This is a game that Perth should win. No more excuses from now, the team is looking good with Knight and Hire back in the team.

Tough one to pick. Perth didnt look very desperate nor sharp last week against a scrappy but short on talent Kings team in a must win game. Dont let that score fool you, it was down to 6 in the 3rd. Cairns are playing better, and would want to finish top. I guess Perth at home, but if it was in Cairns, id be all over the Taipans. Hoping for Taipains but expect Perth.

As I said in a previous post Gleeson is the problem at the cats. He need quality assistants around gim to succeed

"It's a HUGE game for both teams."

I disagree. Sure it's a huge game for Perth but I don't think it's that important for Cairns. They know what they are capable of and just need to make sure no-one gets injured over the last month. The top teams' (NZ and Cairns) away records are good so I'm not sure home ground advantage is that critical to them.

Its huge for both teams. Surrey can't disagree on that simple fact! Cairns would love to finish top for some so many reasons. On and off court, Perth just want to scrape. For both teams there reasoning is equally huge.

Perth are always hard to beat at home. At home they are fierce Panthers with an average score of 82 to 72, but on the road they are purring pussycats with an average score of 79 to 82. Cairns travel well. Their average score on the road is 84 to 83.

Massive pressure on the Cats. Cairns are in finals and have an excellent 7/4 away record so will have no fear tonight. So far the series is 1 win each with each club having a home court win.

The recent absence of Knight shows just how vulnerable the Cats are on Knight for the offence and defensive sets. If Fearne has done his planning right, I would expect to see a few plays to interrupt their rhythm. Drive a guard or two into Knight early on looking for the blocking foul and the pressure will be right on the Cats. Oh, that's right, that would be an offensive foul in Perth, so better drive that guard in on the side and wait for the big fella to drop his arms to guarantee the arms foul.

Beal is the man to watch. He is their leading scorer, but the last few games has lost some form with inaccuracy. Against Cairns his average is lower than his season average. He is not a big rebounder which may mean he doesn't like a bit of argy bargy. A few hard bumps on him might test his steel.

I'm not too sure who to pick for this one. If Cairns has a plan, then they will silence the crowd. If Knight is firing on all 8 cylinders and his influence is not quenched early, the Cats will get a 10 point win.

How bad do you want it?

The series is actually 2-1 in Cairns favour. It would take a miracle for the Cats to bridge the points gap but I am sure they would be happy with any win as the series split isn't likely to come into play

It's going to be 8 v 5 out there

Perth are using the profits from bobble head sales to pay off the umpires so the crowd doesn't have to kidnap any of them.

^ LOL

Yeah, the series split is irrelevant, both teams just want the win.

Definitely a HUGE game for both teams.
Cairns desperately want to hold on to top spot, and potentially have a tougher road home than NZ.
Sure, they have a cemented a finals berth, but with the strength of their season they aint just looking to make up the numbers! Their season is now about ONE thing, winning the championship. NZ are 3 from 3 when they finish on top, NOBODY wants to face them at their home. Cairns want to finish first, period.

As for Beal not liking "Argy Bargy," LOL.
Rebounding isn't his role, but if he ever gets his assists up near 10, just watch him start grabbing those boards! :-)

They won't silence the Perth crowd, if anything we get louder and more belligerent when the Cats are struggling, but I think most professionals are accustomed to the noise.

I think having Knight back will make all the difference. No coincidence that the Cats won with him, and lost both without.
It will also be interesting to see if Gleeson has any plan to counter Craig. He has ripped Perth a new one, especially from 3-point range, in their two big losses.

Go Cairns. Doing it for Regional Australia.

Not going to lie, I'm a bit nervous about this game. I really hope Cats blow them out in the first quarter like the last time they played here.

If you're nervous about the game, Cairns are paying $2.45 for the win... ;-)

Really looking forward to this one.
Beating Sydney last round proved nothing, except maybe that a crappy team will often drag a game down to their level.
This is a proper test, and one the Cats need to pass if they're serious about making any post-season noise.

