Looks set to be a great round - really glad the Flames/Fire game will be streamed tonight, I'm sure that contest will live up to the teams' names. I'm going for the Fire though. I just don't think they'll roll over in a game like this.

I saw an article on the Lynx's travel schedule over the next week.. what an absolutely horrific schedule for their players. I'm still undecided whether a loss this round would be a blessing or a curse for them though.

It'll be interesting to see the approach taken by the Boomers given their game against Dandenong is next to a dead rubber given they already have the Michele Timms cup and can't move from 4th. IMO it'd be risky to rest Liz and Cole (if both fit for this weekend's game) as they really need to be switched on from the get go against the Lynx. But I can totally see the advantage in resting them both too - very tough choice for their coaching staff to make.

I'd guess they might err on the side of caution and rest Liz but unless any players have significant niggles Perth will be keen not to lose momentum (unlike 36ers approach last season).

Melb Fan, you've got to be due a zero on tipping, surely? Accidently mark the wrong teams in a couple ... it can happen.

Very unfortunate timing for Perth to have a double road trip this weekend, and then have to back up again on Wednesday in Melbourne for the first semi final. Awesome reward for finishing top :/

I haven't heard any news about Courtney but based on what I saw last weekend I'd be surprised if they risked her this round. They also won't be wanting to hit the remaining starters with huge minutes ahead of the early start to the playoffs, so I would not be at all surprised if the Lynx dropped both games this round.
For Melbourne, Cole's knee sounds fairly serious so I'll be shocked if she suits up. Cambage if healthy would probably have restricted minutes in this meaningless game. A bit unfortunate for those 3 matches, but that's what you get for starting the playoffs on a Wednesday.

Courtney did say the ice was just precaucionery but yeah, it would seem resonable that easing player stress might have to take priorty.

She said the ice was precautionary, but the way she was limping around at the end of the match, and unable to join the handshake lines ... not sure if it was gamesmanship or real, but it was convincing enough to concern me.

The Dream Is Alive As Boomers Boom Once More

It was May 2016 when Deakin Melbourne Boomers Head Coach Guy Molloy and General Manager Justin Nelson posed the question to each other of whether they had the finances to keep Australia's longest running elite-level women’s sports team alive?
...
Now, 18 months later as the Boomers head into the WNBL finals for the first time in four years we catch up with Jackson, Molloy, Hallam and Nelson to ask them about the club’s rise to being the WNBL’s leaders in so many areas.

I read somewhere that the Lynx were taking Pirini on their road trip - I read that as Courtney would either be missing one/both of the games or on restricted mins.

Clydesdale thus far 8pts, FG3/3, 2-RB, 3-AS but has missed a free throw, which I think is quite disapointing!

Flames-Fire live stream

^ Well that was a fizzer :/

Williams named in the Lynx starting 5. That's a relief.

Agreed, you'd hope the Fire get their act together for Sunday as that performance was pretty disappointing given what was at stake in that game. Garbin seems to really be knocking on the door over these past few weeks, surely something has to give soon, she can't be coming off of that bench forever.

Yikes. A zero point 4th quarter by the Rangers. On tv.

lol that is insipid stuff from Dandenong.. they scored the grand total of 16 points across the fourth quarters of their final three games (2,14,0)

Interesting commentary about Rangers being TOO relaxed in prep for their final game. Would a memo from the league about serving that up on TV be appropriate? Shot 27%, 3P;2/20!!

Rangers might want to get some new imports next season that can score?

Steph Blicavs was bad for the Rangers tonight. She's had a disappointing last few games which hadn't helped the Rangers?

Her previous game was 17 points, 8 boards, 4 assists. Pretty good numbers in a team that went 0-7 to end the season.
Carrying too much load for too long must have worn her down. Overall she had a very good season but tonight and the recent Spirit match were awful shooting games for her.

Boomers looked pretty good in patches today I thought. Cambage never got into top gear, O'Hea never got out of first gear, but the team still looked pretty comfortable thanks to Smart, Conti, Purcell & Tomlinson all making solid contributions.
I am seriously sweating on Dowe's health right now, and kinda hoping that a storm or a blackout can cause tomorrow's Fire-Lynx game to be cancelled.

