Perth in 2. I think they will sneak a win fri night!

Perth out in two. Cairns has their measure this season.

Cairns look very strong this year. They dropped a game in Perth recently, but Perth are soft as soft serve ice cream on a Cairns day in dry season and can't travel. They are the Collingwood of the NBL. Cairns will get game 1. The 4th quarter will be a messy affair.

Scores? Predicting 17:20 at Qtr time, 51:49 at half time; 73:63 3 qtr time, 92:80 FT

Gliddon will be the one to watch for Cairns, Daniels will be the glue for the Cats.

Perth in 2.

In the Cairns post, Fearne has said they are the underdogs, give me a break, his team finished 21-7 on top. Gleeson makes a good point, why would you claim underdog status when your team finished on top by 2 games, 12-2 at home this season, it shows that he doesn't have much confidence in his side. So what if the we are defending champs, so what if we are seen to be a biggest club in Australian basketball, on the court where it matters, Cairns have been the number 1 team this year. Fearne playing mind games.
People forget the following game 1 in cairns this year early Jan, No Knight, No hire, Ross got injured after 30 seconds, redhage foul trouble and Beal missed most of the last qtr due to cramp. 2nd game in cairns No Knight, No Hire no Ross, 3rd game in 4 days cats took it right up to them until getting trashed in last qtr. I am quietly confident as a cats fan but if Cairns win, it will be well deserved, and would be great for basketball for cairns to win the championship

Ofcourse he has confidence in his team, its just mind games. If you believed everything coaches say, your very naive. The way Perth have been playing, rest assured they are definitely the underdog. Although Im starting to think it'll go 3.

Games between these teams have gone with home court this season, and in most cases by large margins. The closest game was Perth's 11 point win a couple of weeks ago.

I have NFI which version of the Wildcats will show up on Friday, but I do think that if we are to win, we'll need to get this one and do it in 2.
Fri-Sun-Tue is a tough schedule over such a large distance and the Wildcats aren't particularly young, nor particularly deep, so a game 3 is something they'll really need to avoid.

Think he meant underdog as in David vs Goliath. Comm based model vs the billionaire club!

Bendat is only worth 750mill. He spent the other 250 on red tshirts ;-)

I see that Perth have launched a Snapchat account. "WildcatsSnaps"

Jack: I dont even know what Snapchat is! .. am too old I guess..

Since Redhage is out of form, I actually dont mind the starting combination of Jervis and Knight. It was kinda weird when I heard it announced, but it actually worked okay for a while there until the errors started to creep into the game (neither guy seems too capable of reacting to the quick pass)

The Cats are slowly showing signs without being at their best that they are about to explode into last seasons form. They are still a shadow of last seasons dominant team, but in the last 3 games, they have shown small glimpses of what they can do if they click. Granted those glimpses were miniscule in sample size.




They had the Breakers and Adelaide down in both games but it took some super human efforts Jacksons halfcourt buzzer beater and Motum incredible shooting to beat them. The signs are there that they will turn it up a few notches from here on.

I agree with the use of Jervis and Knight simultaneously. Thought they worked well and don't know we haven't seen it before that game. Would like to see that combo against NZ :P

Centrebet now have game odds up.

Cairns
To win = $1.50
To win by 1-10 = $2.75
To win by 11+ = $3.10

Perth
To win = $2.60
To win by 1-10 = $3.50
To win by 11+ = $7.00

The line is 3.5

Anon #517505, I am not sure that Perth could qualify Ben Knight for the finals at this late stage, but even so I don't think bringing him out of retirement would add much to this team!

(Sorry, had to do it).

Matthew, Snapchat is a short video messaging service. Very popular with the U25's. Basically, they can take a short video and send it to their mates. It is not a permanent video. Another social media tool

Some of the NBA clubs do it really well and players can send messages to fans etc. I have heard another NBL club has had it in the trial stage for some time.

Sportsbet favouring Perth a smidge more than Centrebet.
Taipans $1.56, Cats $2.44, with the line also 3.5

We have not looked liked the same team as last year from game 1, have played in patches, can't see how we win the series unless we win game 1, happy to be wrong, but just don't see it happening this year.

if it goes to 3, it might get nervy for taipans. I tend to think in terms of experience. whole new ball game in finals

Martin was injured for only one of the finals, how does that interpret into "usually" or "playoff tradition"

He tore his achilles in 2013, and did something to his knee in 2012.

Perth have gotten better but aren't the same team as last year however they have the big match experience which the Taipans don't. Only Wilbekin, Burston and Loughton do for Cairns compared to Perth. But Cairns have been the most consistent team all year but I think they could freeze especially on offence against Perth's d. Could go either way.

