Tai not a big loss. More worried about Corey missing time. He is a reliable player who brings instant offence. I can see more minutes for Ben with Corey starting so hop the young fella takes hos opportunity

Can't wait to see the Pinder v Cook battle.

I wonder if Doolittle gets the start to guard Creek

Pinder will eat Cooks, coaches have him worked out.

Can Phoenix stay in the game, I doubt it, good to see Browne playing as hopefully it's not all iso ball. Creek doesn’t look 100%, Cooks won’t hurt Pinder. Cummins needs to shoot a lot better.
Cats with Cotton and Usher leading them look specials. Sarr just too long for SEM as well, could have a field day. Cats by 15 to 20.

With travel and home court cooking, think this will be closer than it should Perth by 10

Tai out for Perth, so expect a straight swap for Corey to come in (assuming he's playing as hasn't been announced that he isn't).

Would also like Hyrum Harris to get the start and go straight to Mitch Creek actually. Was great against Tassie in the first half.

Gak being out for SEM is cannot be understated especially when you consider 1. How small they already are and 2. Their backup without Gak is Anzac Risetto...

Man Cotton's passing is beautiful.

Sarr looks good.

Refs call soft stuff then miss Cotton getting laid out off the ball...

Sarr could be a quality import level NS. Is it fair that he is playing for one of the richest clubs?

He chose the Wildcats himself because of their presentation. Nothing to do with finances.

I just mean more so is it fair that the best NS players boost the existing strong teams?

The NS aren't going to a club to just try and balance the mix. They’re going to a club that can help them develop

Home cooking started early today

Cotton not shooting well but 9 assists. Created a lot of easy shots for teammates.

Saar had offers from other leagues in Europe and Asia. It's a testament to the NBL and the Perth Wildcats professionalism that he chose the Cats.

With Yai out cotton is showing he good of a playmaker he is as a pure point guard. He is virtually the perfect combo guard pro type

These refs are shocking

The phoenix are getting every call

Yeah this is disgraceful. Some bad calls for the Phoenix as well.

But overall just so inconsistent. Chris Reid at it again.

It's not bad officiating it’s appalling

Disgraceful. Cotton gets grabbed off the ball before it's in play and SME just get a warning.
BS scheduling and BS on the floor.

Phoenix are playing really good hard nosed ball. Impressive third

So I'll just say I don't think Rillie is the right coach for this team. We've got a different team but this is still 2022 Rillie. I'd see what Gleeson is up to.

Hooooooo boy
A great lesson in the importance of mental toughness right there.

Two games in a row the cats getting out hustled on the boards and on defensive intensity. They got away with it last game but not today. This is a smashing

Yeah iso ball doesn't get it done against teams with elite D.

Imagine what Gleeson could do with this team

Wildcats getting murdered, down 27 in the 4th.
Phoenix just bullying their way into the paint and finishing.

Perth got a 36hr break with a long fight to SME full 3 days and not leaving their house.
And then they got reamed by the refs. Had no chance.

I guess Cook hasn't been figured out after all

Just let Ben play John. He is better then Tai with all due respect to Tai. Bens upside is huge.

Overall the Phoenix got a bit of help from the refs but they monsters the Cats upfront with Coock and Creek. Deserved their win.

They really had a game plan to negate usher and Cotton and they did it well

Henshall is orders of magnitude better than Tai.

Wildcats looked best when facilitating through Cotton. Went completely away from that in the 3rd and that was the game. Only 1 assist in the 2nd half.

Friendly reminder than Rillie didn't think Henshall was deserving of a single minute of game time against Tasmania

It was laughable rucker even compared henshall to steindl. He's definitely not so one dimensional the sky is the limit for the kid

Ben is more like Goulding with potentially a better upside. Already more athletic then Chris ever was and still hasn't even scratched the surface of his potential. The Clint Steindl comparison is embarrassing .

Ben is more like Goulding with potentially a better upside. Already more athletic then Chris ever was and still hasn't even scratched the surface of his potential. The Clint Steindl comparison is embarrassing .

Argh, they took so long to turf Heal from commentary yet now we have a replacement problem with Rucker.

Rucker = bulk discount LOL

Personally I can't stand Damon Lowery. But Rucker isn't great either

Big list of commentators and sideline reporters that should be moved on.

Two games in and similar rebounding pattern to last season. This team, you cannot blame the lack of height and athleticism. More on the coach. Could be CJ version 2.

If they do not solve their rebounding will be same outcome as last year.

Rucker said Henshell is similar to Steidl, but with a *more complete* offensive game.