Btw, congrats Melb Fan on winning the Basket Case tipping comp!
:-)

I'm seeing triple OT in the Townville game.

O'Hea hasn't altogether set the league alight, now seven turnovers tonight! No wonder Rangers got within fourty!

What is the prognosis on Dowe (obviously didn't appear after very early Q2)?

Haven't heard anything official, but apparently the injury is a knee and didn't appear to be caused by contact, so that's a scary combo if true.

Thanks Luuuc!

Hopefully Dowe's injury was just a jarring or similar and taking her out was a precaution - definitely not the time for her to be getting injured given they've got to control Liz over the next week. To be fair though Burton was doing a pretty good job at managing opposition bigs before her ankle injury a few weeks ago.

That derby game probably sums up the Rangers season - not much going right for them. I don't think their roster overhaul last offseason paid off for them and they weren't exactly helped by their injuries, but I think they do need another overhaul this offseason to address their depth issues and get those combinations right.

Surely the Lynx head to Melbourne after tomorrow's game ?

Pretty sure I read Lynx have a lay-over in Brisbane, then straight to Melbourne.

Perhaps Rangers had a bad year riddled with injuries and didn't have the depth to cover those injuries. Larissa coached the team into a wnbl grand final 10 months ago so perhaps the league is better this season and the Rangers needs to find more $ to remain competitive?

With Dowes injury, I think Townsville will beat Perth today to remain in second spot. Although Townsvilles defence is a worry..

"Perhaps Rangers had a bad year riddled with injuries and didn't have the depth to cover those injuries."

Yeah, they started the season a little more underprepared (they & Perth started slow, as two of the teams with lots new faces) but lost Sara just as they were building into form.

The condensed format has been a farce IMO. Arguably more injuries, exposing lack of depth on rosters and also meaning more games missed per injury, including players that normally would have returned Jan or Feb but instead their season was ended.

I'm still undecided on the condensed season - there definitely was an increase in quality in the league but that was more so in the starting lineups than the depth department. I haven't seen figures, but just from pure observation I'd say the attendances have well and truly increased which is a good sign - perhaps due to those big names that are in the league (whether they came for the condensed season or other reasons remains to be seen though). The media coverage has definitely improved too, I'd say that's due to the big names as well. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Liz leaves, she did say in a radio interview a few weeks ago that she was looking to go back to China next season so I highly doubt she'll be back. The impact of injuries is a shame, but that probably directly correlates with the depth issues in that those core players are more fatigued and susceptible to injury.

I'm not a fan of the away-home-home format for playoffs though. It definitely benefits my team, but IMO takes away the advantage the higher ranked teams deserve. I get the point in the change to limit travel etc but the higher ranked team does deserve to travel less than their opponent - in this format they travel the same amount.

Is Comm Games the sole reason for the change in schedule this season?

I thought the condensed season was to do with the Fox Sports deal - Fox wanted a shorter season. I'd assume given it is a multi year contract that the condensed season format will remain next season as well. I think even if the season was the way it used to be it would be okay for Comm Games, regular season finished mid Feb and playoffs until end of Feb/very early March.

Yes, Fox sports deal is what I understand to be the reason plus they argued that players could play WNBL and then options would still exist to chase a dollar in Europe.

"Went to my first WNBL game last night ... "

WNBL games are a great day/night out! Usually like to find a dual reason for making the two hour trip but think I'll go Wednesday regardless.

Interesting to hear about Todhunter, one more injury to the tally.

What's the tie breaker for teams on level wins this season? Is it pts diff or series h/h ?

Season H2H.

Unlike the NBL, there was no change, so still H2H.

Ah ok, so yeah barring something truly remarkable, Sydney has second spot sewn up

^ Correct.
Hard to know how motivated the Fire will be today. I guess they'll be keeping an eye on the Bendigo-Sydney score just in case.
Even with 2nd spot likely out of the equation, I still feel like the Fire have a lot more to play for today at home though, after that lacklustre effort in Sydney. (Anyone think they were holding bit back? You wouldn't think so with home court advantage at stake, right?)
Perth have even less to play for, and I think that's a tough thing to overcome, so it's a Fire win today IMO. Could be a big one.

Fire were just being their flakey selves.

Bendigo AT HOME might not be such a walk in the park?

