Luuuc
Years ago

WNBL Finals

Semi Finals:

Sat 7pm: Dandenong vs SEQ
Youtube webcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWMGMG6UFdk

Sun 3pm: Townsville vs Perth
Youtube webcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9tuXE2_N8Y

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Anonymous  
Years ago

#tvdealimminent

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Yes, congrats to the league for securing this deal with Youtube. A nice upgrade on last weekend's broadcast partner, Periscope.

:/

Anyone predicting an upset in either game?
I'm leaning towards the home teams in both games.
The loss of Mansfield really throws off the Stars' balance, and I think the Fire's experience plus their size inside gives them the edge over Perth.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Dandenong's lack of outside shooting is a concern. SEQ could just really pack the paint and force them to make outside shots.

I haven't seen how SEQ's point guard by committee thing works although if Dandy can't force TO's there is no reason why SEQ can't repeat what they did last Sunday.

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Luuuc  
Years ago

I saw SEQ twice last weekend and they could hardly have been more different games.
Against the Boomers they looked a rabble. Against the Rangers they had zero trouble getting the ball up the floor. Point guard by committee barely even came into it, as everyone on the floor contributed to advancing the ball very quickly and efficiently.

However I'm assuming the Rangers played a major part in allowing that to happen. Larissa is a crafty one, and I'll bet she will have a strong focus on ball pressure in the rematch.
If SEQ can withstand it then they're a great chance to win, I agree. They're a really potent team, and that's at both ends. If they blew Dandy away I would not be shocked.
But if I had to tip, I think the percentages are with the Rangers D to get it done. They seem to lift a level at home.

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Luuuc  
Years ago

20 minutes until tip-off, and SEQ are favourites with the punters

Rangers $2.10
SEQ $1.66

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Anon.  
Years ago

Amazing win SEQ stars! After the season they have had its one of the greatest stories in WNBL atm.

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Andy  
Years ago

GO STARS!

Reply #580690 | Report this post


geat job STARS

Reply #580691 | Report this post


Luuuc  
Years ago

The team of destiny pulled it out.
Really good second half of basketball after a pretty forgettable first half.
Rangers were well in control of that one and just slacked off a bit before half time, and you can't leave the door open against SEQ.

To play with such a shallow lineup, no centre, and to win the rebounds 41-29, is a massive effort.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Whats the odds? Maybe I should ask a head coach somewhere ;)

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Anonymous  
Years ago

People in Qld, save this team !

Reply #580697 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

They have 2 imports and 2 opals/WNBA players, they are not a slack team.. No surprise in this one. Would barely call it an upset

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Anon  
Years ago

Why didn't Bunton play at all today. Might have helped on the boards.

Reply #580719 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

Probably match-ups. They were looking good for so much of the game Anderson probably didn't want to change the formula.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Agree... Bunton and Cunningham needed to get some time... At one stage she was subbing like she was in no mans land... Went small when they were already getting smashed on the boards.

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SamCro  
Years ago

How many years in a row has Dandenong failed to win a HOME elimination final??? Blicavs was phenomenal for Dandenong (her Uncle Boti will be sure to tell us all about it in his next article for the Advertiser) & Cummings was a complete non-factor for Dandenong, I guess Larissa would have had higher expectations for the team's Captain to play much better than what she produced yesterday.

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paul  
Years ago

I'm not sure I'd call nine o-boards to eight a smashing on the boards!

They were beaten in that area, yes, but were killing SEQ with their pressure defence which forced 23 turnovers. It's give and take when you mix up your line-ups.

My biggest criticism of Anderson not rotating her bench more was the intensity of their pressure dropped in the final quarter as fatigue set in, and that's what cost them the game, not rebounding.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Bunton could guard Payne and if not play zone. SEQ could not guard bunton on the block.. Why keep her after injury and pay her if you were not going to play her.. She was visibly upset after the game.. 15pt lead and you can't find time for a national team player? Dandy one of the deepest teams in the league.. SEQ played 7 players and you wear yourself down and not them..

1st 5. Todhunter, Cumming, Kennedy, Blicavs, Pickrel
2nd 5 Clydesdale, Phillips, Bunton, Downey / Cunningham, Sherf

Reply #580746 | Report this post


Luuuc  
Years ago

I didn't think Cumming did much wrong. She shot 2/11, which is obviously bad, but she took good shots. They didn't drop for her yesterday, but most days those same shots would.

I agree that Dandy's defensive intensity seemed to ease off in the second half. Credit where it's due to SEQ too though, for making the most of the many mismatches out there.
Rangers tried Scherf a couple of times, but it didn't really come off in their favour. I doubt Bunton would have either, but it's definitely strange they wouldn't at least try if she was healthy. I thought they should have got more than 50 combined minutes out of their bench.

