If Perth can beat Melbourne by 5, and Melbourne are only 1 point worse than OKC, who are only 9 points worse than the Jazz, who are 25 points better than the Kings, who comfortably accounted for Illawarra, then we really shouldn't have too many problems with the Taipans, who barely scraped past Illawarra
#simple
#Wildcatsby35

Oh wait ... it's not at Perth Arena is it.
#Wildcatsby4

Hoping for a Melbourne, Illawarra and Perth treble today

@Luuuc, while your logic appears impeccable, there is no doubt that basketball frequently defies logic.

Taipans for the win, in a scrappy, close game.

Perth cairns games always scrappy.

Interesting to see if it continues without redhage and worthington getting their teammates fired up.

I think this will be close right to the final minutes then Perth will turn up the heat and win by 30

Carrera back in Cairns tonight.

I am using my Cairns Only free NBL TV account and clicked on the Cairns game....got the Hawks and Bullets game.

Dafuq?

"Because Hawks Bullets hasn't finished yet. #logic"

So NBL.TV is only capable of streaming one game live at any one time?

@lovebroker They wont start the game till the previous game has finished

I see. Thanks for the clarification.

Carrera is a gun

Where is lv to point out the homecooking? Cats are playing awful

wildcats playing any defence?

Cairns filling it up. Hard to compete with that when you miss shots within 12feet.

Lol who was that whining about Martin in the commentary box

What the hell was that call? Cairns about to get a Whitlock violation and they magically reset the clock.

Elbow to the throat, no foul.

how many charges have there been in this game!?

Cats have put the cue in the rack. Not even putting a hand up on those three point shooters

they better not give up!!

You know it's not your night when that out of bounds call happens

Almost looks like Wildcats have read the wrong scouting reports - their defensive principles/systems on some players have been woeful. Why you would go under a Weeks on-ball screen I have no clue.

I thought the charge calls have been correct - Weeks in particular is very good at taking them purely because he moves his feet so damn well and beat the player to the spot.

How good was McCarron's Kobe-esque fade away!

Take a charge on a guy running the lane and get the call!!! Ffs that's disgraceful. I'll stop now, cairns have outplayed Perth but the officiating has left a lot to be desired here

I really hate to see the Wildcats not get the benefit of the doubt on 50/50 calls. Disgraceful.

That happened just after I posted the above - that call was a bad one. The offensive player should be able to run his lane unimpeded.

wtf is happening

If looks could kill, Cooke just shot a rocket at Carrera.

You're up by 22 and you start shit. Disgraceful. I can't stand it she you're getting all the calls then you go on with it. Did you see them holding carrera back, guyvis crazy

Carrera elbows Cooke in the the face which starts the fight. **don't know if intentional

If you are in a close game with Cairns, surely you are throwing a DP in to the game just to antagonize Carrera.

How the fudge does tokoto get unsportsmanlike for trying to break up a fight

Hahah Carrera has some balls shaping up to cooke

Would need to see the replay again, but I think Tokoto shoved Weekes.

Hahaha I get the over the back foul, but getting between the fight and getting pushed out by a cairns player is not unsportsmanlike.

Also no foul on careers fighting for a dead ball with elbows

Is cotton carrying some niggle. 3 straight games playing fairly passive around the outside, not playing close to the same style he did late last season

Its what the refs call league equalisation policy

I like Carrera; and I wouldn't dismiss him in a fight. He's from Venezuela!

Ideally; the refs just should have called the over and back call; and then play on with no further sanction (and tell both coaches to stop it and get on with it). Don't have to sanction every single bit of niggle - can do it informally.

lol Carrera head flop. Is that the correct term.

I would back Carrera against just about anyone, he's all kinds of crazy.

Cotton and tokoto didn't gel at all this game.

Cairns nailed every open shot the wildcats gave them, and there was a lot of them

Game was lost by 3qtr time.

Cairns were excellent and the cats were insipid. Cant blame the reffing for that result. I love cerreras energy. Its hard to get a read on cooke however. His body language isn't great but gleeson isn't helping by benching him for two quarters for missing a lay up.

Cairns were all over everything we tried to do today. Great scouting and execution. Coaches around the league will be studying that tape.
Some pretty sweet shooting too.

Ultimately though the difference between win and loss was those biased refs.

(seriously though, that won't be the first time the cats offence is going to sputter and stall this season)

Nobody want to talk about Bryce Cotton smacking Mitch McCarron over the front of his face guard in the first couple of quarters? Flog move.

Flog move from an otherwise pretty nice bloke.

Carrera has me believing in miracles

4000 Taipans fans fell in love with Carrera tonight. That call against him on Tokoto was first class. He immediately turns round and gets the crowd worked up into a frenzy, Tokoto then misses both shots. Magic.

If he plays like that at home on Friday against Adelaide I'll be buying his jersey at the end of the game.

Wonder when Mackay's going to be announced then?

CT - if we beat Adelaide i won't be buying his jersey, I'll be getting his likeness tattooed on my right buttock.

I've got courtside seats and saw it clearly, it was 100% deliberate. Stevie Weigh saw it too and started giving it right back to him for the next few plays which seemed to put a stop to it.

And yes, having Knight, a player "prone to concussion" and a recent facial injury playing at all is a flog move by the Wildcats organisation. As straw man arguments go, that was a pretty poor one.