BTW, Goulding was very athletic early in his career

Yeah not sure I would say Henshall is more athletic than Goulding was.

https://www.facebook.com/TheNBL/videos/chris-goulding-dunks/1379775499091258/

As above Goulding was exceptionally athletic earlier in his NBL career.

Vickerman work out Cooks, Riley didn't, I’ll admit he was good but also for every 2 point he scores he lets 1 in or more. Ayre and Moller defensively were so good, after the initial good start cats fell away.

Love SEM refusing to take a backwards step against the protected species Cotton and young punk Sarr.

Now 14-7 w Browne, 2-7 without

Lets see South East if they come to Perth on a second game road leg. Might not be as easy. But Knowing the NBL , they will get a single weekend trip to Perth and nothing else.

Travel time matters.

Just say you're jealous your team doesn't have Cotton and Sarr playing for them mate

Cotton is the GSG (Greatest since Gaze) and Sarr should be an NBA All Star one day, but when you start pushing people around you get what's coming, both got a dose of much needed humility today

Cotton is one of the humblest blokes in the league, unlike other stars like Goulding. And not a single person has had a bad word to say about Sarr.

Cotton gets held and wrestled off the ball and has put up with it for years - if he reacted by pushing Kenyon then you can only assume he was crossing the line.

And Tyler Cook himself said in the press conference he would much rather Alex Sarr come back at him after that dunk, and that he has more respect for him because of that.

I don't think either of them have a humility problem.

If Kenyon was crossing the line momentarily, good. Aggressiveness at both ends was needed after SEM got humiliated in game 1.

Cotton's never liked tough defence being played on him, I thought Kenyon did well.

Yep Cotton needed to get physical with Kenyon to put him of his elite game.... 13 to 3 foul count in the 3rd , it was a joke, completely ruined the game, perth not allowed to play offence or defence. If Kenyin was crossing the line it should have been called!! It's as simple as that. Having all your counters taken away because the referees are allowing some players to play outside the rules is not humility. Still considering the cats were getting called for fouls for breathing I don't know why cottons defender wasn't run into a mother of all screens though, sometimes nbl ref's need to be reminded what an actual foul looks like

After entire careers getting preferential treatment at home, the likes of Wagstaff and Cotton shouldn't have been confused when their opponents received likewise...

LV crowing about humility, I have heard it all now.

LV despite his faults is absolutely correct on this.

Gleeson used to whip the crowd into a frenzy with all his carry on over there in Perth which intimidated the refs into giving the Wildcats the most sumptuous home cooking I've ever seen. A game in Perth was a guaranteed loss for the opposition unless 1 or 2 players had a blinder, even them that usually wasn't enough.

From years of watching Cotton he does not like it when playing on the road not getting the rolled gold superstar treatment from the refs he's used to getting in Perth especially during the Gleeson-era. He's not quite at his peak any more, the bad games are becoming a bit more common and that frustration is probably playing in to it too.

Zodiac, all you have done in your post is speculate, there is no facts behind it. For starters the crowd get whipped up into a frenzy because a over the top loud mouth courtside announcer... has nothing to do with Trev.

As far as home cooking goes, it happens in every stadium across the entire NBL. This includes Perth...

Yesterdays loss was on the Cats, poor offensive sets and too much hero ball.

There was a thread on this a few years ago, probably pre-covid.

A bit out-of-date now, but at that time Perth weren't getting called for fouls at home. The discrepancy between fouls on Perth at RAC vs Fouls on Perth away was significant. Which aligned with the eye test, which showed they were roughing teams up and turning up the physicality, making it very difficult to walk away from RAC with a win.

Perth fans complaining about the refs when they have had the gold standard of home cooking for as long as I can remember really does make me laugh.
Pull your heads in lads and suck it up like the rest of the league had to.

Having said that, it's an issue in the NBL generally not just Perth

United was denied a Grand Final in 2020 due to the Game 3 Semi-Final refs in Sydney- all the neutrals in that game thread said likewise

It's probably a perception that Perth has benefited most, based on:

1. They have the biggest crowds which is the biggest factor influencing refs, and

2. they've been the most successful team over the past 10-15 years, giving them the opportunity to benefit from home cooking in the playoffs more often

Off-base comments about Cotton aside, you can't fault Kenyon for pushing the boundaries if the refs are allowing it. That's exactly what you want your defenders to do.
Contrast that with Pinder, who hurt his team by spitting the dummy and fouling himself out of the game. His last two fouls were both examples of the undisciplined, low-IQ play that cost the Cats throughout the game.