I should throw $100 on Taipans winnng, knowing my luck with gambling the Cats would win for sure :P

Sportsbet showing $1.56 for Perth, $2.44 for Cairns.
Sounds like surprisingly good value for you there, Train!

Those odds seem a little surprising really.

"Those odds seem a little surprising really."

Not really, odds reflect the current betting not an objective assessment. Low odds for Perth just means that more people have bet on them, which is hardly surprising given the disparity in populations.

Thanks for that Dazz :P Makes a bit more sense, I'm not much of a gambler. I always thought odds were based on who was more likely to win :)

Perth definitely look better with Matt Knight in the team and not out injured.

I see Flopper Redhage got to ply his trade early tonight.

What is it with Cairns and TV games? Perth aren't playing all that well yet they have a 10 point lead over the competition leaders near the end of the third period.

Mahersy and Reid are praising the defensive efforts of both teams, but I think a lot of it has to do with how bad both teams offence has been tonight. Neither team could hit sand if they fell of a camel in the middle of the Sahara.

When was the last time an NBL game had both teams scoring only around 50 points after 3 periods? Has it ever happened? Perth are only just going to hit 50, Cairns won't.

That was the intense cats defence of last season.They have looked like the shell of themselves but tonight for the 1st time this season they played great physical defence and got running in the open court.

Their offence still is horrid, but having Knight back helped that interior defence.

Won't argue with you ronny. Perth's D has been good tonight, but lets not kid ourselves here, the Taipans offence has been equally as bad.

Knight may be the smallest starting centre in the NBL (6'8" or 204 cm), but he plays well above his height under the basket.

ugh... ugly game, ugly basketball, ugly teams... another couple of great flops from Redhage and Knight in the first quarter (?) where they back in to their player then throw themselves forward as though they've been shoved or pushed. I have enjoyed the extra camera angles used in the game and when they switch to them for the replay it shows just how much they act and flop. So sad really...

Cairns didn't take advantage of their bigs at all. They had a huge size advantage and Loughton was schooling Redhage everytime he posted him up. I think they got little to trigger happy from the 3pt line to eat into Perth's lead to quickly.

Another thing was Craig was kept in check, in all 2 of the Taipans wins, he has come off the bench and torched the Cats. utside f Bruce, Cairns bench was kept petty quiet.Perth are nowhere near the offensive team of last season, but tonight their defence got somewhat close to that of last season. the last 5 games Perth's defense has been putrid.

Exactly what you described there cavolo (yes it did happen in the first) was what I was referring to with Flopper Redhage plying his trade early.

Horrible game to watch, unless you're a Perth fan who only cares that they win, not how they do it.

You would think 1st vs 3rd would have been a great TV game to watch. Not the best advertisement for the NBL on national television tonight.

AWESOME game.

Anybody who thinks that was ugly, should stick to watching highschool ball.

Cairns made a classic mistake. You don't come to Perth and try to outplay them at their own game. Allow Perth to control the temp, and they will grind you to a paste.
Make no mistake, with a close to full strength squad, this was Wildcats at their defensive best.

Loughton and Tragardh did their best to keep Cairns in the game off the boards, but in the end they were run ragged by Perth's depth of tall guys off the bench.

Perth threatened to break the game open a few times, but were just too sloppy in finishing. I'm hoping Redhage is still ill, otherwise they have problems there.

What a shocking game that was, Perth thinking they can make an impact by winning that game and scoring 65 points. Damn ugly basketball that no one likes.

@sixers147 - Were your parents related ? Like, before they were married ?

What was all that nonsense about 19-pt margin against Sydney being a sign of how far out of contention Perth was? Hey, anyone want to tell me the margin for Adelaide hosting Sydney?

Adelaide is on fire, beat um Sydney twice and the gong twice! Just. Say what you want to, I'll gave my money on Perth, plotting along.

