If Rolan Roberts was still playing for the Kings, I'd completely agree with you Jasmine, but I'm not so sure anymore. With our interior defence not being our greatest strength to say the least, we probably match up better with Sydney without Roberts having his way with us in the paint.

But even with Anstey, we play Melbourne pretty well as evidenced by the game in Tasmania where we matched it with Melbourne for much of the game.

The other thing that should be taken into consideration is if we finish 3rd we still have a CHANCE of getting home-court advantage in the grand finals if Wollongong knock Sydney out, which is not beyond the realms of possibility given the ridiculous 1 game knock-out finals system. For this reason, as long as no-one has any injuries that can be aggravated then we should try our absolute hardest to beat the bullets on Saturday, and not treat the game as a "training session" in preparation for the finals.

If we did finish 4th, this is almost certain after tonight's loss and if we win at home on the knockout final. I think that beating Sydney in a 3 game series is very possible now that they dont have a solid big guy. Look at Sydney's recent wins, they have been pushed in nearly every game and haven't been beating teams by comfortable margins. Tonight West Sydney only lost to Sydney by 10 pts, this shows that Sydney do have flaws in their game and if we were to play them with a fully fit squa I belive that the Sydney Kings will choke on themselves. I t has happened before with Goorjians Victorian teams. When his teams have lost in previous GF they have had a fairly young talented team. This year there team relies on their bench players and youngsters to make an impact. THere team could come crashing in the playoffs or they will win it with no worries. Can people see where i am coming from?

"Hey first we have to win the elim final. Once we win that then start talking about who we would rather play."

Yes, but if the Sixers really care about finishing 3rd then they have to make a decision. Do they go full throttle against Brisbane or play it safe. If they don't care about finishing 3rd or fourth, then why go full pace and risk any chance of injury - give everyone an even share of the minutes and rest anyone with any niggling injury whatsoever.

I'm suggesting we go our hardest against Brisbane given the possibility (however small that might be) of getting home court advantage in the gf and also our ability to match it with Melbourne this season.

Of course this becomes moot if we lose our elimination final but if I was Smyth I'd be careful how I approached this game.

But it seems as if Smyth doesn't really care about 3rd or 4th. At least this is what he is telling the media. This from the match report on nbl.com.au

Adelaide head coach Phil Smyth said that, having already secured a top-four finish, he would focus on keeping players healthy rather than battling for third place on the ladder.

"(I) don't care really, third or fourth is fine," Smyth said.

"You don't want to go in (to the finals) playing poorly, so we're aware of that as well, but the key for us at the moment is to get the team playing well and everybody healthy for that first (finals) game,".

i bet he is saying that just to try and sound positive about the the loss, kinda like saying its not that bad we lost cos these guys were rested but he want the W.