Rangers faced a bit of a dilemma I thought. With 12 players at their disposal compared to just 8 for SEQ, a track meet would have favoured them physically. But that's not their game style, and it is SEQ's. So they needed to find a way to play disciplined offence, use up the clock to make SEQ's defenders expend energy at that end, and crank up their own energy level at the other end.

For the most part they did it pretty well, but once SEQ loosened up and the shots started dropping, suddenly the mismatches worked mostly in their favour.


Perth will make for an interesting contest, assuming we lose today. Our guards are still small (actually even smaller than Dandenong's) so still prone to getting exploited down on the block, but we certainly won't be afraid to crank the pace up to maximum. I'd like to think our ball pressure will be a lot better than Dandenong's too.

I still think the Rangers should have won yesterday though. Credit to SEQ for having the heart and skill to steal it, but it was the Rangers' lapses that allowed it to happen.

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Today:
Fire $1.33
Lynx $3.00
Margin -5.5 points

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Cummings needed to,come off her shot was just not on, and running her into the ground did nothing to help. How often do you see coaches do this same thing in pressure situations. Why have your bench if you cannot use them or have no faith in them. It always ends up costing games and that game was in the bag, but poor decisions from players who were tired and coaching staff cost them the opportunity to succeed.

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Luuuc  
Years ago

So the league stuffed up their original Youtube broadcast.
It's now at this URL:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P21WAmb__Q4

... but it is garbage. Does Townsville not have ADSL yet? This is really disappointing :(

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Andy  
Years ago

Whats happened to Cunningham? I remember a playoff game for Dandy years back (before she left for Logan) when she singlehandly won them the game and now cant even get on court.

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Andy  
Years ago

So Perth will host the Grand Final and probably win it all! What an incredible turn around.

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Woohoo!!!

Reply #580780 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

What turn around? Oh yeah they finally spent some money.. people always trying to talk up their teams as if the roster is the same and they've overcome something/ What has this team overcome? Got some low standards throughout women's basketball. This is how your supposed to run a professional team. Players should be full time and train more than twice a week..Congrats to them because finally a team meets the standard. Other than that it was expected.

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Reckon our starters might have been watching that Warriors-Thunder game before this one started, because they came out gunning

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Luuuc  
Years ago

"What turn around? Oh yeah they finally spent some money.. people always trying to talk up their teams as if the roster is the same and they've overcome something/ What has this team overcome?"

They've overcome some quality opposition to make it to a grand final with home court advantage, and they're done it with a roster that not many people rated at the start of the season (which incidentally is why I got them at $26.00 for the title)

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Anyone with any basketball knowledge picked SEQ,Dandy, Townsville, Perth, And Bendigo as their top 5. The trip west is a hard one so home court advantage was in full effect. Yes I would say this was an over achieving win but not a turnaround. Tomlinson was a beast last year, Whitcomb tore it up the last two seasons in Perth. Lavey is a quality point guard and add Burton and Mijovic to the fray its not a big surprise. You can write a fairy tail story if you want but with real credit goes to the organization for backing these girls and giving them a professional environment to flourish.

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Luuuc  
Years ago

If no playoffs for 16 years, including finishing dead last for the last 3 seasons, and then hosting a grand final the next season doesn't constitute a "turn around", then I really don't know what does!

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paul  
Years ago

Well said Luuuc, even if it does show you don't have any basketball knowledge.

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Well it's consoling to me that that person doesn't either, since Bendigo didn't finish top 5

Reply #580787 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

you cant compare the Waves to the Lynx.. its apples and oranges. Waves didn't even come close to having the financial support the Lynx have. You wouldn't have been able to put this team together on that shoe string budget Waves had let alone get the promotion or social media coverage. Don't kid yourself. DO they even identify with the waves at all?

Reply #580788 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

Their supporters seem to, judging by Luuuc's comments.

Reply #580790 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I was talking at the beginning of the season you would have picked Bendigo to be in the top 5

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paul  
Years ago

And not Sydney?

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Luuuc  
Years ago

This season was a raffle for me right from the start, apart from Townsville being at the top, and Adelaide being at the bottom (which didn't end up happening)

With the talent that Canberra were going to field, there were plenty of reasons they could have been a good team. Ditto Melbourne before the injuries started.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

I thought Sydney benefited from having a new coach. He's a good one. team's didn't have a read on them as far as system and tenancies before it was too late. I thought this year people would be able to better prepare for them. Lynx are enjoying the same thing as well as SEQ..

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paul  
Years ago

Sydney were pretty damn good this season, a bit unlucky with injuries, I can't agree that anyone with any basketball knowledge would have picked them outside the top five!

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Let's see... Bendigo and Townsville and Dandenong perennial finalists SEQ had 4 WNBA players, and the Lynx had the next best Player list.. You didn't know what Sydney would do without Lelani or Ruef coming back.

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Not many who watched Sydney last season would have written them off this season.

