Melbourne is not beating the 6ers by 38 so Perth just needs a win .

The cats have looked tired the last couple of games and the kings are rested and would be pumped to boot them out of playoff contention.

Apparently Smith has made the flight over to savor the demolition in person.

Kings by 15+

Melbourne is not beating the 6ers by 38 so Perth just needs a win .

I think you're a bit confused mate.

Apparently Smith has made the flight over to savor the demolition in person.

Melbourne have a 1 point advantage in the points F/A compared to Perth.

So if Melbourne beat Adelaide by say 10 points, cats need to beat Sydney by 12.

Least that's how I think the scenario is.

Not sure what happens if the 2 end up on the same F/A %? Head to head winner wins? Or are they tied there too?

It's points percentage, not for and against.

Perth can win but they are going to be a lot better than recent play. Sydney should get this.

Points percentage is the tie breaker.

The league simplified it a few seasons ago after scrapping head-to-head.

Points percentage is derived from for-over-against.

The chance of an exact for-against points record between two teams is so slim it's not worth worrying about at this stage.

A points percentage tie is impossible AFAIK.

Yikes, Kings missed the welcome to country and nearly missed the anthem.

Perth crowd behaving like chooks and booing which is also disappointing to see

That clown Liam santamaria or whatever his name is cheering on his beloved United unashamedly

11 is the magic number.

Lachy on the mic today.
Cats' chances just improved from 0.00% to 0.03%

Lachy on the mic today.

The only thing lamer than a cats loss today will be watching the 2 djs at perth arena play pre recorded scratching over a pre recorded mix

Walton junior out. Can Cotton score forty to win it, I doubt it.

Can anyone sense major ref sooking about to happen?

Apparently Perth don't rebound anymore? We deserve to lose!!

Ignoring offensive renounds is so offensive

Wildcats tactics is obvious. Chuck as many 3s as possible, hope the opposition team misses their shots.

I was considering giving rillie more chances, but geez, there appears to be little defensive system. Way to easy to get uncontested layups and having everyone just aggressively trying to force offense isn't gonna work.

It’s good to be aggressive but you still need to find a way for open shots. Pass it around for fucks sake

Perth defence isn't winning any game. Smith shirt was a good look, hate him or love him, he’s an asset to the league.

Has to be a charge on cooks, no attempt to go around defender in position took hit one, dropped on hit two. Don't expect it to change the result though...

So if cooks is called for the obvious offensive foul, does thomas get injured?

Bring on Ollie

This Perth team is a mess

Smith shirt was a good look, hate him or love him, he's an asset to the league.

The hilarious thing being that "what transpired three years ago" was under different ownership.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

NBL has become NBA style

Perth used to be the beasts of the league, tough defence, solid offence, now they are soft, Websters can play they are hardly tough, Manek the same, it's rely on Cotton and young Travers.

I have so much to say, and as a massive Wildcats fan, it pains me to say it, and I don't know where to start!
The glaring, obvious frustration is the complete lack of cohesion on front court defense. The rebound count has killed us all season, most notably the oppositions ability to consistently get second chance buckets, if they aren't dancing into the paint for an open layup.
We have been bailed out on countless occasions by Bryce, and as amazing as he is, even as a Cats fan, I have to admit that a lot of those foul calls on his three's are pretty dubious.
The deficiencies are so glaring, it's scary. It seems every game that the only way we win is if our offense is on song, and with a rotation going barely 8 deep, that leaves a very thin margin for error.
I was at the game on Friday night, and thank goodness I did not go today (it is like 40 degrees out there, and knew it was on FTA)
I am just so bitterly disappointed in the roster and off-court management. I don't know exactly where the problem lies, if it is with SEG (my first guess), or that they have let go/not listened to/put in place personnel who just have no idea how to integrate into the Wildcats system. Or a combination of all, plus more.
Makes me miss the Bendat days.
I truly hope that Hutchinson and his crew start taking things more seriously, or hand over the reigns, because they just threw away the longest running play-offs record for any professional sporting franchise in the world in their first two seasons in charge.
As a Freo Dockers fan since they came into the comp in 1995, I am used to sustained failure, disappointment and having my hopes dashed, but I thought that at least with the Wildcats I was pretty much guaranteed a play-offs series each year!
To be honest, I think Freo look in better shape as things stand, which is saying something!

