Nice analysis, it's certain to be a winner. :::))))), but I’m going to add that the kings have more points in them by about 15, just to make it interesting.

Hoping for a close series, two teams that match up pretty well and have had some great games against each other.

Is Pinder def out?

@orbit

Yes, was due to have an operation yesterday.

GordonG, unless it's a defensive game, then whoever keeps the other team to a lower score will win

In the last game they mentioned Pinder under went surgery which means out for the rest of the season.

Go Taipans.

Anyone but Sydney.

#AnyoneButSydney

I can't see the taipans winning the series without Pinder. They could pick off one game if Hogg plays a blinder but I'm picking sydney 3-0

Wednesday night, out of town team- shame game isn't on a Friday night where a decent crowd of 15k was looming... what is a decent crowd for this game tonight?

More of this please, great first quarter. Three flop warnings on kings for two techs. Very correct decisions, should have been calling those all season.

Hoping Cairns can keep most of their team together

Wanna see more of this next season

Thats all the game is....make your 3s win the game, dont make the 3s lose the game.

There is very little else involved in the game of basketball.

Its all become a game of luck on any given night.

LOL who the f##ck is Jonah Antonio?

Just someone who jacked up 3s and GOT LUCKY.

Lets see him do this next game where he will most likely go 1-7 from 3.

Being able to hit threes is a skill, moron.

LOL Kober

Last night, the Blazers shot 23-of-47 from 3 in a blowout win over the Lakers while the Wizards lost to the Warriors, who shot 20-of-40 on 3s.

Tonight, Portland shoots 12-of-42 on 3s and Washington shoots 17-of-33. Wizards by 25.

But but but but but its all skill

The game has slowly turned into a game of LUCK.

Its all about who makes there 3s on the night.

Nothing more, nothing else

Jonah Antonio was brought in specifically for his 3-point shooting. It ain't luck, it's skill.

Hey Kober,

Come and tell me how its all skill when in the next game Antonio shoots 1-7 from 3.

Walton jnr is a liability for the kings at the moment. Bailing out of drives and little effort on D. He either needs to be a threat on the dribble or be benched

Gordon G, yep, tell me all about this skill when he builds a house with his bricks next game.

Cracking game, young player stands up under the heat and jacket bags him. Jacket you struggle chucking in the ocean standing on air craft carrier. Waardenburg been real good when on, got keep him marking Cooks, Cooks getting most his points when Waardenburg on the bench.

Why the hostility Jacket?

Obviously has played limited minutes this season, but Jonah has been one of the best NCAA shooters throughout his college career. Great to see him have a great shooting night tonight.

Good half from the snakes, hope we can build on it in the second half.

Kings putting the foot down.

Home cooking

Clear foul, the previous one was offensive though. Cooks shooting his mouth off a lot. Refs struggling to keep emotions down. Kings really upped their D.

Horrible call on Kuol, Waardenburg and Kuol on four fouls.

Kings look a different side with Walton benched, especially their D. It'll be interesting how many more minutes he'll get

Kings totally rolling now. Just so strong led by Cooks. Cairns injury to Pinder has hurt them badly as he can go with Cooks athletically.

Would be great to see Caspar Ware out there "pulling the chair". Plenty of opportunity.

Good old Casper, still going strong in Russia.

Cooks second half just amazing, Cairns hung in there but just not good enough. Cairns lack of another big really hurting them. Kings and daylight looking strong now. A top quality game.

Cooks is going to be an impact NBA player once he wins Sydney another chip

In 40 minutes of game, there were

43 fouls called - more than 1 foul per minute

47 Free throws attempted.

The NBL do not seem to realise that all this does is hurt them in the future.

Again, there TV ratings are garbage.

This is not entertainment.

Zero flow to the game

Jacket, find another hobby.

It did feel like a lot of fouls but watching the replay on the big screen in Qudos tbh couldn't fault most of them, even early when the foul count was heavily against Sydney.

Cooks showed why he was MVP down the stretch, that final dunk... Oh my.

Classic NBL

Sydney gets on top, crowd gets involved, MVP Cooks gets every call in the 3rd

- Massive carry on the break, no call

- AND 1 on the dunk despite no contact

- Barrels straight into Wardenburg chest in low block, no call


Valiant effort Taipans, no Pinder, no McCall, no Djeric, foul trouble everywhere, Cooks at his best, stuck with Sydney for 4 quarters.

The pluckiest team in many years

No Djeric, lol. He's been suited up to play just don’t get on.

Will agree on the carry, barrels in on Waardenburg though.

Really though the kings were far to good and Cooks played like an mvp.

Taipans definitely miss Pinder, but honestly not sure they miss McCall. I rate him as a player, but in the context of the Taipans' offense the spacing is much better with the squad they have minus McCall. When the 3 ball isn't falling is when they miss McCall's ability to generate something out of nothing.

Cairns half-court offence is better spaced with McCall, but defensively he can create easy transition scores going the other way, that is definitely missed.

Credit to the Taipans though, to be 9-2 or whatever it is without Pinder speaks volumes to how good they are as a 'team' to cover a key piece seamlessly.

Antonoi's job is to shoot 3's so regardless of how he goes tomorrow - he did his job in game 1. Could have been a blowout in the first half without him.

Loved the flop warnings & all were correct - well done VM & agreed it should have been done all year. Get that crap out of the game!!

Cooks got a bit of home cooking in the 3rd but overall reffing was ok.

This would be a great series with McCall & Pinder but doubtful that will happen.

Hope the snakes can take it back to Sydney.

Flopping is such a vexed issue in basketball

Watching Cooks barrel into Waardenburg in the 3rd quarter was the perfect example of why flopping occurs.

Waardenburg stood his ground as Cooks kept going into him. By the last hit, if Waardenburg had hit the ground it would've likely been called a charge. It should've been called anyway, but falling over would've made it even more obvious.

Flopping is a blight on the game. On the other hand, if you don't exaggerate the contact a little and make it obvious for the ref, you can come off 2nd best as that example shows.

Agree, unless the refs are 100% certain it's a charge or a block just call play on. They will soon start staying on their feet. Backing down players in the key is an art form but defenders now know hit the floor and get the call.

I agree, for example, the Walton example in the first quarter was a clear flop and he should've been teched.

Rarely is it so straightforward though. In many cases, players are warned for exaggerations of contact. In real time difficult finding the line between reasonable exaggeration of contact, and unreasonable exaggerations.

Whereas the Walton example was the third category- outright fabrication!

I like not rewarding floppers, I like allowing more bodying up in the post, I don't like introducing those changes in a semi-final game when you haven't called it that way all season!

True again, suddenly change the way calls done in finals, ridiculous. The refs got have a meeting in preseason and straighten out calls and stop awarding flops. If unsure play on and see how quick Wagstaff stays on his feet.

Yes indeed!

It isn't up to the refs to have a meeting. The league sets the points of emphasis. The referee panel just follow direction. That being said there have been plenty of flop technicals this season. This was probably the first game that had multiple and these were obvious.

The ref manager and leadership team set the points of emphasis don't they?

Jacket what's this Kober ?

Are you referring to koberulz and can’t spell his handle or something else?