Simple for Adelaide win and almost certainly be assured of second place.
Hawks don't have anything to play for but I wouldn't write them off.

Only a win by the Sixers locks in that 2nd spot.

second spot I meant.

Yeah, it's a big game for Adelaide in the context of ladder position. They should win handily, but we'll see -
Hawks are the most unpredictable team in the league.

Damn! Rotnei played terribly last time.

Coenraad playing well against us, as usual.

They know my sister?

I feel like Coenraad always kills the 36ers, he just seems to love playing against us

And for those without a sister to kiss, I've been told that anon's mum is very much available.

Illawarra look better without Clark

Sixers look better without Teys

Nice one anon, but mine all know each other. We're having a fun dinner with everyone and all their parents. Should be a cracking night.

Illawarra's D is woeful

They should do a swap

Hodgeson! Where was that all year?

Great to see some fire from Hodgson defensively.

No Ramone Moore in the first half. Is there an injury?

Is Moore injured?

" More pressure than a guy with three girlfriends on Valentines Day."

So in this analogy, rival teams in the top 4 are ex girlfriends.

Any more than 2 gets difficult.

If Creek leaves I'd love to see us go after Coenraad. He's a great shooter, has size and competent defensively plus the Hawks only give him 1 year deals. Offer him a 2/3 year deal to come over.

What's wrong with Ramone Moore?

Disciplinary action

Shane Heals head. Better for radio.

I thought only Teys was suspended? Or is this for something else?

Hodgson definitely has the ability to be the best shot blocker in the league. He's more athletic than most 6'11 guys in the NBL... he just has to stay on the court and not pick up silly fouls. You can live with the odd one where he gets called trying to block shots. I noticed against Perth too he was the only defender who Brandt struggled to get his shot off against.

Flop rule sucks

Drmic's face just fouled Coenraad's elbow.

Do the refs need a quota of unsportsmanlike fouls per game?

Another bad USF sixers way. Colour me shocked

Refs have lost the plot

absolute amateur hour from the refs again

Flops, unsportsmanlike fouls. Spoiling the product.

How was that usf on norton unfair, he blantantly shoved Drimic after the play was over - that has been called an usf all year. Two flops by the Hawks in the half yet the non flop by Sobey gets a T and then he gets a T for asking for the same to be applied to the other team. The refs need to have a hard look at themselves in the mirror.

Bullshit call turned into cheeseburgers. How good

Burgers don't lie

Just ridiculous! "Are you kidding me??" as Shane Heal just said.

Sobey gets a very questionable tech for not flopping and then asks for exactly the same call down the other end and gets thrown out of the game.

The flopping rule is ridiculous - way too harsh a penalty for something way too subjective.

Scott Becker taking things too personally. We want to see the best players on the court - not being thrown out of the stadium because you can't take a player questioning your call in a respectful manner?

I guess Bekker decided Illawarra need a make up woeful call after the USF on Norton.

Who knows, ref probably thought Sobey was calling him a wanker

Refs in NZ any good? Can we fly some over?

Becker deserves a suspension after that, possibly the worst combination of T's resulting in an ejection I’ve ever seen, hopefully he watches the tape and realises how crap he was at his job today and apologised to Sobey.

Refs pissed the 36ers off enough to get them going from the look of it.

Clubs are paying a lot if money for players to play and fans are paying to watch them. Not the refs. Don't chuck players out for crap like that.

DJ asking why on earth he isn't in the boomers team?!

Just zero ball pressure from Illawarra. Adelaide scoring at such a high rate in the half-court is not acceptable

We dont know what was said, no point in arguing the tech.

One of the worst last quarters seen in a while by Hawks

Percentage booster in the end.

Took care of business.

Now just need to beat the Bullets or if we lose we need Perth to lose 1 of their last 2 to lock up second spot.

"The tech on Sobey was rubbish but Sobey needs to learn the rules. If the referee's call a foul they cannot also call a flop. Its either one or the other, you can't call a foul and a flop."

Why not? They called a defensive foul on him. If it's a charge, then yeah, sure, can't be a flop, but why can't it be a flop when they call a blocking foul when he clearly flopped?

I know how to fix it. Change the rules back.

