The anti-Perth brigade are more excited about this one than the Cats and Hawks fan bases put together.

I felt that towards the 3rd quarter of the season, Jervis was being used better and was providing valuable minutes. With the ultimate prospect of facing Landale and JLA in the GF, I assumed that Magnay would allow Mooney to spend more time at PF. But it hasn't happened. Jervis just looks like decoration at this point.

Perth have a habit of coming back from tough spots, and nobody in their right mind would ever right them off.
But we've also seen, on occasion when they have staggered into the finals crippled by injury, that the end comes quicker.
Sadly since Cotton was announced out for the season, we've seen a couple of guys playing like their season (and even career) was over.
What does Trevor say to those guys, that wasn't already said for the last game?

I'll keep hoping and believing, cos this series could still go either way, but the season effectively ends for somebody tonight.

Should be low scoring and close again, could go either way but with Harvey hitting a few more buckets I'm tipping Hawks

Perth threads always seem to crack the ton

Will the Hawks tonight become just the second team alongside the 36ers to sweep a finals series against a Trevor Gleeson coached Wildcats team?

I picked the Hawks to win the series 2-1 but looks like they'll do it in two, I can't see Tyler Harvey having such a bad game again and even then they still won that game. Mooney's really fallen away without Cotton, the guy sucks up so much gravity it allows easier opportunities for others.

Magnay has been a huge disappointment. Obviously still underdone so it was a gamble bringing him in but they probably had no other option with available aussies. Due to perths lack of shooting depth they needed to play wagstaff more in the last quarter. He hits those clutch threes more often than not so its no surprise gleeson has more faith in that lineup. Uncharacteristic turnovers is what really hurt them.

I think the Hawks will be able to pull off a very rare series sweep over Perth today.

Hawks by 8

Froling matches up very well with Mooney too.

Other than hoping that the Cats can keep this game interesting, mu other main hope for today is that the Hawks get a great crowd along.

Heart says Perth.
Head says Illawarra.

Sadly I think we all got sucked into the Magnay hype, with some saying we had allbut guaranteed a championship, comparing his signing to the original Cotton deal, etc.

But it seems he's basically been sitting around since going to the USA.
Hopefully its a long-term deal, and he plays a similar role to Brandt for us.
In the short-term, given he was going to replace Bairstow / Jervis in the rotation, it's still been a net gaina, just not the big one we might have expected.

Magnay just signed for the rest of this season supposedly he's going back to play in the G-League next season.

Goorj continuously enters the court to talk to the refs. Should be auto tech.

Horribly low scoring.

Is he not allowed to?

No Cotton or Norton and Hawks still can't shake Perth.
This season is heading to an almighty fizzle.

#872 I have it on mute.

Gee United will be licking their lips knowing one of these teams will be who they have to play the in the GF

If Perth lose so be it.
Some teams have crap rosters and don't make the playoffs.

Come on Blanch do something!!

Has he retired "to be able to"?

Stiendl ♡

Steindl giving Jessup an absolute touch up. Good thing you don't need to play defense in the NBA.

Wow Travers. Up by ten points somehow.

Huge shot by Harvey to close out the third quarter

Travers with three consecutive offensive rebounds.

You'd think if an NBA scout is watching Harvey they'd be talking to Travers instead.

Travers BEAST MODE.

Another "to be able to" from Shane

The cats cant put the ball in the hole they're doin their best to blow this again

Thankfully the hawks are even worse

Illawarra should be ashamed of themselves but it's good for us.

F***ing turnovers!!!

The difference in the game was a Steindl hot streak in the third quarter

Jessup will be back in the NBL next year no way he's ready for the show. He’s so bad on the defensive end.

Travers was a beast on offensive rebounds, including the one he fought for on the ground.

Game 3 on Monday night.

Onya Cats

Gutsy win!

Poor from Hawks. Big choke from their supposed NBA- bound stars.

Long time Hawks supporter and while this game was a disappointing result you have to admire the Wildcat's system and fight. As a basketball fan it is also fantastic to see the emergence of Travers and his all-round game.

Another dogfight in game three.

