That pr release from BA doesn't need really make that clear.

Can't see Canberra needing 3 games against Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide could go the distance though. Depends how the starters on each team do.

Perth is interesting. Considering how late they assembled their team and all the early injuries there wasn't really a lot of expectation on them, so to make finals from that position is good but after being top of the league to slide down to fourth and look very average on form it'll be disappointing if they just drop out of the finals without making much of an impact.

Does anyone know which games listed above will be shown on SBS?

None afaik

Basket Case Podcast

The WNBL Show

Fox Sports "WNBL 2018/19 finals fixture and tips: Bold expert predictions for a wide-open semi-final series"

That might be just what Melbourne needs ... to be told they are underdogs.

I can see tonight's game throwing up a surprise. Caps lead-in appeared a little suspect to me. I argue Perth's final game form could perhaps be thrown out the window, as some of that looked to be them caught napping off a 21pt mid game lead. They put away Melb before that and might have beat them Rd13 at SBC but for fatigue factor. I'd like to see McPhee back to the handful she was earlier but certainly I give them a big show to lead for a half, at least.

No Saturday game what are these ball sacks thinking???

https://news.theceomagazine.com/news/nicole-seekamp-talks-wnbl19-semifinals/

Agree. A WNBL semifinal would get lost on Australia day, Sunday is a better time.

Some of this commentary on Fox is absolute wank.

"Taylor averages 20 points but she only had 7 in the first half, so she must be injured". FMD

Semi finals on and no posts? lame, no interest in this league.

There were no posts yesterday when no game was on

Boomers have too much talent to have to fall back on chucking up bad threes so often.
Not that the Lightning are short on talent either, but they're far more organised with it.

Haha, pretty much. When you see the same underachievement for a long time you have to phrase it differently to keep things interesting.
Actually I thought that *maybe* now that it's the business end of the season the team would focus and leave the shitty parts of their game (that caused them to lose to some pretty ordinary teams this season) behind. But it's probably unfair to blame focus, because that implies that there's a solid plan that they just aren't sticking to. If there is, I'm still not seeing it.

I hope Sandy Brondello was tuning into that one.

There's no way Adelaide should be out shooting Melbourne, you can tell which team is in form though. Could have both series ending at 2 games.

Vintage Molloy.

I liked how Lucas backed his players in without Coffey (but had played his bench the longer) and ambushed that early part of Q4. Some coaches might have had some grand plan to run 10mins of clock, that works every time on the whiteboard. Boomers were about to either respond or fold like a card table, so as an opposition you might as well make that choice for them.

a bitta talk about k.griffin near triple double on betting,semi finals,thread...
....feb18 at latrobe she picks up her wnbl mvp award...

I wonder why Ebzery has struggled so much this season. Barely looks like the same player.

is there any word on if Katie Ebzery has enjoyed the move to Perth or not? Maybe she is missing home and her new boyfriend or something so her heart isn't completely in it. I would think the Perth style of play would have appealed to her so i am not sure that would be a factor. I believe she is signed on to a two year contract with them as well, hopefully she can find the form again. In saying that although injured Mansfield hasn't looked like an opal either so she isn't a lone ranger.

I'm pretty sure that the original plan was for Katie to mostly play the 2 spot here, and be a scorer. With Mansfield & Heal both being injured she has been forced to be our PG, and has played it pretty much the same way she played it for the Opals. I'm guessing that it can be pretty hard to switch mindsets between those two roles. Opals PG mode and Lynx PG mode have very different requirements though.

In Perth's system she needs to switch from PG mode to scoring mode as soon as the ball is physically advanced up the floor. You can see that often she will catch the ball and be looking for options, rather than catching the ball and immediately looking for her own shot first. Playing the 1 here she probably also doesn't enjoy the quickness advantage over her direct opponents that she would have had quite often in the past either.
I really feel like it's just an adjustment thing. Her & Mansfield are both on 2 year deals so hopefully next season Mansfield is healthier and it helps them both.

Good analysis, Luuuc.

Perth's game seems to be reliant on streaky shooting, and natural athletic ability on defence. Hopefully they can fix things to win and force the tie breaker.

It is hard to see what Perth's Plan B is if they cant knock down the three ball. Stewart seems like he doesnt have a back up if they dont shoot well. He didnt adjust when Canberra went on a run in the third.

