Is Roberts the only player missing this game from either team?

If so, Melbourne deserves to start strong favourites.

My urge is to go with Utd, but as the AFL GF pointed out, games aren't played on paper.

Would it be more logical to have Sobey on Ware? I think Sobey is more nimble. And Shorter is bigger and should match up on CG instead.

Prather should have the edge on Creek.

DJ vs Andersen depends largely on which version of DA shows up, if its latter last season DA then DJ will have the edge. If its on song DA, then DJ will have problems closing out such a reliable stretch 4.

Hodgson should easily beat Majok.

I think the Sixers will want to make a good show of it at home, especially after our last home game.

Sixers by 3.

Melbourne have to be favourites for he game for sure

LV...ah yeas I forgot about Josh Boone coming off the bench. Wow thats going to be hard to cover.

I suspect Melb will be more focused on their next game against OKC in the US and doubt Prather will be settled in their lineup so think 36ers by 8.

Looking for Ware to actually play PG and run some sets this year.

Combination of low post options, a full pre-season and some structure from the coach will help.

Question is can he offer something to the game when he goes 2-12 shooting. Needs to bump up his assist numbers.

This game will be on NBL.TV?

Is this for real? If so I am signing up, otherwise I am not paying $5 for non-service.

There's a link to the game and all round 1 games live streams ready to go in the app so I would assume so. I signed up yesterday and all other content Is running so I think it's safe to say it's all good to go.

My money will be on Adelaide in this one. Give me the team that has gelled together over a number of seasons now vs the newly formed NBL 'superteam' any day. That shit might fly in the NBA where 'superteam' means Curry, Draymond and KD on the same team. Not in the NBL where relative strength margins are much more narrow.

Anon, Prather is the only new player in the MU starting lineup. Gone is Blanchfield which is adequately covered by Barlow.

The Sixers have lost the MVP,and brought in 3 new imports, one of which will be missing. Demoted their captain and elevated a new one.

Can you offer a bit more clarity on how the Sixers have "gelled together over a number of seasons" considering it only came together last season and the amountof turnover we've had?

Prather is the only guy from Melbourne who will play big minutes who is new. The others- Ware, CG43, DA, Boone, Wesley, Majok, Barlow- are all return players.

Moller, Adnam and Hooley are unlikely to play more than 10 minutes a game this season unless there's foul trouble or injuries.

Has Shorter played many games with Adelaide yet?

There doesn't seem to have been as many pre season games as prior years? I reckon both teams will be feeling their way through it a bit. Melbourne might have their OKC matchup in the back of their minds, so that could figure into it a bit. But all things considered I'm tipping the team who has a lot more talent- considering Roberts is out- and that's M U.

I mean Adelaide are getting used to life without the MVP and MU are getting used to a new coach. So both teams are finding their new normal. In that situation, I'm just hoping MU's far superior talent comes to the fore. Don't want a crap start to the season like last year.

Shorter made his debut for the Sixers at the Merlion Cup and looked like he was fitting in pretty well and all up the Sixers played nine pre-season games this year. Around 8 or 9 is the usual amount.

i am excited.

i really like the new 36ers jersey too.

Looking forward to seeing Shorter against NBL-level competition. He looked pretty solid in the Asia tournament.

With Roberts out, will we see Creek at the 4 and 36ers go small ball?

That could create matchup problems, especially for some of the older 4 men in the comp like Loughton, Forman, Andersen, Knight, Vukona.

If Boone's chasing DJ around the court and DA is trying to keep up with Creek- that's a tough matchup for Melbourne.

I think Adelaide will win this, but it could go close, and be a high scoring affair. Neither team was known for defence, last season, and I doubt whether Vickerman will have had time to impose his defensive strategy on the team at this early stage.
MU don't have the same offensive capability in the front court as Adelaide, although both teams are strong in the wings.
It should be a good game to start the season.

Chris Goulding has been ruled out with suspected appendicitis

That gives Hooley a real opportunity to show his wares in front of his family and friends.

Melbourne's only weakness on paper is depth at the 1 and 2 spots. This now gets tested in round 1.

Surprisingly enough this makes me more interested in this game. Hooley had a good SEABL season but the stakes are now raised- can he match it in the NBL with Sobey?

Melbourne's weakness is bench scoring and it can be somewhat mitigated through lineup management and good defence. Vickerman would already be working on that.

Strategically, I'd force a fast pace against them in the hopes of wearing out their star-studded starting lineup. Sixers are deep enough to do just that even without Roberts.

I don't think the United have a depth weakness @ the Guards spots at all because Casey Prather has shown he can cover 1, 2, and 3 quite adequately.

Wesley can then go to SF.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Ware/Prather/Barlow/Andersen/Boone

Still, Hooley and/or Adnam will see significant minutes tonight. Hooley is completely untested at NBL level. Interested to see how he goes.

I don't think the second unit lacks scoring. They're unlikely to ever have all 3 of Ware/CG and Prather on bench at one time.

One of those two, plus Wesley gives two decent scorers. Adnam is also a decent scorer (albeit lacks a bit defensively).

one of those three*

Already put money on United before Goulding was ruled out. Oops.
Melb by 3.

Is it on Foxtel?

Yes and NBL TV, allegedly.

Game hasn't started and I’m already sick of Homicide.

Well they didn't pull any punches commentary wise... Homicide in the house and zeroed in on Joey with the Roberts saga.

lmao

Why hasn't the game started already? Its not like they need a Banner raising ceremony or anything.

Moller getting exposed terribly on the defensive end early.

Foxtel. A must for any sports fan.
Surprised to see Moller starting

Homicide calls Adelaide the NBL equivalent of Golden State. Ugggggghhhh.

Great start by Sixers but need to keep pushing the pace. United looks ordinary at this speed.