I'm pretty sure he went down in the Semi Finals (or game before) against Wollongong of the 2012/13 Season. He was fully fit when we won the championship last year.

I dont know U'U' has gotten a LOT better this season, and can rotate through either Beal or Martins Position.

Ive far less to say anything positive about Luke Martin however.

Luke Martin will come good once they unleash the super-secret dive through the legs to get by the D trick they've been working on in training........

Since he has been in the Wildcats, D.Martin has played the full final series for seasons :

2009/10
2010/11
2011/12
2013/14

Only time he hasn't played the full finals was in 2012/13 where he injured himself in game 2 of the semi finals against Hawks.

Hardly justifies a "tradition" of being injured in the finals ;)

He played through 2012, but was in bad shape and had surgery immediately after the grand final.

Oh the memories who could forget his injury replacement Brad Robbins

Martin injured himself at the start of GF game 2 in 2012 and in SG game 2 in 2013.

Brad Robbins return to the side was the biggest desperation move. That whole year the side was plagued with that kind of nonsense.

Perth in 3 followed by Adelaide in 3

Redhage has been ruled out of the finals with a fractured bone in his foot.

Can we swear on this forum?

was that from flopping training during the week?

sorry couldnt resist...

sorry to hear that,

we all want teams to be at full strength in the playoffs

Email sent out by the Wildcats.

Bugger!

Oh FMD, and after he finally seemed to get over the virus last weekend.

Just typical.

Can the Cats bring in Al Harrington now?

Wagstaff will have to take up the load, so the floor wipers are as busy as usual.

ah man, that's tough luck. He can be a real game changer. Big chance for Jesse Wagstaff to step up here though.

Wow, three flopping jokes. Great material, guys!

I think he is in a Medical Boot for like 5-6 weeks. So yeah big loss. It just means that Knight/Jervis/Daniels and Wagstaff will see more time.

Uwe, on swearing, I'm going to assume F&#* is "FLOP".

F&#* flopping jokes now...

Uwe.. The flopping jokes are what you would call 'tall floppy' syndrome, prone to rsi from making repetitive flop jokes.

Yeah I tend to agree, I think Redhage is a loss, but no where near what he once would've represented. Might even open the offense up a bit more for the like of Beal. Redhage does clog things when the offense goes to poo.

Easiest replaced, yes, but losing a starter-calibre player....I'm still struggling to put a positive spin on it.

Redhage has looked out of sorts for weeks before this. Just start Knight/Jervis again for the Height. It worked well previously.

He had a virus. The game against Townsville was easily the best outing he'd had since dropping with the illness before the game away to NZ.

Of course, he's been very un-Redhage throughout the year. Constantly having shots that he was normally cash with rim out.

hahaha Tall Floppy Syndrome - that's all i need to hear.

Gold!

Games between these teams have gone with home court this season, and in most cases by large margins. The closest game was Perth's 11 point win a couple of weeks ago.

I have NFI which version of the Wildcats will show up on Friday

waiting for the wildcats fans to start whinging after they lose about the injuries they have. Injuries are part of the game, no excuses this time of the year.

Sixers147- can't be as bad as the loss u suffered tonight surely ;)

Sixers147 your team just got pumped by 30 we would have to show up at qtr time to be as bad as you guys were tonight.

I am sticking to my guns in this series, picking Perth to get over the line, but now without Redhage I am concerned that if Cairns can expose his absence they could cause what I believe would be an upset...

Knight, having a big month of basketball ahead of him is the key, for sure!

I liked the Jervis/Knight front court and think it will match up against Cairns starters Burston/Loughton well anyway. As long as Jesse can get a few of Shaun's points and flops then it wont be as big of an out as it would have been a year or two prior.

Who steps up in the bright lights is the bigger question, those with experience or those with hunger.

Waggstaff plays more like Knight, Jervis is a little more like Redhage would be IMHO. I can see Waggs and Knighty getting in each others way slightly at times, not so much with jervis on court with either of the other two...

Massive game - Cairns have a 'potential' dream run to the GF with Redhage out.

Preview: Cairns Taipans vs. Perth Wildcats

Cairns have been the better side all season and have shown what they can do. It will be a tight matchup with many momentum swings, expect a few fiery plays as the finals atmosphere sets in.

Matt did you really watch the game.

Big talk from Daniels in the West Australian today.