I still think that's the end, for the Hawks.
Very, very difficult to come back and win again in Perth. But a lot will depend on how Norton pulls up.

Reading posts that worry about how a person in their late 60's dresses goes a long way to showing how fkn shallow and childish some people are on this forum. Anon .....Give it up mate and get a fkn life,.

Weird comment considering Goorjian looks good and healthy for his age.

4 free throw shot by hawks..stop jacking 3s hawks!

"Weird comment considering Goorjian looks good and healthy for his age"

I'm younger that Goorj, and wished I looked half as fit as he does.

Travers will be a superstar in this league one day. If he's still here.

LV actually makes a good point. Travers might have a future beyond the NBL.

Travers moments aside, low quality game. Neither of these teams are troubling United.

Best two defensive teams in the league, playing finals defence. Either will trouble United.

Haha

They said in last night's telecast United has been the #1 defensive team and the #1 offensive team since NBL cup

Apart from Harvey there's not 1 elite scorer in this whole series and he's been well held

Unless Landale pulls a hammy or something (touch wood) GF unlikely to even see a Game 4

SEM a better chance of winning tomorrow than either of these teams against United

They might both be good defensive teams, but pretty woeful offensively. Travers did a good impression of game 1 Simon, but otherwise the Hawks in particular generated some good, wide open looks for guys down the stretch, and just didn't make em.

I said they'd trouble MU, not beat them.

Unless they lose HCA advantage through Covid, it's very hard to imagine MU not winning, especially with upto 5 games.
And yes, assuming games 1 & 3 played in Melbourne in front of decent crowds, a sweep is a likely outcome.
Last year, Perth knew that on their day they were better than Sydney. Without Cotton, that's not so, and if they (or Hawks) drop game 1, it will be hard to get fired up for game 2.

On the one hand it is very sad that Cotton's injury has robbed us of a cracking GF series. But MU have been one of the top 2 teams all season (easily better than Perth minus Cotton) so nobody can complain they aren't deserving winners.

If you ask Greg Hire he will tell you Luke Travers has more upside than Josh Giddey. The kid will Defenitely get a summer league opportunity at least at some stage.

As crazy as it would have seemed two nights ago, could Perth now be a shot at winning another championship, even without Cotton and/or Norton?

You'd say no chance.. but if SEM take care of Melbourne in one more game..

No chance is a bit far.
I imagine they are favourites with the bookies for tomorrow, and if SEM had to beat them twice in Perth for the championship I dare say they'd have Perth favourites too.

I'm not saying I'm sitting here banking on it, or even seeing the Wildcats get there. Just to me, the door was well and truly slammed shut, and somehow, just cracked open slightly.

If SEM beats United again, they would be favorite against a Cotton-less Perth

Or they should be. And if they weren't, they'd be juicy odds. Some might say irresistible.

Much like against United, SEM proved they can run with Perth during the season, and that was with Cotton.

If it's Cotton AND Norton that are missing, I'd give Perth about a 20% chance of winning 1 game and avoiding the sweep against either SEM or United (and that 20% is mostly down to injuries or say Landale/Creek suffering Landale's fate of today- barely playing due to foul trouble). And I'd give Perth about a 5% chance of forcing a game 5.

Based on what I've seen over the first 4 games, the champion will almost definitely come from today's game.

In one series, you have 2 strong defensive teams that are bereft of offensive options. In the other series you have two talented, deep teams that can play at both ends of the court.

Hoping I'm wrong but I expect a fairly one-sided GF, with a 3-0 or 3-1 outcome and 2 of the 3 wins being fairly comfortable. Regardless of who wins each Game 3.

Check out Illawarra's record against SEM and United too. It's woeful.

"Goorj will have a plan to crush Perth's lack of point guards tomorrow"

Very hard to plan for the unknown.

Would not be surprised to see Norton Suit-Up, and the opposition won't know whether he's able to play 10 minutes or 10 seconds.

Hawks might have a plan to go at White and try to fatigue him and get him into foul trouble, but won't know what plan C is. At times we'll see Wani and even LT running the ball, but who knows, maybe he throws Britt into the deep end for a few minutes to see if he sinks or swims.