Honestly believe that SEM will be overwhelmed, they have had to lift greatly after their 0-5 start, hopefully teams over the virus that went through team and coaches last week. Now I'm looking forward to my man Doolittle v Hurt, can Ayre and Foxwell slow down Cotton. Pinder v Hunter, it’s a good match up every where. As I said I just think they will run out gas
, cats by 12 plus.
To not upset a few around here hopefully it’s a cracker, it deserves it.

I'd like to think SEM will win, and their form over 2nd half of season suggests this is 50/50

But, when playoffs start, the cream rises to the top and Cotton is the GOTO (Goat Of century Twenty One). So I expect a Perth win, despite their form lately being a bit indifferent.

Greatest* of century twenty one

A bit like LeBron. Except a far better ratio of titles to seasons played

SEM's D has been better since King. If they bring their best effort there, and Perth is typically poor defensively like a leaky siv, this will be very interesting and go down to the wire like last week.

Go Phoenix!

Phoenix by 14, Hurt to top 30.

As long as Phoenix plays the team game, I expect it to be close. If certain players go hero-ball, as they often do under pressure, then it will be a Perth blowout

THANK GOD Anneli Maley is not commentating tonight.

Disappointing crowd for wildcats

Kings done nothing short of a miracle with SEM.

But that's the worst use of the challenge possibly in the history of the rule across all leagues.

Piss weak crowd. Can anyone explain the embarrassing turnout?

Perth fans are very confident?

Hurt and Hunter one foul each already, Sobey benched after two minutes, totally horrible challenge.

Combination of midweek and the old jungle put people off I guess

Glover developing a rep for being a big game player

Rillie allows SEM to go on a huge run and get back in it before calling a timeout.

Both coaches having a 'mare

I hope Mark Arena isn't paying too much in management fees to SEG.

Glover, with help from Kenyon and Lewis turning up the D

Vintage SEG (this whole scheduling fiasco) paired with vintage Rillie (a huge lead evaporating in an instant).

... at a vintage Challenge Stadium.

THANK GOD Anneli Maley is not commentating tonight.

Angus Glover BEAST MODE.

Empty seats in Perth for a final??

In a 4,500 stadium.

Thanks Hutchy.

We really are back at Challenge Stadium....Cats getting all the calls.

Lots of empty seats in blocks that were fully booked when I bought tickets.

Maybe the camera should pan away from the left a tad from this current shot - you can see the entire upper bowl is empty.

Kenyon should get more time, real team guy. Roth should get him back.

My Dad and I were debating the flop rule while we watched United SEM on Saturday

Here's my suggestion.

Implement it after the fact.

By video review.

3 strikes, you miss a game.

So in this game Henshall, for kicking his leg out in an unnatural motion after Foxwell brushed past his side. Henshall gets a strike

I'm convinced, after thinking about this for years, if they really wanna stamp out flopping, that's the only way to do it.

This is a netball game

Good example of why scoring has gone up so much. Players aren't allowed to play defense with physicality these days.

Yet occasionally the refs still put their whistles away.

Any issue with Sobeys flopping LV? 49 fta..... ref's obviously only calling what's there and letting the game flow

Agree LV and call a tech on the flopper at the next stop in play.

That will stop it quickly.

Either that or to stop it even faster call a tech on the coach who will drag them quicksmart before the coach gets a 2nd tech

This game is a legitimate parody

They're taking the p!$$

"Josh Kimg, 51 free throws? We'll give em 61!"

Glover has 20 points.

Copeland always sounds like he has a mouth full of marbles

Ha now LV's concerned about punishing flopping when Chris Goulding's near the end of his career.

Agree, strange game, netball is a good call, a few players on three fouls from both sides. Lewis, been very good at both ends, Glover also good, Hurt scoring but his D at times is non existent. Doolittle, Cotton and Pinder been good for cats. Who ever gets fouled out could be the difference here.

