3 current Boomers
1 ex Boston Celtic
1 ex Dallas Maverick
1 bloke who will probably have block of the year, and close to dunk of the year

Pretty clear to me that Cairns wins this one on talent alone

Taipans will really need their outside shots to drop this game and keep up the D on all the offensive Unitard weapons... Could be close, could be a United blow out depending who turns up...

"1 ex Boston Celtic
1 ex Dallas Maverick"

There's no one in either Melb or Cairns teams that have played for those teams.

Josh Boone ex New Jersey
Casper Ware ex Philadelphia
Carrick Felix ex Cleveland
David Andersen ex Houston/Toronto/New Orleans

Nathan Jawai ex Toronto/Minnesota

United by 12+

Ill make the prediction I made for the Brisbane game thinking it was in Melbourne.

United will be foaming to play at home after a big road trip.

Casper and Goulding are shooting the ball well and should be able to run Cairns off the court.

Untied's done plenty of media as well this week so they'll want a good showing.

They have to contain Mc Carran as he got off the leash in Cairns last meeting.

United by 21.

" Nathan Jawai ex Toronto/Minnesota "

Jawai was on the Mavs during pre season before being traded to Minnesotta

United by 15 + I say

Ticket & tennis deal looks to have been slow;
http://premier.ticketek.com.au/events/AOPENMLU18/venues/VFA/performances/EMAO2018624U/tickets

I black banned the Australian Open a few ago when they took away the ball kids pay. If I rocked up to the box office at 6:30pm I wonder if the price will still be $60?

I think it will be a contest tonight - United by 6.

Jawai was on the Mavs during pre season before being traded to Minnesotta

Chris Patton will be playing for his new team and his older team against his old team.

This is the type of game MU love to drop and come out casual and cool.

I hope Vickerman is in the faces of CG and Ware early getting them locked in.

So that's a travel by Moller? Literally has not been called all year. Nice to see it's all changing on the eve of playoffs

Watching how Melbourne have been playing with a guy like Felix, makes me wonder if the perfect fit for both United and Wildcats would have been a pre-season swap of Tokoto and Prather.

Taipans should be ashamed of their offence

35 points at half time is pretty ordinary. 25 though?

Hey now, a lot of WNBL fans would be feeling better after that interview

Yeah, great for the WNBL, I guess that will lead to about 0 headlines for the league next season.

Jawai about 8 steps too slow tonight.

Jawai's just about done, he looks more like 41 than 31.

Wow Homicide played for the Washington Generals!

Mmm. Love that road cooking

If Cairns had as much money to throw about as Melbourne they could dye the red haired step childs hair, get him a nose job, a new wardrobe, Ferrari, helicopter...... you get the idea.

Melbourne look just consistently good now. Definitely the team to beat. That was a scrappy game. Every great team has scrappy games, but they dealt with that one really well. Never got rattled and just got the dub.

Adelaide is flashy but I think that's all it is -- a flash in the pan. All style, no substance. All sizzle, no steak. All hammer, no nail. All bark, no bite.

For those who love Fearne, tell me that even a first year rookie coach wouldn't understand to take Jawai off the court after the two quick fouls?

And let's double down on the master stroke to leave him off the court in the last 3 mins of the match when the game was there to pinch a win.

I don't think Fearne is a great coach but I agreed with both decisions. He was probably sick of seeing Jawai always picking up cheap fouls and thought no I'm not going to bail you out, now play through it.

We can argue about the realities of Cairns 'pinching' that game (never really in it for mine) but the last thing you would do would be to have Jawai on court with the game on the line. Did you see how badly Melb were exploiting him?

I think He finished with 4 pts, 1 reb 3 to's and 4 fouls.

The broadcast showed Jawai had his shoe off at halftime, and the commentators mentioned it. Something wasn't right with that, he was in foul trouble and out of the rhythm of the game - why would you put him back in?

He was on the court for a minute when he got his first 2 fouls, and I assume they left him to play on because Nanna needed a break.

I think the game was there to be won with 5 to go, but I don't think Nate would have made the difference.

And his damp, slipperyness seems to be a problem too.