The wildcats side that wasn't supposed to make finals is yet again the team to beat. Kings probably would’ve been better staying in Sydney and preparing for Brisbane on Saturday, that’s about the chance they have of winning. Kings imports are highly rated but next to cats imports they don’t stack up. Ware has talent but to much dribble and poor shot selection hurts him compared to the master Cotton. Martin can score and was to be a five man but lack off defensive power and rebounding ability has him now in the four, a long way behind Mooney. Of course the master Gleeson is not letting this slip to the beginner in Forde who at time has looked capable but other times all at sea. This could be a good game but probably has more chance to get ugly, certainly with a little bit of home cooking. Perth by 10 minimum.

Wildcats by 10, and that's probably being generous to the Kings. Sydney just aren’t that good. Martin is overrated as an import 4 - the dude just can’t rebound. Mooney will destroy him. And Ware against Cotton is a total mismatch. This thing could get ugly early.

Mooney v Hunter, Mooney gets the chocolates
Wagstaff v Martin Wagstaff again gets the chocolates
Blanchfield v Didi, close probably Blanchfield in current form
Cotton v Dejan, no contest even though DJ has a good season
Norton v Ware, Norton is good enough to break even or win this.
Gleeson v Forde, nothing to say here other than lol.

It's not looking good for Sydney. Sydney do have a bit talent on the bench that could go even with Perth bench but will they see enough time.

#214 talk about home cooking.

Ware > Norton - no contest
Martin > Wagstaff
Blanchfield = Didi

Maybe take your red glasses off before you post and I do not even follow Sydney.

Martin can't defend a wheel barrow, doesn’t box out or take contested boards, all things that Wagstaff is good at.

Sydney have sufficient talent. It's just a matter of whether they will take the loss to heart, and play harder, and make adjustments to play smarter. They have done this at times, but not consistently. A loss is a good opportunity for a successful adjustment, but their inconsistency, and Ware's tendencies suggest they won't get it done this time.

I think it will be a better game though.

#220 you might want to go check your stats. Martin plays 3 mins more per game than Wagstaff.

Martin 17.7 ppg 1.3apg 6.08rpg @54%
Wagstaff 7.29ppg 1.4apg 3.88rpg @37%

As a Perth fan, the above comparisons were way off. Besides, Perth don't win because they have better players at every position anyway.

Also Blanchfield >>>> Didi.

As Gaze said, Sydney need to use Martin better.

I think his mobility, athleticism, and general scoring ability could be productive, draw fouls, demand defensive attention, and lead to mismatches on rotations.

I think Sydney's offense is too Ware centric, and he tends towards hero ball under pressure. He hasn't been able to get consistently hot to be able to reliably lead a team in scoring and create opportunities for others by demanding attention and breaking down defensive rotations.

Wagstaff can he actually do a lay up.

Wagstaff so underrated. Gaze the super coach now.

As above punter sort of said, yes Martin can score but there is two ends of the court. I'm certain every team if they had a choice of Martin or Mooney, Mooney would win every time. Let’s compare imports.

I think comparison of individual players only helps so much though. How the teams use their players counts for more here.

#238 you should tell LV that because he can't get past on-paper match ups.

I think fans felt ware dove and then drew a terrible offensive foul at the beginning of the game. That sort of behaviour will draw boos. Add in him lining up nortin then flopping to make it look like a foul and his no flop warning blatant flop and you may fine people just don't like the way he is playing the game.

were is didi nest yr nba or europe

Nice English.

What's the point of a flop warning? If you won't action his 5th flip for the game?

The make up for not giving him the t was atrocious!

Home cooking

What was stupid was taking Moller of and putting Hunter when they were leading.

Wagstaff falls over, trips Moller and Wagstaff goes to the stripe. Kings were shit last week but the horrendous home cooking spoils it all.

21 more free throws in a close game. So legit.

Flabbergasted at the foul and free throw count. Perth miner premiers it's all over.

Forde made some poor subs down the stretch the hurt Sydney.