Do your self a favour and get on to NBL tv and watch the Sydney Adelaide replay. Far more entertaining and even more opportunities to be bamboozled by the reffing than the Cats Snakes game.

Anyone who says last nights FTA game was good to watch is a Perth fan happy to have gotten away with a win over the competition leaders.

Result aside, the Adelaide vs Sydney game was far more attractive to watch. Even in the last when Joey basically was giving court time to those who don't usually get much, if any.

Joey doing that was also a very big factor in Adelaide 'only' winning by 19. If he had kept the usual suspects on the court it could easily have been a 30+ point win.

Good intense game to watch. Perth are a different team with Knight their defence was impressive. I think Cairns also played too conservative as Bevo said in the commentary. Loved the coverage only one thing I have an issue with - Interviewing the coaches in the middle of the game when they're trying to coach. Do it at halftime.

Really - came home from watching the game at the Arena and then watched this game on FTA. Really - was scrappy and Cairns played well below their ability and had a poor game plan so I wouldn't be gloating too much.

Good to see Beal attack the rim instead of settling for contested mid range options

Guess I'm sticking to watching High school ball then, because that was ugly!!! Hey at this stage of the season by any means possible and all that, but wow that was woeful. Perth won't get to dictate the grind theme like that against the 36ers, so that'll be an interesting contrast.

From a defensive point of game it was a good game. Offensively it wasn't the best to watch but I'm not sure what else you would expect when watching the 2 of the best defensive teams in the league going at it. I actually enjoyed the game , both live and on the replay, plenty of intensity. What a difference having Knight back and good to see Damo still being aggressive offensively .

Glad to here Adelaide supporters using excuses now for only beating Sydney by 19 points. Apparently Perth playing 4 games in 9 days was a poor excuse and we were going to get flogged by Cairns .

Just goes to show Nzl is the team to beat for the title

I was very happy with the way the game went. The Cats defence was as good as I've seen this season.
I'd never accuse that of being an attractive game to watch though.

Last night's game had 42 fouls, versus 37 per game average for the NBL season before last night. Perth were called for 5 more fouls than season average, with Cairns called for 2 more than their average.

There were 120 shots, versus 137 per game NBL average. Perth took 11 fewer shots than their season average and Cairns 7 fewer.

Shooting percentage was 33.3% (2 misses for every made basket) versus the NBL average of 43.7%. Perth shot 7% below season average and Cairns 13% below.

If slow, rough basketball with lots of stoppages and lots of missed shots is what floats your boat, you should check out gridiron. It was actually designed to be be played like that.

So the Adelaide supporters are saying that if Adelaide had played their starters for the 4th quarter, the margin would have been 30-40 points. Some were also saying last week that the Kings don't have many players at NBL level. And now they seem to be claiming it was a great game to watch. I guess it was if you wanted a one sided contest, where the best players only play for 3/4 against poor quality opposition.

The Perth/Cairns game was a defensive grind but at least it was two teams, evenly matched on the night, in a good contest.

GRIND being the key word. I was grinding my teeth watching it..

Was great to watch but Sydney ran out of legs as well and Adelaide put on some sweet dishes and runs. Just watch it instead of getting in to semantics online about something you haven't watched. I have watched even game this season of all teams. Some more than once so figure I may have an idea of what is going on. I never comment on a game I haven;t watched and rematch if someone raids something I am not sure on and refer to the rule book too. Just like to be informed about the sport I love so figure I should educate myself before coming on here and taking on other fans or joining them. What Ev

Personally, I find nothing more annoying than watching mediocre opponents get easy lay-ups whilst the defence plays "scarecrows." I actually found the Adelaide game (where both teams scored 100+) to be really exasperating.

I suggest that if you're not a fan of defence, don't watch Perth games unless you have to.

To be fair, if Perth were a different style of team, my perspective might change. Last night was a sign that Perth are back to their defensive best, and that is a massive positive.

Basketball IMHO is a two-way sport, offence AND defence. Like I said, if you just want to watch players running back and forth getting easy lay-ups, don't watch NBL.

