Appears Patty might be struggling against Perth - 4 TO's in the 1st quarter.

Perth smashing them 29-12

Wow 29-12 Perth up ath 1/4 quarter Tigers 9 turnovers, Mills with 4 and Tragradh with 3 turnovers

I hope Brett Brown is watching.
Having a fringe NBA player may help the league get the credibility it deserves.

Wildcats picking apart the Tigers at both ends of the floor in the 1st half. Perth have gone to a 122 full court press to get the ball out of Mills' hands and has rattled the Tigers a bit... too many TOs

Perth are already a well oiled machine!

Perth started Robbins, Tovey, Lisch, Knight and Redhage - that left Martin, Neville & Wagstaff on the bench

whereas Melb started Ubaka, Greer, Mills, Walker & Tragardh leaving Dorsey, Rush and Dillon on the bench

DEEP teams!

I know this is only preseason but... its gonna be a good year

The Perth Wildcats have finished their meal! The boys from the west picked apart the Tigers at both ends of the floor, especially in the 1st half. The combination of a deft passing game and their typical tough, physical defense were too much for the highly fancied Melbourne team, featuring NBA local, Patty Mills.

Perth went to a 122 full court press to get the ball out of Mills' hands and rattled the Tigers with 21 TOs for the game, 6 of those by Mills.

The Tigers were missing Matt Burston who is still struggling with a broken bone in his foot and it showed with the Wildcats scoring 36 points in the paint and winning the rebound count 40-34.

Both teams are quite stacked with Perth started Robbins, Tovey, Lisch, Knight and Redhage, which left Martin, Neville & Wagstaff on the bench, whereas Melbourne started Ubaka, Greer, Mills, Walker & Tragardh leaving Dorsey, Rush and Dillon on their bench... DEEP teams!

Melbourne did not give up at all during the game with Bennie Lewis playing a good role off the bench for 9 points and Ayinde Ubaka dished off 5 assists in a fairly good game for him. I could not single out one player for Perth, maybe if I tried real hard, Luke Neville (11pts 11rebs) but they had 5 guys in double figures, 1 with 9 and 1 other with 8... even their rebounding and assists numbers were spread!

Perth should be HOT favourites to win the Sunshine State Challenge as their roster, style and culture are already set in stone, almost every other team are still looking for those key ingredients!

NOTES: Lucas Walker has been in the gym and has worked on his chest and guns, unfortunately he hasn't worked on his game much. He fouled out mid way through the 3rd with 0pts 2rebs in 12mins... Fingers crossed this was just one of those games.

DJ Rod - you were at the game.. again i know only preseason but what were you thoughts on mills in an NBL setting?
Stand Out? Over rated? Peoples perception on the quality of NBL under rated? ie Patty Mills was good, but didnt shine as much as people thought he would in the NBL?

Not over rated! He I a situation where he has high expectations, will get every PG I'm the country lining up to give him their best shot and teams will do what Perth did tonight - trap him in the back court so he gas to give it up and then not let him get it back.

He will take a few games to get used to the new system and see where he fits in too. The other problem is the tigers don't have a centre to take the defense away from the perimeter.

0/1 from two point range for Patty Mills. Weird stat.

Agree with Rod, Perth forced Mills to give up the ball early and made it very hard for him to get it back in good position.

Perth were sensational and really showed how well they have all bought into the teams structures. At times their bench were more excited about running an offence perfectly and getting an open look than if the shot actually went in. Clearly Bevo has instilled in them that if they all do their part then the results will come.

They were just so well drilled for this early in the season it was scary.

props Perth great result. They will be one of the teams to beat as they are almost every year.

Good insight on Mills, Rod.

I think Perth are clear favourites. Was just emailing Statman about this - if the bookies come out with Perth much longer than $3, I would be betting up with confidence. I think the pack will be pretty even behind them, but they will be a tier above.

I thought they were one of the good teams in a very even season and then they signed Nevill!

Of course, a team who can handle pressure well is always a good chance to beat Perth. Easier said than done. Last year NZ had three good ball handlers but they are down to two this year.