the back and for large portions of the season St George's Tce (main st of Perth) has Wildcats banners. They also run heaps of clinics at schools to get kids involved.
I've lived in Sydney for the last few years and know that the kings give free tickets to junior clubs and call them out at games.

I thought the United name change was to get the junior/ ameture clubs involved...maybe they forgot the public.

^ Agree AC. Its a sad reality. This should hopefully be at the forefront of Kestlemans agenda for next season. To improve perception and improve media coverage.

Its great that hes introduced a best of 5 GF, but it wont mean much if theres no interest coming from the media.

Hopefully it picks up as the series progresses.

Geez Luuuc that picture from the Sunday Times looks like Tweety Bird to me and i suggest they put in a Hawk next time and not a yellow canary and all there missing is Sylvester the cat.

I'm assuming there's no game on TV today?

Fox sports 3 at 4pm WST. No SBS coverage apparently

Hawks posted a photo of the team preparing, AJ was getting his ankle strapped so looks like he'all be good to play...for as long as the pain killers hold out

Its time! Unleash it!!!

Which one of those kids in the promo was Dazz

Yeah not expecting much non wildcats love this finals.

What's the over/under on WADAPPs tonight?

The build up and hype to this series has been pretty non-existent.

I reckon if the general NBL fanbase had a pick of the two ideal teams to advance to the GF, they'd say Cairns and Adelaide. Unfortunately neither made it

"AC, a question for you (and anyone else I guess), what's United Advertising like in Melb/Vic?"


I've seen 3 or 4 billboards advertising NBL TV, but only seen United advertising outside of Hisense Arena.

Adding to what I said earlier, I remember back in the early 90s my friends and I didn't want to watch "The Mitsubishi Challenge" for the same reasons above. It took my local club taking my team to a Magic Vs Tigers game for me to fall in love with it. A few others here are probably in the same boat!

Maybe Adelaide-Perth. But definitely Adelaide

martin goal tend

Matt Knight wow. He was trash for like 2.5 months and has stepped up massively in the finals series.

How on earth did they possibly think that was not a goal tend on Coenraad's fast break?

Martin is god as far as refs are concerned

Far Out! Hawks are here to play. That's the best ball movement I have seen all season from them.

Matty Knight making 5 jump shots in a row wont continue.

Hawks doing well limiting others.

Rhys 'WADAPP' Martin

They will need to bring in the spill kit if Hire's hair hits the court. More grease in it than the exon valdez released

Cats well scouted. Bevo playing the odds and the team knows which shots to give up.

I hate when Knight throws his head back after minimal body contact

Hawks looking tough now, the cats can't grab and hold them with the way they spread out their plates on offense and penetrate

Spoke too soon. You do NOT run at Martin and leave Cotton open

No sooner I say that then bevo stops running the play that was working and goes to a screening offense which the cats will strangle- back to dribble drive????

I am not liking this commentary at all. Could heal and harvey be any more biased. Do they know the hawks are playing. Hate how they just kiss each other butt the whole game.

Love Russell though

According to these commentators the Stirling senators won the Sbl last season not the Cougars.

Quality first half Hawks

A flop warning for not falling over... now I have seen it all.

Im not surprised at the early flop warning on redhage. Even if it was seriously weak

Refs missing the obvious, the goaltend, calling the magical, prather second for pushing off. Also pretty sure two Hawks ran into each other and damo got called for a foul, but no replay so...

Quality first half by the refs as well. Sure missed the goal tend but all in all good job.


Nice flow to the game. Hawk doing well with the scout early but leaving Cotton open a bit too much in the 2nd quarter. You need to make Martin beat you from the three not Cotton.

"Let's be honest".

Can it Harvs pls

Love Russell, R U SERIOUS? I honestly cannot have the sound on when Dumb Dwayne is commentating.

It's Matt Russell, champ

We look very tentative on the offense end. Leaving shots short around the basket is hurting us. Surely Martin cannot keep hitting shots.

Need a bit better D AS WELL.

Maybe we should play zone for a while just for a change up.

Put your trust in your coach, you have the best coach in the NBL.

Greer ok, gelmi great (to look at) but can't stand harvey or heal. Prefer carfino

Its great the AFL and the NBL finals overlap otherwise they probably would have Dwayne commentating. Matt Russell is ok.

Not really what i was expecting to watch. But definitely anyones gsme from here. Clarke may just take it away from us

Hawks Achilles heal strikes again. They just need a rebounding bull.