The NBL needs to seriously take a look at the flopping rules in the off-season. They're patently ridiculous. The penalty just doesn't fit the crime especially when the crime is so hard to judge - it's a lottery what the refs will call whenever a player falls down.

When Sobey fell down, it certainly appeared that the contact knocked him off balance. It didn't look like Sobey accentuated the contact and was deliberately trying to deceive the ref which is why the penalty is so harsh for flopping. Was it a charge? Probably not. I think a no call was correct but the refs have to realise that it is possible for a player to hit the floor without them flopping and trying to deceive the ref. Maybe the contact was hard enough to knock them over? Maybe they slipped? Maybe they just lost their balance. So many possibilities.

To then be T'd up for being knocked down by legitimate contact is way too harsh given that the next T leads to ejection. Sobey had every right to question why Cody Ellis wasn't given a T for falling down given he was called for the same thing up the other end. If the refs hadn't called him for a ridiculous flop then he wouldn't be asking for the same thing. I would be open to the rules being changed for T's given for flopping not to be counted as T's leading to ejections - just 1 free throw and the ball back - that would be enough of a deterrent. T's leading to ejections should be given for play way outside the rules. As Heal said if you are going to throw out a player they need to have something "really bad" - and what Sobey did doesn't fit that category.

And the sad thing is that we are now discussing this rather than other talking points in the game that don't involve the refereeing. Points like DJ's great game, what the Hawks need to do next season to get better etc etc

Time for Bevo to move on.

Hawks have a better team then last year. Word is a lot of in-house fighting. What's up with Bevo? need better coach.

Bevo is in the Hungry Jacks drive through right now. He could put some feelers out.

It's not Bevo... when you have a guy getting 30-40% of the salary cap not good enough to even really be in the rotation anymore you can't win

Anon - just interested but does it say anything in the rule book about not being able to call a flop if there is a foul called on the player? Or is it a verbal directive from fiba to the refs? Just haven't heard of it before and it seems like a lot of others haven’t also.

Even if Sobey did know the rules he is within his right to ask why it wasn't called a flop instead of a block. What if one ref calls a block but the other has a flop warning - this could easily happen given how hard it is to actually determine if someone has flopped or not.

My point remains. You can certainly see why Sobey would ask for a flop to be called when he got called for a dubious flop warning down the other end.

The successive smiles on those kids being taken for a day out by Josh Childress ... getting sneakers that they would never be able to have..... pretty good to see....
His name will appear on hoolahoops where people like to write about those they hate....

Bottom line. Dump the terrible rules that aren't working.

And Adelaide fan's we're bagging Redhage

FMD!

Do any of youse Cats fans actually speak Engrish or do you trounce around you cave dragging your knuckles endlessly beating your chest and making grunting noises as you discover fire and the wheel? Do you go to the local water hole with your club to find a partner?

"And Adelaide fan's we're bagging Redhage"

Fan's = possessive title
We're = we are
were = once was

Are you trying to say "And Adelaide fans were bagging Redhage (for flopping)"?

Agreed, the flop is poorly administered, too contentious. Get rid of it sure. How about using the rules that have been around for ever, i.e. deliberately fouling a player on the shot after a foul already called on the play. 2:01 left in the first half. Not hard to get correct!

I think the whole Sobey flop thing is a bit over hyped.

I'm with Glen. Makes sense to get rid of crap rules that make refs look even worse.

#387 that's because he flopped.

Gleeson: What happened
Martin: He stood on my foot.
Gleeson He stood on his foot He stood on his foot.
Ref: I didn't see that
Gleeson I did
Cough cough BS.

Video. flop.

It did look like a Martin flop

Imagine if that Sobey ejection had come in a close, finals game? It would get spoken of for years.

His flop should've been a no call, and then him asking for a flop (with attitude) probably a warning.

Hawks owner had a 3 year plan.......3 years is now up. Seems bored with his toy.... business has been taken over and kicked of the board. Why sign Bevo to a long term deal in this league. 4 years. You make the GF and next season players underperform but somehow its the coaches fault. What about front office when are they accountable, GM more concerned about being courted by pretty young things in short skirts, that was his major off season signing. Get rid off people loyal to the organisation and the team and bring back someone who last time they were involved threatened to sue the club. Thats the level of his ability. NOT GM material, wouldnt be surprised if owner walks...but hey just an opinion