its tonight at 7pm from what i heard. my prediction sixers by 1

Hope the Sixers win.

Either way though, Perth v Adelaide has always been a great rivalry and usually results in a great game. Here's wishing for a close one no matter the result.

^so your point being?

google Top End Challenge, it looks like there might be live stats.

Sorry my bad thought it was last night

Full team for the Cats?

Should be interesting, hopefully we get a good start from Live Stats.

hoops, if you go on the NBL website they have links to the live FIBA stats that will be up.

http://linky.com.au/9wdsa

yeah the cats will not be a full strength, Brad Robbins has had the flu for a few days, Damian Martin hasnt been 100% from a Hip Injury he got from the last game against the kings. Matty Knight has a problem with his pectoral muscle as well so not 100% should be a good game and i reckon the 36ers by a few!

Is live stats working for anyone? It's iiNot here

Do we know what time to expect live stats to start working? Has the game tipped off as expected?

Has started now - the schedule had it down for 7pm start

Cats on Twitter have said that Redhage is out but will join them in Darwin.

Starting 5
Brad Hill
Rhys Carter
Troy DeVries
Jacob Holmes
Adam Ballinger

At the 7min mark though Carter has already been subbed out for Winder, and now Winder out for Carter

Anon, Winder got two fouls early, that's all.

Oberon, you sure Winder didn't start? I think he was just an early sub due to the fouls.

some video of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyUAwbb_yu8

You are right Isaac - I made an assumption, after looking at the play by play you are correct

Winder only played 10min???? injured? hopefully not, maybe just was'nt in the right headspace after playing paintball

Had 3 quick ones didn't he ?

Probably just ran with Rhys who definitely looked to be in the groove.

I wouldn't be too concerned with any pre season stuff though.

You guys are telling me - I just drafted Winder with my first pick in the Hoops FNBL! Hope he just tweaked something and that Clarke limited his minutes to be cautious.

Based on the boxscore it looks like it was a good game up in the Alice. Both teams shot well and racked up the assists. In the end it looks like the difference was turnovers. Sixers gave up 19 TOs and as a result gave Perth 13 more shots!

Nice to see Hill put up 19 points and that over two thirds of his shots were taken in the paint. Might be a good sign that Marty is pointing him in the right direction.

Stephen weigh and Matty knight are going to have huge years this year!
Redhage didnt play and still great signs for the cats.
But the 6ers do like a reasonable team this year - saying that i hope winder isnt injured.
Im glad HILL had a big game
alot of people been hating on him.
Looking at that brief bit of footage - KEVIN LISCH LOOKS MASSIVE as well.
big year/back to back for the cats hell yeah son !

Can take alot from that game. Bad passing was all that caused the loss. No lack of talent there.

Great game between the two sides as expected. Sixers still seem to have that classic "4th Quarter" syndrome at hand; however there was a much better Sixers side playing tonight.

Good chance that they can hang with the best this season.

hate to do the 'bashing on brad hill' thing but does it not surprise anyone else that he again was responsible for the turnover that lost the game, it rings bells of last season. however it is good to see him with 19 points, i thought whoever was updating the live stats got winder confused with hill.

Big Marty, in saying the 4th quarter syndrome last season it was alot worse, generally the other team would make the comeback and with 3 minutes left go on a massive run and we would lose by 10 or 12, so far all preseason games have come down to a knifes edge, and atleast not all of them have gone to the opposition either. i think Clarke would have taken a few things from this game and should make us better for it. i do agree it seems we will have a team that can deal with the best of them.

Maybe a bit concerning that they had no answer for Matt Knight. He's strongly built, but he's not all that tall. Would be interested to know how he got his points and to the line.

Good outing from Brad Hill though in the starting spot.

DJ needs to start at 5.

Ballinger needs to stay away from the 5 spot.

I get the feeling I'll be shaking my head at that one all season.

Stats are live for each game: http://www.fibalivestats.com/matches/4877/02/44/60/40gWCMTIgQM6k/

Some oics are up from Alice Springs: www.facebook.com/eventdevelopmentnetwork

And you can follow the action by befriending us on facebook and RV Sport at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Subiaco-Australia/RV-Sport/146883412011873?ref=ts

Off to Darwin today for the Sixers and Cats from Alice Springs.