Ref's were atrocious. Make-up call stacked on make-up call. Sydney played more physical than the cats and got called for it. Wares block was clean, obvious make up call for not giving him a t after a flop warning.

Subbing Moller of with a one point lead for Hunter was not good. One minute later they trailed by four and Hunter got subbed off. It's Moller help out D and box outs around the ring that’s his strength, no stats for that though.

Can't complain about the foul/free throw count after 3/4 time. It was 13-14 before the Kings began fouling to stop the clock.

Also while yes Casper got the ball, he also got alot of head with his elbow on that drive.

The free throw count was 36 to 15, yes there was a few down the stretch but nothing like that discrepancy.

It's happened for years and it will continue to happen, other teams get the same treatment at home. If Perth wasn’t so dominant don’t think it would be as big of an issue.

Been most consistent team for over 30 + years and unfortunately in every work place if you been there for a while you tend to get away with more than the rest.

Shit seeing a team win championships consistently but you have to credit the club continuing success.

As a neutral fan, this is one of the worst home cooking games I've seen in a while. Refs ruined the spectacle.

For once I agree with Bogut, the league needs full time refs because the 4th became unwatchable.

Yeah because Bogut is the oracle of all things. Smh

Incoming fine for Forde based off the Sydney post game press conference? (Shouldn't be fined but you just know the NBL will)

Agree with some of the other comments that there were some dodgy calls which likely affected the result. But the potential home cooking wasn't what annoyed me the most, it was the game call and specifically Homicide.

I do think it’s good that he has such passion for the league but the way he aggressively forces his opinions with his game commentary (hell even on Overtime), talking down to and dismissing his colleagues rather engaging in calm constructive discussion is becoming a really unprofessional look for the league.

Last night and not surprisingly he was (again) getting on Cotton’s jock (Boomer Bryce as he calls him) claiming he’s the greatest ever import. No one doubts Cotton’s greatness and his place amongst the greatest imports is worth discussion, but its how he goes about discussing it during game play, even arguing with his broadcast colleagues (Hooley last night) that makes him look like a goose. Would professional commentators like Marv Albert ever talk over and dismiss his fellow crew during game play? Of course not!

For all of his passion and obvious knowledge for the game, he lets himself down with this crap.
Call the game man and leave the discussion for Overtime or Twitter. After all, it’s not the Homicide show!

Forde had a right to be very upset, he can't blame the refs for Vadonovic game time and fouls though, that’s his decision, just like other games kings have lost to some of his decisions. Kings should be higher up the table except for some poor coaching errors, all their coaches but he’s in charge.

Really enjoyable game and the nbl is great competition.

While it takes courage to speak out like Forde did and to a certain extent he is right, he should be bringing up Vadonovic as an example as he's a shit defender and fouls a lot. The nbl should have stopped the complaining to refs years ago. Gleeson has made it an art form, last night I could hear him yelling three seconds and there was no one in the key, his continued yelling of foul also should be stopped. He’s not on his own at the yelling but like his team he’s the champion at it.
His teams are so well prepared though, love his time outs.

ANyone know where we can find the press conference? Can't find it anywhere.

Kings Facebook or Twitter had it. He has some points but overall trying to defend Vadonovic is a sorry joke, he defends like he has rocks in his shoes. He's right on the Casper block though.

Difference is Perth has the clutch gene with their players specifically Cotton and Wagstaff and Sydney didn't

As a total neutral, I agree he has some points, imo it didn't cost them the game. Martin is a great offensive player but defensively around the bucket isn’t that good, that’s not refereeing that’s recruiting, replacing Bogut with a total different type player and expecting the same results. Mooney would’ve been a much better fit. There is a lot that goes to winning and good refereeing is part of it. Hopefully they can get a few more full time refs and improve it but I’m not convinced they are costing sides wins most of the time. Look at the Brisbane v Geelong game in afl few weeks ago, now that cost the game.

