I strongly doubt that anyone is making calls about this, but would be making independent decisions.

As soon as I saw the article about Bevo and the Hawks going out and out to win the Adelaide game, I thought "They're not really going to try." No inside knowledge of any sort but as you said, it makes sense for them to try and tackle Melbourne first.

Realistically, either top two side is going to trouble Adelaide and Illawarra (who don't have a great match up for Warrick). Only NZ would go into games against Perth and Melbourne with some confidence: good scoring options, finals pedigree, great defenders at at least three positions.

Right- so Adelaide will get 3rd spot if they win both, regardless of whether its Ade-Ill-NZ all 16 wins, or Ade-Ill 16 wins and NZ less than 16 wins?

In that case my conspiracy makes perfect sense. Illawarra wants to avoid Perth and would much rather play Melbourne, Perth would rather play Adelaide and Perth would love it if NZ were out of the picture.

So Illawarra and Perth both lose, and NZ's out.

I honestly think every team believes it can beat every other team.
You don't mess with your form at this stage of the season.

These sorts of decisions are made regularly in European and international hoops, and I suspect we've already seen one this round that indicates Perth v Illawarra is the preferred match up out west.

Very interested to see how the round plays out though, hopefully there is still some suspense left on Sunday.

Except for the Boomers. The Boomers NEVER rest players to get a favourable match-up...

Adelaide paying $3.55 for a win vs hawks and $3.45 for a win vs Cats.
Just FYI

Australia threw the game vs Angola in the 2014 world championships. (Legal disclaimer: "Threw the game" is to be interpreted as “Tried their best and lost the game”).

If it happens in the World Championships, it can happen in the NBL. Bevo and Gleeson are very shrewd operators. They know what's best for themselves and their teams.

And- no collusion is even necessary. Once Perth sees Adelaide win on Friday night, they’ll know what to do.

and Italy just lucked a 7 point win against Cuba . This type of match fixing was old 36 years ago

Bevo's only protege who coaches an NBL side is Shawn Dennis so its ok if he calls him this week.

I don't think there is a fav matchup, all the top 4 teams can beat each other on any given night (hell that's the case for the top 6).

I'd be resting my injury prone players though, I was surprised to see Knight play last night..

another outstanding post anon.

while snooch makes a valid point; i wonder if that was the case with kings v wildcats the other night. sydney won by how much?

its a dangerous proposition to lose games at the death knell of a season prior to playoffs

I doubt it's an issue when you have a very experienced team culture. I'd say any coach of Perth could switch on the core of that team when required.

I agree Isaac, although potentially losing HCA right throughout the playoffs could come back to bite you. I know if I was coaching Perth I'd want that crowd behind me as much as I possibly could!

That said, resting those guys might end up being a smart move because they have legitimate niggles.

Cats also understand better than most teams how costly it can be to have players not fit for a playoff campaign.
I don't think there's a universal right & wrong answer, but I've got no doubt that the 4 Cats players rested had actual injury issues. As valuable as HCA is, I'm happy with the direction we chose.

I agree Isaac, although potentially losing HCA right throughout the playoffs could come back to bite you. I know if I was coaching Perth I'd want that crowd behind me as much as I possibly could!

Perth's team and coaches probably think that the Hawks and NZ stand a roughly equal chance of knocking Melbourne over. That's what I would have thought. So it doesnt really matter to them who Melbourne plays in the semi.

And the Cats would fancy their chances of beating either Illawarra or Adelaide (7 from 7 against those two).

But here's the big incentive: Cats definitely have an incentive to boot NZ out of the playoffs. Given the playoffs history, and the results this season where NZ got the better of them.

But I suppose point 1 will depend on this weekend. If they watch the NZ vs MU matches and decide MU will struggle there, then Perth may try to beat Adelaide to set up that matchup.

Because Perth's number one incentive would be avoiding MU and retaining home court advantage in any other matchup.

Do you think Melbourne want to face NZ in the first round?

Perth's number one incentive is to have a full strength team going in to the playoffs.

At this point, Melbourne have struggled against both NZ and Illawarra (In the 2 matches where Illawarra were at full strength).

But Melbourne will have home court advantage in either case. It's apples and oranges because they've only played NZ twice. So I doubt MU would have a strong preference- pending this weekend's results. NZ certainly has size and power over them whereas Illawarra is a more like for like matchup. But MU has beaten Perth 3 times, and MU smashed Cairns the last two- so MU has form on the board against the bigger, powerful teams as well.

I agree that the incentive is to be healthy. But if you aren't carrying injuries (Who knows if MU is or not?), then it's a question of the "Do you mess with form?"thing or not. I don't really have a strong view there

Breakers are out in straight games whoever they play. Be fair dinkum,they aren't playing well enough.

MU don't need to be too concerned with the other teams' positions. Their #1 goal at this point should be to do whatever they can to prevent anyone other than LK from owning the league before the GF series is over :p

NZ were pretty average coming into the playoffs last season and never looked like losing a game, much less a series.

So, you're saying Hawks would rather play MU?
Only problem with this is that its not up to them.
At best, they throw the game against Adelaide, and it then comes down to the Perth v Adelaide game.
Keep in mind that it is the final game, so all results are known.
So, if everything goes according to your plan, Perth have the choice of playing to win, and facing the team they have beaten 4 times,
or losing to Adelaide so they can play them again in the SF?

I like a tin foil hat like the rest of everyone, but it's not like teams are manufacturing injuries and resting, for example, four players in a game and then playing their ABL quality second team.......

Just waiting for the MU cheating at home thing to come up soon

@Dazz..

If it came down to Sundays game and the Cats had the 'option' of sending either Hawks or Sixers to MU, wouldn't they want to send Hawks to MU?