Sixers have some video footage up as well: http://www.youtube.com/user/36ersTV

DJ is going to be an issue all season long i predict, the Cortez Groves comparison in relation to the dud pick, spot on IMO, and sadly! Not a great sign early that in most of the games this season, Adelaide has had good little head starts and failed to go on with it and thump a team. Leading the Crocs 17-4 at the Dome, then up 9 at 3/4 time the next game....reasonable leads against the Hawks in both games before tightish finishes and ofcourse a decent lead against the Cats. Nothing is going to come easy this year me thinks!

By that same token, they have been trailing in games and pulled back. 9-0 run in the fourth last night, came back to win at Starplex, etc. It's the preseason remember - coaches won't be unhappy with close games that test their teams when behind or having to win in the final seconds.

Johnson is a bit of a concern though. Has had some sparks of what they need from him, but I think the problem has been that he needs a bucket of opportunities to build confidence, but the ball already needs to go to Ballinger, Winder and DeVries first. Leaves him with a few shots and it's hard to put up consistent 10+ point games from that.

totally agree with LOCO!

I still don't see the problem with the DJ signing...At the end of the day he was signed as our U/23 player and if i remember correctly he will still fit under that rule next season. I don't know that there are too many other U/23 guys that are ready to come in and contribute like DJ can.(although, i agree he hasn't shown much just yet)

If you compare him to Molitor who was our U/23 player last year he doesn't look quite so bad.

Both anons, already? It's still pre-season and people are looking to disown a young player.

FFS give him a few games first bloody hell!

DJ is our YAP for 2 seasons and that's pretty good.
I told Ballinger that we think he's better at PF than Centre - but he said it's a similar position - doesn't mind either.
What we may see is Ballinger playing mostly at Centre with Johnson doing more mins as this season goes on
and next season of course

Based on dream team points, DJ was the 4th best centre in the League last season. I think he is going to be fantastic for us.

Anon, which of the pre-season games have you seen?

No, and I've openly said that they'd want more from him.

But you've called all his pre-season games "terrible". He wasn't terrible at the Dome, just not at his best. And he was third-best scorer at Starplex behind Ballinger and Winder (who both had excellent games) with 12 points and was part of the group that mounted one of the game-winning charges.

If he's shot 1/6 all season, that's one thing. If it's one game, they could've been missed tips, buzzer-beater attempts, heavily contested shots, etc. Obviously you're disappointed in his output and I thought he might have started at centre, but he's young and has time to find his feet - he's younger than Alex Pledger for example, who's in his first year outside of being a DP.

I just think it's a bit early, pessmistic and harsh to start talking about divisions in the club over his hiring. They've barely even arrived in Darwin.

Realistically, what are the % chances of replacing Herbie with a big like Harris or someone?

If we go that road, what are our best free agent prospects to pick up given the 8 remaining roster points / salary cap restrictions?

re divisions, speaking of a different anonymous. Guess that's the hazard with arguing with someone sans alias.

I just checked the boxscore earlier re Starplex game. Shows 12 points, 14 eff.

@anon #583 suggest you get a better informer if you think the admin has anything to do with player signings.

if the sixers are posting the videos as mentioned above im surprised as all 3 videos show the sixers getting skooled.

the Sixers players are selected by the lady who makes the hot chips at the Dome, please take up any signing issues with her

kthanxbye

I remember knowing that Johnson had signed a reasonable amount of time before it was announced. But then I suspect Clarke would've been on the cards before he was announced too. Heard at the time that he thought very highly of Johnson.

DJ won't be a bad signing. Give it time peeps.

Still want a big to replace Herbie though.

I saw both the games against Townsville and Johnson was unspectacular, but by no means bad. He didn't play much in either game, with Ballinger spending most of his time at the centre. Johnson is a work in progress, but as someone mentioned earlier, he is basically filling Molitor's role from last season, and he's a massive upgrade on him. That said, he's the only genuine centre on the roster, so his output is going to have to increase. I would still like to see a Mottram type (God help me if it is Vanderjagt) signed to replace Herbert.

I was pleasantly surprised by Jeff Dowdell's play actually.

It looks like a great game from Brad Hill against Perth. The frustration with him though has always been (and I suspect always will be) that the gap between his best and his worst is so massive.

I have been very impressed with Winder so far. He seems to just go about his business, and is a rock solid player without being a superstar. Rhys Carter is also proving to be an excellent signing.