Jack Toft
Years ago

Cairns v Melbourne Oct 18

If it's Monday night then it must be game night in Cairns.

Melbourne finally got to crack open a champagne earlier in the round after squeezing past a spirited Kiwi outfit. All Blacks are out of the world cup, Breakers lose, could there be a worst week for our cousins? Melbourne got jumped by the green machine in round 1 and then had back to back losses to Perth. At least the win has been a relief.

Cairns were a little slow to start but a MASSIVE win over Perth is something that United are yet to achieve this season. Will that game be their "Grand Final"? or will Cairns use it as a sign of things to come.

Melbourne should be hots on favourite for this. Star studded players, coaches, hey even the water boy could make the cut at other clubs. Cairns have some stars too. Machado will give Trimble a little bit of trouble and Oliver has not disgraced himself. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Majok Deng is the X factor and if the beast turns up tonight, Cairns will get this one.

But United have their own X factor. He's got the face of a brooding teenager that's had his porn stash confiscated by dad for "further investigation", he is THE rooster when it comes to pulling fouls, and he has the wrist action that is needed beyond the arc. During the week he is a mild mannered Melbournian sipping decaf organic soy lattes out of his own cup from his favourite cafe in Brunswick and making sure he recycles his plastics to the Greta Thunberg standard, but come game night he is CG43...

I don't think Cairns will disgrace themselves tonight, but I just have the feeling that when Melbourne are down and need points, there will be some Taipan who with give CG43 a feather touch as he is shooting 3 and he will get the +1.

My score predictor says there is nothing in this and should be a +90 each game. Let's go for the home team shall we?

Topic #46192 | Report this topic


Lovebroker  
Years ago

I think United will get this, such games they really can't afford to lose given their 0-3 start.

I assume Pledger is still out which is a nice plus for Cairns as Nate often has problems with Pledger's size, if Long get's in foul trouble this leaves Smith-Milner *gulp*.

Cairns' trio of Machado, Oliver and Newbill is one of the league's best import trios. It's just that the rest of the team let's them down.

Before the SEM game yesterday United boasted the top 3 scorers in the league, 20+ each, now they are 1st, 2nd and 4th with Roberson 3rd. That is an insane amount of firepower with McCarron, Barlow there as well, then there is a guy called Prather to play too.

Reply #770817 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Pledger is back

Reply #770819 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Hahahahahaah soy latte. Loving the fresh material!

Reply #770821 | Report this post


cosby  
Years ago

Cairns should be too strong at home.

Reply #770830 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Melbourne should be too strong on the road.

Reply #770831 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I'd love to see Cairns win this but say Melbourne will do it easy.

Reply #770834 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Melbourne by 8

Reply #770837 | Report this post


Hawkhead  
Years ago

I like Cam Luke but I can't handle another night of him calling Jawai "jay-why".

Reply #770844 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Djeric nearly misses the backboard, then steps out the way on defence. Lol. Cam
Luke is nauseating.

Reply #770845 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Jawai is done.
Massive waste of salary cap for a guy just taking the piss now. The league needs cairns to fire and a lot of their hopes are pinned on the hometown guy for romantic reasons. He looks like he couldn't care less if they win or lose.

Reply #770847 | Report this post


AngusH  
Years ago

Majok Deng sagging off knock down shooters left and right and hasn't paid the price yet.

Reply #770857 | Report this post


James Harvey fan  
Years ago

Jarrod Kenny ejected for that haircut

Reply #770858 | Report this post


AussiePride  
Years ago

^^^ Yes, the haircut is definitely worth 2 tech fouls per game minimum!

Reply #770860 | Report this post


AussiePride  
Years ago

^^^ Yes, the haircut is definitely worth 2 tech fouls per game minimum!

Reply #770861 | Report this post


AngusH  
Years ago

Yeah, someone in Kenny's life needs to organise an intervention.

Reply #770863 | Report this post


AngusH  
Years ago

Jawai is limited, but he's a load when he gets it down low. More good than bad from him tonight, I think people are being overly critical.

Reply #770865 | Report this post


Flop Warning  
Years ago

Cairns are taking the mullet ejection personally.

Reply #770867 | Report this post


AngusH  
Years ago

Oliver has to be one of the most fun dudes to watch this season.

Reply #770868 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Melbourne struggling again...

Reply #770869 | Report this post


AngusH  
Years ago

Melbourne playing much too casual, especially Melo.

Reply #770870 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

Melbourne United - what a cash burn.

Reply #770871 | Report this post


AngusH  
Years ago

Ok Djeric, time to go back to the bench.

Reply #770873 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

So I see Utd were up by 13pts at one stage and traded at $1.01 for the win? This is gold.

Reply #770874 | Report this post


AngusH  
Years ago

"defensive breakdown by Majok Deng"

No kidding, he finally pays for it.

Reply #770875 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Vickerman is Kelly's bunny.

Melbourne most expensive team in history at 1-4. Prather will have to be god. You can have the three best scorers in the league but if you don’t play D you don’t win. Cairns imports are excellent, Jawai, Deng, Noi making a good six, get a few a minutes out rest bench and they could be ok, certainly no spoon.