Gosh Damo's a good defender

Why is Ellis still on the court

Perth sweep ?

K2N. where was this version of Knight in the regular season?

No idea but I hate him for not doing this before finals lol

If I'm Illawarra I'm running a lot more for Norton vs Cotton in game 2.

I don't understand why Beveridge went with Ellis down the stretch. Yes he hit a few shots but my god his season high is 12...

Perth too tough. Prather back to MVP type form and unlike Randle he can play at both ends of the court so cant be exploited.

Hawks showing enough to think they can make a series of this though.

Adelaide would've beaten these mfs

Forman should have got more minutes. You need experienced heads like him down the stretch (over Cody Ellis anyway)

Very scrappy win, but still a win. Old man Matty Knight has stepped up big time in the finals.

It would be nice for Cotton to be a bit more consistent with his shots.

Still a fair way to go, and you cannot write the Hawks off at any time.

Adelaide would have rolled over in the first minute at home? Yeah OK buddy.

Who cares what Adelaide would have done. They had their chance.

Hawks showed they are capable of coming back from 1 game down but it's a lot tougher ask against physical, slower tempo teams for them.

Perth did a sensational job on Rotnei.

If I'm not mistaken, Adelaide had to make the grand finals first to have a shot at beating said mfs.

Well it was a terrible win but it was a win.

We are so lucky to have damo. Thanks bevo

Matty knight has been huge the last two games. Think what might have happened if he wasn't knocking down his shots. Cotton and prather have been well held for long periods the last two games.

Yeah credit where it's due... refs put in a solid showing. No howlers.

Some scares early, but the Wildcats are patient and grind their opposition down. I suspect the shorter break hurt the Hawks as they appeared to tire badly.

Not many complaints about the refs that I could see. Bit of talk about a couple of calls but all in all they did a good job and were hardly noticeable.

As a measure of this Gleeson only lost his shit once in the game. Some sort of record for him I believe.

Timely shooting game for Matty, but special shout outs to Damo & McKay for their hustle too.

This series has potential I reckon. Hawks certainly don't look like they lack any belief, and nor should they.

Game 2 will be interesting.

Hawks can take some comfort from their first 3.5 quarters tonight, plus they should have Harris back, and have HCA.

On the other hand, it will be the Hawks' 3rd game inside a week, and Gleeson has now had a good look at their zone.

I am surprised that Gleeson hasn't developed DKD more this season, as 3-point specialist.
Too late to expect anything now.

Yeah I think it's disappointing that DKD has been completely shelved. If I'm coaching I'm definitely throwing him out there at some point in the first half to see if he can get some open looks. If it's not happening then take him back out again but surely you gotta at least give him a chance. He played some important cameos earlier in the season.

But I must say, when I watch defence like that, I can understand why the NBA employees the defensive 3-second rule.

NBL Stats just confirmed Gleeson set a personal record tonight for fewest losings of his shit in a game. And in a grand final game nonetheless. Very impressive.

no less*

"Crazy how little I miss Dazz"

Aaah, the delicious irony of an anonymous poster.

Dazz never told us his last name, perhaps it is Johnson

Yes Gleeson was severely verbally constipated tonight.

Could be onto something there. Johnsons posts are like a Dazz post with the punctuation removed.

Johnson WE GOT U BOI!

He kinda popped out out of nowhere didn't he? Right on the doorstep of finals.

@nblfacts
3 offensive rebs by @illawarrahawks today was lowest by any team in a game this season and lowest by any Rob Beveridge coached team ever.

Is AJ making himself the most hated flog in the league? That flop after the trip last round... was really hoping prather smashed on him again

The word 'flog', when used as an insult, just gets me every time. It's hilarious to me

Cats were not convincing nor were they unconvincing. Looked like they were going through the motions for a half.

Cotton clearly doesn't like the rings in perth, expecting a huge game from him on Wednesday

Cats doing what they do. Just getting the W. Not usually great on the eye offense wise but they make up for that by how good they are in all the other aspects of the game.

I'm back baby(with no punctuation if thats what you want)well not a bad game to watch we were right in for most of the game until last five minutes No complaints about the refs as we had two of the best and i've said that all along in Maybery and Aylan but the boobie prize was big nose Beattie The first half went so quick cause the refs didn't blow there whistle every play and let the game flow Kyrie2Nation shouldn't you give your crap talking a bit of a rest till next year cause your team is FINISHED AND MANU FIELDEL the same applies to you

You're a flog, Johnson!

