Damian Martin out for Perth too

No Brandt is an issue but no one can matchup on Rudy. We have no height.

Terrico 'Chucker' White

Terrico 'Chucker' White

Cotton looks like an u16 kid playing Seniors

"Even the Kings put up more of a fight than this"

Kings haven't played yet champ

Perth's defense and effort is just terrible. Foul shooting horrible also. No movement of the ball on offense....

If Utah were getting paid $$ for every point, they could win this by 100.

oh my....

Down 30+ at Qtr time lol

Hopefully the Jazz start resting some guys and lower their intensity because it won't be a good look if Perth get pumped by 50-60 points.

44 13

You think two players would result in a 40 point turn around? Yeh for sure.

This honestly is embarrassing and we can only hope the other teams playing over there can prove the class and skill of nbl.

Idiots on here trying to connect losing to a team who got to the second round of the western conference playoffs to success in an 8 team NBL. This is an embarrassing display but its not an indicator for the season.

Haha, 40 points down and Gobert and Mitchell check back in the game... wish Gleeson was miked up

dont forget, 2/11 being easy dunks

Love watching non Perth fans trying to gain some hope for the following season based on an exhibition game where the Cat's have been playing their bench for much of it.

So much fun seeing their eyes light up in the hope that FINALLY, just FINALLY the Cat's might not be the threat they always have been.

Happens every year. That hope. The idea that their own team may finally be able to break through the professionalism and history and success that only the Cat's have.
Sigh.. Must be such a wonderful moment for you. That..moment.
That.. single.. moment.

It's even more fun watching them slowly deflate throughout the season as yet again the Cat's show them how it's done.

Enjoy this aberration guys. Enjoy it while it lasts!
:P

Perth having a game to forget. They have missed some easy shots. Kay misses an easy layup, then rubio hits a one legged fade away... pretty much sums it up. A couple of points people are glossing over: this team has 5 new players and jervis who will be new to some. That is a heap of turnover, its going to breakdown at times.
Terrico white is an nbl 3 man, and according to some just, so he is well undersised guarding nba 3 men.
Gobert is elite. Kay has probably been the most disappointing perth recruit across the whole preseason, i was expecting matt knight 2.0 and we have, im not sure yet.
Not the performance they were looking for, not a great look, not a great indicator of their potential success in the nbl

Excellent post JasonC! Two years ago everyone on here was chirping about how Perth were dead look how that turned out LOL.

A lot of imports come and go in this league. White is going to be one that goes but Trev and the boys will have a plan B, they ALWAYS do.

Leave White there, save money on flight home.

Steindl has looked better than he did last season, let's hope that he gains some confidence from seeing some shots drop on an NBA court.

Free throw shooting for the Wildcats has been truly dreadful and Terrico looks bad so far...

This is hard to watch, you know perceived pressure is real, even good looks aren't close to dropping

It's not great watching them get embarrassed this badly when it’s also nbl getting embarrassed.

Actually ridiculous. Nobody has any drive for the ball. I’ve seen juniors go for loose balls better then this.

As much as I want to see the Wildcats beat these teams, and this game is painful for me to watch, I actually appreciate that Gleeson is treating this like a preseason game. Giving the bench a good long run and getting the young players out there for extended periods. Also not risking injury to the starters (ala Goulding) just to prove a point.
Just playing at this level will improve all of them, and the youngsters need this experience.

This is where the other teams always fail. Dump people and tinker with their roster constantly because things don't go the way they want them to right away. Perth instead stick with their decisions (mostly) and develop the players that need the help. That's why they are consistently at the end every year.

White struggled at NBL Blitz as well though

So it's worth travelling over 24 hours to give your young ones a run? Bloody hell! I respect your passion for your club.

Marto is the heart and SOUL of this team. Different basketball team with him out there.

White had some good games at the blitz, 1st game back from injury as a measuring stick. Prather wasn't a star in game one either

"Let's not forget the wildcats had to fly 30 hours to get there. Might still be a bit jet lagged. Also may have stayed up to watch the Eagles"

I think there's about 1000 more rational and reasonable excuses than this e.g. that Utah are better shooters, playing better defence and the list goes on

Anyway didnt they travel a few days ago..I saw they were working at a college in Utah. Not an excuse which has any merit

This Jazz team is SUPERB btw. Headed for the Western conference finals

CBJ.. For the betterment of the franchise and to maintain the dynasty? Hell yes!