"That's something about me, every time around this time of year when it comes to play-offs and stuff like that, that's when it counts, when it matters, that's when I'm definitely always playing my best basketball," he said.

"I definitely love this time of year. I always want to win it.

"Whatever it takes to help my team win a championship, I'm going to do it. We will win a championship. I want to deliver."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/basketball/a/26455058/daniels-ready-to-deliver-title-for-cats/

Curious to see if he can back up his comments tonight :P

@ bear why will cairns cause an upset? The pressure is of Perth for me, cairns need to win at home not Perth. Just hope they don't get blown like the 36'ERS.

Thats cute of Daniels to talk like that. Cairns should win and itll be no upset. Pressure is off perth be ause they havent shown any form that suggests they could win the series. But form means nothing as adelaide showed lastnight so worth a watch. Taipans by 12 for mine.

Perth will win....just not sure of that's my heart or my brain talking lol

My heart and brain are having a yelling match after last night lol, good luck with that, playoffs aint easy on anyone haha

If it makes you feel a bit better , Perth thumped NZ by nearly 40 in 2010/11 semifinal game 1 in NZ and then lost the next 2 ( one at home) . Adelaide are still well and truly in the mix.

Wow dont remember that, nuts! I still have faith, just a shame not to show up last night, no real explanation, just a odd game you have to write off.

I dont think that G1 win was 40 points or anywhere near it. I think they won by around 20, but Perth did beat NZ in a regular season game by 40 points during one of those seasons.

Really bad news if Hire has an injury issue too :-/

Wow Martin hit a 3 pointer.... and it actually looked sweet. Im perplexed haha

18-15 to Cats at 1/4 time.

Perth with Hire looking hurt and Daniels with 2 fouls could run out of FWDs

Anyone else find Trevor Gleeson really annoying. Not his fault he is being mic'd up, but wow he sounds so whingy....

Daniels 2 VERY early fouls, brain fade.

> Cats intensity is really good. Can they maintain it?

That's definitely my main worry. We've still got quality out there, but the shortened rotation will hurt the longer the game goes. Means we need to be extra careful with personal fouls too.

Make that 3 on Daniels...

gliddon wins flop of the year.

> Anyone else find Trevor Gleeson really annoying

Yeah I would agree that he has been particularly annoying recently.

Recently of course meaning the last decade or so.

Cairns offense looking way too good for perth :(

Perth playing Cairns basketball..

43 - 30 cairns at 1/2 time.. cairns offense looking too good for Perth tonight

Ughhh... get your brooms ready, Taipans fans

Huge second quarter in context of this game for Cairns. 13 up at the half, Perth already on ropes from foul trouble point of view and shot clock issues on offense. Man cairns are tough, have a back bone this season.

Games between these two teams are always defensive grinds, but Cairns have figured out the Perth D.

Need a big third quarter here. Daniels has been talking the talk, time for him to walk the walk. Knight having a shocker too

Surprised Daniels said what he did, he hasn't really showed much of a ceiling especially in road games all season. 3 fouls doesn't make his talk mean much... so far.

Knight 1-7, Jervis hasnt had a shot, "star import" Daniels 2-4

No wonder why 90% of the team's shot are 3-pters

Cairns deserve to win it all this year. They don't have the greatest team on paper but their offense is second to none. If you were playing the NBL dream team comp you can see none of their players were statistically dominant ( apart from Wilbekin I never used any Cairns players). Hats off to Fearne. He's a great coach.

Very professional effort to still have no scores/stats. Classic NBL :-//

I was referring to the telecast, not the website stats

Looks like Perth have a back bone too! 12-2 yikes, cairns look woeful all of a sudden.

and in the 3rd QTR Gleeson has checked in the 13/14 Perth Wildcats roster. 3pt game!

DeAndre finally woke up, and thank goodness too because one more of those godawful bricked jumpshots and I would have lost my shit

Wow ! Not dead yet

Daniels going #Ennismode

Let's not get carried away now ;)

Perth leads 48 to 45 3qt

Cairns scored only 2 points that term.

Is that score correct? Taipans scored 2 points that quarter???

IF is a big term in sport. Cairns 2 points in a playoff quarter must be a record for low points in a playoff quarter in NBL history. 20 points scored for the quarter def played at Perth tempo... not exciting but effective.

yes

Not quite sure how Damo's leg survived that

and seems the 4th is cairns! see-sawing game!!!

Our bigs have missed way too many attempts from point blank range :-/

damien martin! give him DPOTY tonight..

