Where is Jack Toft to lead us into biggest game of year.
Look for our stars to go up a level and plan B game plan to help open up our keyway and actually shoot some 3 s.
Defensive rebounds would be handy.
This is time for team and supporters to bring their best game.

Well even if Melbourne (dis)United ware to win, the fact we have got a change of government should bring a smile to the dial to South Aussies.

I expect our effort levels to be markedly improved over Game 1 and to get the win.

Hopefully Sixers get the lights out of their eyes and settle into a rhythm for Game 2. United seem to have all the answers though.

Haha that's as good as a concession, Jack

The return bout is here and I trust Jazzy is under strict orders to turn off the hot water to the visitors showers.

Melbourne were always expected to get game 1 and they should have got that by 20, so an 11 point win is kind of like a loss.

Game 1 showed just how reliant United are on certain players and how shallow their bench is. CG43 had a great game, but he consistently fails to back it up time after time. 26 points was a great effort, but after a good game he can't get it up for a second stint. Look at his record, if he gets double figures this afternoon, that would be a goof effort.

Sixers were beaten outside the arc last game and need to drill those home in order to secure a win today. Great games need players to step up and the stage is set for a Sixer to step up to the plate. I'm putting my kiss of death on Sobey to be that player today and get a bag outside the arc.

It's a 5 game series. Come 6 pm, if it's not 1-1, then coming from behind to go 3-2 will ensure this Sixers team GF win will be even sweeter

Anon, if what you say is true, how bad is the damage for Boone?

11 point win is kind of a loss. That's gold :)
Adelaide should get this at home.

C'mon 6ers!

This will be interesting to see the adjustments Joey makes following game 1. Does he stay with his switching mantra, if he does then will he have a double team strategy on the post up mismatches that United made use of in the second half. How does he defend Ware on the switch out high with his bigs? Is Ware 100%?

We will see all answered in less than an hour. I'm 50/50 on who wins this, it’s a must win for Adelaide to have any chance in this series.

Maybe Shorter will be more worried about playing than talking to the crowd this game.

Has a team ever come from 0-2 down to win a best of 5 grand final series?

How many best of 5 grand final series has there been? I only remember the one where the Kings under Goorjian beat the (then) Wollongong Hawks 3-0.. around 2005 I would hazard to guess. I might be a year or two off with that guess

No-one is reported out from Melbourne. The guy above who said Boone was out.....at least use another United player as replacement not a Taipan.

United posted a warmup video on Twitter.
Boone wouldn't be participating, putting a little dribble spin move on then dunking if his calf was bad. Ware was suited up and dribbling

This intro bloke looks like he'll murder me in central Australia if given the chance

Sobey has to get 20 for Adelaide to have any chance!!

The Original JR,

2004 - Sydney def West Sydney 3-2
2005 - Sydney def Wollongong 3-0
2006 - Melbourne def Sydney 3-0
2007 - Brisbane def Melbourne 3-1
2008 - Melbourne def Sydney 3-2
2009 - South Dragons def Melbourne 3-2

2017 - Perth def Illawarra 3-0

Calling it right now. Great matchup for Aus basketball this. The days of Perth vs NZ are over, game has evolved. Hoping the series goes the distance, this game is going down to the wire.

Yes there are heaps of fouls called but the quality of the basketball is pretty good in my opinion. Fun to watch

Cmon Adelaide fans, not even Perth boos every foul against, at least let the clear ones slide.

Game 2 of finals and still forci;the hj's chant.

Adelaide getting heaps of home cooking. Drop your shoulder and run through a guy = Free throws.

Mr Look at me Aylen just making stuff up, guessing constantly.

Learn the rules Anon

CG43 flop called. LOL. He reminds me of Anakin Skywalker, except Anakin was less moody

RG I know the rules, they are not being applied correctly and consistently.

Way to try deflect form the fact that Adelaide is being gifted FTs

Change the jerseys around and see if you'd sing the same tune.

100% guarantee you'd be screaming that it was rigged to help Larrys Team.

United are being blown off the court. Their still in it and could come back. Stop blaming the refs Perth fans.

Entire Melbourne starting five on 2 or 3 fouls.

Salty Perth fan whinging about the bias of Casey, the best commentator in the game.

Eh, Lachy Reid?

Zodiac you seem to have an obsession with Perth, you know the identity of anonymous posters?

Aylen is Victorian. The fact he moved to SA in recent years doesn't make him a crow eater.

I love Centrelink references towards Adelaide. The place created by settlers and not for convicts.

Quarter of a Boone and half a Ware isn't enough of an excuse for the predicament Melbourne is in right now. You get on the glass regardless of anything.