Reply #770877 | Report this post


AngusH  
Years ago

Melo looking like who we thought he was last year - high usage, low efficiency

Reply #770878 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Anyone know what the crowd figure is? Looked decent which would be great for Cairns

Reply #770879 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

3,920.

Reply #770880 | Report this post


Flop Warning  
Years ago

Homicide is gonna be maaaad.

Reply #770881 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Melo looking like who we thought he was last year - high usage, low efficiency

Plus can't defend anyone. Casper has left a huge whole, Melbourne defence is disjointed and all they want to do is score.

Reply #770882 | Report this post


LV  
Years ago

Oliver's dunk early in Q4 was a play that illustrates why United had no business being the short priced pre season favorite.

Long's athletic and blocks shots but his D was woeful. Boone would've contested that every time.

Lots of work to do.

Reply #770883 | Report this post


Troppo  
Years ago

Great win by the Taipans
Hope the NBL fines the Melbourne coach for kicking the chair .
Really poor form and did nothing to motivate his team .

Reply #770884 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Need to increase the import limit so United can keep neglecting doing their own research and just approach and poach more imports from other clubs

.maybe they get get a whole starting five.

Reply #770885 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

You wonder if Prather was underplaying his injury he carried last season, perhaps more stringent medicals. In hind sight they should of put him on injury waver and get a fill in.

Reply #770889 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

About 3920 in attendance tonight approximately.

Reply #770890 | Report this post


Zodiac  
Years ago

United were stupid enough to give Prather a 2 year deal too.

Reply #770893 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

They have got a fill in, Stith his name. They just don't play him. Prather hasn’t played in over 12 months.

Reply #770894 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Imagine Machado on United

Reply #770905 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

He'll be there next season after they throw money at him.

Reply #770906 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

The dunk Oliver had was very similar to one Hopson had. Melo and Long aren't impressive at all defensively and it'll be interesting to see if Melbourne can get them to improve.

Reply #770907 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Great to see United lose!!

Reply #770909 | Report this post


paul  
Years ago

"You wonder if Prather was underplaying his injury he carried last season, perhaps more stringent medicals. In hind sight they should of put him on injury waver and get a fill in."

No, Melbourne knew there was a chance he'd need a clean up at some stage, and it came reasonably early in the season. Prather started running last week, so could be back in the next week or two. In hindsight, they may have got themselves a better replacement given the number of games he's missing.

Reply #770913 | Report this post


Tiger  
Years ago

Cant believe Vickerman kicked the chair into the crowd and hit a spectator in the face. Keen to see what happens to him. Imagine if the spectator had come back at him.

Reply #770914 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

^
You surprized?
He's an A grade grub.

Reply #770915 | Report this post


Ben  
Years ago

Cam Luke was not great on commentary.

Reply #770916 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Why did United spend there time at summer league scouting, they went and got players who they new of already. Trimble ahead of Machado, you got to be Kidd me.

Reply #770924 | Report this post


AngusH  
Years ago

They approached the offseason like it was a game of 2K, just sign the guys with the highest OVR ratings.

To be fair, I expect them to turn it around and end up in the top 4, but I don't think the signings were great basketball decisions as Long/Trimble's skillsets all overlap with the guys they already have. I'm not sure a healthy Prather is necessarily the perfect fit next to them either, although a good individual defender.

There is too much talent for them not to win games though, they will peel off 4-5 wins in a row at some stage.

Reply #770925 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Cam Luke is awful. Another one of the massive commentary fails this season. But then, the league clearly doesn't give a crap about what good commentary is, so we're stuck with Luke and the rest of these hopeless callers like Dwayne Russell.

Reply #770928 | Report this post


Troppo  
Years ago

The chair that Vickerman kicked didn't hit anyone in the face although that was more by luck than aim . He did apologise but did not look me in the eye when he said it . I do not know of any other sport where a coach can kick a chair into the stands with impunity . Had I done something similar I would never be able to attend a Taipans game again .
Really glad the Taipans got the win .

Reply #770930 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

anyone got a link to footage of him kicking the chair? or can tell me what point in the game it was

Reply #770931 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Troppo, how many rows back do you sit?

Reply #770932 | Report this post


Troppo  
Years ago

Front row right behind the coach

Reply #770933 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

If this was any other coach in the league, this would be all over social media.

Reply #770935 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

The chair kicking happened right at the beginning when Dean found out Cam Luke was commentating the game.

Reply #770936 | Report this post


Troppo  
Years ago

Happened half way through the third quarter .

Reply #770939 | Report this post


Hoopie  
Years ago

It's an old trick used by coaches to get a tech foul, which then is meant to lift the players. They’ve done it in the US for years.

Reply #770940 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Um no. It is not an "old trick" to kick a chair into the fans.

Reply #770943 | Report this post


hoopie  
Years ago

True - not into the fans. There are other things you can do with the fans ;-)

Reply #770950 | Report this post


Ben  
Years ago

"The chair kicking happened right at the beginning when Dean found out Cam Luke was commentating the game."

Hah!

Reply #770996 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

So what will LK do about the team that he owns and the Head Coach?
Nothing I would imagine.

Reply #771001 | Report this post




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