Crowd number could be down if Dazz is busy attending a home open.

Perth should get this one easily.

I sit with 5 other people. 4 of them won't be able to make it until half time at the earliest.
The early tipoff time will affect a lot of families.

It hasn't been "blown out of Proportion" it is a massive PITA. Really disruptive.
Weekends are my time to do stuff that takes a while, and breaking the day right in the middle is really annoying.
I'll be there, and hopefully not late. But there are others that work on Saturdays.

Will be interesting to see the effect. Ie how many physically can't make it, as opposed to those merely pissed off.

Gotta love the message form the Wildcats reminding us of the new bag rules, and pointing out that the doors open an hour before the game. If there is another fiasco at the doors, this could be a very short season for me.

Time will hit families and those involved in jnr basketball especially. Thank goodness for the
Clear and obvious bag reminder this time, hopefully sorts out the gate mess that was last week. In terms of the game, cats should habe too much firepower, but brisbane showed they can play very well on the road. There won't be many easy games this season, Sydney aside.... jokes.

Oh Gee. WtF

I'm genuinely surprised they haven't gotten rid of Gee yet he looks pretty rude.

Cotton feeling it.

Bullets thoughts from the 1st half.

- Egwu is a terrible stiff.

- Agree with others, Gee looks awful for someone of his 'standing'.

- Relying on Cadee to create offence for others or himself will not work.

As an aside, the white uniforms could do with more colour, they look fairly plain as is.

My honest opinion:

- Brisbane cut Alonzo Gee, Egwu, and Stephen Holt.
- Go after Mitch Creek, and add an import PG (probably bring back Trice after he was waived by Bucks).

PG- Trice (Import)/Gibson
SG- Gliddon/Cadee
SF-Creek/Terangi
PF-Bairstow/Vukona
C-Hodgson/Magnay

That would be a nice team!

Pure filth from brisbane. Out here trying to hit and pummel people not play basketball... refs happy to watch

Brisbane is garbage and Perth is just slightly more effective garbage. Both the most boring teams in the league and do no favors to ratings or the 9Go NBL product. Cadee isn't a starting level point guard. Gliddon is overrated as hell. Gee has completely lost it and seems disinterested. And I don't think Lemanis is that much a better coach than Gaze, partly due to his puzzling picks for team line up.

Won't be surprised if Fearne is back coaching either Brisbane or Kings next season! hahaha

Not every game can be a classic.

Bit of a yawnfest, but that will happen when the opposition don't really show up.

We've already got one Patty Mills in the Boomers!

I can't stop laughing at Homicide's suggestion that Perth will miss top 4.

Hmm, not a bad game, but result never in doubt. Brissy looked a bit more intent after half-time, Perth a bit flatter but did what was necessary.

You know you're having a good game when Martin hits 4 from 6 outside.
Steindl missed 3 and was benched. Not sure that will help his confidence.

Cotton carried the team today.

Not sure why Jervis got only 11 minutes? Yes early foul trouble, but surely you give him a chance to get past that?

NB: Seats around me were perhaps a little slower to fill, but otherwise seemed a regular crowd. Some gaps in the seating, but I'm not sure any more than usual. Be interesting to see the actual number.

Thought cotton was quiet entertaining to watch myself. Gleeson looked like he wanted something and wasn't getting it, kept the same guys in. Brisbane looked horrible, they are a terribly constructed team.

Thought cotton was quiet entertaining to watch myself. Gleeson looked like he wanted something and wasn't getting it, kept the same guys in. Brisbane looked horrible, they are a terribly constructed team.

Crowd number? After all the doom and gloom

Crowd: 11500. Not too bad after all considering all the controversy over the start time.

Brisbane's list of national team players is misleading,they have three who have played at Olympics or World Cup which is the real test. Around the league off top of my head:

Adelaide 0
Brisbane 3
Cairns 3
Illawarra 1
Melbourne 3
New Zealand 2
Perth 1
Sydney 4

Unfortunately for the Bullets two of theirs are past their best and the third is rusty as hell.

Brandt is coming back from the injury at the Blitz (I think?), I'd say they're managing his minutes until he's 100%. From memory he was starting in the pre-season.

"Sub - 9000 fans through the gate I'm thinking.

There will easily be 11000 there."

