Can't believe it, refs have been terrible in this one.

Big Booney hacked all over the place, Damian Martin still getting away with everything.

Free it for Perth.

Winning game one of this road trip should have the guys relaxed and loose.

As long as it's close it'll be a good game.

Less than 100 tickets remaining. Great to see

Lv, make sure you tell me when the foul was that wasn't called and at minutes? Many thanks

Two blown calls on the very first possession. Nice

Man Goulding stinks defensively

No such thing as a Perth over-the-back foul in this league

Tokoto destroyed Prather as the quarter ended. Perth finally playing the defence that won them the title. First game all year that they looked like last years team

Goulding has lost his right to be in any Boomers conversation.

United are just so stagnant on O when Wesley gets it. The entire arena knows he will not pass. It's ok if he's hitting shots, not today.

Perhaps some Boxing out drills at the Half may help United too. They are getting destroyed on hustle plays. Is it a lack of discipline or fitness?

Pert hitting some shots, United can't buy a bucket, that is the difference.

At the game

Cats have done what they usually do. Perth basketball.

United have been atrocious and can't buy a basket. Did Casper, Wesley and CG hit the club's til 6am last night?

United problems mostly lied with giving up offensive rebounds. Gave Perth the chance to find rhythm. After that is missing open threes.

Tokoto needs to get his shots at the rim and not settle for outside. That spin move was special.
And I still don't get why Kenny is ahead of dkd

Lol classic way to fake a charge. Get your weight on your heels and wait

Would've been interesting to see how Daniel Dillon would have gone this season

Greer with the sound effects again

I wish Homicide would shut up

Cotton proving that he's no 1.

Meanwhile this would have to be worst game I've seen Wesley or Casper play.

Embarrassing right now

Onomatopoeia Greer

LV you must really hate homicide if you're at the game and still telling him to shut up haha

Did Goulding just pick his nose and then eat it?

Wow Goulding ranked 30th for scoring in league

Do 2 opposing floppers cancel each other?

Cotton is a bit of a smart was, but I guess you've got to be

Because it's the Perth way

Smart ass*

United can't even hit an easy basket unless it's Prather.

Manu's a poet
And he didn’t know it

(It was intra-line consonantal half-rhyme though, ie repetition not rhyme)

United 14% from 3, most were uncontested

Maybe it's just me but I think Corey went too far with saying Goulding needs a shrink. Going on and on about mental health like that is too much. Especially when he has zero idea what he's on about.

Cotton with the goulding special on goulding. Haha

Perth look good against poor competition.

But average against good teams

I haven't said anything about these refs....

Seriously though, they make an uncompetitive game worse

Quite a few horrendous bloopers, CG usf, Martin and cotton rewarded for flops. Ware sent off with 4. Adnam rebound foul.

Just makes unenjoyable game even worse. Pay them more, more training, whatever you need to do

I haven't said anything about these refs....

Seriously though, they make an uncompetitive game worse

Quite a few horrendous bloopers, CG usf, Martin and cotton rewarded for flops. Ware sent off with 4. Adnam rebound foul.

Just makes unenjoyable game even worse. Pay them more, more training, whatever you need to do

If your Perth do you try ramp up the score. Or play some really long offensive sets

There's a difference between a sports shrink (which is the kind Homicide is talking about) and a regular shrink. No one is saying Goulding has mental health problems

lol Martins face unflinching wih his finger being popped in. Wasn't there an NBA player recently almost in tears

LV how was the CG unsportsmanlike foul a bad call? He fouled to stop the fast break while he was out of position. Which is a clear path fpul/unsportsmanlike is it not?

Corey said nothing about a Sports specific shrink. He doesn't get the benefit of nuance as he spouts too much verbal crap to get any kind of a pass.

Thank goodness for Prather otherwise United could've lost by 50....

Boone and Prather have kept United ticking this season but Casper and CG just way too hot and cold, both went completely missing vs NZ and again today

How about, instead of being PC first and level-headed second, we choose to not be offended as an initial reaction

I thought simmons made lonzo cry? Not a finger

Awesome performance by Perth. Hate em, but respect them. Mostly.

Fox lady is better, why did neroli laugh at everything everyone said in any of the interviews

4 questions to Cotton at the end, 3 were about how good Melbourne are despite getting destroyed. Commentary team shocked that both teams went deep to their bench in a 30 point blowout. Embarrassing telecast.

I'll be level-headed with a person that is the same. Corey runs his mouth without thought and sometimes goes too far. That time I think he did.

I think the "lists" and that banter are great. Great way to get conversation flowing.

Yeah, nah. Just think he overstepped.

Refs then daylight.

LV are you going to blame the refs for United's insipid performance.

NZ, Perth then daylight

Big Goulding fan but he looks out of shape and out of form ATM.

He used to have a quick first step to get to the rim but thats gone.

Used to have a great handle to shake defenders for the step back J - thats gone.

Used to have great lateral movement but gets blown by on D.

I doubt he partied all off season but he doesn't look like he's worked on his game to get better and the rest of the league has caught up. Lucky for him they have no-one to replace him in the starting lineup.

Doenst deserve his Boomers spot but running in a new system may invigorate him?

Gets a tick on his positive energy.

The mind is willing just the body isn't able...