And not many saw the recruiting of Mijovic, Burton and Lavey plus some girl out of the WA state league and thought "Oh shit! We in trouble now!"

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Anonymous  
Years ago

No other teams had 3 national team players on it besides Melbourne so you have to give that some weight. An argument could be made that if Melbourne's entire roster didn't get injured they might have been a thorn. With Canberra, bishop was coming off a horrible WNBA season, we knew Jackson wasn't going to see the floor, and they lost 3 starters before the season started

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Anonymous  
Years ago

"No other teams had 3 national team players on it besides Melbourne" I'm talking outside that top 3 I mentioned

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Reading the boxscore I notice that Nat Joyce was out rebounded by every starter on her team
5'8 guard Lavey 7 boards
5'10 guard Whitcomb 8 boards
6'4 centre Burton 4 boards
good thing she is such a high scorer to make up for being a poor rebounder

Reply #580824 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Perth are the only fully professional team in the league with players and coaches not needing to focus on other jobs.

On that basis alone it is no surprise they have qualified for the grand final

Reply #580826 | Report this post


Andy  
Years ago

Anon is pretty stupid, a team goes from easy beats for years running directly to hosting a grand final and its not considered a 'turn around'.

Reply #580827 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

I'm enjoying how they keep digging a hole.

Reply #580833 | Report this post


Luuuc  
Years ago

I get what he is saying. If I hadn't had to earn a living I'd have been in the NBA.

Reply #580837 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

Well, now you're unemployed there's nothing holding you back, except a lack of basketball knowledge I suppose.

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proud  
Years ago

I'm really confused by what Natalie Burton brings, it's like she is a foil for all her team mates and the opposition are supposed to recognise her as an Opal and she should be double teamed or something...

I sure hope she doesn't make the Olympics as I'd take Gabe Richards over her every day of the week and even Gabe will struggle to make that squad.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

You have to see her in action to appreciate her true value.
I reckon it was Brendan Joyce who sabotaged the YouTube feed of today's game just to make sure the yanks didn't get an early look at Burton & Lavey as they carved up the league's top team in their own building.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Luuuuc and Paul, did you have the Lynx in your top 5

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Anonymous  
Years ago

" Basketball knowledge" it's getting old paul actually you've pretty much run it into the dirt so let's move on. How to kill a good fun debate by Paul.. Smh Any one who's followed the league and knows the players would have given the Lynx a chance. Let's use that so paul can actually add some quality to the conversation.

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Luuuc  
Years ago

> Luuuuc and Paul, did you have the Lynx in your top 5

As I think I said above, I struggled to place any of the teams other than Townsville & Adelaide this season. The rest were a raffle to me, and I'm pretty sure I didn't post my picks for a ladder anywhere that I can dig up & check. I thought the Lynx were a playoff shot, and that's about the extent of it.

There are a few thoughts from around the start of the pre-season in this thread:
http://www.hoops.com.au/forum/38100-wnbl-odds/

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Andy  
Years ago

^ That's great, lots of Anon know it alls making all sorts of pre season calls like SEQ have no chance of playoffs with Phillips out and Mansfeild playing the point, Perth don't stand any chance of making playoffs etc, No wonder they don't put their names to these claims!
I had Townsville, SEQ, Bendigo, Perth and Sydney as my preseason top 5. But apart from the Fire as certainties it was always going to be pretty close between every other team apart from Adelaide and Canberra.

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paul  
Years ago

I didnt do a prediction as such but I thought they would be middle of the road, competitive but no way did I think they'd have this big a turnaround. Full credit to them and the Wildcats for investing in them.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Does anyone know if BA is finanacing SEQ's playoff run? And what happened to the other coach that was supposed to be replacing Heal?

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Not a lot of details here, but it does include this line:
"The Logan City Council's rescue mission, with the help of sponsors and Basketball Australia, had been successful, with enough money found to end the season."

http://thenewdaily.com.au/sport/2016/02/29/everythings-gone-wrong-girls-just-keep-winning/

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Btw the Fire-Lynx game was uploaded to Youtube yesterday.
Do yourself a favour and check out the Carley, Sami & Betty show in glorious HD :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKT5LXhmvjY

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Preliminary Final:

Townsville Fire vs SEQ Stars, 3pm Qld time.

Fire $1.50
Stars $2.50

YouTube Live Webcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PHYe-nq8qg

(Hopefully they've found some bandwidth and it works better than last week's effort!)

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Updated link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P21WAmb__Q4

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Luuuc  
Years ago

Just got done watching the prelim. Much like the NZ Breakers in the NBL GF, it looked like this game was a bridge too far for the SEQ Stars.
It was always going to take something really special for them to contain the Fire's bigs, and it didn't happen. Batkovic got going early and the Fire just steamrolled the Stars all game with great inside-outside combinations. Looked a much more switched on team than the one Perth brushed aside last weekend.

So in the end we got the "correct" GF series IMO. Should be a good one.

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