Even if wildcats make it , they aren't beating anyone in the finals.

The Sydney coach is crying about what? His team is getting every dodgy call there is

Bryce is probably tired from carrying the team

and even if they "make it" it's only to the first play-in game as two wins are required to qualify for the actual playoffs.

Can someone tell me what's on Smith’s shirt please?! Not watching broadcast :)

Hoops Capital.

Somehow cats leading at the half. Relying on jump shots and no team offense. They are lucky that the kings are playing even worse

Agree with Bryce reaching for the foul on the three ball more than he used to, considering what let's go when he is off ball and when drives to the basket it's understandable. Sydney as always getting away with absolute murder. They are the best team in the league, with supposedly the mvp, no player deserves mvp if he gets away with what cooks does

Smith shirt is his normal Hawaii style shirt with hoops capital on either sleeve. It actually looks good.
Are Sydney crapping their pants, they have been woeful, will cats get a miracle.

Lol! Very cool shirt!

can the ref's just T up the coaches please... to constant screaming at the ref's is just poor

Are Sydney crapping their pants

Cooks free throw shooting should rule him out mvp, Perth crowd getting into Sydney's heads.
I just don’t believe what I’m watching here.

Not a good time for Cotton to have his worst game in the NBL. Will the Wildcats poor last quarter form rear it's ugly head?

Ha! The 3QT handicap is set at 10.5pts.

constant music is giving me the shits

One end foul one not disgrace

Wow, it's going right down to the wire re: 10/11pt margin.

Only apt really that a dreadful last quarter sinks them.

This forum needs to stop with the Perth getting calls, it's so blatantly obvious that the kings have had every single fucking whistle.

As a league fan with no horse in the race, the theatre of this final game is fucking awesome.

It's a virtual playoff for the play-in to qualify for the actual playoffs.

Illegal screens for kings there???

That 6 point run in the last 11s of our game could very well end Perth's season

Kings have got 4.4s here to eliminate the Cats.

@ Ben I'm 100% with you.

Perth don't deserve play in.

Suck it Smith anyway.

Great spectacle. Although I don't think this qualifies as 'another finals appearance for Perth’ unless they actually progress past the play-in.

Someone give santamamamia a hug. He sounds shatterd

The NBL couldn't have written a better script.

Justifies the play-in concept

Bitter pill to swallow for United after they threw away that game in Perth in December. Especially knowing they were probably better than 4 or 5 of the teams who made playoffs, if Ili was to return.

Perth don't deserve play in.

Suck it Smith anyway.

Corey Webster justified every bit of the dollars he made this season. What a monster clutch performance

The play-in is the playoffs.

Having said that, I suspect Ili was on ice regardless.

Instead of the derby playoff, the consolation prize will be getting to see SEM defeat Perth. Not a terrible consolation prize for me, could've been much worse

Cooks, minus 25, could not defend Manek on the three point line. Travers magnificent.

What a f..king season, absolutely magnificent. Don't bag any player who shoots in the last seconds when the game is won, points percentage is huge.

Why is Perth and Adelaide so inconsistent and when has a team won the championship after losing last two games.

Lachy on the mic today.
Cats' chances just improved from 0.00% to 0.03%

or even two.

Hutchie's been in a good paddock.

Oh well at least Melbourne missed the finals that's something at least.

So if Perth didn't miss Playoffs last year, would they be counting this year as continuing the streak if they lose the first Play-in game?
Commentators were acting like this counts as making Playoffs.

It is making the playoffs, the regular season ended today so any games after that are by definition playoffs.

