Thanks Isaac, appreciate your information.
And yes, with no Nash this year, for the first time ever, have bought Gold season tickets. Reckon we can be very competitive with a full side.

This is probably not the right place to post this but does anyone know how tall nathan jawai is??
Every website says something different.
Thanks

Boys looking forward to the kick off tonight, like Big Kev...I'M EXCITED!!!!!!
Go the Multi bet I reckon, Brisbane +9, Melbourne +12 and i'm going for the upset in W/S to beat the Crocs.

I have gone Brisbane, Crocs and Tigers to all beat the line on the road. CJ to outscore Dusty, Ere, Hawkins and whoever else. Multi on the road teams winning (I think, unless I changed my mind - can't remember!). And Kings for the championship at $8.

I think West Sydney are a good bet and if the Kings point guard is as good as they are saying get on a Kings v Tigers Championship.

I just remember Townsville being terrible on the road last year and with Rillie and Vanderjagt both with sore pinkies and W/S on a bit of a high after beating Wollongong last week I think they'll just sneak in!

Anyone watching the Blaze v Bullets game tonight?

Hey Panther, are you on the pension yet ??????

Bizzy

I'm watching the Brisbane v GC match. It should be interesting. Statman should be at the game so I can't wait for his report.

statman will be there with bells on hes been talking it up for months,

look forward to the report statters

Moose, no not just yet. I'm obviously not building my empire from betting on basketball!!! Good tip Isaac, if only I had tipped Townsville the other two games came in..just!
Lucky I still won on the half time/full time score!

I needed Crocs by 3 (won by 2) and Brisbane by 12 or something (won by 10). Grrr. No luck with CJ to score well.

Tonight's bets: Cattalini to score less than 21. Black to hit more threes than Forman (reverse jinx!). And for tomorrow night, I went for Adelaide by 8+.

Why does NZL always get Thursday night games?

I think they want their games on Thursdays?

Ha - Yes Sturty and Thomo - I was at the game (great tickets too very very happy) but sitting next to a bloody Bullets supporter! HA

Quick run down....

Got to the venue an hour early - people everywhere! Heaps of kids and a huge ammount of merchandise being sold - looks like the marketting the Blaze have done has worked well and it was close to a full house. Venue coped well with the crowds and the food was hot, beers were cold (but expensive)so all in all its a good start! Went to get our seats - and no hot food allowed in the court are - not happy but if thats the rules then thats the rules. Corporate seats were all full - whether it is typical GC people just wanting to be seem at the opening or whether they will be there every game - time will tell.

The court looks Brilliant - not cluttered with logos and the seats are quite step meaning that the crowd seems very close to the court. The scoreboard is massive and has 4 lcd screens - potential to really utilise this with footage from around the arena but last night was running ads and Blaze info.
Team mascot did the standard come down from the roof (and while a lot of people will say he is a bit lame he seems OK to me and and then team was introduced and warmups commenced. Seemed a little low key and id love to see the lights dimmed etc to make a big deal of them coming out.
Onto the game - Blaze scored first (McGregor) and seemd to have the Bullets measure. No defence being played and the Blaze couldnt miss. Crowd was going nuts. 2nd 1/4 more of the same but stupid turnovers got bullets right back in it. Casey Frank made some shocking decisions and passes. The bullets sensed a change in momentum and upped the full court pressure with instant results. At one stage Frank was left to bring the ball up the court 3 plays in a row - the team needs to be better drilled in pressure situatoin to stop poor decisions being made.
3rd 1/4 Ere caught fire and could not miss - Bullets were good enough to realise it and find him on offence he had 13 (14?) for the 1/4 and bullets were out by 16. Slight run by Blaze but Bullets were well in control.
4th more of the same until Jason Crowe just decided to do it all - he droppd a couple of massive bombs and some good drives to get game back within reach. Unfortunate reaching foul had him out and any chance to get in front was gone.

Positives - I thjought it was pretty much all good - well organised and the team will be competitive and have some good results. Heard whispers about Joyce and Crowe not seeing eye to eye but if he plays like he did in the 4th 1/4 he will be very good. Junior Joyce - while making some silly errors wasnt on his own - like to see him playing 10 (maybe up to 15 minutes) at this stage - no more. Pero needs to be on court more - has the experiance to calm things down. Casey Frank does some amazing things....but as soon as he does them he undoes all the good work by making stupid decisions - will be interesting to see how he develops this year - just seems very very "loose"
All up great night - great venue and a team that should push for a spot in the finls providing all goes their way

Thanks for the report. Crowd looked good on Fox and Frank's dunk was pretty big. Had to laugh at Crowe shaking hands with the Bullets after fouling out but before the conclusion of the game!

Yeah - seemed a little premature didnt it!

Frank is going to be soooo frustrating this season...His dunk plus a couple of other hussle plays on the boards show how good he can be for the team - he is the sort of player than can get the crowd involved and fired up. But then he will do something stupid and erase all his good work. Hopefully he will improve with each game.
Its going to be interesting to see what pans out with the coach. Last season we were all critical of Smyth being too relaxed and casual - well Joyce is the exact opposite - he is nuts! Watkins seems to be the level head and has to try and calm Joyce down - Im sure if he didnt get so worked up he would be a much more proactive coach during the game.
If as a few people are saying there is an issue of any sort with Crowe and Joyce it will be very interesting as Crowe is already shaping up as a crowd favourite. He loves to get involved with the crowd and seems to use the atmosphere to get fired up, plus if he keeps putting up statlines like last night he will make it very hard to remove him.

joyce is an absolute joke

as in mini joyce

Thought the Blaze uniforms were pretty good. Poor coaching by Joyce - tried to get too many players in too early when he should have been extending the lead.

and another thing - did anyone else notice that the blaze uniforms are exactly the same as the slingers ones? just different colours...that shits me...

Jules - I have the same feeling about the new club web sites... ;)

Speaking of the uniforms, I read yesterday that Joyce Snr was saying the weight of the singlets at 3/4 time when full of sweat were an extra couple of kilo's heavier, and that they will need to have a look at the fabric.....Then followed up with, "it's no excuse"

You would have thought this sort of thing is tested first would you not? (The fabric, not the excuse)