Cairns.

Without Cotton as well, there's no firepower match-up. Melo to have a huge game, I reckon.

Might be a close game . Interesting to watch . I got the impression of both teams being good at the start and fading out in the fourth .
Although in Perth , they like to watch the refs and count the fouls and tell us what we are watching and video reviews must have them in a little bit of excitement and if Perth lose it's due the refs .
I just get bored when you know what someone is gonna say before they say it.

Be interesting to see how Perth cover Cottons scoring output. He basically averages half the whole teams average score.

Cairns to win.

... but 0 in the fourth quarter.

I'm imagining a defensive borefest manufactured by Trevor Gleeson (while being bombarded with shots of him with a look on his face like he's constantly sniffing terrible farts).

Cotton out is a great setup for everyone who hates Perth.

If they scrape a win, no need to act on third import.

If they lose, "our best player is out, it'll get better when he returns," again no need to act on import.

Sorry Perth fans. No Cotton, no offence.

We will find a way to screw this up. Norton will torch Trimble.

Perth also will be fresh after a horror travel schedule

We haven't won a final quarter at home all season

We give up double digit leads.

... and are cooked.

Terrible vs Chokers. This could be epic.

Perth haven't pulled the trigger on Terrico/ Wagstaff/ Hire/ Vague/ latest whipping boy= Management don’t care.

Cotton injured/ half of the team’s scoring absent= none of the young guns or role players are touted as being due for a slide-breaking breakout game.

Playing the comfortably last-placed team= we’ll just shut up about how good we are.

Perthworld and Manu talking trash and mocking Perth= we’ll quietly fade into the background and let our team be the laughing stock of the hoops forum.

Where are all the Defenders of Perth/ Blamers of Refs today?

It’s not like you don’t have a few hours extra to waste before you can ring in the new year over there.

Exactly my point recently. Red Army are soft and letting themselves get bent over. Weak.

How many dunks has Jawai f*cked this season.

Jawai owns Jervis down low

To be fair I reckon Jawai has blown more dunks this season than he's made all of the previous two seasons.

and so does Lowe from the look of that last move

It's a shame watching Jawai pulling his finger out this season surprise surprise in a contract year after putting his feet up the last two seasons.

Who thinks Cairns win this game? I'm calling it early

No sooner I wrote that and wildcats go on. 7-0 run.. maybe I should shut up

Cairns are more awful than first thought.

Tragardh says Perth will always have big money for imports.. if that's true then why don’t they get a third? Also Cairns should forget about the zone, Perth are carving it up

True, the commentary team contradicted themselves talking about the dynasty having to come to an end but then assuming money will always be there. Derp.

Can someone tell Mike Kelly to get out of that zone.. omg! They were in the game until they went to the zone

Beecroft et al signed Kelly last minute as a rookie head coach. Surely there is a clear out of front office. Shocking.

Technically I think Kelly can be a good coach, but and this is a big one.. he seems content with losing. The commentators are right, sometimes he needs to rip into the players and I haven't ever seen. As much of a flog Gleeson is he doesn’t hold back when things are going bad

dont let this game distract you from the fact that harden was fouled during that play.

Anonymous, I agree with one exception- I think Trimble is a player.

Trimble generating some decent looks for himself, just doesn't have the same touch he did to start the season it seems... or else he's reverting to the mean after a hot start.

Yep

This will be unsportsmanlike for sure

I think Wagstaff was trying to break his fall more than making a dirty play.. but the rules are the rules and it was unsportsmanlike

To quote Pat Riley "winning is a habit, so is losing".. kinda sums Cairns up. Dumb plays, coach sticking with a zine that isn't working.. it seems they aim to look good losing rather than wanting to win

I wonder if this game will be enough for Perth fans to think Wagstaff shouldn't be released from his contract in favour of a 3rd import.

Lo and behold.. Cairns play man to man on made baskets (instead of zone) and get some stops!!

I'm not Gleeson’s biggest fan but that was an awesome timeout

That was a tough finish from Trimble

I reall don't get nbl type of basketball
dont get any points in 3 inutes then in a span of 30 seconds you see 20 points

Cairns made Perth look good in this game

Cairns have a unique blend of defensive deficiencies and offensive meagerness. Should've just stuck with Fearne and told him to stop playing D and scrapping.

The lead was 10+ for the majority of the game after about the 15min mark.. I don't count that as "close most of the way". Barring a run to start the third by Cairns to cut the lead to 2, but it quickly went back to 12. Perth are far from great atm but Cairns did make them look better than they are

AngusH.. I agree haha

There is obviously disharmony simmering beneath the surface in that team, you can tell from the body language of many of the players.

White can't commit his body due to previous injury problems, well documented ones at that yet Cats still chose to go with him as the only import other than Cotton. Cheap out and this is what you get.

Cairns are worse than first thought. 1-27 coming up.