To be the man... Woooooo you gotta beat the Cairns

If the Taipans commit to chasing Cotton like their lives depend on it I think they will come away happy . On the other hand he is likely to still score 40 despite the Taipans best efforts . Noi's length helped at times on Sunday so hopefully he is as active again when on the floor .
Cmon Taipans

Perth probably will win it but the exciting thing is, this will be no walk in the park. Taipans look dangerous and they could do anything from hereon. It would not completely surprise me to see them make the Grand Final, but I'm gonna say Perth by 5. They have the experience and they know how to find an extra level when it counts.

This will be an interesting one. Cairns to get this one to set up a home GF series against the Soy Boys

Martin's last game?

Head says Perth but my heart says Cairns.

I'm pretty sure he will start tomorrow night, I'll have kay at the 5 and bring steindl try to shoot a few triples.

Cairns are the real deal!!!

This is their year for a first championship

Cats are carrying a couple of wounded players also.

It should be a cracker!

Talk that Damo will be back in the starting lineup tonight.

If there's a chance it’s his last game for Perth, then 5 minutes as a starter would be a fitting gesture of thanks.

Cotton didnt look full of energy last Sunday. Wonder if he was ill.

I think the game plan last week was to get everyone else involved early (unlike the media saying Cairns shut him down) hence Cotton deferring a lot, Cats know they can't just rely on Cotton to score 40+ to win every game. They made a choice with the game plan and it didn't pan out, I'd expect Cotton to find more of a balance between his game 1 and game 2. That's what I observed watching how he played especially early.

Hope Terrico can overcome his knee injury. Still badly effected by it. He is playing injured.

Kings started the day $1.67 at tab, have been smashed into $1.52. Something's up

Wrong thread*

Let's go whichever team is better equipped to defeat Kings in a GF series. Go team!

LOLOLOLOL

Machado with some no-time showtime.

Oliver that was sad

Oliver*

Cotton getting it in the arse

Steindl hitting shots

Him or White need to step up, so far so good tonight

Again this game seems a level or 2 above the other semi.

Cotton getting it in the arse

Cairns struggling here. They might've used up their best form over the first 2 games

Perth up 8, if they turn this into a 15 point lead in a game 3 in Perth, there's no coming back from there

But, this Taipans teams has been super gritty, so I think they'll manage to stay in it

Cotton with another first half donut (so far).

Machado- best passer since D-Mac

Deric three 3pt field goals in a row :o

Djeric- passion and confidence, that's the mix for a playoff game

Djeric*

Not often the Cats would have 52 in a half with Cotton on zero.

Preview of the wildcats next point guard at half time

I'm surprised the half time segment wasn't about the Kings making it to the GF.

The league loves the Kings. LK wants a Sydney win.

Sorry Cairns, if you're not shooting at 60% you can't beat Perth.

Kay is a bit like Tim Duncan

Always in the right place on the court. Keeps the scoreboard ticking over by doing the fundamentals better than anyone else.

15 was my magic number

No coming back from here in Perth

Btw, Cotton's naturalisation was submitted yesterday.

And Kay is just the best exemplar of why Perth is so good

Offensively, they are unselfish and they make the smart decision more often than any other team.

Defensively they all buy in, and they make sure they compete against more shots by making mistakes less often than other teams. They rotate to the right spots, they compete and the crash the boards

In summary, they're just a good basketball team.

Sydney has more talent and the home court home cooking advantage, but Perth has been there and done that time and time again. They can do it on the road.

Should be a great series.

It will take at least a year unless expedited.

White totally didn't have his team mates back then. Newbill dunks past Plumlee.

Terrico White isn't coming back next season.

This cairns team just will not go away. Still anyones game at 3/4 time

Wish my fellow Red Army members would learn not to kick a hornets nest. Oliver will bite us hard

Dunk city from Snakes. Single digit game now.

Wagstaff flopping himself into a fit.

