Cairns should grab this easily.

Cairns will open a massive lead early, then Townsville will decide to start playing basketball late in the third to trim the margin to around 9 points by the time of the final buzzer.

That seems to be the Crocs' game plan going into road games, anyway.

Not so sure, Mick. Got a bad feeling about this one if I'm a Cairns fan. Blanchfield was unstoppable coming off curls and whatnot last time in Cairns and with Markovic seemingly sorting his shit out, it'll be tight. Reckon Craig will dominate minutes at the three tonight, chiefly for defensive purposes. Cairns by a bucket or two

Yeah i think it'll be a close one - but if the Crocs make 27 turnovers again like they did against Melb it'll be a blow out.....

Well Podge, we were right for the first 15 minutes I guess!

I thought Conklin played well, though he got a fair bit of assistance from the refs. Gladness turned his ankle or something in the second quarter, they were no chance without him. Weigh was brilliant, deserved more minutes but I guess that's how it goes when your regular sub is the reigning player of the week.

WHY IS STEVE MARKOVIC STILL PLAYING BASKETBALL GAMES?

He is hurt and battling personal issues.

Give the poor bloke some time off.

10 minutes of court time isn't helping anyone.

Or 15 mins (just checked box score). Start him or rest him. Pick one.

Perhaps they should just play Markovic in home games for the moment. Flying around the country can't be great for lower back/hamstrings, he's not playing well on the road and five of their next eight are at home.

Win all of those and they're 10-12 with an outside chance of pinching fourth if Markovic is then able to play the last six games (3H, 3A) at somewhere near 100%.

If half the Cairns team can play so poorly (put their imports in that half) and still win, then all these negative opinions about Townsville might have some basis.

Did you watch the game greybuoy or just read the stats? I'd say only Loughton played poorly. Statistically, Wilbekin didn't have a great game but I wouldn't call him a hinderance to the team's performance.

Fearne even said post-game that if Scottie's shot isn't falling then he'll look for other ways to help his team, and that means making a conscious effort on defence, ball movement etc

It's great reading the spread of opinion here.
I would never claim stats tell the full story, and didn't regarding this game.
While they reveal a lot, and lay bare some easily overlooked aspects of a game, they do not describe for example how hard Matt Burston worked, screening, blocking out and getting back up court.
The stats don't discriminate between between an inaccurate shot and a shot that should have never been attempted, and Wilbekin made more than his share of poor shooting decisions.
When you have team-mates standing wondering and the only thing happening is what he is trying to force off the dribble, he's not helping. Pretty hard to justify the bit about ball movement and finding the open man. Good defensive effort but at the end of the game, was he more valuable than Gliddon?
Craig showed none of his electrifying speed, his court vision was weak, his baseline cuts against Townsville's zone were pathetic, and Fearne can be as politic as he likes post-game because he'd already said plenty during it.
Mitch Young was clearly disappointed with himself, Maynard did all he could but he's still B-team, and the stats say Loughten didn't have his best game.
Put that against the consensus in this column that Townsville were poor and...