Nothing wrong with Chris except mentally. I reckon with a stacked team he was asked to take a paycut and resented it. He took the paycut but i reckon it's pissed him off.

I'd like to see Melbourne aggressively run plays to get Goulding shots. Too many possessions tonight where he was just camped outside the arc with a defender stuck to him. His defender is never going to sag or help off of him, so I'm not sure how they expect to get him shots off penetration or anything else if he isn't actively being run off screens and moving off the ball.

Nah I didn't say United would teach them a lesson, I said Cooke wouldn't get away with 4 uncalled fouls in 3 minutes and Cotton wouldn't get multiple undeserved trips to the line from incidental contact after jumpsuits

And I was right. The reffing was ok (apart from a few shockers in Q3). Cooke got called for a couple of moving screens and Cotton didn't get bailed out.

United have some serious soul searching to do. Lots of questions over this team.

I get Vickerman is a new coach for this group, but with so much experience in this line up, and obvious talent (which has been on show from time to time) it beggars belief that they'd have these games where so many players completely go missing like this. That's what you usually get from young players not seasoned vets

(Well Cotton didn't get bailed out except his mid court flop which was almost as bad as Martin's a couple of minutes earlier, for which Martin bizarrely got rewarded with a charge against Casper)

Moller should play 20 minutes per game at least

If that's true that Goulding had to take a pay cut, maybe he did take it easy in the offseason?

United will have $500,00 to play with when Anderson retires.

DA has flown under the radar here, he looks finished with more than half the season to go...

I really think Melbourne need to try increase the tempo and get into transition a lot more. It usually leads to layups, mis-matches and cleaner looks in both primary and secondary trans.

I also agree that if they play CG, he must be used in an aggressive manner. His defensive issues are not as bad as some make them out to be, but they are magnified when he doesn't get to go to work on the other end.

Not sure why they went away from Boone setting high screen rolls. they were very effective early.

DA played an absolutely brilliant game against Adelaide at Hisense, but otherwise has looked fairly ordinary. The refs calling everything also makes it tougher for a guy who is relatively slow at the 4 spot and was already struggling last season with the adjustment compared to Europe refs.

Its looking like his last season.

The " Aussie core" is everyone's dream but United has 3 import starters then Anderson, Barlow probably in last seasons so United will likely have big roster turnover next year

I think the local core is key, the best teams are all fortunate enough to start only 2 imports on court or have at all NZ.

I think Vickerman is trying to play Goulding out of his slump. I just hope it doesnt cost them too many more games.

Does he look at starting Moller or Barlow and bring Casey to the 2?

Taped it. Watched it. Enjoyed it.

But ... Melbourne, WTF?

How does that Melbourne team fail to top 60 points? At home!?

The break has come at a good time for them to reset. And probably at a bad time for the wildcats after having played their best game of the year

Isaac the simple answer is that 3 of United's best scorers - Ware, CG & Wesley- had absolute shockers and missed a lot of shots they would usually hit.

But credit to Perth's D too, it was good, just as you'd expect.

For United, its sometimes easier to coach less talent. Too much talent can rock the boat.

When Greg Hire outscores Ware and Goulding combined you know something is wrong.

Complaining to the refs is one thing - a lot of players do it.

Goulding was first to bring the guys into a huddle on foul shots, encouraging others on the bench etc.

Compare that to Jeremy Tyler who looks to be the new Rasheed Wallace of the NBL and that's an example of bad energy.

What makes this loss worse is United had a 8 days break at home and Perth played a road double!

NZ, Perth then daylight...

I checked TAB and Perth is at $3.30 with Melbourne and Breakers both at $4.00.
Sydney clear last at $27.

I'm from WA.
Sorry I didn't ask which TAB in this thread.
Personally I think NZ are deserving favourites at the moment.
Sydney and Brisbane will battle for the spoon

Do you think NZ are just hot right now?

I personally didnt think much of there roster and imports but they've delivered.

If they get home court they would be tough to beat, only Perth could steal one over there ATM.

Fridays game should be great bball.

"Cotton is better then Warte and i doubt that was ever a question."

As a scorer, absolutely, but they are different players who are playing different positions. Ware brings a more rounded game, he is a strong defender and runs the show, where Cotton's job is to do what he does best, put the ball in the hole.

they are different players who are playing different positions.

I stand humbly corrected!

Both are point guards? One likes to score more than the other!

Damian Martin and Jarrod Kenny run the point for Perth. Bryce could play point and has elsewhere, but he plays almost exclusively SG for the Wildcats, which is very smart by them, that's where he's at his best.

Only just got around to watching the replay (NBL.TV issues) so apologies for late post.

Very unexpected result. (Although I did know it before watching :-)

Commentary was laughable. Prather has been B2B MVP of the Champion team, but NOW they have suddenly decided he's a great player. Plus they kept banging on about the match-up between him and Tokoto, when it was probably the least critical aspect of the game. (Bother are good players, and both played well.)

I'd say the matchup of the guards was probably key. Martin & Cotton completely pantsed Ware and Goulding.
Front court battle was also important, and despite early good work from Boone, MU got murdered on the boards.

Still not sold on Cooke.
Perth are clearly serious about that elusive 3-peat, and that means getting past NZ, and that means overcoming their dominant front-court.