Yep, this series has gone as I expected so far.

And I think the injuries are indeed crucial.

Before game 1 I said Casper was Melbourne's main man and the number one advantage against Adelaide.

His 7 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 6 minutes before his injury, and then his game breaking second half would seem to back me up here.

Boone is the other major piece for United- and yesterday we saw Adelaide dominate the boards as Boone was hampered, in foul trouble and sat most of the game.

This is an epic battle of two franchises trying to come of age- a United group with plenty of experience, but as a franchise United has always underachieved- until now. 36ers are still a relatively young group who have promised much over the past 18 months, and it's finally coming together on the biggest of stages.

Game 3 should be a cracker. United to win in the first single digit margin of the series.

Refs aside, one thing I'm enjoying in this finals series is the level of confidence displayed by so many individual players. I've alluded to the fact that this series is completely unlike the Perth vs NZ of old, where the focus was more on team execution and perhaps a bit of that was to disguise some individual deficiencies. Now, you have players like Creek looking like Universal soldier out there, Boone being a constant OR threat, Ware capable of going off any minute, Goulding trying take his game to another level (whether or not he's good enough is another question). Heck, even Hodgson and Deng think they're #1 on the court at times. The top 6-7 players for each team all think they are top dog and it makes for some pretty entertaining trash talking and basketball plays.

Not saying the current style is necessarily better, just that it's different and and fun to watch.

anon - I agree. The starting fives for both teams are all aggressive, confident players capable of scoring 20-30 in a game. And then a couple of bench players from each side who can put up 15-20 points comfortably.

Seeing Childress go down grabbing his shoulder instantly brought back images of Mark Davis way back in 1994. Possibly the only good thing is that it was Childress's left shoulder, not his right which is his shooting side. His shooting action is more in front than overhead so perhaps may not be effected as much if he recovers enough to play. Will restrict his rebounding though. I imagine he will spend a lot of time in the physio this week. Hopefully it is not as bad as first thought and he will be ok, but restricted.

FWIW...from a distance I saw DJ ask Chill after the game presumably how his shoulder was and Chill (his back facing me) said something back to him. If my lip reading is correct DJ's response was..."That's F'd".

You can hurt lots of different bits from shoulder inpact like that. Especially as you get older. AC joint, SC joint, supraspinatus, fractures, bone bruising. The list goes on. Fingers crossed it's not major.

Childress cleared of structural damage

Hope you're right Snooch! What's your source!

Just posted to their website.

Thanks Snooch, I see it now! I'm glad there's no structural damage, but it seems like we are still in the dark as to whether Childress will even play, let alone have an impact.

If there's no structural damage I would imagine he will suit up. If he has soreness maybe he'll play less minutes.

If Childress is on reduced minutes or sitting out then Adelaide will probably miss his rebounding more than anything. There are probably people who can fill the void on offence.

If Boone is still hampered by a back niggle then it's Advantage Adelaide. He's a rebounding machine and Adelaide looked way more comfortable when he was warming the bench.

Game 3 not a sell out. Probably the last time you will see Melb play this season but their fans are non existent.

AFL season starts this week - so this will affect crowd in Melbourne I would think

I'll be there though - Go United!!!

Any reason why Ticketmaster refuses to take my money? Won't let me pay for the tickets.