Difficult to find actual fault? He singled out Perth, and he made it out like only his team ever gets the wrong call and that is why they are losing games. He nitpicked stats with no unbiased discussion around them. the 4.67 more fouls was a joke. Perth is usually up at the end of games fair to say there is easily a couple late game fouls there.

If he had said that the umpiring is inconsistent and cited when they were on the right side then he has more merit, but all he did was bitch. He singled out Trev but didnt mention Vickerman or Goorj. It was very much tall poppy syndrome.

The USF rule is what it is, every team has copped one, that is the stupid rule. If it wasn't the rule and you were allowed to do what Moller did then I am sure Perth players would have grabbed an arm, jumped on to stop the kings shooting rather than giving up like 5 and 1's throughout the game.

Every team gets bad calls in every game, every team usually gets the rub of the green at home, every sport every league. But it was Perth so let's trust the unbiased opinion of Shane Heal, he has no agenda...

Don't complain about the Moller call. Complain about the terrible FIBA rule. A player in mid air cannot disappear. But the rule is the rule. It’s not the green teams fault. The Ware 4th foul however is.

Well it is fact the only coach he referred to was trev, it is fact that he never said his team gets the rub of the green, it is fact he only cited Perth's home foul count advantage without providing any reason why.

Are you really going to say that all teams don't get good and bad calls and most usually cop a few better ones at home?

I think your understanding of "facts" is a little messed up.

KR your educated. Go read the rule and look at the accompanying documentation plus video examples. You don't spoon feed people why would I do the same for you!

"it is fact he only cited Perth's home foul count advantage without providing any reason why."

No, he actually stated that the teams with the 2nd and 3rd biggest foul differential at home don't even reach Perth's advantage if you add them together.

So it was a planned calculated premeditated rant that he did his homework on prior to losing. Excellent, that makes it so much better.

Nice KR, it's Good Friday, spelling/grammar isn’t high on my agenda today. Just obvious you do not know the rule or the guidelines that accompanied the USF rules when they were released by FIBA. I’m shocked. Must be terrible for your ego.

It wasn't unsportsmanlike, the rule is so spasmodic but in this instant they got it wrong. Forde looked very tired in the press conference, I’d say Brisbane are licking their lips tomorrow night, kings will be shell shocked.

"The 4.67 thing was interesting. I'd love to see the same stats but exclude 4th quarters."

Yes it would be interesting to see that statistic if they could somehow remove the intentional end of game ones. Without doing that it seems weird of him to complain about a 4.67 differential after his team just minutes earlier probably committed 4 fouls on purpose to stop the clock.

Unsportsmanlike has been judged very harshly all season so last night I expected it to be called the same way. The interpretation is a lot different to how things were a few years ago but league wide it has been called fairly consistently this season.

Why did they get it wrong? You can't just whack someone because your in a shit position so he can’t get his arms up

For all we know sydney could be second on that list, he did not name the teams. This conspiracy that perth gets gifted games and calls is becoming a joke, a coach of the league cLling it in a conference is a joke.

He copped a usf because he made sure bkanchfield couldn't get a shot up, it's the way it is called. No one complained when wagstaff got one earlier I the year, but that was probably perth getting gifted that game too.

That's not part of the rule or an exemption to the rule. Sorry thanks for playing

Thanks Luuuc for posting the link. Appreciated.

Thus why I questioned him not naming the second and third most advantaged team, it's bloody his. Lol. Where you at Kober????

Surely the 4th quarter has to account for late game fouling. Perth is usually up, teams usually foul to stop the clock. It's really bloody obvious. Why doesn't a heap of other teams see the same bump? Because they have not been as consistently good for a long period of time.

Are you implying that the team that won the last 2 titles is most likely to be the team in front at the end of games and most likely to be on the receiving end of late fouls? Sounds pretty far fetched.

That is Perth 3 kings 0 . Kings need to win next week for their own sanity because they will be at home and can't blame the refs this time

$5000 fine and a one game suspension for Forde. The one game suspension and $3000 of the $5000 suspended for 12 months.