Stewart seems like he doesnt have a back up if they dont shoot well.

I have always had questions about Andy game plan the trouble with it is just that there is no plan B bad shooting night from range and you lose.
Even back in his SBL days Andy has loved the run and gun free flowing offence without a big but I think it has hurt Perth. The team needs a big that when the shots aren't dropping from outside there is an option to pump it inside and get some easy points. Currently we rely on creating more then running any offends that I can see hurt of a few screens we always seem to end up will a created shot. The other is to spin move our way to the basket and throw something up hoping it goes in.
At times on Friday night it looked like we needed a map on defence plays stayed while the other switched leaving players way to open.we need to get that stuff right by now or have no hope.
I hope the girls pull it off tonight and I love the players we brought into the team I just think they are still missing a piece of the puzzle. All the talk about what Andy has done for the lynx is also alittle I’ll directed if you ask me, money being injected into the program is what did it nothing else , name me one WA player he has kept or has developed.... I can’t think of one to the point we only have one Australian in our starting 5. We need to be doing better making finals isn’t enough when you consistently aren’t getting the right pieces.
I love my lynx just not sold on Andy.

Didn't he coach Sami during the SBL too? That's the only player that springs to mind that you could claim he's helped develop and even that was more a mature-age player looking to get back on track to WNBA.

But I'm not against him as a coach,think he's done a good job considering how much roster upheaval they've had. Hoping for a good contest tonight.

I'm an Andy fan. I think his style is good to watch and therefore good for the WNBL.
I also suspect that his "interchangeable roles" style - which has been taken to the extreme this season - is largely a result of opting not to recruit a big unless he can recruit a top quality big. If he could get himself a Batkovic or a Cambage or a healthy Tolo, then I suspect he would happily take that and go back to a more traditional style. But if a big is not one of the best in the league, who can regularly win their position one-on-one, then I suspect he prefers to go smaller such that there is a mismatch, and then back his smaller player to take better advantage of the mismatch than their traditional centre can. And I don't mind that approach.

It's not like Stewart is tied to this season's style. (This season he is of course, due to personnel, but overall as a coach he clearly is not). In the past we've had Louella Tomlinson, Nat Burton, Ruth Hamblin, etc. but the cost-benefit in that spot has not been in our favour.
From the moment our 2nd import was announced as McPhee rather than a 5 and I picked my jaw up off the floor I was worried about what the outcome would be, but I think he has done pretty well with it this season, so good on him for trying it.
Tonight I think we'll see what happens when a smart, experienced team with a quality centre comes up against an undersized opponent, but in terms of the big picture I was honestly fearing 6th or 7th spot for the Lynx this season, so no complaints from me about what Andy has achieved.

I'll be interested to see what approach we take for next season. The "odd ones out" this season in terms of positional versatility have been Mansfield & Ebzery, who are both contracted for next season as well, so I'm guessing we will look at a true 5 again just to make more effective use of our Opals backcourt.

lightning -looks like a little bit of interest from sponsors there at the moment having some drinks and nibbles , pregame...

looks like jess foley will lead the ruck here on saturday for the crows ...

hopefully Adelaide media etc will get behind Lightning for the GF

Ebzery looking good just concentrating on getting her own shots.

What was up with Kayla Steindl tonight? She looked terrible hardly played and if I was to guess would say she was pregnant

Not sure where you're getting your info #731863 but at least 3 teams have bigger player budgets than us, including the one crying poor whilst suiting up multiple WNBA players.
I'm good with Andy but knowing Jack's desire to win it all I wonder whether he is.

What was up with Kayla Steindl tonight?

They again shot at a ridiculously high percentage from 3 pt line I thought Perth played very well. A shame they did have the Taylor and Steindl issues.

Just read that Steindlhad gastro so that is tough they missed her

OK, if it's biggest budget over 4 years then Perth might be in the conversation (just off the top of my head I'd say Townsville had spend more though)

Now let's name the teams that have made the playoffs every season for the past 4.

It's one thing to make the playoffs, it's another not to win a title when you are given all of the tools to do so

Yep, that's a fair call.

Townsville have 2 championships...Perth 2-8 finals record and no rings