Damo has been extremely ... Damo, tonight

How many players we gotta lose?? :((

Taipans by 6! what an incredible game

Tough for Cats now in this series, this one has been played at there tempo low scoring etc and they still lose. Not many times you lose a game when you hold an opponent to 2 in a quarter! Weird game this one....

Congrats to the Taipans ..... But great game !!! Cats were well and truly gone at the half . This is what finals is all about .
Bring on game 2 .

Pretty brave effort by the Cats I thought, on the road and undermanned. Took it right up to them.

What did I say that makes me a tosser exactly... Im not trying to bait anyone, just going to be tough is what Ive said, based on fact that this was a 'Cats style game' and they still lost.

Crowd yelling out "Uuuuuuuuu" in support of Drake

Hard foul yes - certainly not a DQ foul . Looked way worse than it was

What an awesome see-sawing game of basketball. Cairns showing Perth they are the top-team while Perth showing Cairns they are going to have step-up their game if they expect to win in the Perth Arena.

71 to 64 cairns FT

U'u idiot!

Well, I didn't think the Cats were ever going to win if this series went to 3.
Now it's just a matter of whether there's enough left in the tank and on the bench to compete in game 2.

Anon104: in Kobe24 defense he hadn't said anything in this thread to warrant being called a tosser. He's just called it as it is.

Nothing wrong with Kobe's post. Pretty clear who the tosser is.

Did Hire re do his Calf... I just realised he only played 7min!

What a load of crock, seriously, brave, undermanned, thats all excuses, cats lots fair and square against a far better team. Welcome to the team of Dogs Drake U U, seriously, with 4 seconds left, why would you do that, let the guy dunk the ball and lift the home crowd, why foul him in that situation. Im hoping for a cairns sweep and all the perth supporters on here whinging as usual like the refs or the ball was too sweaty. Cairns Adelaide grand final

Cats get booed off the court. Funnily enough Drake Uu foul was the exact way EVERY TEAM defended James Ennis on the break last season

Tough game, full credit to the Wildcats for the fight they showed against full rotations. Martin was incredible, his battle with Wilbekin one of the best match-ups of the season, gotta love Scottie's moltens!

Seemed to be his hip the way they were working on him. Either way, the fact that he didn't return is not a good sign.

Oh boy heres, sixers147 lol Drake had a brain freeze, but doesn't strike me as a dirty player. No surprise they were booed off though either.

Well played Taipans. Proud of the cats effort.
Bit of a disappointing end to the game- hope Torrey is ok. As for U'u, if anyone thinks there is dirty or malice in the foul that Drake did, yes it was unsportsmanlike but he didn't go out there to injure him. It's not in his personality. Drake has never been a dirty player, just one who tries and plays as hard as he can for his team. It did not deserve the ejection from the game.
Hope the boys can bounce back on Sunday, but to be honest with the status of Hire and basically a rotation of 7 players, I don't think it's gonna happen. One thing I do know, the boys will give 100%, which is what I expect the red army to do too!

that last play was disappointing... sure you don't want the exclamation dunk at the end of a game but it was an unnecessary hard foul, if UU had not held on and attempted to go for the ball then all good, but it did not look pretty. Hope Craig is ok, could be fiery in Perth on Sunday!!!

In the end cats had their chances, we were up with a few minutes to go after being down by double digits earlier and we did well with 7, but once again could not get over the line

psychological id say sixers147.. no easy baskets

kind of like when your team who hasn't won a championship since 2001 drops a playoff game by almost 40 points!

Sixers147: your a dick. There's no other way to tell you that but seriously your a moron. You never have anything positive to say apart from your hate to the cats or when the Sixers win. Your a complete waste of time and you contribute nothing positive to this forum. Just get lost, your an embarrassment to 36ers fans.

Whatever you think of Drake's foul, it was a pretty safe option by the refs to toss him given the game was over.

> There's no other way to tell you that

There's the correctly spelled way ;)

"There's the correctly spelled way ;)"
Probably , blame it on the vodka ;)

I tell it how I see it, if Craig is injured, UU should be suspended for that dog act, maybe redhage being out, theres at least one moron on the court. I couldnt stand the whinging by Gleeson every single play, eg it didnt hit the ring or call it both ways.

Sixers147: nothing you said changes the fact your a moron. Just stop being a tool. What are you 12 ?

Well, sixers147, it's just an unfortunate fact of life that we often can't enjoy our sport without some tosser dampening the experience. I'm sure you'll fight through it just as I do.

Martin got 1:05 of rest that game. Beal got 0:00

On a serious note though, I hope Torrey Craig is OK. It would be unfortunate if he was to miss anytime as a result of that incident.

