I think you'll find LK's share of United is down to 25%

If United finishes on top and Brisbane ends up 4th, there'll be some very nervous United fans

Much the same for Sydney fans if Sydney finishes on top and Adelaide sneaks into 4th

"Butthurt", what a ridiculous phrase, you sound like a moron.

Right up there with other often used phrases on this site, like "Beast mode" and "Lemonass".

LK would be hoping for United vs Brisbane 1 vs 4, I can't imagine the negativity if his two teams were playing off in the GF in the league he owns!

^^ And your poor spelling is almost as pathetic.

Now he's got United their first title it might be Sydney that get looked after next I reckon. He'll want Melbourne and Sydney markets to be as popular as possible.

United are definitely beatable, but they are also easily the strongest team. I was pretty pissed off with the initial conflict of interest when it all began, now it just seems the norm ad no-one seems to question the legitimacy of that side of things.

It's a bit funny that the thread is about fear of Melbourne when there's another team that has three imports, a Next Stars import, a naturalised Lisch, Newley and frickin' Andrew Bogut. And it's presumed they can't coach themselves past the shortcomings of Gaze to make the finals series anything but a foregone conclusion.

What a pathetic thread, considering Melbourne are equal on wins with 2 other teams.

Considering how close the league is this year, I don't understand where OP's views are coming from. We already know Sydney, Perth and Melbourne are in the finals but whoever makes the 4th spot could make the GF still.


"^^ And your poor spelling is almost as pathetic."
I think that one went straight over your head. There's no "D" in "Aelaie" hehe

"It's a bit funny that the thread is about fear of Melbourne when there's another team that has three imports, a Next Stars import, a naturalised Lisch, Newley and frickin' Andrew Bogut."

You forgot Boomers Kicket, and champion Adnam, and MVP Wilson.

Anon, yeah, Kickert too. And I expected Wilson to be a 8-10ppg player, but Adnam has done very well to extinguish his opportunities.

OP should wait and see if Melbourne make the GF final first before declaring them certain champs, they needed all five games and a lot of luck to get over Adelaide last season. They're hardly a dominant side only a cigarette paper separating them Perth & Sydney.

And they had a better team last season too.

United has been very clutch this season

Lots of close games and they've won most of them.

4 overtime games and the only one they lost was due to a dodgy call. They've also had some incredibly close wins in regulation games where they've won by a single possession. Yes, they've lost some close ones too but they've won most.

If they'd won 2 out of 4 overtime games instead of 3 out of 4, and lost one other tight regulation game, they'd be 14-10 instead of 16-8 and most people would be tipping a Sydney vs Perth grand final.

Based on the entire season to date, there's almost nothing separating Sydney, Perth and United, and the closeness of many of the games between those three teams illustrate this point.

In other words, this thread is a bit presumptuous. About as smart as the threads two weeks ago claiming that Perth was a certainty to miss the playoffs.

Very succinct lv..

And I think it's near impossible to pick a winner this season.

United and Perth have proven coaches, with Vickerman and Gleeson winning the last 5 championships between them.

United and Perth also have proven groups who have demonstrated they can win together under pressure. 4 of United's main 6 rotation players are reigning champions. (And one of the others is a guy who has won 4 tournament championships in a row and has an accomplished resume from some of the world's elite comps). Meanwhile Perth has plenty of players who have won championship/s in Perth under Gleeson- Cotton, Martin, Brandt, Jervis, Wagstaff, Hire.

Ordinarily I'd say this makes United and Perth slight favorites.

Except, the other of the Big 3 has probably the greatest NBL lineup ever assembled on paper.

So, take your pick. This playoffs will be epic. And I wouldn't even count out the Bullets, either. They're my pick to sneak into 4th. And they've beaten United 3 times in a row, and hold a 2-2 record against Perth with one of the losses being a buzzer beater special by Cotton.

Adelaide I could see pulling off an unlikely semi final upset (esp against Sydney) but I don't rate their chances of winning a best of 5. D is too suspect and their weaknesses would be exposed in a lengthy series.

FWIW, here are the records in games played this season against each other, for the current top 4:

TEAM WON LOST POINTS-DIFFERENTIAL

Melbourne 6 3 +45
Perth 5 4 +21
Sydney 3 7 -52
Adelaide 5 5 +9

Sydney and Adelaide are both 2-4 against the top two teams.

Of course, swap Adelaide for Brisbane and Sydney go to 6-4 and +3. They really don't want to meet either Adelaide or Melbourne in a finals series.

I'm not convinced about United's supremacy over the Kings. United dominated the first meeting.

Match up 2 was very tight and Casper won it on the buzzer.

Match up 3 Sydney led for most of the game but United got them late, winning by 5.

I should add, although United dominated the first meeting they still only won by 7.

So United is 3-0 but with an average winning margin of 4 points. Hardly convincing.