I called it. The midday start was blown out of proportion.

"Re Mills vs Cotton. If both were Australian who would you take?"

Mills has a huge advantage because he has so much FIBA experience. Would be very tough for Cotton to bridge that gap. That said, with playmakers like Ingles, Simmons and Delly who can guard other spots you could probably afford to go with two undersized SGs if you wanted.

Probably the biggest challenge for Cotton would be improving defensively to international standard and learning how to defend the different styles of opposition.

I think what makes Cotton so effective in the NBL is being able to play as an undersized SG. Having Martin alongside him allows him to avoid the toughest defensive match-ups.

Mills has developed himself as a back-up PG in the NBA and worked hard on his strength and D, so he's found a niche. Cotton isn't nearly as effective as a PG in my mind.

In his short stint in the NBL Patty had his struggles against the top teams, but that was back in the day when you could manhandle guards pretty badly, with the way it's called today, and with his development over time, Patty would be a handful now.

Woeful game to watch. Brisbane are a mess, remind me of Fearne's Taipans most years where each made FG just seems way too difficult to come by. Gee was a Kings-esque signing - a guy with NBA pedigree who is long past it - but you might be able to get away with him if your other two imports aren't Holt (who should never have been re-signed) and Egwu. I feel like they overspent on their Aussie backcourt to get two guys who are best when spotting up, without the other players on board to get them looks.

Hard to estimate numbers, but I would be surprised if that 11,500 number is real. There were certainly patches of empty seats.

And again, just because people turned up doesn't mean all's good. A lady near us was absolutely livid at the shit she had to go through to get the day off work.

I will say, that whilst I got there quite early, the bag situation seemed improved.
But I noticed they were still inspecting bags as though trying to find contraband Tic-Tacs. And even for us, the dude had to obstruct us as he asked "do you have any bags?"

Yes Brandt is on the comeback from injury. But he' still playing more minutes than Jervis today.

Hard to estimate numbers, but I would be surprised if that 11,500 number is real. There were certainly patches of empty seats.

The 11,599 includes members who didn't attend.

I will say, that whilst I got there quite early, the bag situation seemed improved.
But I noticed they were still inspecting bags as though trying to find contraband Tic-Tacs.

That crowd figure can't be right, as AD said big patches of empty seats.
Reported larger crowd than last week, but last week the top level was open.

That crowd figure can't be right, as AD said big patches of empty seats.

The 11,599 includes members who didn't attend.

All the dramas mostly sorted.
Game was ok, albeit a bit too comfortable for the Cats. Really liking their depth this season. Even Hire managed to hit a 3.
Not much for the highlight reels.

I am surprised that Jervis and Brandt played only 27 minutes between them, whilst we seem to be overplaying Kay.

Cotton putting terangi on skates was brilliant. Also pretty sure no one expected white to pass down to jervis. Despite homicides "3rd import" cry perth is deeper amd more balanced than they have been in years. Id say kay is on par with knight, norton a huge step up from kenny and white a better floor spacer than Prather, though prather has him for defence and slashing, playmaking tba as prather had his struggles there early on. It's a long season and there shouldn't be too many easy wins but Perth has looked very good so far.

Dunno why people say Adel were more tired in game 1. Both teams came back from the states on the same day, Perth played 1 extra game while there then travelled to Adelaide.

"Perth haven't looked anything special to me so far."

In some ways I'd agree, although Cotton is clearly a class above.

But the great thing is the depth. We're not cringing every time the 2nd team comes on, nor panicking every time there is a whiff of injury.

I wouldn't say Perth are relying on Martin to hit 3's either... We will take them without relying on them.

I still feel White is too passive on the floor, I know its in his character to be a quiet guy, but he looks uninterested and doesnt assert himself enough.

This weekend will be the real test I think.

"I still feel White is too passive on the floor, I know its in his character to be a quiet guy, but he looks uninterested and doesnt assert himself enough. "

I notice one very interesting passage of play with White.

He had the ball in the corner, passed off, got the ball back and took the shot which rimmed. I was just thinking "that won't help his confidence".
On the next shot (same phase) he went in hard and got the rebound, muscled his way to the hoop, got the contact AND made the shot.

He's averaging 16 points at 52% so far, so I guess wait and see how he does against tougher opponents.