Melbourne to win pretty comfortably here

Melbourne to continue the road winning trend but be the first favorite to get up.

If Boone is playing then I give it to Melbourne.

Illawarra has been in great pre-season form and will get some early wins but I think as the season goes on they will struggle with depth up front and will be exposed.

Looking forward to Casper vs Cedric.

Melbourne are underdone, with Kennedy and Boone having recent injuries this group hasn't had much time together. Should be interesting.

Eventually I'd love to see Kennedy play some 4 with this team.

Hopefully weren't not cursed with another freak import injury.

I wonder how long it will take to become clear that the lack of outside shooting from the Hawks imports is going to be a problem??

I thought Melbourne were probably the sluggish of all teams playing against the NBA teams. Maybe they have been saving themselves for round 1 like a bride on her wedding night.

Illawarra are always the budget team. I wonder if their talls are just a bit too old, slow and sluggish. (I hear a chorus of calls from the guards saying ALL talls are slow and sluggish. I hear a chorus of grunts from the centres.....)

Melbourne under more pressure than the Hawks to perform tonight and a little more stable with a lot of returning players. CG43 is a confidence player, so the Hawks should be aiming to be all over him early like coal dust on an Illawarra steelworker to disrupt his confidence.

Melbourne by 18 @ $25

$10

Brad Rosens first "special comment" from the "expert", after a solid intro, Matt Russell asks Rosen what are his expectations for the match, Rosens first line...

"Well I think both teams will want to win"

Delayed?

Why does games start at 750 now and not 730?

Due to no EFTPOS at the venue I would say.

CG floppy 3 flicking his head back and flopping or tripping on his own legs? What a suprise?

I like what I see in the early goings from the motley Hawks gang.

A bunch of fun spare parts I can easily root for through the season.

First 3 minutes of the game were sloppy, but OK since then. Hawks have looked better without Ced and Jett, to be honest.

I'm enjoying this Hawk ball too

Boxscore Link

Scoreboard woes first 2 games out of 3 - nothing if not consistent, every year.

Naar being aggressive, I like it.

Casper and Cedric matchup a fizzler so far.

Wesley looking a big loss. McCarron playing back up point. Not sold on this United roster just yet.

Is pledger scared of shooting inside the paint?

Also Oscar, arrogant much?

Hawks doing better than I expected.

Well done Hawks.

My god that firstever ad is doing my head in.

Nice to see Cedric's ability to run a team, jump shot and attitude has improved in the last 2 years - NOT

Surely its not going to run every second ad all year??

I'd like to see more of those First Ever ads, hasn't been enough of them

looking at the stats, is anyone missing a shoot? fell like a 100 % on shoots

Have a shot everytime u see the hungry jacks or those stupid clothing ads

I guess Blanchfield just can't play in big markets. More positive plays through 2.5 quarters than the last 3 seasons combined.

Bevo needs to get Ogilvy back in.

Ced is washed.

Kev outflopped Goulding!

Massive call! Either way it should be a breakaway call

Goulding did flop.

But the correct call is the first one- foul on White

Unsportsmanlike is ridiculous

That's absurd

What's the point of a replay? White got CG's hand (when it wasn't on the ball).

Clear foul.

Barlow was wide open. Bad play there

Either way it should be a breakaway call

I'm guessing Ced doesn't see the court in OT.

... or not.

Conklin is annoying. Flails and seems regularly out of control, no wonder he knocks people out

Jett and conklin think they are heroes, horrible shots to take, looked much better playing controlled ball earlier, game on the line and just chucking

CG. Clutch.

Wow.

Todd Blanchfield playing like the last 3 years never happened.

Think I'd be playing Naar over Ced at this point.

Jett is at least playing some decent D on Ware.

Barlow on aj in the post, and they keep going to conklin with boone on him??

Blanchfield!! As a cats fan im hoping for triple ot.

Perfect time for Melbourne to unleash McCarron... surely.

Maybe don't have ware inboubd

Unbelievable

How f***ing good is this game for Friday night viewing.

Would LOVE to see the Hawks win, but seems they've been massively treading water for the most part in the OTs.

Who said NBL is boring. WOW

Every Hawks basket feels like a marathon, have no idea how it's come to this.

Did dj travel before the whistle?

So Melbourne don't even have clean possession, DJ would have traveled had play been allowed to continue, and the refs give it to them anyway? Joke.

Good to see refs starting to police Gouldings sneaky tactics.

Agreed MACDUB. Goulding is a mongoloid: grabs Andersen's arm and can't understand why they called a foul.