The NBL website boxscore does not work.

Does anyone have the link to the FIBAlivestats version?

NBL website and links are just the worst!

Homicide already pimping one of his players he's an agent for.

FFS

Can't log in to NBL tv. Not working. Awesome

Wa ... wait what? Homicide is an agent?

Hmmm Hooley's speed giving Shorter some problems.

Pretty great D from Adelaide all quarter, by the time Melbourne are running their halfcourt sets the shotclock is getting awful low.

Moller looks lost out there

try this one

pages.nbl.com.au/tv/

Yeah not a good quarter from Moller. It all started from the opening tip where he started jogging the wrong way...

Fire Vickerman!! He's had plenty of opportunities with this United group.

Barlow - what a dope

Not a good start for NBL scores are not working.

Homicide is the human whoopee cushion of this commentary team.

Eh, I like some of the awkward tangents Homicide goes on. He'll learn the current guys soon enough.

no nbl.tv at all :(

Comparing Homicide to a whoopee cushion, LOL.

Homicide has "heard good things" about Casper Ware, so he's expecting him to perform well in the NBL.
Clearly unaware Ware played here last season.

nbl.tv.is working on this link:

http://pages.nbl.com.au/tv/

apparently nbl.tv is not working in chrome, but will work in edge or safari

Real soft call on that foul.

Shorter will not be around all season . Terrible 3 point shot . Not a true PG . Bad decisions .
Below average .

Creek went to sleep there, lost Barlow and got punished for a pathetic close-out. Have to say though, United showing flashes of their potential.

That last 3pt attempt from Shorter was a bad decision and he's made some errors on D, but I think he looks OK overall.

40pt qtr to Melb. Ouch

Jeez... give the ball to Prather and everybody GTFO. Certainly worth going over the cap big time for him.

Adelaide look like they need a Majok Majok type.

Shorter + 3pt = facepalm

Spoke too soon on Shorter... two terrible misses in a row...

Shorter is rubbish . Shot is busted !

Bloody DJ

Shorter is not a PG , no tempo , no flow , no shot .
We don't need him with Sobey , Creek and Drmic .
Dumb foul there as well .
We need a PG and a PF .
Moore looks like a good role player .

Yeah I love that BPM widget. Amazing to see what a vet Andersen is, slowed his heart rate before the FT.

Does DJ know what a box out is ?
The Josh Jenkins of the Sixers .

Adelaide a bit unlucky with some of those near misses, but they are playing like they are down 10 with a minute left.

Just give it to Sobey and get out of the way.

Agree Angus H . Bad Loss .

Not going to win with 4 on the clock, but why in god's name would you draw something up for DJ there...

Sixers need more composure closing out a tight game and someone to step up as the go-to guy. Its the first game of the season but they need to sort that out quickly.

DJ never stops being infuriating

Close out hard on Shorter - said no-one ever.

Melbourne would not have won that game last year even at full strength.

Although Casper led the way, Prather was the difference.

Hurry up and get a guy that rebounds! Geez a switched on Roberts would have been amazing.

Great game to start the season. Unfortunately, it appears teams will continue to live and die beyond the arc again.

That third quarter collapse of defence was costly. Why didn't Joey try to address it?

Good game from both teams first up, but the Sixers really miss that third big man who they can count on for rebounds and defence. Getting a good replacement for Roberts will have a big impact on the outcome of this season.

Anyone know of a good reason why Joey kept Hodgson off the floor in the last 5 mins? The Sixers badly needed his rebounding and defence and instead Joey refused to put him back in. I would have rolled the dice and put him in on 4 fouls.

Pretty entertaining game to watch really. Sobey awesome in the first quarter and Drmic's game was ultra impressive. Really, the Sixers were only 2 Casper Ware bullshit banked threes away from winning.

Many positives but there are a few concerns too. They killed us on second chance points so hopefully our new import addresses that. But it also looks like we've downgraded significantly from Randell to Shorter. In this league you really need a guard that can drain the three and his shot just doesn't look good enough. Ware and Prather looked significantly better than our imports although Moore is simply there to play a role not star.

We've got a very good Aussie core with Sobey, Creek, Hodgson, Drmic and DJ so it would be a shame not to capitalise on that with better imports.

Cant say I went away disappointed but given that it could have been shut up shop time at 3/4 time, we choose to stay and play.
The series is well and truly alive and a good cobweb buster for game 1.
Like Shorter, like Moore's output, Sobey is a gun and Drim had a nice game. Mitch, meh didn't do it for me tonight and DJ wasn't fantastic but all good for the run.
I like to draw on that its a season of 28 games. 1 game over, 27 to go.
I would expect to get the W in Sydney cos definitely good enough.

Prather is awesome! Sobey is up there as the best Australian talent in the comp. Fun game to watch and the refs did a great job I think.

Over all great start to the season

I saw plays where DJ was outside the 3P line chasing his assignment, leaving virtually no rebounding strength with Hodgson on the bench. They really missed a third big. The drop in height after Hodgson and DJ is dramatic.

Melbourne had 16 more FGA, largely thanks to offensive boards.

Realistically, United are the favourites and a narrow loss down a key player/role is no shock. But I do wonder why they aren't trying to draw fouls with DJ late in the game rather than jacking threes. Wonder if that was instruction from the coach or players floundering in a nervous first game.

Drmic should become a great asset at this rate, after his nervous start in the NBL.

I thought it was a great game and a very good effort by the Sixers. Yes they were missing Goulding but we were down an import big too and if not for some silly 3pt attempts late in the game it might've been a different story. Ware banked a couple of threes too.

6,312 punters according to Boti. I didn't see the crowd figure displayed myself.

Not bad for a season opener seems to generally take a few games for people to realise basketball is back on again.