Obviously I would have liked Perth to finish better, as I said they looked sloppy, but I have to allow that Cairns are also a good defensive team.

Overall, this gives me a lot of confidence for the upcoming game against NZ. I can see The Breakers getting into a lot of foul trouble if its a similar game.

Sorry, but Kevin White scoring 20 points instantly disqualifies Adelaide-Sydney from being classified as a good game.

^^ Hahahahaha +1

I'd Love to see Perth and Adelaide replay last years GF, but realistically that's a tough ask.
If either team makes the GF, to me that's a good enough indicator that THEY have had the better season.
If neither makes it, then we'll just have to accept that whoever finishes 3rd has the biggest.

Seriously, debating who beat Sydney by how much, is NOT the measure of success.

Dunkin Dan you are not able to give respect when it is due. Kevin played an exceptional shooting game against a surging team and you dis it.. Says a lot. Read you in the playoffs..

Anonymous, you clearly take me way too seriously.
Guess I should have put a ;) or a :p in there somewhere.

More Perth v Adel bullshit. Who really cares about margin against Sydney. FWIW Adelaide did the right thing playing bench in ther 4th qtr why risk injury at business end of the season

Why doesn't Gleeson coach Jervis to have his arms up straight, like he always does after the foul is called. He defends with more lean than the tower of pisa yet is mortified when he's called for a foul.

Whilst I am NOT looking forward to the inevitable drivel that will flood these pages, Adelaide v Perth is shaping to be a HUMONGOUS game.
Adelaide ARE obviously much better than they were, so the early season blow-outs can be ignored. The teams have shown that they are evenly matched, and that they can win on their opponents home court.

Both teams will follow up with what SHOULD be easy wins, but neither will be wanting to rely on those last games.
The situation COULD change after next week's games against NZ, but we could easily see an scenario where Perth are looking to CEMENT 3rd spot, and Adelaide are either looking to cement 4th OR a chance at 3rd (if Perth were to go down to the Crocs.)

"Perth vs Adelaide more than 200 points scored, Perth vs Cairns just 119 points scored, 65-54.

I struggled last night and I know which type of game most people would prefer to watch."

Since you're obviously a 6's fan, the only reason you watched last night was because you hate Perth. They won, so obviously you're unhappy. Had the scoreline been reversed you would be deliriously happy about how much "Perth Sux."

Seriously, a person would have to be brain-damaged to sit down and watch a game between the two TOP defensive teams in the country (when they support neither) THEN complain because the game was too defensive. Next you'll be watching the soccer and complaining that they never use their hands.

MOST people prefer to watch THEIR team play, and yes most prefer to watch their team win. It seems to be only 6's fans who prefer to watch TWO other teams and then bitch about the game regardless. Is Adelaide really THAT boring that you can't find something better to do?

In all Seriousness though, it is a little strange.
Televising Perth home game, rather than Sydney away game. I'm assuming that when this was planned they would not have known it would 3v2 and 4v6.
Not a great way to build the TV audience in the Nation's biggest city.

Ive already made reference to it
.. there feally weird about the whole world against us syndorme. But whatever should be over soon enough. United struggling again against the hawks... see whoever isngame in the finals!

In all Seriousness though, it is a little strange.
Televising Perth home game, rather than Sydney away game.

"The Perth game can be aired live over east, the Sydney game can't."

Good point, although I assume that's based on airing at 9:30pm AESST
If they wanted the Sydney game to go live, would it kill them to show it before the reruns of "Cops"?

The Adelaide game was only half an hour earlier than the Perth, so it could have gone live to Sydney at 9:00pm.

The Adelaide v Sydney game was 90 minutes before the Perth game.

"The Adelaide v Sydney game was 90 minutes before the Perth game"

Oh, does Adelaide have DST? My bad.

Even so, would going into Sydney at 8:00pm be so bad?
It's not like "One" is a font of quality TV.