Hopefully we see a shoot out with or without Rillie.

Loving the 4 straight nights of NBL on Fox. NBA will have to wait till the weekend for catchup.

Our only chance is for CJ, Oscar, Abercrombie and Rillie to get hot from outside, and Perth get into foul trouble and can't hit the side of a barn.

Normal course of events will see Perth dominate defensively and on boards and grind out a comfortable win by 10.

This season is abnormal though so we will probably win by 1.

Breakers can only win if they stroke the three-ball tonight against the Wildcats superior size.

Rickert could have his way with Schenscher with that speed mismatch. Big Luke hasn't been taking very good advantage of the mismatches at the other end, particularly by getting to good spots to receive and offensive rebounds, two great features of his game last year.

Ronaldson will be a handful in the low block but Redhage, Catt and Wagstaff’s mobility could test Bear and Forman defensively. Abercrombie v Weigh will be a treat.

Rillie will give Bruton some respite with his ability to create and pass, and will get to good spots when CJ and Henare penetrate. Fitness will be an issue and you know the Wildcat guards wont have any trouble running out the game.

All season teams have bounced back from bad losses, and NZ are a much better team at home until they have Penney and Bruton at full fitness. It took a pretty special performance by the Blaze to win over the dutch.

Common sense says Perth, but they have been up for a while and NZ are due for a good performance, and Bruton is due to hit some jumpshots so I am going with the Breakers.

Wildcats will be too strong again for the Breakers, cant see the Breakers winning this one, cats are too strong on the boards and currently have more shooting power than the breakers.

I like the Wildcats by 7 points

wildcats down by 14 at qtr time doesnt look good.. very poor shooting :(

Wildcats down by six at the half... heaps of fouls being called!

bad loss for the Wildcats, too many turnovers and our shooting was bad!

How is it possible that there is not one competent referee in all of NZ???

It's not a travel. NOT. A. TRAVEL.

Which call? The travels I saw called looked like travels to me.

Cats were the top team before this. NZ were at home, but missing Penney and a second import. Much better game from them.

The two Williamson ones especially were a joke (replayed them about 4 times in shock :P) and one other, can't remember who it was. They were terrible all-around not just on the travel. Still have no clue why they all hate Schensch so much, and Boucher got away with murder.

Breakers reddem themselves.
The boot was on the other foot in this one.
BREAKERS controlled Perth defensively (Boucher superb), dominated the defensive boards, and found enough offence from Oscar (broke out of slump) and Abercrombie (unstoppable going to hoop) to comfortably hold off Perth, who looked ugly in catch up mode (relied on Lisch to create).
Other highlights.
Ronaldson straight into low bock.
Rickert slight edge on Schenscher.
Team defence (desperate) forced Perth to cough it up so many times.
Tight marking took away their perimeter game. couldn't get open.
CJ quiet game by his standards but not required to do too much.
Henare gave Lisch fits, too quick.
Rillie didn't try do do too much but played as good a defence as I've ever seen from him.
PUT "PLAYOFF" BACK ON THE MENU.

X the one obvious call they didn't make was Redhage's run to hoop off pick and roll.
You are right about Williamson's calls. Did not look travels to naked eye.
Could not see who 3rd official was, Gavin Whui and our other Fiba ref, were two but I didn't recognise the 3rd official (who I think made the calls) and presumed was Aussie ref.

the 2 Anons were me on my iPhone lol


Awesome crowd and awesome intensity from the Breakers. Boucher was the man with his D and court vision to find the open man under the basket.
Some of the calls in that game were fairly marginal but the travel calls were not. The refs are average tho, one looked like a hobbit :)
Schenscher got some nice buckets inside but Rickert had is way with him at the other end so he was negated.
Rillie didn't make a huge impact but didn't turn it over and hit a huge bomb to raise the roof, played solid d and should gel real well with the other guys.
Trueman came on and played some good D and hit his open jumper and should develope into a solid player like Abercrombie has.
NZ did well because we didn't just try to bomb away from outside early instead looking for the open man inside for the easy shot.
Nice to see Oscar find some form aswell and NZ not having to rely on CJ for all our offence.
Be nice when we get our MVP

No doubt some very dodgy travel cals this season - I think the refs are having a comp to see who can call the most.

With officiating in any sport the general rule should be if in doubt about a call then dont blow it, call play on. This year it seems that if there is any doubt they are blowing a call.

Having said all that, I thought the refs did a better job of letting the game flow last night than in most games this season. Good to see Michael Aylen flown over there, makes a difference when he or Scott Butler are refereeing I think.

The other one was Dallas Pickering. Hard to forget that name. Which one got taken out by CJ/Robbins? That was hilarious!

props 2 Oscar for hooking me up free tickets to tha next home game.
Schenscher doesn't move his feet fast enough on d so is an easy target despite his size. Productive as on offense tho but Boucher, Rickert and Oscar all did good jobs defensively on him, he's always gonna get his regardless of who's marking him.
XztatiK, Boucher got away with a little and always does as he generally shuffles his feet well and has quick hands but Redage was throwing mad elbows round off the ball and didn't get called for squat and was involved in altercations with the Bear (got a tech) and Boucher (got his 5th foul and rode the pine) yet Redage only got called for his most blatant fouls.
CJ squashed that Hobbit looking ref hard, cracked me up.
Nice to see Oscar have a good game and was cool to see Trueman and Webster on the court with Bear, CJ and Rillie.

Oscar's best game for season no doubt. Good to see he is sharing the love as it were.
Dead right about Schenscher, he proved a liability for them at defensive end.
Surprised Redhage wasn't a bit smarter against Boucher. I think he's used to being marked by leadfoots not someone quicker than him.
The other point about Boucher's game that doesn't get enough praise is his passing ability. He invariably has 5 or 6 assists a game.
You must have been impressed with Abercrombie's game. He's tough to contain attacking the hoop and this may well have taken him to the next level.
And you must have thought it was our night when Ronaldson made a bee line for that Low block as soon as he came on?
Enjoy the next game aginst Cairns.

True, Redhage got away with a fair bit off the ball too.

now the perth coach is whinging in the media about how nz went about winning the game, to physical for him, I suggest he puts some concrete mix in his cornflakes so he can harden up. His players gave as good as they got, deal with it.
Yeah you are dead right bill, abercrombie took his game to the next level and the bear getting in the low block and getting physical was what needed to happen to get the win. NZ can't just rely on the 3 ball to get over the line.
Oscars exact words today were, I love being on the court with Dylan as he saves your ass on D and gets you open looks close to the basket, and thats exactly what I saw on thurs night, Bouchers court vision is so under rated and I'd hate to play against him.
now lets see if we can get a win on the road lol