67-62 was a final score when Damo was in his prime at Challenge

I think the game is better than it used to be. More free flowing is good. But they've gone too far and tonight shows why

32 fouls and 49 free throws in a half.

And I skipped half time- I was behind cos I kept replaying in order to work out where the fouls were.

This netball style is a perfect setup for Rillie yet he still trails.

So identical play at both ends, one a foul one not.... just pathetic
Doolittles 4th huge call

Easy block for me, he's clearly moving sideways

Foul fest is borderline unmatchable.

Not enjoying henshals game today

Almansa runs hard but Webster had to force up a crap attempt instead

If pinder can keep scoring like that, he's hard to stop.

This game needs more free throws though

We've still got the same old head referees like Aylen and Mayberry who are overseen by Butler yet the game is officiated in a completely different way, due to directives from HQ.

From sludegball to netball, can't we have a middle ground instead of going from one grotesque extreme to the other?

All of these "extra points" are just another piece of marketing spin from LK.

Since when do you call a playoff game less physical than regular season?

Tuning in late, but some real nice offense from SEM in spurts this Q.

So many soft and 1s

Might as well just be playing a game of horse.

Defense is illegal

That foul to send windier to the line OMG!!!!

Matt Hurt

"No one can guard me!!!"

He should've said "no one can touch me!!"

That would've been correct

This game is a bloody joke.

Give it a rest refs

Given the fact most of us are watching this on TV, is it possible the fouls are actually there and players just aren't adjusting?

Since when do you call a playoff game less physical than regular season?

Best game I've seen pinder play

Refs have not helped but both sides D been average.

Coach giving a tech for trying to defend.

You just can't do that tonight

Normally that's just a good strong move, tonight it’s an and 1

I'm a huge critic of Pinder but wow what a game. Absolutely huge game.

Bryce needs to be studied by NASA - how he never gets tired with his work rate is mind boggling.

"No one can guard me" was the call of the night

It was true, just not entirely for the reason Hurt thought

There have been bizarre moments like Rillie thinking he was a chance on his challenge, or Sobey complaining about a clear foul, on a night like this

Pre-season game a good call

Geez the refs are beyond a joke. This last qtr has been more free flowing but the first 3 were hard watching.

I hope this is a play-in thing.

Doesn't feel like playoffs at all.

Hurt, no one can guard me, would be nice if he could guard Pinder. I called it, SEM would run out juice.

Perth getting hot on back Pinder. Glover's hot shooting and Sobey playing well was never going to last.

75 FT attempts in 35mins is insane

The fixturing screwed them.

This is in target to be the highest scoring game ive seen in recent times

Bryce needs to be studied by NASA - how he never gets tired with his work rate is mind boggling.

Fizzer of a finish.

That deserved to be 132-129 with 10 free throws in the final minute and both teams reaching the end of their bench! I thought that's what the aim was

SEM would've had tired bodies given the travel, and if they had a virus go through the team. Good effort for 2 and a half quarters.

Let's hope Melbourne turns out on Sunday, not like Perth

Great win for the cats.
I agree, best game I've seen Pinder play.

As for my earlier comment being excited Anneli Maley wasn’t commentating... then she appears on the sideline.

Post game, she asked Pinder effectively the same question twice.

NBL, please! Never again

Ok, I was not expecting a foulfest to open up the post-season.
Wasn't exactly expecting Keanu to be the one to step up in such a big way either. Dude really kept his head on and stayed focused in a game he might normally have been the first person to foul out of. And just as well he did, because I thought we were in deep trouble when Doo picked up #4.

Empty seats in a 4.5k arena was a bad look. (though I wasn't entirely shocked to see it, because it sounds like ticketing was a complete fiasco). Hopefully no more "surprise" (that were locked in 5 months ago) events for RAC this season.

Oh, and shout out to Josh King for that early challenge. Genius stuff in a playoff game.