Lol

Hawks just need to fix up there rebounding and we are right in this,Bevo labelled the Hawks soft tonight so expect a response in the Gong in front of a sellout crowd.I dare say the refs will gives us the crucial calls to even the series up as Perth got a couple tonight(Martin's goal tending on Coenraad)but overall the refs tonight were the best i've seen all year.

I wouldn't say a extremely marginal call 6 minutes in the first quarter as crucial.

Manu Fieldel,why are you still hanging around when your team lost last week?calling some one a flog is hilarious is it you small minded GRONK and anyone that replies LOL is a f/wit hey Fool.

Can you try that last post again Johnson? In english?

That's the stuff! Funny af Johnno

Ok.

Dance for us, Johnson. Dance!

So Johnson aka Clint Dogg i like your work on The Wire

Don't assume Clint's sexuality, Johnson. This is 2017 you know.

Are you not a good bloke with high moral standing?

That's better you have grown some balls all of a sudden but Nigel the Alcoholic Nerd sounds better.You don't need Anon anymore as we know your name now and you ain't Anonymous anymore.

Refs were good tonight.
Matty Knight and Martin showed up.
hawks kept it close but not quite enough at the end. Surprisingly a bit unchippy especially after that Adelaide game on thursday.

Unchippy

Well Gleeson has till Wednesday to work out how to allow cotton to be more aggressive on offense against the Hawks D.

This got a good chuckle out of me at the game



Nice work, Cats!

Forman should have got more minutes. You need experienced heads like him down the stretch (over Cody Ellis anyway)

My favourite shot was Coenraad's wide-open dunk that he allowed Martin to block

My favourite shot was Coenraad's wide-open dunk that he allowed Martin to block

Looked on the rim to me.

I'd love to see a slow-mo of that block, or even better, from the camera above the ring.
I watched the replay (in real-time) a couple of times, and it looks clean to me.

I don't think that's ever going to be called a goaltend which is why he needed to either stuff it or bank it.

And either way, I thinks that's an awesome effort from your PG.
As the commentators were remarking, he is still the best defensive player in the comp.

It was clean no doubt but it was also clearly on the way down. Not sure where the on the rim comment earlier came from.

It was a goaltend as it was on the way down but glad the refs didn't call it and bail out Coenraad for his stupidity.

Either dunk it or lay it up off the glass and you're safe.

It looked like a clear goal tend from my vantage point in the arena.
I'm surprised the refs missed it. Looking at the Foxtel vision, Aylen got back fast and got a good look at it.

To be honest fstos. I actually initially thought he got it off the rim.

It wasnt until i saw the replay that i changed my mind. Not sure why it looked that way live... but thats what i thought.

I happy to admit now it was a goaltend. But i probably just had my cats hat on at the time and saw what i wanted too

I thought it was a clear goaltend live. After seeing the replay I still think it was on the way down, but it was close.

Yep live I thought rim ...replay it's not clear if it's on way down from that angle - glad the ref didn't guess, absolute masterpiece in not giving up.

Despite having numerous looks at it from the replay, I could not get a clear look.
Best I got was frame with the ball clearly still on the up and Martin's hand within a few inches.

I'm not claiming any expertise in this area, but I can't recall ever having seen something that close called as a goaltend.

OK, saw a different angle, yep it was definitely on the way down

"I'm surprised the refs missed it"

C'mon Luuc, really, really, you are surprised refs missed making a call/correct call, even when in the right position. Have you just starting watching the NBL this season :-)

Haha, yeah, good point. WTF, me!??!

It was obviously a goal tend, I think the ref was as stunned as everyone else that Damo had actually got it.

That was like an NBA call, let it go if it's the superstar of the home team!

To be fair, it would be a tough call to make in real time. Keep in mind that the ref is viewing it from a different angle.
And what is the guidance? Is it "if in doubt, no call"?

It could also be that it being Damian Martin caused some doubt. You see a small guy going up after it, you figure he must have got in on the way up, who would have thought he could get above the ring.

Over the years I can recall several such "blocks" where the trailing player swats it against the glass. Can't recall seeing one called a goaltend.

No doubt it's a tough call and it all happened very quickly, Damo came from nowhere. Another highlight for his legend reel.

No 200! A dream come true

Big game tomorrow.

Anybody know if Harris is back?

Hope the Ginger Flog has a shave before the game. Looks like he's been lost at sea for a month. I might ask Jack to step in and demand a standard.

I think they're doing a 'no-shave' specifically for the finals.