Podge, is there room next to Grabeau, chewie and wilbekin?

Poor Matt Knight. Walking heavy head.

Gets a mild concussion taking a shower with those flow restricting shower roses. The water comes out at quite a speed

Carrera's back!?

Wow that was quick

Carrera looks like being good value both on the court and on the message board

CT - plenty! The real estate is ever expanding!

Lol brings up strawman along with "I was court side, it was 100% deliberate"

Weak sauce

Just watched Fearne out coach Gleeson...

Skull, lol. How many championships has fearne won ???? Then he can out coach Gleeson.

Just looked up SOFT in the dictionary...And there was the Perth line up!

Worst performance ever by the Wildcats.

No energy, no rebounding efforts at all, Brandt into foul trouble early on and no one stepped up. Martin lead all rebounders but if that happens it just shows you suck at rebounding.

They did some stupid turnovers and couldn't control the ball. Tokoto can't handle the ball, half the time he would lose control of the ball or dribble it into his feet. Tokoto is good in the area from the free throw line to the basket so perhaps he is better suited to be playing the 4 spot more so he can use his burst of speed around the hoop. Ask Tokoto to dribble more than twice and he is in big trouble.

No one was hungry on Sunday and it appears they simply went to Cairns for a holiday.

I reckon the Melbourne game was an emotional let down by the players, and they didn't treat Cairns with respect.

Carrera ain't going to make a lot of friends this year but he is going to be great for the Taipans this season. If I were Cairns I'd be locking him in early for the next few seasons before Bullets steal him lol.

36ers up next...who will be next to join the Michael Carrera Fight Club.

Should be billed as Childress vs Carrera!

Id be worried if I was DJ right now.

"No one was hungry on Sunday and it appears they simply went to Cairns for a holiday."

This.

They were joking around before the game like a bunch of kids on a school trip. The Taipans were locked in from the moment they came out the changing room.

^^ Well it's all Cairns fault...if it wasn't such a nice place then maybe the Cats wouldn't think they were on vacation.

Cairns was damp and dreary. A good holiday that does not make.

No excuse for that flaming turd of a performance

It seemed Gleeson didn't really care, basically the whole team played like with no interest.

Very unlike Perth performance

And the courtside handicapped spot is already taken by Matty Knight's wheelchair. The NBL makes teams have one on hand every time the Wildcats visit, just in case someone breathes on him or he turns the hairdryer up too high.

The Knight issue is a big concern. If he has to come off every time he gets a slight hit above his shoulders then he shouldn't be playing. It's a risk to him, surely he needs to consider putting his health and family above playing a few last games. I love Matty Knight as a player but I think it would best for both parties to retire him, cut DCJ and sign an elite big man that can protect the rim and grab rebounds.

It is a good thing Perth decided to focus on the NBL season instead of getting caught up in the whole NBL v NBA sideshow.

Trevor might want to remind the boys of the club's sacrifice next time they go on the road.

Another thing, is it safe to say these two teams now mark their calendars to highlight when they play each other (Trevor last night reminded his players to do so!).

Is this now the best rivalry between two teams in the NBL? something always happens.

As a Sixer fan (and therefore somewhat impartial) I love the animosity these two teams have shown each other in recent years.

Sorry I have a bad memory for these things so I'm not sure I've said it before.

F Perth

"Trevor might want to remind the boys of the club's sacrifice next time they go on the road."

Good call BigAds...what a bunch of flogs with their league leading 3-1 record.

Imagine if that was in Perth and the team's reversed roles.... Cairns doesn't shoot a freethrow in the second half and then Perth starts it, connects and the only penalty is on the cairns player initially trying to break it up.

You lot would go into meltdown!

Lv would probably spontaneously combust

Tom, like it or not, Fearne out coached Gleeson last night....end of story.
Not once did Cairns let Martin dictate terms defensively,in fact they forced him to cough the ball up on more then one occasion(great plan) if you do this as a team you can break the Wildcats down...one step at a time.

Carrera=bums on seats....

Perth just beat Melbourne on Thursday. They are coming off winning what???..championship rings, and Cairns are what.... Getting all cocky for a win in Rd 2. Weeks acting up and carrying on like an idiot with oranges under the armpits.
Lets see if they have the same bravado in Perth when they are losing by 15. Personally I think Perth just had one of those games.
Hopefully a fast paced 36ers take Cairns to the cleaners this weekend.

Cairns wanted the game more.

They were focused and executed.

Wildcats were clearly fatigued and didn't bring the intensity.

They didn't execute their game plan, and all players were lacking energy and drive.

Cairns played a near perfect game. Shooting a high clip and playing in your face D for a full four quarters.

Cairns deserved to win. Fearne coached well.

But Tokoto and the Wildcats will gain more from this loss than Cairns will from their win.

I feel like Cairns has played their best team ball of the season, they can't top that team performance.

The man the myth and legend that is Michael "I beat the Wildcats" Carerra may have better individual performances in store, but that's the best team ball Cairns will play all season.

Yeah, that comprehensive spanking we copped from Cairns on Sunday is ancient history now.
We won the championship back in March with a different team and against different opposition, and were therefore neither out-coached nor out-played the other day. Furthermore we are immune from any criticism until we decide otherwise, because last season's title.
#logic