Is that the worst ever challenge world wide, all sports, ever?

Pinder's 35 points & 11 rebounds were impressive considering he only played 24 minutes

Pinder steps up when it matters

Pinder played a lot of the game in the four spot, he was so good there.

Once again, Aylen and his mates trying to be more important than the players!!

King said he had more fun talking to the fans as there was so many free throws he had time, said it's was an absolute boring game. It clearly helped the cats and Riley was happy how it went down.

Also thought , Pinder was fantastic and made Hurt look like a turn stile.

who exactly scheduled the game for a Tuesday night? was it decided by the NBL at the start of the season?

I find it odd considering Childish Gambino was meant to play at RAC arena last night before his tour was cancelled so the Wildcats would have been kicked out regardless..

Guess none of the members wanted to make the effort getting to Challenge on a Tuesday.

From what I saw on Twitter it seemed like Cats fans were worried they'd miss out on seats, so it was strange to see so many empty seats last night.

As for the crowd:

The apparent ticketing fiasco didn't help. Blocks of seats unavailable to purchase because of some glitch???
A Tuesday night game also didn't help. Wildcats fans and members are not used to playing on Tuesday night and being a school night, this would have put a lot of people off. Might have been better on a Wednesday or Thursday as the Wildcats have played on those nights before and a bit later in the week could have been easier too for selling tickets over a longer timeframe.

Also, I doubt anyone was excited about going to the HPC for a game. Many would have preferred to not bother showing up. Im not surprised at the turnout.

End of the day: the finals suck for ticketing and venue availability! Happens all the time.

As mentioned there were ticketmaster issues with available seats showing as unavailable. I could only find $99 or $150 tickets initially with cheaper tickets not selectable/available, then at the game some of those sections I tried to select were close to empty. About an hour prior to the game I went on the tickemaster website again to see if anything was available and it said sold out maybe tix on the door.

Also didn't help that Wildcats email from last week said presale member tix on sale the 10th, then on the 10th another email corrected it to the 11th but had ticket purchasing instructions attached that still said the 10th. Logging in on the 10th showed a msg saying roughly 'away team tix for sale atm only'. It was confusing so I presume lots of members just gave up.

Mark Arena, the new Wildcats owner, signed a management agreement with SEG for them to continue running the club for X amount of years. Oops, how naive.

Putting aside the crowd numbers and ticketing problems, I thought that the 3000 in the HPC stadium created a far better atmosphere than 13000 at RAC arena. The first quarter was great with hardly any music which allows the crowd to get involved. In the quieter moments, eg around free throws, you can hear court noises and the players can hear the crowd.

The wildcats always bang on about how loud it is at RAC arena but that is just due to non stop music rather than crowd noise. There is no point in cheering most of the time at RAC as any crowd noise is drowned out. Hopefully Mark Arena saw last night what the game night experience could be with less music and more crowd involvement. If they could add in a court announcer that had a feel for the game eg Lachy Reid, it would also make a world of difference.

On the foul fest, perhaps the refs were just responding to Josh "I'm just stating facts" Kings comments the last two times he’s been in Perth where he’s said that his team is not getting enough free throws. Can’t blame the refs for saying let’s just pay everything. While it took away from the spectacle, I don’t think it favoured one team or the other.

I think there are sound accoustic science behind the differences. Bands will often sound better in a small club than a large open venue. I think because of the size of the RAC arena you will never get comparable acoustics to small venue like Challenge.

I also think with the pricing / cost of a Wildcats games , many of those closer to the court and not likely to do much yelling and screaming compared to those much further away. Just something you notice when watching spectators that are visible. If someone is yelling like Crazy up in the bronze section its a lot different to people much closer to the court.

On the foul fest, perhaps the refs were just responding to Josh "I'm just stating facts" Kings comments the last two times he's been in Perth where he’s said that his team is not getting enough free throws. Can’t blame the refs for saying let’s just pay everything.