S147 is obviously here just to entice a reaction. He is not a fan of the game just himself so the best thing to do is not respond to any of his immature comments.
U'u had a moment he would want to take back. The game was over and deserved to be booed off the court. But it was out of character for him and everyone makes mistakes. I dont wish for any player to be injured (even on opposition teams) so hopefully Craig will be ok for the rest of the series.

2nd and 3rd Quarters:

What even?

Hang on did you just say because Cairns can't get the off court technology right they should lose home court haha Thats sixers147 stuff man, sip the grog, don't skull!

I can look at better aspects of this game that's Sixers147 does. The sheer brilliance of Wilbekin , the clutch of the taipans , the awese comeback from the cats . You can't help but look at this game but anything than an awesome finals matchup
. Bring in game 2 of both series !!

Is 2 points in a quarter an NBL record?

Struggle to understand how anyone can be offhanded about U'u's foul. Only a few of the comments here condemn him outright, most implying what he did was just part of the game.
What he did was risk a player's career.
As he relives those microseconds where he decided to rip Craig out of the sky and hurl him to the floor with maximum force I hope the shame of his ejection and the abuse of the crowd haunt him and shame him. If he is the nice guy that others have suggested he is, then he will cringe at every memory of the moment and reject forever any notion of 'whatever it takes'.
That foul brings the game into disrepute, and if Wildcats and supporters can rationalise that, then what others have been saying about the 'culture' in Perth is altogether too true.

While U'U's play may not have inteded to be dirty, it was an extremely stupid decision at the end of a game. He was way too far behind Craig to get anywhere near the ball safely. If I was a Cairns fan and Craig was out injured for the rest of the series, I would be seething. Its not a good look when a player who gets really only spot minutes takes out a key player for the other team with 4 seconds left. I would hope for a suspension as plays like that need to be phased out from the NBL. The Cats rightly or wrongly currently have the tag from most opposition fans as the dirtiest team in the NBL and plays like this certainly don't help that reputation.

I'm gonna try to not instigate anything here, but I just don't like the U'u foul. In saying that, I understand the intent, and gather there was no intent to injure. But the game is over, you have lost, you're playing away and the guy is just trying to end the game on a high for the fans.

Personally, I'm not fouling him, no amount of psychological edge of no easy points, or denying home fans something to cheer about is worth jeopardizing a players health, or my own potential involvement in future games. This being said, I have definitely observed worse looking fouls of a similar nature.

Um did anyone just hear Savage sing 'Mother fucker burn' with out it being edited at the conclusion of the telecast... truly a weird basketball experience tonight!

Torrey lucky he didn't break that arm, watching it again on the big tv, was just such a risky play from a injury point of view.

Childress's foul on Wagstaff was much much more dangerous than that foul. Yet very few saw much wrong with that. U'u's foul was hard. Unsportsmanlike maybe but The way Craig fell made it look a lot worse than it was. I don't agree with it but I doubt very much that Drake was intending to create that much damage.

Greybuoy said it all. If he's got any sense U'u will be ashamed of himself for that.

Thankyou UPhil.

I was at the game tonight, pressure cooker...roller coaster...peaks & valleys are a few things that describe it...except what a dumb foul Uu Uu did on Craig when the game is basically over.
Believe me,I'm all for 'leaving it all on the court' to win but when its over?? seriously risky shit up in the air like that & I hope to Christ he regrets it.

Kobe24 : yeah I brought up the same question with my partner lol Very strange broadcast. Watching NBL TV , I also heard a lot of explicit language exchanged between teams. Not that I have a problem with that :P

The Childress foul on Wagstaff was dirty and an unsportsmanlike play but this play was more dangerous and carried a far higher risk of injury due to the momentum Craig had and the fact he was in the air.

Bringing up the Childress Wagstaff incident as some sort of precedent for this incident is a pretty weak argument really. They are two very different situations.

If the NBL is serious about providing entertainment, from next season plays like U'u's should carry a lengthy suspension. It has to be ironed out.

If that foul results in putting a player at a high risk of injury - like the play tonight, then why shouldn't it result in suspension?

He should be suspended,way too dangerous..it could have ended really really bad.

Jeez, why is there such an issue with what happened?
Someone in mid air deliberately fouled says it all.
It's as a dangerous situation as you will ever see.
Let's hope no serious injury results both now and for any similar circumstance in the future.
It's been summed up here by many. Totally unnecessary and un called for in a game that was 4 sec away from being over. Utterly pointless foul with arguably serious injuries for perhaps both players.
Will U'U be reported is a more relevant question. Mal was there and if Cairns make a legitimate complaint watch this space.

even if it was a Taipan player that did that I would be calling it the same...just dumb !!