Refs have nothing to do with the fact that United is being pantsed. It's helping, but you never take accountability away from your players by blaming refs.

Nice touch by Joey at half-time... "hopefully (United players) keep limping."

Btown, um no. This is the same anonymous Perth guy that has been trolling all the threads on here recently.

So no, you can't tell.

Adelaide playing like they're on rabies

Wonder what the biggest margin is in a GF game? Could be in danger here.

Whinge all you like about the refs but Adelaide's intensity has been first class - just wanted it more than United. Ware and Boone not 100% obviously hurts. If you're Vickerman do you sit them down at 3 qtr time?

How good is Ramone Moore's spin move? Not sure anyone in the league has a better one.

I really don't think you can read a great deal into this game

Injuries to United's two most important players is the reason.

Commentators been on Adelaide's D all season, quite irritating

Series, not season

Eww that charge call was bad

Yeah, getting smacked in the face is acting.

Don't be seriously hurt Chill.

Adelaide fans,

Do you want Casper and Boone 100 per cent fit for the rest of the series?

LK knows what he's doing.

If someone goes up 2-0 in a best of 5, that's bad for business.

After last year, another sweep was never on the cards.

This one's going to 5 games.

On Easter Saturday there'll be a sellout at Hisense Arena- with everyone paying at least $50 a ticket.

And Larry will be grinning from ear to ear.

way too many rebounding fouls.

Hope the refs address this to the teams and we get cleaner games from here.

"Do you want Casper and Boone 100 per cent fit for the rest of the series?"

Sure, I'd rather play them at their best. They've been the best team all year, they don't deserve to lose due to injuries. As long as Childress is at 100% too.

"Refs carried these teams to the finals and it's showing. Wildcats are superior to both"

Refs didn't beat you by 35 points in game 1 bud.

Yeah I reckon Childress will be fine. Textbook stinger

Wildcats would not beat these two teams with 1 disinterested and 1 subpar role player import.

All I can say is game 4 is going to be an absolute banger!

"LK knows what he's doing.

"If someone goes up 2-0 in a best of 5, that's bad for business"

If you believe the whole thing is set up why do you watch?

I find it amazing the conspiracy theorists that come out whenever a 'Best of' Series in nay sport either looks like it might or does go to it's maximum number of games. When a series is swept they go crawling back into the hole they live in behind the couch!
What is even more incredible is how all the players and officials involved in the game keep quiet about 'the fix' for the rest of their lives.

Well done 6ers! And a big shout out to all the Perth fans for making this thread that much longer.

Obviously that was a bit tongue in cheek

No one can know for sure whether a given game was fixed. It's always speculation

But if you did want to manipulate a result, you wouldn't need many people in on it. Even 2 refs could very easily ensure an 85-90% likelihood of a desired result, given the other surrounding circumstances in a game like today's

And when I say fixed, I don't mean "guaranteed "- that's impossible in a sport like basketball. All I mean is someone involved has some intentionality around the aim of getting a certain result

That commentary team was woeful. Harvey, redhage and Newley. Are you kidding me.

Anyway who was watching the tv coverage did they elaborate at all of chills shoulder?

I agree about the commentary. Every raves about a Harvey. Can't stand his commentary

Great win by the Sixers, the defensive intensity was there from the start and that fed the offense. Awesome atmosphere too with a very loud crowd, can't wait for games 3 and 4! Moore and Deng both cane up big today - Deng particularly showing why he should have got more minutes in game 1. Hopefully Childress. Ware and Boone can use the 5 day break to be fit for Friday (one of the good things I guess of the series being spread out so much). It has been a bit unfortunate to have those 3 players suffering injuries in the first two games of what could be a classic finals series.

Yeah I'm just speculating

But speculating and thinking about these things is fun. If I didn't enjoy that then I wouldn't bother with a site like this

Crowds have an impact on the refs too. Thousands of people jeering, booing and creating an intimidating environment. That absolutely has an impact. Human psychology makes that very clear

Good thing is- for United- the next game is back at Hisense

As I see it, the bottom line is this: Ware and Boone are Melbourne's most important players. Goulding is also quite important. Wesley would be a distant 4th. Then the rest.

We can talk about X's and O's but at the end of the day those guys need to fire for United to win. If they're not firing, for whatever reason- hampered by injury, foul trouble, whatever- United will have a tough time of it against this talented and deep Adelaide lineup.

"Does the Adelaide crowd know it's a 5 game series?"

I'm fairly certain they knew that they did not want a 3 game series ;)

And you not only need your guns firing but you need guys playing roles- Barlow, Hooley, Andersen did that in game 1

Adelaide I thought would hit back. And they did.

