Need Jack to do a write up for this game

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Preview

Tussle

Learn to spell, for crying out loud.

Friday afternoons are the best time of the working week. It's the day of the long lunch, Friday beers, POETS day and of course NBL games.

Tonight, NBL fans will get to see the top of the table clash. NZ hosts Perth, and this is definitely the match of the round

What can we say about our sheepish cousins from across the ditch?.... Not much! They’re top of the table for a reason and look as entrenched in that position as Jay Weatherill is a South Aussie Premier. I guess it’s a good position to be in, there could be worse positions to be in, like Donald Trump’s PR Manager, or Donald Burke’s Philodendron pollinator...

They do things pretty choice over in Auckland. I’m almost tempted to join the NZ Police force just so I can be in a recruitment video.

Wildcat fans will be searching for a win tonight and it could be as rare as a sober schoolies at Victor. The Cats haven’t won over there since Dec 2013, gee that was when Rudd was PM, no… Gillard…. No Rudd. We’ve had a few PM’s since then and NZ have too.

Perth travel like a grumpy old man. They like their own bed and they like their dentures in their special glass. Travel is not a strong point. New Zealand have the wood on the Cats and I think Breakers fans will feast on roasted wildcat tonight, washed down with copious amounts of L&P. Choice, eh bro!

This might be the GF preview, but it might just show how the GF will end up.

I think the cats have got this. They turned the corner last week and rediscovered their trademark defense. Should be interesting to see if they can contain the on fire breakers. With no more knight NZ feasted on dribble penetration last time round. Cooke Jr and co have improved since then and will need a vast improvement to contain Pledger etc. This game will tell us a lot. If not, it should be confirmation that a new import big will be on the way in the near future.

Time for Cooke to finally show what he can do against tough opposition.

And they need Steindl to light em up.

Steindl. Ha ha ha!

Steindl has been underwhelming so far but I think he has had enough time to settle in and is ready for a bigger game.
NZ won't be a pushover like United but I think Perth will get this one just

This is maybe the first year where I wouldn't mind watching a NZ/Perth final. Historically they've been two of the more (comparatively) boring teams to watch as a non-fan, but that hasn't been the case this year.

NZ are definitely due for a loss, but not sure it happens tonight.

Most of the others are playing well, so it goes without saying that we'd like them all to bring their A game.
We know what Steindl is capable of, and so far we have only seen the barest glimpse.

If its a close tussle, the ability to bring on the B team and have Steindl drain bombs and stretch the D, could be the difference.

Cats need to defend the pick and roll much better, remmember what a reboind is and find a way to not let newbil take advantage of the smallee cotton defending him, if they are to beat NZ.

I want to see Sosa make a statement in this one. Newbill is legit but Sosa has not shown me yet that his passing aside he can take over a game. He needs to be aggressive. Take it to the hoop and dish.
Abercrombie and Penney are toast marking Tokoto so they will have to compensate offensively.
Tokoto and Wagstaff are key for Perth they each need 20+ to help Cotton out to have any chance.
I think Breakers have edge right now.

I want to see Sosa make a statement in this one. Newbill is legit but Sosa has not shown me yet that his passing aside he can take over a game. He needs to be aggressive. Take it to the hoop and dish.
Abercrombie and Penney are toast marking Tokoto so they will have to compensate offensively.
Tokoto and Wagstaff are key for Perth they each need 20+ to help Cotton out to have any chance.
I think Breakers have edge right now.
Loe and Pledge have to defend pick and roll better.

What is this god awful buzzing sound?

I don't have tinnitus, do I?

Here comes the whistle, cats need to adjust

Refs messing with a good game again.

Gleeson telling his guys to watch the fouls, and he's picking up techs to put the game within reach...

That was a rare defensive boo-boo by Vukona to give Wagstaff the 3.

JESSE MOTHERF**king WAGSTAFF!!!! Woooooooooo!!!

:)

So we won't hear any complaining now when the Wildcats get home calls, 50'50's always go to the home team.

Exceptional win with Cotton not firing. Now Stendl needs to find his groove, and all will be well.

Damo on newbill, finally

Anyone here know of a place to find the detailed team ladder stats like home wins/losses, road win/losses, Points for and Points against?

The NBL ladder no longer shows those.

Tokoto - 9 assists (plus a couple of passes that lead to freethrows)

Any other team wants the title this year they have to get through Perth first

"https://www.flashscore.com.au/basketball/australia/nbl/standings"

Thank you kindly.

The people that predicted that Tokoto would be a great import in the NBL were on the money for sure!

Good result, especially considering some of our big guns didn't contribute as much as usual to the score.

But way too early to start making predictions about 3peats.
Martin is just about due for his obligatory facial injury. and with Cooke going MIA when it counts an injury to any of our bigs could spell disaster.

Plus I'd expect other teams to adapt.
NZ still have an import slot up their sleeve

Credit to the Wildcats, they turned up ready to play and just wanted it more.
NZ won't be panicking yet, 9-2 with losses to Cairns & Perth isn't going to raise too many alarms.
Hopefully it has lit a fire under a few asses and they won't be complacent on Sunday in Brisbane.

Poor effort by Breakers. Wagstaff out-offnced Ili, Penney and Abercrombie. Newbill was contained. So we had trouble scoring. Wagstaff grabbed the initiative Q4 and game over.

NZ missed a lot of outside shots that had been falling previously but the biggest issue was the poor boxing out that saw Perth get a ton of second chance points.

Wagstaff great down the stretch

Competitive game but Breakers missed lots of shots they've been hitting previously. Form comes and goes, that's basketball

Perth deserves to be favs and are my title tip, this game was another example of why

Finally got to watch this game. Not entirely convincing by Perth in that it felt like NZ were noticeably down on the first 2 times we played them, but I'll take it.
Angus is still the concern for me in this matchup. Offensively he struggles when guarded by Pledger, settling for low-percentage shots. That puts a lot of reliance on creating from the perimeter to get our points, but we were able to get that done in this one.
Big win for Perth to claw closer to that #1 spot

I wonder if Brandt is still unwell?
But yes, even when healthy he struggles against Pledger.
And that's a concern, because I still think NZ are the team to beat if you want a 3peat.

Still think they need to look for somebody different to Cooke.