United still win by 5..

Wonder if Goorj runs the full court press, trying to tire McCarron and Hopson out.

I expect another very close game.

United needs Hopson to get going now CG43's out.

United will be feeling good if they can get this, with the next game at Bendigo and then the following 8 at John Cain Arena.

I think the Hawks will take this one at home. Ili is probably the biggest out and would have been real handy against the Hawks on D... If anything I think Goulding's absence might end up being a positive long-term if it gets Hopson going, and more minutes for Baba also seems like a good idea based on the last couple of games. I never imagined I'd say this before round 1, but Landale/Ogilvy could be an interesting matchup also. Still, Hawks will come out focused and aggressive after their last showing and it should be enough to get them over the line in a close one.

Hawks by 15.

75% capacity. Hopefully the game is a sellout

Bairstow going to become a factor soon?

Ah yes robt, considering the guy just game back from injury he's gonna light the world on fire. Hawks by 7, expecting the hawks to bounce back and adel and bairstow further work their way into form but could see Melbourne putting up quite the fight and wouldn’t be surprised if hopson goes off.

Hawks should be stronger favourites that $1.76 with United missing CG, Ili and JLA.

Yeah United have a lot of significant outs and the Hawks were really playing their first game with Adel & Bairstow in the lineup so a hiccup at SEM along with Gliddon having the quarter of his life was an understandable loss. This one however with all United outs and first game at home wouldn't be understandable.

Hawks by 9

Really looking forward to this one. I rate the Hawks despite the blip against SEM. Anytime you have the entire roster buying into a disciplined but attacking brand good things happen. Hopson needs to be in attack mode as the number one wing option, United need to run a stack of pindowns for him. Looks like Dillon Stith comes in as the injury replacement so he can provide some additional defensive presence on Harvey/Simon. Head to head I'd say it’s in favour of Illawarra.

Who cares really if you saw how crap Stith was early last season when he was filling in for Prather I wouldn't argue the toss even if they were trying to sneak in a third import.

Sam Freeling has got some moves in the post.

75%.

Great game and well refereed so far. Sorry to be positive on this forum

Good quality game outside of that short little ugly stretch by the Hawks to start the 4th, that might end up being the difference.

What a block by AJ. Out of everything Gorj has ever achieved in basketball, getting AJ to look like he has this season must rank up there???

This is the quality we have all been waiting for. Let's hope for more.

AngusH it's all in the training as you know being a Kings fan during his reign there. Goorjian and then it's both daylight and moonlight between any other coach in what is a lazy NBL culture. Hard work pays off.

Horrible last play from Hawks.

Undefeated baby

I saw what happened, but we were specifically talking about the training and work put into a player (AJ) who had been down for years under a number of different coaches.

Not knocking Damien Martin but that man had free reign to defend however he liked..
He got the benefit of most 50/50 calls on defence.

I'm sure Goorjian would have drawn up a great three ball play along with a secondary option, unfortunately on the inbound things didn’t go to plan, it’s up to the players at that point.
The comment about Goorjian training his teams hard is fair, he’s always been known as a tough couch that puts a big focus on fitness. Other coaches are likely to also train their teams hard but have more a "tactical" or “skill based” focus depending on the talent at hand.

Certainly enjoyed tonight’s game, some high quality shooting from Harvey and Jessup. Nice to see McCarron play so well and Hopson looks to have some confidence back.

The hand check reference for Baba I disagree. I prefer seeing the refs let this go, calling soft hand check fouls ruins the flow of the game. The offensive player gets a lot of advantages including on the screen and roll so the occasional check is completely fine imo.

What a way to showcase your depth

3 men down, on the road against the 4-1 2nd placed team, on the wrong end of the reffing in the last. But still found a way to win.

Enjoyed watching the new Splash Bros though. Hope they end up making playoffs.

And how good was the shooting from both teams in that first half. Great to watch.

The game was such a pleasure to watch, besides the end being a bit wtf.

Really like the look of the Hawks and Melbourne as well. I must say I'm super impressed with Baba, he seems to do all the small things on defence well, but can also back it up on the offence.

Definitely looks like Melbourne could go undefeated, although they might struggle when CG43 and Illi come back in terms of finding a rhythm / where everyone sits.

Also loving the weeknight games!!

High quality game, but not sure what Harvey was thinking jacking the 3 up so early in the play, then driving to turn it over. Terrible finish by the Hawks.

While a very good game to watch with great shooting, a few less reviews would be better.

On Baba, 2 reasons to give him citizenship now.
1. Half the shooter that Cotton is, but Baba's defence and his never-ending energy is the equalizer.
2. He won't play against us.

On the review system: I am actually all for it.
1st on my list, is simply getting the right call.
2nd on my list of good things is that suddenly, the refs seem to have lost their "we-don't-make-mistakes" attitude. It has been shown that they make plenty. That's ok, it's a hard, fast game, mistakes are going to happen. But now we end up with decisions that all-involved "have" to accept, and they do and we get on with the game. Better than childish "No, no that was a BS call", followed by techs, nothing resolved (was it the right call or not?) and all that costs as much time (wasting) and no one happy.

And if/when the refs are, in fact, getting 95%+ calls right, we may feel no need for reviews anymore!

Wonder whether 4 reviews asked by each team coach. (8 per game)

The issue for me aren't the reviews themselves but the length of time taken for them to be completed. The review with one second left in the third quarter went on for an eternity. Put a stopwatch on the officials and clock them.

A review, of any kind, will necessarily cost time, what doesn't?

IMO, we are getting accurate decisions for little cost of time.

In the last minute of a tight game, would you prefer to save say, half a minute (no stop-watch used) to get the right outcome OR lose the match on a "possibly", "wrong" call?

On this game, itself: Fabulous game AND fabulous crowd involvement (or was it canned support?)! The highlight was when the crowd, the whole crowd, said "Boo!"

I like the idea of having a set number of reviews per half.

Re: "I like the idea of having a set number of reviews per half."

2 only. per q or per h. Get the review write, you keep them both. Get it wrong and lose 1. (just to keep it honest, not just a "how'zat". on every call or no call.)

... and flops never look good on replays. So we may actually start off with 6, 7 techs per game til the players learn to stand up.