Did Rhys Vague play from the Wildcats?

Great close game from both sides.

Wilbekin and Martin fantastic!

UU incident was a brain fade in the heat of the moment. It was reckless and may have caused very serious injury. Taking someone out on the dunk is probably the most dangerous foul and Craig landed badly because of it.
Definately a disqualifying foul and worth a game! We love the dunks and the players MUST be protected.

Hope the sixers game is as fierce and as close.

It was a hard foul. Seen plenty worse ones over the years. People need to calm down

Agree.

Playoff foul - series ain't done - no showtime yet!

Great game & no one hurt.

Nothing to see here people...

Um did anyone just hear Savage sing 'Mother f****r burn' with out it being edited at the conclusion of the telecast... truly a weird basketball experience tonight!

Uncle Phil : The Childress incident on Wagstaff was a brutal and premeditated. Drakes was a reckless and hard foul. Comparison is justified.....and I've seen a lot worse in the NBL where no DQ was given.

Although the Cats lost, full credit to them. No Redhage, no Ross, Hire out again injured and they still nearly won the game. That game was well executed and well coached. Cairns would've lost by 20 if they were full strength.

Train, I didn't say the childress foul was not any of those things and he was suspended accordingly, but it was not as dangerous - it had nowhere near the potential to cause serious injury that this foul did. What is the point in the comparison? It is a completely different situation?

A lot of Wildcats fans are saying they have seen a lot worse go without being called an unsportsmanlike? Can't think of too many myself. If somone like Worthington did exactly the same play to Beal on a fast break with 4 seconds left in a game, you can't tell me Wildcats fans wouldn't be yelling for anything short of capital punishment....

The fact is this foul risked serious injury to a player and should never have happened in the context of the game - this type of play has to be heavily punished for that reason.

I HATE games like that. I thought the Cats had their tails up and noses in front after that monster 3rd quarter. Then lost their shit in the 4th.

But what an epic effort from Beal, haven't seen anyone do that in a while.
Cats have got to find some depth for their bench.

I would have picked the Cats to even things up at home, but I worry at their ability to backup after two days. As usual Cairns used their bench well, and I feel they will have fresher legs. We could see another 4th quarter fadeout, aaarh.

@Dazz agree with that. Cairns are just a deeper team which may hurt us. We're just not deep enough without Redhage and Ross.

It had to be a disqualifying foul - it was an automatic unsportsmanlike foul being in the open court, from behind, without a proper position.

The level of danger taking someone out of the air like that and into the backboard support, whilst not a high impact perhaps, demanded something more than an Unsportsmanlike. Not reportable though IMO.

I cringed when I saw it. Reminded me of Brad Hill's injury going for the fastbreak dunk.

^^
That was the spear tackle.

Good old swipe on phone.

yep hopefully perth out in two.

I'm not sure how that play "epitomises Perths dirtiness." It's probably our first USF for the season, definitely our first ejection in years. It was over the top at that point in the game and I can see why he was ejected but let's not pretend this is anything typical from Perth.

Any reason, why they are playing two games in three days? No one factor travel or injuries or rest time for players?

If Gleeson truly belives that is a good hustle play, then he is worse than I first thought. Drake isnt a dirty player, but that was a dirty and risky individula play. Admit it, and move on, when he says stupid things like that, only sparks the controversy further.

Just watching the replay of the incident.

U'u chasing down Torrey from behind.
Torrey feet off the ground for a dunk.
U'u still at least 1 step behind,
- lunges forward rugby league style
- lays his right hand on Torrey's back to hold him back,
- wraps his left hand to reach for the ball/arm (more arm, no ball),
- continues to propel forwards
- hangs on to Torrey's left arm while both in mid air dragging Torrey forward (preventing Torrey from bracing himself for impact)

It looks like a rugby tackle to me and certainly an USF.

Is it disqualifying? In the context of potential serious harm to players, YES!

Does the timing of the incident matter? NO! It just makes it more pointless.

Should it be reported? HELL YES!

Why? To protect every other player not just in the league but all the kids watching and playing afterschool comps.

Sorry U'u. Wrong place, wrong time and likely wrong coach instilling wrong values.

"Any reason, why they are playing two games in three days? No one factor travel or injuries or rest time for players?"

It could be worse cats 4 life. They could have to play 3 times in 5 days. Luckily they won't have to so you won't need to whinge about that.

ballwatcher, when U'u first made contact, Craig's feet were still in the ground. Not saying that makes it less worthy of the USF but he didn't take him out midair.