The play in game counts as a playoff game

Never been so happy to have egg on my face and be proved wrong, even if it was for the game only.
I can cop it all, I was wrong today, they got their sh!t together, and played with real Wildcats heart, especially with Cotton having the worst shooting night of his career.
I just hope that sends a lightning rod up their proverbial backsides for the play-in game vs SEM, as they are going to have to be on song, especially if Tayshaun is unavailable/underdone.
Now I feel like I right fool for going to Friday night's game, but not this one! What a goose! xD

The whole point of the play-in is to play your way into the Play-offs
I'd say it's by definition not playoffs

The play-in is the playoffs.

So if Perth didn't miss Playoffs last year, would they be counting this year as continuing the streak if they lose the first Play-in game?
Commentators were acting like this counts as making Playoffs.

I think i was more happy with the win so i didn't have to see Smith f**kin grinning than actually making the playoffs

Was Smith at the last game on 20 January? I don't recall seeing him.

Never been so happy to have egg on my face and be proved wrong, even if it was for the game only.

Dumb semantics.

IMO any post-season game is "finals", “play-offs”, whatever you want to call it.

The play-in is simply an expansion from 4 to 6 teams where 3-6 go through elimination phases to reach the semis rather than having straight semis.

If Perth made it last year, this year would be a rightful continuation.

Anything else would be ludicrous, dumb semantics defeating the purpose of the meaning, being “post-season”.

Also isn't the NBA a little different anyway? It’s not an elimination concept and it’s part of the actual 82 game season with fluid fixturing. I could be wrong...

As a league fan with no horse in the race, the theatre of this final game is fucking awesome.

Dumb semantics.

It's functionally no different to the mid-00s top eight system. It's all playoffs. Calling it something else as a gimmick doesn't change that.

The only true play-in was the first NBA one, where it was introduced solely to try and balance scheduling disparities introduced by the COVID situation.

Also absolute credit to #1 the NBL for absolutely nailing it with the decision to go top 6, it would have been stupid to have 3x 15-13 teams missing out.

It's somewhat harsh to even have one missing out, but alas the Hawks weren’t competitive enough to take some teams down a notch.

Absolute credit #2 to the Kings for finishing the season, despite resting a player or two, still attempting to commit absolutely fekery and push the game right to the very end in order to screw over the Wildcats.

That was entertaining and so much better than if they went over not caring and just letting Perth make it.

I suspect part of that comes down to Smith and Bogut having an influence and I appreciate that - makes it far more entertaining

The latest graphic released by the league show the play-in and playoffs as distinct stages within the overall "Finals".

Fun.

Some people are hard to please:

It's functionally no different to the mid-00s top eight system. It's all playoffs. Calling it something else as a gimmick doesn't change that.

What a great spectacle. Lachy Reid delivers again to get the fans up and about for the second time this season. Shout out to the team on rallying around on a quiet game for Bryce.

So Perth win the series against Sydney 2-1. Just waiting for Smith to claim that Sydney actually won it because they finished higher on the ladder.

On the debate re whether the play in games count as play offs, for those saying they don't, would you say that if the team that finished 3rd gets eliminated, they didn’t make play offs? Off course all those teams still alive made the play offs.

Nothing to lose now. Hopefully the Wildcats can string together a few good games

I can't see Perth beating SEM unless cotton returns to form and Webster and Manek fire big time. The problem is SEM is the best offensive rebounding team and Perth are an atrocity on the defensive glass.

Agreed. No one to defend Creek and rebounding is where it will be won or lost. Is Broekoff back from injury yet?

"As a league fan with no horse in the race, the theatre of this final game is fucking awesome."

Yes yes yes! Incredible.

How about Perth winning with Cotton going 2/20? Interesting that he's had 10 games this year shooting sub-40% and they're 6-4, so they have been able to win regularly with Bryce struggling.

Last year they were 2-7, which shows they have more options this year, or utilise what they have better, or perhaps both.

Ultimately, Melbourne threw away a finals spot in Perth a couple of months ago when they didn't box out. Amazing that has come back to bite them.

Congrats Cats on 36 years out of 37. Even in disappointing years they're still right there knocking on the door.

Even though Kings couldn't give a shit i thought they played like they cared beautifully.

Credit to Buford & the organisation.