We're on our way to 5 and it has been a good tussle so far

Would be good to have a thread without people moaning about officiating or commentators.
I can't stand Adelaide but they were a class above Melbourne today.
Hoping Ware , Boone and Childress all pull up well for game three.

I agree with Uncle Phil a good thing the series is spaced out so much allowing players to recuperate from injuries somewhat although clearly Ware wasn't ready to play today.

Hopefully he, Boone & Childress will all be fit for friday night.

I wish there were an NBL version of Shams or Woj to give us scoops. We probably won't get an update on the three injured guys until tip-off next game

You didn't consider this a scoop Manu? ;)

Boone out (calf flare up), Chris Patton in.

Wouldn't be surprised if Childress is done. Boone looked like a cork so would say he'll be fine and Caper too with some rest will be good to go.
Will be a shame if Childress is done, will change the complexion of the series entirely

I don't want to put my name in that ridiculous thread above, so I'll post here...

What do referees see with Childress? Every time he goes to the rack when isolated, he gets fouled. He just leans into the D and gets the call every time. What does he do that others don't?

Pretty simple Manu, he gets his head and shoulders past the defender and then they have no option but to create contact with his side/move into him. It looks like a foul every time and probably is.

Harvey works well when he's third man.

Slotting in Redhage to a GF was a woeful decision. Surely it wasn’t due to a lack of others being unavailable.

I see your point, but it seems like he is half out of control and launching/diving into the defender, initiating contact. Surely there's some kind of rule or interpretation that says you must be under control or sort of stay in your cylinder or more less to get the whistle

Childress doesn't launch into the defender though , he goes around him and that’s where they get in trouble

If you attack and get fouled it's a foul. If a player gets beat and doesn't have position that's their fault.

IMHO Childress launches/slides himself into an open gap immediately next to the defense ( or between the defense and the rim) and the defensive player then reaches trying to slap the ball, (which chill has put out tantalizingly close to where the defense thinks they can reach to (300+ NBA games helps here)), which results in the defensive player's body moving into in to the same space which means the defense (usually) causes the contact, that results in a foul. When the defense just goes up ( or away) from chill and has a higher reach ( usually not) then Josh gets cleanly blocked.

So in the contact that Josh hurt his shoulder, you will see that the defensive player ( Barlow0 neither jumps, reaches across or moves, so no defensive foul.

If Barlow had jumped and or reached, 99% chance that a defensive foul would have been called

Yeah he is quick and long. And he knows his way around dribble moves.

Much like my question about Ware, can anyone provide an educated guess as to Childress' injury and it's prognosis?

Also, one of Homicide's recent Tweets sums up why I don't like this season's Sixers.

"This shit is over in 4. Casper got his as (sic) handed to him today!" -Shannon Shorter

I encourage this type of talk, I just personally don't like it.

Impinged supraspinatus or maybe AC joint? Shoulders have a lot going on. Pretty complex.

Wouldn't think it was a dislocation from there unless his arm was moving up very quickly.

I encourage it for the very reasons you pointed out -- great for the game, fans, and players.

It's more important to the game to have that type of talk than to appease one person (me) / a small minority in a fan base of tens or hundreds of thousands.

Udog, you a doctor ain't you?

At least in the physiology field

How did Wesley get away with an ankle tap today? Seems he spent to long learning rugby whilst at the breakers.

Exer. Phys. Manu

"Barlow0 neither jumps, reaches across or moves, so no defensive foul."

He didn't have legal position, his arm vertical and by my eyes at the time (would like to see replay) that was the first point of contact so I thought should have been a foul, especially as refs were very tight on arms out of the cylinder yesterday.

From previous posts .
Perth is a long way from Adelaide and Melbourne and Wildcats along way behind Sixers and United this year and both are facts .
Great series happening.
Do not do not tie Homicide up with Sixers . We do not want him on side or any way attached to us.

As for the game, the tighter reffing on the body positioning than we'd seen since earlier in the year helped Adelaide's style. They exposed Melbourne's lack of speed and left them struggling for answers.

But more important was the intensity Adelaide defended and rebounded with. In the first game they only brought that for a few minutes at a time, yesterday it was relentless for 30-35 mins.

That's what allowed them to put the heat on Melbourne's D in the open court and transition, and that's a much bigger factor than the reffing. Can the 36ers do that on the road though? Their home crowd gives them the energy to amp it up.

Does anyone know the name of the song that was used in the 36ers intro piece - TIA?

Tornado - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ujRptOjoAQ

I knew you would be able to help - thanks Skip!