I think the second part of the foul, where U'u still has a hold of his arm as Craig is launching forward, was a very clumsy attempt at holding him up. It wasn't malicious. I just think he underestimated the strength and momentum that Craig had and it resulted in him crashing to the floor.

I'm not excusing what U'u did nor am I calling it a good playoff foul. I just don't think it was a malicious act - very clumsy and unnecessary to even attempt to foul at that stage.

""Our crowd was angry. They were mad as and they should be - we all were. You don't like to see one of your players go down like that," Fearne said.

“I’d be embarrassed myself (if my player did that), I’d be upset with my guy.

“That’s just dangerous; the NBL have to look at that and it’s up to them to make that decision.

“We’ll use that motivation but we gotta go play and learn from it.

Gleeson defended his player, saying it was simply tough finals basketball.

“I thought it was a good hustle play, no malice in it, he took a shot at the ball,” Gleeson said.

“Drake doesn’t have a malice bone in his body; he wasn’t taking his head off, he was playing at the ball.”
Nuff said.

Yeah, I watched the replay quite a few times.

When Uu had his right hand on Torrey's back, Torrey was about to launch off. By the time Uu wrapped his left arm around the front of Torrey's bory to disrupt the dunk, the man was already in the air.

Perhaps Uu is trying to hold him up as you suggest (How you hold someone up when you have both your feet off the ground propelling forwards in a horiziontal fashion is worthy of a Matrix, doubly reloaded sequel though :P).

Perhaps, but the replay from the frontal view in slow mo is certainly jarring. Blank out the jerseys, remove knowledge of prior history of players and look at the play and replays and make up your mind.

I have come down on the harsh side because my kids play and no way am I going the Gleeson way.

I expect good hustle play. Make the playoff games look legit.

Launching yourself from behind to play for the ball and in the process pulling your opponent forwards off his feet is rugby. Much worse when your opponent is in the air.

Cannot see that as just a hustle play ONLY. It is an illegal and dangerous hustle play.

Guess that has been said multiple times now so I'll zip :D

Gleeson would have been better off saying nothing.

Having not seen the Uu foul, and relying only on the previous comments, it would seem the only similarities between the Uu and Childress actions is that both reflect badly on the game via the controversy that follows.

The Uu incident sounds like it carried a much greater likelihood of a player being severely injured, the Childress incident not so much. Nevertheless both detract from the spectacle.

It also sounds like Damian Martin went "full Damo" last night. Irrespective of who you support, you gotta love his hustle.

Sorry Perth fans but without Hire, Redhage, Ross and possibly Uu I can't see this series going to game 3. Perhaps it would have been more apt for red cross t-shirts to be distributed to patrons attending game 2. That said, I do hope both semi final series and the grand final series all go to three games.

@XY due to the incompetence of the Referees in this league that foul by Abney was only called a foul and not an unsportsmanlike foul (If my memory is correct) which is unbelievable.

KJ, agree, wrong call, but that was also before FIBA changed the rules about challenging from behind on the break.

ON another issue, why didn't Cairns shoot 4 then possession? They were dudes out of two shots (not that it mattered). But yet another poor umpiring effort.

'ON another issue, why didn't Cairns shoot 4 then possession? They were dudes out of two shots (not that it mattered). But yet another poor umpiring effort.'

Thought the umpiring was fine. What does the rest of this mean XY?

Also the Luke Martin recruitment now in hindsight could have been better. They need big guys that can score! Perth way to thin to win this series. Put Redhage out there last night & that would have been very interesting!!

The basketball gods looking down on FNQ right now...

No further sanctions for U'u. He is free to play tomorrow.

KJ, agree, wrong call, but that was also before FIBA changed the rules about challenging from behind on the break.

The U'u foul was ugly and crude. Lucky that no injury occurred.

I think if you asked U'u, he would agree it was a booboo

Is 2 points in a quarter an NBL record?

It would certainly be some sort of record for a team to score only two points in a quarter and still go on to win the game.

Goes to show how poor the cats are offensively at the moment to not build a more substantial lead.

U'u foul:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UWTsVM0TGM

not a fan of gleeson's reffing with a mic on him...he wanted a cairns player ejected there at the end with 4 seconds to go..E.G.....torrey craig perhaps

My opinion on THAT foul is not about either player or their character, it is purely about the act. Oh, showed my kids too and they play at a high level, they were not impressed by the foul either.