United can't say they set them up & perth had to earn it.

Loving this play in stuff!!

Cairns get JJ's at home which they should win without Magette & Phoenix should take care of Perth at home.

Here we go.... go taipans!

Cotton did shoot poorly, but does a lot more than score, he get belted and takes defenders with him, played the full game bar 8 seconds, that on its own is out standing. As I've said previously three good mvp candidates, but Cotton should get this.

Even though Kings couldn't give a shit i thought they played like they cared beautifully.

Credit to Buford & the organisation.

United can't say they set them up & perth had to earn it.

Loving this play in stuff!!

Cairns get JJ's at home which they should win without Magette & Phoenix should take care of Perth at home.

Here we go.... go taipans!

What would be the standings on the old tiebreaker system with all both Melbourne teams and Perth equal on 15-13 record. I think Melbourne won the series 2-1 against Perth and just got Phoenix 2-2 on points percentage.

Tough way going out from a silly box out in Perth. I really don't like the points percentage no point playing teams in the regular series if they don’t count their series. They only would of done that if Sydney won by 10pts I think?

Cotton is the modern GOAT without a shadow of a doubt, and would be a worthy MVP winner as would the other two, but he was atrocious tonight as he admitted afterwards.

He actually shot 1/19 and had 5 turnovers. Perth won despite him, which I don't think I've ever said before! So many times their offence created great looks for him and he missed them. Second-straight season he's been a brickfest with the season the line, which is due to being overplayed.

The good thing about his struggles was it forced Travers to come out of his shell, and what a show he put on.

What I meant to say was Manek deserves cred for icing those freethrows, clockwork

What would be the standings on the old tiebreaker system with all both Melbourne teams and Perth equal on 15-13 record. I think Melbourne won the series 2-1 against Perth and just got Phoenix 2-2 on points percentage.

@NBLTigers Have you seen the above?

I was looking at odds and this gave me a chuckle:

Australian NBL - To Make Playoffs 2022/2023

CNS, TAS, SEM & PER have not been settled as winners yet because:

Who will make the Playoffs in the 2022/23 NBL season? For clarity, qualifying for the 'Play-In' tournament following the regular season does not constitute as making the playoffs, and will therefore not be considered as basis of settlement for this market.

Yes, if you finish in the top six you've made the finals but not the playoffs. Hilarious! Way to overcomplicate things.

It feels like they put the work experience kid on this one who proceeded to botch up all of the terminology.

Ha! Yeah someone tied themselves in knots! Too busy trying to copy the NBA.

https://twitter.com/junglewelcome/status/1622442615307390976?s=46&t=51TT3iGoaBRFg4VMUzUuTQ

Did anyone catch Cooks getting into it with Devlin?

In front of Smith as well!

Devlin still got it.

What a champion.

The old tiebreaker system was better. Winning a series has no determination making finals since it's based on overall points percentage.

I'm not sure why this has been brought up again but at least we get to see my workings out one more time.

The old method was also frustrating due to the NBL refusing to employ equalisation across seasons to smooth out the lob-sided amount of times certain teams played one another.

and within a season itself having a series determined by an odd number of games (two home/one away) was always unfair to one side.

Overall percentage means more games are more meaningful. With a series, you only have to worry about margins in games with teams you expect to be close to on the ladder that you play four times. Going back to that system you'd lose a lot of the drama we've had over the past couple of seasons.

That's true if the old tiebreaker was in place it means nbl24 has to be 36 regular season or a 27 game regular season with a 10 team season. Europe has no issues with the amount of games they play. For example the London Lions in the BBL have played a combined 53 games including 30 regular season games with still 6 games remaining plus their 18 EuropeCup games, then Cup, Trophies games.

What is it with you and the British Basketball League?

Sides that play in European competitions can play more than 80 if they play finals in their home country and the euro league. 34 & 34 regular season games in both comps plus finals which again is top eight in both comps.
I agree, 27 or 36 rounds for the nbl, 36 is by far the fairest. Work the draw so you play back to back and mid weeks, even the J league do this.