I like this preview. Good write up Isaac. Whats a forum worth thses days?

Wildcats have taken pity on the floor-wipers, who didn't want to clean up the mess after Martin was finished with Weeks and Illi.

Webster has been scoring well, will be interesting to see if Trev bothers with a plan to shut him down. He didn't seem to mind Goulding ripping us a new one, so probably not.

Presumably with Martin out, Hire will play 35 minutes as Point Guard. I can only assume Trev's tactic is to accelerate his retirement by getting him injured asap.

Jervis will look good early, commit 2 fouls and be benched, where upon Trev will again forget why he recruited him and leave him there.

White will snooze for 3/4's, then take about 30 shots in the last quarter. If he can get above 25%, we'll probably win.

Honestly not sure if I can be bothered. I've got shit to do, and these morning games are really getting on my tit

Not a fan of these early games either but it is what it is.
Would've confidently said Perth with Martin but now its more 60/40.
Perth in a close one.

"Honestly not sure if I can be bothered. I've got shit to do, and these morning games are really getting on my tit"

Don't go then. Either way no one here cares if you do or don't. Just atop whining about it.

stop*

Genuinely funny write-up. Feels like a hopeless situation, Isaac.

Go Breakers

Just the tip?

Aye

Perf.

Been offered a bit more than $20k before but likely worth a bit more than that. Then got approached by a Canadian company wanting to buy it but they bailed because they couldn't own an AU domain.

AD, by tit, given this is a Perth thread, do you mean moob?

What time is the tipoff? Some games have been 1210pm, some at 12pm, others at 1150am.

"AD, by tit, given this is a Perth thread, do you mean moob?"

I can't blame Dazz for having moob on his mind when his team's coach insists on showcasing his at assets every game!

Forum is much appreciated along with the time and effort you put into it Isaac. Brings Australia's basketball community together. When it becomes worth in the millions I will understand if you sell.

"AD, by tit, given this is a Perth thread, do you mean moob?"

WTF knows. Saturday mornings I am usually hung-over and caffeine deprived. Trev looks pretty hot in pink.

If I could figure out how to get a big screen in my boat, I could just watch the game on the wonderful 9-go, whilst getting shit-faced and fishing.

PS: I shouldn't, but I just have a bad feeling about this game.

For all those saying we're fortunate to have Norton, well yes, but that was always the point. Chances of Martin getting through the season uninjured were always sub-zero.
Hire is no better, he's basically playing on one leg.
And we're left with Stiendl holding down the bench. If his GF's so good, maybe we should just get her to play for the Wildcats.

I don't believe NZ are the force they once were, but they have a history of always bringing their A game to Perth. Perth need to be on their toes from the tip-off, and I just have a nagging feeling we won't be.
Or that could just be the Jacks talking.

Breakers still finding their feet but if there was a time to pounce on the Wildcats for a win in Perth now is the time with Martin out.
NZ will need to rebound as a team very well to win this.

#273 link?

Foul count 11-1. Jervis has his feet on the semi-circle- should have been a block!

Well i guess complaining to the refs work, cause we've seen a complete comical reversal now....

Webster body language on the bench is terrible- the team is fine without his shocking body language....

Perthworld
Think it's Beau Estes?

He was nbl website last season doing top 10s.

NBL is probably paying him a fee. If he has his own YouTube channel etc, there's probably good exposure in USA and other countries.

Huddle talks from coaches now include talks about getting calls from refs?

Gleeson's little thing when he claps with his hands near his head after every score is so irritating! If you know the clap he does you know what I mean!

Foul count 11-1. Jervis has his feet on the semi-circle- should have been a block!

Ouch Moore's finger looks gnarly!

Haha Tai Wesley you legend

"Let's be real, I ain't seen Ogilvy for 2 years"

Ha you gotta love Wesley and then Homocide talking it up, actually giving opinions. Better than AFL where they're too scared of offending someone to make outspoken comments like that

Unfortunately, I can't see NZB winning this. Our offense is really inconsistent this year and its a worry as to where we are going to get our points from across a full game.

The games we have won we've relied on special performances by Delany and Wesley (ADL & Melb games).

Never used to worry about the Breakers offence - but there seems to be a lot of players out on the court who aren't contributing (or who for their own limitations can't contribute) very much offensively.

What did Wesley say? Changed over at HT so missed it.

Tom Abercrombie hooks his defender and gets the and 1. SMH

shea ili is NZs biggest problem. They need to send Moore home and bring in a starting pg

Thats the Webster I was expecting this season....

Didn't think u could hit the board with ball on the rim.

I'll take my words back, Webster doing much better. Body language could improve though!