"Also not risking injury to the starters (ala Goulding) just to prove a point."

Except that if for example MU didnt go and play the 76ers MU still would have been playing just as hard in training sessions back at Melbourne.

I never understand the point around risking injury to players. Players train as hard as they play so injuries are just as likely.

It's not Rugby where you have no contact/light contact training and therefore you are much more likely to be injured in game - hence why rugby teams dont really play pre season games.

In any event the team needs to play in a game scenario with their starters so playing Goulding etc actually had some merit. Youngsters won't start come the season proper.

Don't hate people. Think what will happen to us in a few days, it will not be pretty. The reality is none of our teams are close to a chance in any of these games.

Joshua pending I think the point is that most other teams would still put 100% in for the whole game.

Good point joshua especially against this stacked & outstanding Jazz team

I've seen cats diving for loose balls, this 100% effort thing is as biased as ever. Leave cotton that open in the nbl if you want to, teams and players have bad games, unfortunately for these guys it is on the biggest stage, wce had that a few years ago, anyone bothered about it today?

It would help if Utah knew how to miss a fricken 3 point shot! Would love to see their points from 3 and percentage.

I can guarantee my opinion is not biased 1st and 2nd quarters there was no effort shown. 4th quarter they've picked up. I thought Melbourne did really well yesterday at keeping there drive up. If these opinions were biased wouldn’t I say the same thing about them?

Utah - 48 points from the 3 at 42.1%.
No team beating that when they are shooting that well.

Perth tied the lowest score by an NBL team against an NBA team, equalling their 1995 total vs Houston, while giving up more points than any NBL team ever has against an NBA team.

Wasn't expecting it to be particularly competitive, but I definitely wasn't expecting it to be that bad.

While it is true that Utah started hot from outside the arc, they actually finished at 42% (16/38). Perth's outside shooting was terrible at under 14% (4/29).

An overall embarrassing performance. The NBL teams will always suffer from a lack of depth, particularly over a 48 minute game, so losing two starters is a big deal. But that's only a partial excuse as Perth looked bad in so many other ways.

I hope Perth keep playing this insipid slow boring sh!t all season. Maybe that was Gleeson's instructions - we can’t match them on athleticism or effort or quality, so let’s do the opposite so that they feel sorry for us.

The body language of coach and players is that they don’t want to be there, rather than appreciating the experience for the amazing opportunity it is.

Worse margin than I anticipated but still a meaningless preseason game Nonetheless.

Only the MIGHTY Adelaide 36ers could give Utah a run for their money.

Perth still need 3 imports IMO.

And even against the spud NBA teams, Perth would have lost by 30 on performances like today's.

Perth out here embarrassing the NBL. Cried cause they didnt get a game a game last season and they give us this type of effort..

I hope Larry tears strips off Perth and puts the hard word on the teams still to play that they earn respect for their effort even if they look like losing. He must be cringing right now.

And I know there are a lot of haters out there but I give him credit for at least getting the NBL in front of the US fans, and hopefully opening up opportunities for players to get attention.

koberulz,

It's funny watching that first quarter, didn't bother with the rest of the game, how scared and timid Perth looked reminded me of that Houston game where the Perth guys treated it like they were playing gods and were reluctant to even make physical contact.

"They don't want to be there", the crap that comes from some people, they got destroyed by an elite nba team, they probably had their worst shooting performance ever, and perth has had some bad ones. Embarrased the nbl, sure if you say so, write them off at your peril.