So, what do I think, not that my opinion matters, but I see absolutely zero room for that kind of act in the game of basketball. I see it as a direct ejection, a report and potentially a long suspension at the very least.

If we can't protect ANY player, from going to the rim without being bashed and risk serious injury, then we all may as well just lay artificial grass on the court and put helmets on.

Any suggestion, for me, that makes excuses for any part of the action (slow motion reply assisted or not) is just that, a poor excuse!

Well said Bear.

I've watched the replay of the foul a few times this morning, I've changed my stance on it somewhat since last night. While I doubt that U'u intended it to be as bad as it was it was pretty hard. I'm still undecided if it should of been a DQ foul or if a ban should be imposed but I do think that the NBL and the refs have a duty of care to protect players.

It's all good to say it wasn't intended and all but Craig could be injured and miss games and to be honest it could of ended a lot worse than what it did. What if the contact was a fraction later when Craig was in full flight and he landed on his head or damaged his spine? Players need to have the players safety in mind when doing for a hard foul like that. I hope the NBL have reviewed the play thoroughly before making their decision on not imposing any further sanctions .

Having said that I don't think people should brand Drake a thug. Very poor decision on by when you take into account the result of the gave was well and truly decided.

I know I said I'll zip.

But I just looked at the posted YouTube video.

My God.

It looked even worse. U'u didn't seem to have been going for the ball. He looked like he ripped Torrey from his dunk trajectory and pulled him across the baseline. He was playing the man. (Hello Trevor Gleeson).That is rugby not basketball.

Don't really know the extent of the damage to Craig's wrist/arm, if there is any at all, but if he couldn't play in the next game would it be right for U'u to be free to play?

Poor form by Gleeson condoning that foul also. Man up admit your player did wrong and council him so he understands what is acceptable in the future.

Does anyone know what the update on Craig is ? Is he ok or injured ?

Worthy of an ejection, but nothing more. I too think there has been a bit of over-reaction.

Thanks Dan.

I really hate the "hard foul to stop the score" thing we push in Australian basketball. The commentators condone it every time too as a "smart foul". That's not hustle or going the extra mile, that's thuggery. Hustle is Damian Martin jumping horizontal out of court to save the ball.

I think your goal should be to stop the score without fouling. If you can't attempt the block or steal, let it go. Otherwise it's dangerous and it restricts highlights.

We want block attempts at the rim, not people grabbing arms as they go up.

That U'u foul looked awful. Oddly enough, I think it would've led to injury had U'u's final grapple not prevented Craig from landing harder on his shoulder.

If we can't rub that stuff out of the game with rules, we should be doing it quietly with guidelines - private note from the NBL to players and coaches. Players, you will get bigger crowds with a more entertaining game. If you can't contest the bucket decently, let it happen.

I think bigger than your personal result is the health of every player on the court and the health of your league and livelihood.

I think you can remove the incentive of a foul like that by making the penalty that much worse than a normal foul. And not just "play at the ball", but a play at the ball with a realistic chance of getting a legal steal or block. Obviously it's subjective, but the situation we have now is ugly and risky.

Could Uu use the defense of it being a brain snap, totally out of character and apologise? Would everyone then just say no problem?

Maybe they should start awarding an automatic 2 points and possession for Unsportsmanlike fouls where the player is on a breakaway.

Oh wow. There was nothing in that play. Talk about making a mountain out of mole hill. I'll tell you what had more malice is when during regular season Earnest went down with an achilies and Fearne was going off about the game delay.

Gleeson probably felt same about Abney's foul on Brad Hill. Same stuff, same coach, fortunately different result this time.

'Feeling' the same is quite different to carrying on on the sidelines like Fearne did.

I think Fearne was complaining about Beal going down with cramp.

@Anon 518323

I think you are shooting blanks there. Stay focused on the issue.

Dangerous plays disguised as professional fouls have no place in the game of basketball.

Not from any player, not from any coach, nor from any so called fan who minimises it by ironically raising an inconsequential "mountain out of molehill" distracting peeve at another coach.

I think situations where a) the player is especially vulnerable to contact (i.e. it's more likely that the foul will cause the player to lose control), b) the contact is excessively forceful, or c) the foul is not a realistic attempt at the ball, the penalty needs to be harsh enough that it is a clear deterrent rather than just a penalty.

I don't think U'u is at all a nasty player, but the instinct for defenders to try something like that in that situation ought to be stamped out.
It really sucks to have important players missing from your team at the business end of the season. Some injuries aren't realistically preventable, but potentially serious injuries like Craig's are.

Great post Dan.