Bryce Cotton, the protected species

First you wave off an obvious and 1 then you call unsportsmablile when he clearly plays the ball! Terrible call

USF on Wagstaff is fair, given the new interpretation

But I'm not sure if I like this new interpretation.

The intent was to foul, obviously. On the other hand, no one was going to get hurt. Maybe a regular foul is penalty enough

Long has bumbled a few good chances away this game.

Sub Webster on.....

Get Shea Illi and Abercrombie OFF

Shea has regressed to 2016-17 form.

So anyone care to explain how kay didn't get a foul there? I guess perth just get "all" the calls

I don't think the reffing has been too bad (haven't seen the entire game though)

My one complaint is Cotton kicks his legs out on 3's, then someone makes incidental contact, and Off Cotton goes to the charity stripe. They have to stop calling that

20 Free throws to 3??

Surely that is not correct. The Breakers have only had 3 foul shots the WHOLE GAME?

The referees dont bother to try and hide it anymore.

"Why u so concerned Macdub. Wildcats needed 50% 3pt shooting and 3 refs to scrape ahead. NZ playing the better basketball IMO."

I was concerned with exactly what happened in the end.

That is, that our offensive slump was inevitable and that I didn't see where our points could come from across the entire game - ultimately, the slump came at the most problematic time (4th Q).

7 points in the 4th quarter - miserable - that sums it up. The game is played across 40 minutes.

Anyway time for the real game now (All Blacks)

Wasn't there a game up in Townsville in 2012 where one team shot zero free throws?

I don't blame the refs for tonight's results. We didn't deserve to win.

But the home advantage is an accentuated advantage at Perth due to the added refereeing advantage that Perth get at home above and beyond what any other team gets at home.

Not saying it decides games - but there is certainly some form of added advantage with the referees, even if only a little bit

In an era where they call so many ticky tack fouls, for a team to only shoot 3 FTs the WHOLE game shows to me that the referees made up there minds before the tip off who they wanted to win.

The NBL and there refs think we are all stupid?

No you're right.. home cooking happens everywhere to a degree including in NZ. It's an accepted part of playing at home.

My point is that the home refereeing advantage is slightly accentuated at Perth unfortunately.

So , koberulz in a little bit of excitment as homicide says perth will make finals

In relation to the foul count: perth wasn't playing a whole heap of defence at the start of the game, really werent in the vicinity to foul, if you disagree go back and count the uncontested dunks and layins, nz was shooting 60%. nz defence was sloppy all game both teams were on the wrong and right end of some calls.

I thought Dech was huge for us. It seemed like when he came on, Corey Webster took it as a personal insult and set about trying to destroy him, except the result was a whole lot of missed shots for him, very little of the ball for his teammates. Not that Corey wasn't within he rights to try it - he was looking deadly up to that point - but the game really swung right around that time. Up until then NZ were having no trouble dealing with our defence. They took it right up to us today. 14 point final margin is not really fair on them.

Happy for Steindl too. All season he's been on a super-short leash. Being down a guard today Gleeson was pretty much forced to play him more, and that happened.

Nailed it Luuuc!

Can't blame Webster. But Sunday did what he needed to do. Bring pressure and relieve Norton of minutes.

That bench unit with cotton won the game.

My mate yelled out "Noooo!!!!" as Vague was launching that 3. Vanilla is a totally different player this season. I did not see it coming at all. He did some good work at both ends today. Was very cool for a change to win it via some big bench contributions.

The NZ roster structure does seem to fit the argument that the new ownership group pumped the breaks on spending for this season.

Seems to be a lot of guys on that roster who they wouldn't be paying big money to I'm guessing (Ngatai, Delany, Weeks, Majok, Ili). Those guys weren't exactly in strong bargaining positions for $.

Our imports look cheapish as well.

FWIW I thought that "foul" on Cotton was total rubbish too.
Team fouls comparison is a metric I don't really rate, but it felt to me like we got a pretty good run with the refs.

Webster is a scorer and in a team that desperately needs scoring he should have a green light so no issue.

I wouldn't actually care if he took 30 shots tonight (instead of the 18 he got).

He would still hit those extra 12 at a higher clip than others who are shooting (Ili 1-6, Abercrombie 2-11, Weeks 3-9).

So what happened to Moore?
Must have been nasty, Perth Doctor had to come to their bench, and looked like they cleaning blood from the floor?

I liked the move of putting Dech on Webster. You basically give the kid ONE JOB, doesn't even matter if he gives up a few fouls.

I was surprised at the foul count, but at the same time I don't think a lopsided foul count should influence refs back the other way.

Yes anon. Should have also called fouls on all those uncontested dunks perth gave up.