@ Hogwash: i keep reading that Perth needs a 3rd import, guess 3 is a mystical number, but so far not one know it all could say in what position, how about you?
2&3 is covered with imports; not 4, would be stupid to have Kay and play him off the bench.
That leaves point where you have Damo and Norton, it's possible, but not sure the point signing Norton as a 3rd point guard.
That leaves the 5, Brandt is injured, but i'd say that position is his (also see the lack of logic bringing in a player, such as Jervis and not playing him).
That leaves the possibility of having an import off the bench, most likely as a small forward, but that would be an extra 100K in a position for a 10 mins a game cameo (because that's what Hire will get) and which position Steindl can cover easily if needed.
Wildcats don't need another import as a starter, they have the pieces and, right now, having an import spot for insurance makes more sense than paying triple for 10 mins a game

Hoopie, Agreed hopefully LK is giving Gleeson and the team a roasting. There's no excuse for performances like that it just shames the NBL on the world stage. Even the two bottom teams from last season the Kings & Bullets only lost by 20 in their games. Losing by 60 is something that would've been tolerated 25 years ago. It's disgraceful.

I just hope like hell the 36ers don't lay a similar sized egg against Utah especially now with that game to be shown live on FTA TV.

Meanwhile, the Beijing Ducks only lost by 53 to Dallas, while keeping it close up until half-time.

Breokhoff hit a couple 3s in his pre-season debut.

Even Cairns would have beaten Perth today

Dallas is not a playoff team, the jazz are and could very well have home court. But let's not let that get in the way of some perth hate

Didn't watch the game, but goddamn it this is a beautiful scoreline

Stop making piss weak excuses Perth were playing the Jazz they're a second round playoff team no contender, Melbourne just played a second round playoff team yesterday and only lost by 20 and that was with the 76ers running up the score at the end for most of that game it was a 10-12 point deficit. Losing by 60 is just out and out fear.

Perth hate is completely justified. They brought the league into disrepute with that performance and have justified the beliefs of NBA fanboys everywhere that the NBL is a bush league.

And you know what? Maybe it is. Maybe the NBL die hards have been high off our own parochialism since the start? Maybe our league actually is shit. After what Utah did to Perth today, you can certainly make a solid case for it.

Perth Wildcats sucked so much you would have thought their starting point guard was Stormy Daniels.

So far, we made a far better fist of the series last year than we have this year.

All I know is if we have more of these types of losses, we should really cut our losses and stop doing this.

didn't watch the game because I don't like getting up early to watch basketball being played in a half empty arena before midday at the weekend. Guess this is just preseason training for the red army faithful though.

"Anyway didnt they travel a few days ago..I saw they were working at a college in Utah. Not an excuse which has any merit"

Do you not know what jetlag is?

OK maybe it has a little merit but I still think if you get to a hotel and then have 3 days before your game you should be able to come out and compete at 100% considering it's only 30-35 odd minutes.

A sixty point win in any competition is terrible. It is the difference between The Boomers playing Fiji. These guys are supposed to be professionals. Yes, they are better. Yes they should win 99 out of 100 times. But show some heart. Show some endeavour. Show you get paid to play basketball as your profession for God's sake! Or just quit. Like Perth did today.

Gleeson honestly deserved better.

Regardless of jet lag or other excuses, the Jazz bench looked ultra impressive and the traits that Wildcats stand by like hustle, defence and rebounding were non existent and I hope that LK does rip strips off the Wildcats because that was as bad as it gets.

Fingers crossed that their performance against Nuggets is much more competitive as I don't think anyone deserves to see such an insipid effort again!

The only positive I took from this game was that Mitch Norton will attack the rim far more than Jarrod Kenny had in previous seasons and that excites me.

Oh I have no doubt that they will get better, and no doubt that they are a 20-30 point better team than they showed, but still what they served up today was not good enough and it brings the whole NBA/NBL thing into question unless teams start competing moving ahead.

Not making playoffs this season. The run will be over.

Bugger em

Game into disrepute, really? getting beaten by an elite team, down 2 starters combined with a horrid shooting night, yep disrepute alright. Philly plays in the east, the jazz the west, let's not pretend they are equal. How people can actually write that the owner of a league should penalise players for a poor performance on the biggest stage some may ever see just shows how comical and ignorant some of the posters here are. Ana thats coming from someone who writes their fair share of one eyed stuff.

Just some troll going on about Gleeson.

