In the past Joey has generally let the replacement imports do their thing in their first game before holding them more accountable to set structures (and understandably so).

I look forward to seeing what an uninhibited Wiggins will bring on Saturday night.It expect it will determine who spends more time on the pine, Deng or himself.

This should be a cracker of a game. I think Melb will have a spring in their step after their excellent performance against OKC. Wouldn't be surprised if Melb grab this one with the Sixers working Wiggins in.

Casey Prather 20+ points. Book it

Shorter out.

Melbourne to win easily. Melbourne -10.5 pts start a $6.00 looks very generous.

Wait, shorter out?? Seriously? :( no cg43 at least though, I hope.

Doyle starting?

Ok. Game over.

F it I still like 6ers. Sobey to go mental

Just what people are paying to see.... a free throw shooting contest.

Racist

If I were to meet Kestelman, the one question I'd ask is how close the league is to employing all referees full-time. This us frankly pathetic

Adelaide are playing like rubbish, Deng can't defend and another stupid foul by Hodgson. It’s going to be a long game

Adelaide not favourites surprises me greatly

I think LV is full of shit with that 'Perth are favourites' business

Wild Kyle baby

Is Shorter injured ? Should play Sobey more at the point and get more time for Moore .

Step up sixers

I am enjoying this game and the NBL season is just picking up from WARE it left it last season, great stuff!

"I hate Barlow's form so much"

Is there something wrong with 7 points in 9 minutes at 75%?

Not dead yet. Carn 6ers!

Huge second qtr by 6'ers shows they are still well and truly in this. Will United tire in the end??

Creek attacked that ball like an AFL player attacking a ball in dispute.

Turned his back and careered into Prather's legs. I'm not saying that was deliberate, but it was reckless. Wasn't anywhere near the ball in the end

Shorter has flown back to the US for a family issue I think.

The halftime interview where she asked a question, then rambled an answer to it?

She's terrible hosting Countdown, too. Seems to have no idea when she's supposed to talk or what she's supposed to say.

She's a Port Adelaide supporter understandable really.

Prather with an MCL strain with possible meniscus tear. Will have a scan. U likely to play against Perth.

That was a nasty hit to Prather :(

Surely that's a prediction, TokotoRulz?

Man. Mitch Creek is an upstanding player as far as his conduct on the court, but man that was sloppy

Creek playing well

Melbourne looks to have this in the bag.

Boone gets his lazy shoes on, bench him until he is ready to actually give a shit, just saying!!

Mind you, jet-lag issues are evident, but United still making it tough for 6'ers...

Prather is a gem of a player so hopefully he gets treated smart and gets weeks off to heal his injury. You'd hate the see a player come back too early.

Doyle , Teys . Deng , Moore and DJ .
A combination that should be used never !!!!!

And look what that combination provided - a negative 9 in under 4 minutes . Terrible coaching not to have one of Sobey , Creek or Drmic on the court .

Don't care who wins but up to end of 3Q I’m really digging this game.

More of that please Mitch, great move and nice slam!!

Just a question, black arm bands?

A family member of Shorter has passed away, thus his absence.

Roger....

Must say, the Aussie tradition of black armbands always looks better than the black tape on the shoulder of the singlet like many basketball teams do, respect!

Manu, watching multiple replays of the Prather injury, I don't think Creek was "sloppy" as he had hands on the loose ball and turned to try and gain possession and protect it, however the turn result in him losing balance and hitting Prather. My view is that it's an unfortunate injury in the course of play.

Think the black armbands are in support of Shorter's family member passing away?

There was nothing wrong with what Creek did.

Is there an error in the box score? Kyle Adnam leading scorer with 21 points

Teys is an absolute spud who thinks he's a lot better than he is. He's lucky to be on the roster little own playing minutes and being captain

Strong showing by United, the coaching is far better this season, I think they are going to be very good.

No Jack, not an error mate, he is flying!

Definitely missed Shorter though because Doyle isn't very good. Melbourne are shooting the lights out from 3 without their best shooter aswell so credit too them and the only think that's i can see preventing them from winning the championship is a significant injury to Prather, Goulding or Ware. However they still would have enough success to win games and make that playoffs anyway

*apologies for a couple typos*

doyle and teys ..I just get bored....

The armbands were for Paul Bonser's mother who passed away this morning

Prather will be fit for Perth. That's what Casey said.

LV could probably do with a rework of his power rankings after tonight.

Don't @ me

Adnam looked 10x more confident tonight compared to last week, and even more minutes with Hooley out too.
Boone outhustled all of our frontline and Wesley made a fool of us in the post.

Melbourne showed tonight why they are indeed favourites. Played that second half without 2 of their best players and just had guys step up without hassle.

What does Deng bring with the 2nd unit? Help me here...?
Useless and I mean utter useless.

Mismatches everywhere tonight.

Like I suggest to people that go weekly; every year there are 2 games I pencil in as games where I just go OoooKkkk and move on. There is game One done.

I'd love to watch the replay and count how many times Boone beat Hodgson down the floor for a lay up.

Adnam is a gun, I'd love to go back a few years when he and Doyle were both DP's for us and pick Adnam. Adnam would be the perfect back up PG spark off the bench for us.

Great wins for United. The key will be can they go to Perth and get a W.

Wouldn't it be something if (of course we're hoping it doesn't happen) Prather is gone for the season and United waits on Devondrick Walker

The Sixers were getting destroyed on the pick and roll.
They would switch EVERY time and leave 2 mismatches.
Ware would then be able to work on Hodgson or pass down to Boone being guarded by Doyle or Sobey.
They really need to work on avoiding the switch as much as possible.

Also United got an open 3 any time they wanted, hence Adam scoring more points then the rest of his NBL career combined!!!!

So the Sixers sucked at pick and roll defence and three point defence.
Lucky they didn't lose by more.

Lots of positives to take out of that game for United. Most of all the performance of Kyle Adnam.

To be fair though, Adelaide missed Shorter. A lot. (not as much as UTD missed their 3 absent players, but still...)

And DJ won't shoot like that very often.

No rework of the power rankings necessary Manu. Perth's favouritism is something that's built on the last 4 years, in my view. It doesn't get overturned by one impressive week by United.

Having said that, if United beats them on Friday- then it gets really interesting. Looking forward to that one. What's the update on Prather?