Moore split his finger on the backboard when attempting to get a rebound or block a shot.

he sliced it on the underside of the backboard.

"Whole league knows you guys moan and winge"

Pretty sure you're the one moaning and whinging right now...

no, really. its an army of 13'000 whining b*tches.

"Moore split his finger on the backboard when attempting to get a rebound or block a shot.
he sliced it on the underside of the backboard."

Damn, that's nasty.

Hopefully he doesn't take too long to recover.
But might be an opportunity to sign a PG? Illi & Weeks not cutting it.

5-1 with only 2 imports is not to bad of a start. Watching the game I didn't notice the free throw count. Why is perth the only team to keep winning year after year? Surely in that time they do dine out instead of home cooking?

"The foul count is a conspiracy organised between Hungry Jacks and the refs. HJs have reached their quota of free burgers for the round already, with NSW and Queensland receiving free burgers, so they didn't want Perth to tip them right over their burger budget."

Gold.

Fans complaining and whining about wildcats fans is peak hoops.

Wildcats have the biggest most loyal fan base. With that comes more "casual" fans - and these casuals find their way to forums.

They are always going to be more misguided and uneducated.

But they are classic red army marks that believe their team can do no wrong.

Yet people still get upset?

Personally I find it hilarious when anons who should know better get so worked up by other anons that don't know any better.

Si señor. Me gusta el basketball. Wildcats son los mejores! "Let's go Wildcats let's go!"

Hoot you're right but they are extremely annoying and arrogant/smug which causes these issues.

Wow, what a fucked up thread. 120+ posts and most are either infantile insults at Perth, or blaming the refs.

This whole forum is just going to shit. Nothing but silly anons sniping, insulting, and blaming the refs every time their team loses.

Any chance we could actually discuss the games?

Massive game from Wesley, almost unstoppable at one point.
Webster also had a great game, not sure why he didn't get more minutes in the last quarter.

And hows about Stiendl!?! I must admit I had given up hope, but what a game. 5 3's at 100%!

Not sure about white, he went missing again.

People realise that one of the 1161 games was going to have the lowest foul count, right?

The sore losers on this site are embarrassing.
Lose with dignity.

There was plenty of discussion about the 'home cooking' in the previous game too, if I remember correctly! It's not a new discussion, the reality is intense atmosphere's affect refs just as it affects players.

"it is unsurprising that the cats had a lower foul count."

I don't think the discussion is about having a lower foul count, I think it's the fact they were only called for eight fouls, and that NZ took 30 shots in the paint and got three free throws, where Perth took 33 shots in close and had 21 free throws.

I won't get to watch the game til tomorrow, so I'm not making judgement either way, but I can certainly understand why discussion would come up looking at those numbers.

Doesn't matter which game thread you open, it's full of shit, the same few people repeating their gripes about the refs, over and over, and over again. Then trading insults with anyone who disagrees with them.

Case in point:

"Blaming refs every time some loses? ! Means the forum is going to shit?
Are you serious? Or so one eyed you topple over when you stand up?"

Do you bother responding to any comments about the actual game?
No, just more crapping on about the refs.

I can't even understand what you're asking for?
What, you want the refs to call imagining fouls just so the count is even?
Or,you think the losing team should get free-throws at the end to balance out the foul count???

And what exactly are you alleging? You think the Wildcats have any control over the refs?

AD....

The NBL have said the 1OT call on Ware was incorrect, lets move on.

Melbourne fans shouldn't bitch, they get home calls too, remember when Majok fouled Beal on the last second drive? You all gloated about the non-call.

This is the return leg of the karma ledger.

Perth fans, you shouldn't bitch either when other teams get home calls.

Let's just accept every home team gets home calls.

"Don't be stupid

I want the Perth fans to admit the refs sucked"

Utd got robbed and I'm a Perth supporter. Good luck even after the league confirming it getting anyone else to admit it though. Our fanbase are feral and deluded, back in the day they were normal but something changed after around 2010.

Credibility? The arrogant era started sometime after Bendat/Marvin took over and once the first title was won and the new stadium lined up ohhhh boy!

They won't admit to it, as being little brother to the east we have an inferiority complex to cope with it - it's why it's Perthworld - on it's only little planet far far away in the galaxy WA (Wait Awhile).

I've got no issue with admitting when calls favour the Cats, or that in Perth Arena games the Cats overall get a good run with the refs a lot more often than not.
If the Ware contact is called correctly then Perth lose. That's true.
Although as others have already pointed out, that wasn't the first incorrect call in the game. But people are free to play the what-if game to their heart's content if it makes them feel better, including playing it selectively.