Okay, people getting a bit dizzy here. Not sure how he could have coached them to be taller, more talented, quicker and more athletic. I can see how certain things contributed to the way they played, such as jet lag, altitude, change of rules, court dimensions, massive jump in talent, but that shouldn't cause them to miss freethrows and open jumpers that would have easily taken 25 points off of the closing deficit, and it shouldn't have meant that they basically didn't hustle whatsoever. When I say they brought the NBL is disrepute, I mean it. The reputation of the standard of the NBL is in question after that loss both in America and Australia.

I can see how certain things contributed to the way they played, such as...altitude

that shouldn't cause them to miss freethrows and open jumpers

Lost their captain, plus their starting centre. Unfortunate.

I don't know any of the Utah players, how close were they to full strength? Or were they playing the G-League players?

Lets be honest, if an NBA team takes a game seriously, they are going to wipe the floor with an NBL team. Period. Anybody, LK included, who thinks otherwise is deluded.

We'd be better off scheduling games against the G-League.

Great to see Flogstaff and Jervis both get pinned for their typical moving/illegal screens loved seeing those two get thrown around by Utah's bigs

Pointing to Martin's absence is understandable, but at the end of the day he's in his mid-thirties now. What's the plan in a year or two?

Ultimately a nothing game. Gleeson was laughing. Will be long forgotten when the good guys win it all AGAIN

Beijing Ducks put up a better showing.

I just don't like Adelaide's chances given that was the teams first game. Now another week of training is going to see them step up another level.

Jazz look good, spent the 2nd half of the season securing their finals place, looks like they might get off to a better start. They have improved over the off season and Derrick Favours looks mobile.

"Will be long forgotten when the good guys win it all AGAIN"

Good guys? Perth are the Collingwood of the Nbl, get over yourself.

Apparently LK has requested to the Jazz management to take it easy on the 36ers.

It was OK. Perth couldn't buy a bucket in the 1st half and that was that. Dante looked ordinary. Allen looked great, as did Mitchell. Shame ingles got hurt, but it looked to me like Perth got caught in the headlights where Melbourne U did not.

You know the club makes him wear a the polos, right?

Follow suit?

Pun intended???

I think the biggest key when playing v NBA teams is the mental side of the game. Perth yesterday, and Brisbane and Sydney last year, were blown out early, and each lacked guys who'd played much on truly big stages.

Melbourne in comparison, particularly last year, had Boone, Andersen, Wesley, Barlow, Prather and Ware who would have stepped on court and felt very comfortable out there. That theory will be tested out pretty quick with Sydney, who should have a similar level of comfort.

The other team that could acquit themselves ok would be NZ, with Long, Wesley, Abercrombie and Webster on-board. The test for them will be their PGs, although Ili has stood up pretty well against some good international ballers so may well take it in his stride.

Sydney looked very comfortable today.

Does the club also make Gleeson wear his polo shirts 3 sizes to small. Those Moobs!!!!

Damo playing against Denver?

Being a fan of both NBA and NBL I never expected Perth to come close to beating Utah.

Yeah it was horrible to see them get blown out by a huge margin, but as someone posted earlier, Perth are not a good match up for NBA style basketball.

Wildcats I believe run a lot of Zone D too, something they couldn't do as its illegal D in the NBA.

Not making any excuses for the Cats, it made the NBL and the Cats look like a joke, but in reality they match up a lot better against a slower less athletic NBL League (which is why they are so successful).

Missing Damo doesnt change the score a great deal, Brandt was missed more as Gobert feasted on us inside.

Melbourne lost by 20 to the Sixers, but an NBA fan would know that the East is a slower conference of the 2 and Perth would have been much more competitive against them.

Utah are also the best defensive team in the NBA, something to keep in mind when looking at the missed buckets by Perth.

Unfortunately - Denver will touch them up too, whilst not as good defensively as the Jazz they are a faster paced team and put up higher scores. Gary Harris may be out which is helpful but the Cats just dont play the style of game that matches against the Western Conference teams.

"Missing Damo doesnt change the score a great deal"

Martin is their most important player IMO, he sets the standard of how they play. Will be interesting to see how they bounce back, hopefully he can play which should lead to better looks for Cotton and White.