The crowd sounds tame tonight after the last game

I guess because Perth has led the whole game, it's never felt in doubt to me. The crowd's never got excite enough for max volume

Perth haven't led the entire game.

Oh wow Noi ruins the run.

How bad was that turnover by Noi

Talk about a momentum killer

Five point swing.

Perth has led since quarter time, and the result has never felt in doubt since then

They were never down by more than 4 or 5

Crowd typically gets pumped with big plays down the stretch, or come backs. This game has never reached any lofty heights really

If anyone can come from 15 down in Perth its this gritty Cairns team

boneheaded turnovers wont help though

didn't matter because of the magic number

Not sure about tonight but last game was a low crowd for Perth's standard 10,858.

Cam Oliver chose the right time to show up

Hope Plumlee's OK

They keep coming back, Oliver on fire. So tough.

Tonight's attendance: 10,215.

Wildcats look totally out of it offensively. Luckily Noi botched that one play.

Newbill's having a shocker.

Terrico White like last year stands up right when Perth needs him.

Great series, Cairns. Love 'em. Would have been worthy grand final participants.

Feel bad for Cairns but we're probably better equipped to beat the Kings so it's for the greater good.

Man Cairns are one tough unit. Massive respect. What a grind that was.

Well done Perth- The better team on the night. Unlike Sydney, they didn't get any help from the refs and they didn't even need it.

Kay, MVP of the series. White stepped up tonight too.

Cairns, the fairy tale ends. So, so close in Game 1. Let's hope they can bring Machado, Oliver and Newbill back - or at least 2 of them.

Game 1 Sunday

Oliver will play for the Wildcats next season

Terrico has been subbed back in to Perth Wilburs' fantasy team for next season after that performance.

Back to sweeping floors Cinderella, no ball for you tonight!!

Great season Cairns, unfortunately just not good enough tonight.

Go Cats, back to back 4/5

Yes the cats offense really dried up in the last quarter but their rebounding kept them in it.

Both teams were exhausted! Well done to the taipans for a fine season i hope they can be back even better next season.

I'm not really keen on game 1 being on Sunday. That's a quick turnaround after a tough series.
Heads-up move by the Kings to exert zero effort in their game 2 with this in mind.

Gleeson very chummy with couple Cairns stars during handshakes....Cotton to naturlise and this team gets scary

Cats will win the title, the two best teams just played the semi!!! Shows Perth rely on its team, close 1 down and a couple will pop up, always play good team basketball and there are no ego's

Perth will be tired on Sunday

Sydney to get Game 1 but Perth to win games 2, 4 and 5 and take the title

Sorry Perth fans, but if Cotton continues to play like this, Perth will likely get swept.

The reason Cotton had a poor game is due to the fact that he shoots the ball while looking for contact at the same time. If he simply does the regular jump shots he'll get alot more in the hole.

His fascination with getting contact is becoming sickening.

"His fascination with getting contact is becoming sickening."

When you're being guarded as tight as he was by the NBL's best defender sometimes that's all you can do if you're a smart player trying to help your team and get into the game. Credit should be given to Newbill for his defensive effort rather than knocking down Cotton, but Australia...

Cotton spent a lot of time last night throwing his arms and body around, where as if he had gone straight up he may have made the shot, a couple of lay up efforts were embarrassing from him. Also give Newbill some credit, after game 1 he played him a lot smarter, and the bigger body made it tougher for him.

I don't know who from the Kings will stop him though, if they use Ware, then it will gas him for the other end, Cotton moves a lot when he does not have the ball, that will be mentally and energy sapping for Ware if he guards him.

Lisch is a better defender, but I don't think he can keep up with Cotton without pinging a calf or hammy.

Well its the finals series that has been deserved, all this underdog crap stinks because Cairns would of gone out in straight sets. Kings v Cats should go to game 5 with us taking it due to Bogut not being fully fit, will be shown up over 5 games.