Surely the Lynx are tanking this one.. No Whitcomb since the first quarter and no Williams or Kunek since half time.

I hope Whitcomb's minutes stopping on 7:28 is simply just part of the plan.

Yeah I was alarmed when I saw that initially, but given they haven't touched Williams or Kunek since the half suggests to me their plan was to rest their 'big three' to come out all guns blazing on Wednesday night.

Not too sure whether losing by 30 is the best tactic to go into playoffs with - I guess it worked when they got hammered by Bendigo though.

Looks like Sami could have suffered a hand injury.

OFFS!

Yikes if true.. Everything crossed that it's nothing serious

The new WNBL condensed season has struck again with another injury!

I'm with you on that.

How common are hamstrings in Basketball? Palau, Todhunter. Were there any others?

Not sure if I remember this correctly, but wasn't the game Snell missed due to a hamstring as well?

Yes Melbourne finished 4th, the final standings are Perth, Sydney, Townsville, Melbourne.

Joke of a schedule. The top team could be going into an away final down two players because of it. Ridiculous.

Who do people think Melbourne will meet in the final, Sydney or Townsville?

Congrats MelbFan for winning the tipping. Have you always been a Batkovic fan? :P

Would've been top 3 if I didn't have a horror two rounds in the middle, but happy with how I did overall I think.

Obviously the Perth injuries are killing me right now, and suck for the competition overall, but I don't think the schedule can be blamed for them. Just 2 very unfortunate incidents.

Flames-Fire should be a great matchup. Townsville are such a deep team, I actually wonder if they're too deep for their own good. Hamson finding some nice form lately for Sydney will be important. She needs to keep those hands of hers out of trouble and get some good support from Boag & Greaves.
I probably lean Sydney's way with home court, but Townsville are quite capable of sweeping the whole playoffs so who knows... (certainly not me, based on my awful tipping year! :p )

Of course it's bad luck but injuries occurring is all about risk factor. Some teams got "struck" early in the season, Perth now and a main factor that increases the risk has been the condensed season and for Perth in the last two weeks: the travelling.

Like Sydney too. Agree about the Townville depth, it's probably the best in the league. Sydney have a very well rounded side, at least their starters. Hamson has played really well at times and Snell is still evergreen. Taylor vs a hot Garbin could be interesting if they matchup together.

Is Sami confirmed broken wrist or is there still hope?

We could replace anyone but her and Courtney but going to be tough if we are without her.
Such a blow too for her opals and WNBA dreams if it is in fact a broken wrist.
Do you think Perth have a chance still without her?

One thing that can help Perth is all the home finals.

The best team in the WNBL will be the team with the least amount of injuries!

you dont know the team might come out firing for Sami if that is in fact the way it goes them playing without her.

If Perth have any chance without Whitcomb they need to get a great game out of Kunek and 15 or so points out of Standish. Both are definitely capable of it, though when the Boomers play the Lynx, Kunek seems to be a bit quieter - whether that be her old side getting into her head or the Boomers knowing how to shut her down is my question. It also depends on whether the Boomers can get much out of Garrick, Smart and Cole (if playing), because game on if Liz is under an injury cloud and/or foul trouble. Can't wait to see what happens on Wed night though.

Liz will get a dream run with the refs. That is the only certain thing about the week ahead.

Great work too on the tipping, Melb Fan! If it's the singlet Suzy wore this round then it shouldn't be too sweaty.

Believe it's not broken or fractured
Time will tell. Hope springs eternal.

Thanks! Thought I was the one with 0.00% chance of winning it coming into the season, which probably says a lot about the way the season has panned out.

Great news if true, Double dribble. Pop a couple of pain killers, tape it up and she'll be right - I guess that's the typical Aussie way that Sami should be getting used to now!

Whitcomb cleared of a break.

She was taken to a Townsville hospital amid fears she had broken her right wrist, but scans showed she had only bone bruising and a sprain. The injury is to Whitcomb's shooting hand

Not ideal that it's her shooting hand, but at least she has some chance of playing. Her leadership and work ethic alone is invaluable on the court, even without her shooting.

Good news, hopefully won't affect her play too much

If it's an actual sprain she’ll be long odds to play Wednesday and even game two