How good must it be to have Mccarron come of the bench!!!!

I want more overtimes

All that, and Kev White takes the shot..... Kennedy definitely put his arms forward on the contest though. But hell of a game.

What a game of basketball?! Great to see the Hawks pull a solid crowd as well.

Casper could have easily been called on that play...

Not convinced after the video review.
Golding foul should have been unsportsmanlike. The falling to the floor and Anderson trying to get his arm back is not a foul.

Makes this another video review by Vaughan where he saves Melbourne.

Kevin White gives everything he has, but surely can't be a primary playmaker in any OT, Naar should have been used from the earlier OTs

Credit where credit is due..the refs I thought were outstanding tonight.

Always going to be a few missed calls but all in all they got so many right.

Great game was the result.

Why in the world wasn't Conklin in for any point in the final OT period? Ridiculous oversight by Bevo imo because offence was their problem. Didn't know what they were doing or who they were going to. Crazy.

So many times I thought United had that, but Hawks kept fighting back

How big were some of Gouldings 3s late in regulation and OT1. And Blanchfields massive 3 late in OT2. And Jett's layup late in OT3.

One of the best games I've ever seen for sure.

Crazy game! Credit to both teams, they battled it out tonight and had to really dig deep! It was a GRIND and both teams stepped up ... Game of the Year already I believe! Jordair Jett's defence on Casper Ware was great! Loved watching the Hawks bring it to Melbourne. Congrats Melbourne on the win, and the refs as well for doing a great job tonight.

Conklin hurt his back on that fall, will struggle to come up Sunday

Geez makes you wonder why the Taipans couldn't pick up Jett or Jackson last season, surely they would've done a better job than Scoochie, and been cheap too! Could've used a great PG but then I doubt Gliddon and Mccarron wouldn't had had the year they did last season. Melbourne having Mccarron to come on in the end of the game like that must be happy with the roster they have!

Ah cheers, Melbourne Boy, didn't pick up on that

Boone was brilliant tonight.

My MVP votes for that:

5 Boone
4 Ogilvy
3 Blanchfield
2 Goulding
1 Kennedy

5 votes- Boone. The most influential player on the court. Played his role brilliantly.

4 votes- Blanchfield- Came up with some huge shots. Hopefully his confidence stays up all season because it'll keep Illawarra very competitive.

3 votes- Goulding- got UTD going early and then came up with some humungous shots late in regulation and first OT

2 votes- Ogilvy. Was left on bench for too long in 3rd/4th. Offensive rebounding was massive.

1 vote- Kennedy. Went about his business efficiently and quietly. Didn't try too much. Worked his way into the game and was a major contributor by the end.

Wow- didn't see the other mvp votes post. Must've posted same time. Votes almost identical

I like LV's take on the votes.
Awesome game to watch. Especially for Cats fans :)

I thought AJ was massive tonight, great to see him record 21 rebounds ? But why did they not get him more touches down low early in the game?

Looks like Kevin White will have a huge role on this Hawks team until Naar can be trusted more which he certainly will be.

I have AJ, Cedric and Jordair in my fantasy team but even after 4OT I'm not happy with Ced's performance. Good to see others notice Ced's lack of getting back on defence, if memory serves me well he would often leave his Breakers teammates with the defending to do as he tried intercepting passes or tried to create the fast break... so fascinated to see if Hawks encourage this or try and make him more accountable.

I liked what I seen from Grida in limited minutes, good luck to the young man.

I had Melbourne finishing 4th (or 5th if Breakers make it) and it will be results like tonight that we will look back on and think that this result made a world of difference to both teams seasons.

I think New Zealand and Perth are two very happy clubs right now after seeing how exhausted those two teams were tonight!

Blanch thriving last night has plenty to do with him being played at his natural 3 spot.

Played plenty of 4 in Sydney, never suited him.

Thank god Jordair made that clutch layup to force 4OT, because DJ Kennedy clearly pulled on the net and moved the rim on that layup. I do not trust Vaughan and his boys to pick up on that. Had he missed, the call would've been missed and controversy would've destroyed the perception of that game.

But I am so pleased the refs didn't blow unsportsmanlike fouls for players intentionally fouling to prolong the game

Flopper Goulding up tp his old tricks again. Just saw replay of this game. Clearly shows Flopper grabbing Andersons hand and pull his arm down. Funny watching him plead his innocence when the foul is given after refs review the incident. Flopper sure gets involved in some situations for an innocent bystander.