Expect other teams to challenge us in the same manner if that's how we're going to respond to it.
Hopefully it turns out to be a valuable learning moment for us. Losing your cool on the road is particularly harmful. All it does is throw blood in the water for the opposition and the crowd.

I don't dispute that Perth have received a better whistle from the refs over the years LV, I was critical of you attacking the character of Sarr and Cotton.

The refs got the charge calls right. They were ok, even if they probably did slightly favour SEM, I'm not certain cats supporters can complain about officiating when in the Gleeson years they got everything.

What no one has focused too much on is the poor rebounding by perth in the first two games. Multiple rebounds by SEM and JJs from missed foul shoots in two games in row - almost never saw that in Gleesons era.

I am concerned Rillie's defensive structures and offensive structures do not get the big guys around the basket enough. We had more height than JJS and SEM and somehow outrebounded and scored heavily against in the paint.

I'm not certain cats supporters can complain about officiating when in the Gleeson years they got everything.

So perth getting homecooking was bad and unacceptable. Yet perth been on the wrong end of it is now okay? Either homecooking is an issue or it's not. For mine, it's an issue that ruins basketball. I want to see talent, skill and execution win out. Agree as a defender you go as physical as the ref let's you, as a paying fan, I don't want to miss out on seeing the most skilled players do amazing things because the ref's are letting them get held back and beat up. Especially when they aren't letting the other team defend the same way. Seriously it was 13 fouls to 3 in one quarter, in no way can that be producing a good product and let's be honest no fan will be satisfied with their team being on the wrong end of that ledger, it's a foul less than every minute...

Logical, probably not but to complain about it as a Perth fan is ironic. Again the refs were not that bad, actually they were good.

As a Perth fan I seen the one sided calls due to the way the Cats were playing, jacking up outside shots, not running any sets.

On the other side though, the fouls that were being called were soft (if you compare it to treatment Cotton gets off ball).

Either way I always just come to the same conclusion, NBL refs suck and you gotta learn to play through it and stop complaining about it.

I'd say most coaches agree with you Big Fudge, just get on with it.

Pinder wasn’t that good, they talk him up like a nba star, might not be that match more improvement as a 28 year old, he’s no Xavier Cook.

There was home cooking that played a huge impact on the game. As stated by others during the 3rd period.
So what?
Not every team gets it consistently these days. Just enough to keep competition even. It's been happening for years and will continue. For the game to continue to grow and attract global interest, the competition needs to be seen to be an even contest. Individual games mean shit. Approaching the final rounds to generate xtra buzz, there needs to be a perception that any team can win.
So don’t be surprised if there is the odd game or two that appears to have an outcome already sorted.

Cotton - 1/9 from 3. Webster - 1/6 from 3. -12 rebound differential.

Clearly it's an NBL conspiracy.

Thanks Angus, well put. Refs make mistakes, it's split second decisions, but they don’t cheat.

Well said big fudge. I think a big difference of previous teams was the regimented sets that helped them work through it and created second chance points. The curse of been a good shooting team is of course shooting your way out of trouble....

Way too much focus on officiating which is deflecting from the real issue being Rillie.

I was at this game. Rillie shook hands with all the Phoenix squad and walked straight to the locker room, rest of the team remained on court for their warm down stuff. He looked pissed. Their full court pressure in the 4th was impressive, but good on Mike Kelly for not panicking and left Foxy and others to learn from their mistakes.

Was sitting next to Perth supporters as well as Phoenix supporters and honestly didn't think the umpiring was biased. Couple of offensive fouls were called for forearm push offs which you don't always see. Don't have benefit of replays but I don't recall anything obviously biased or wrong in live action.

I did find it strange Perth would drag Creek up for the high pick and roll, which meant Creek switched onto Cotton. Why wouldn't you drag Cook up and have Cotton go iso? Perth missed a lot of soft switches too with Ayre guarding a big guy.

Perth missed shots, Phoenix attacked the rim and looked for body contact. Perth didn't rebound and make shots.

https://www.espn.com.au/nbl/story/_/id/38545317/nbl-round-1-headline-storyline-melbourne-united-brisbane-bullets-perth-wildcats

Perth's defence is going to hold them back once again

Peter Hooley: Storyline. They can't win like this. It was a problem last year and even though it's only one round, giving up 95 points and then 110, is just not going to get it done. The Wildcats have all the tools to be a good defensive team, especially with the likes of Jordan Usher and Alex Sarr, but collectively they need to buy in.

Kane Pitman: Headline. Unlike last season, the Wildcats have the personnel to finish the season with a top four defence. The work on the glass is an early watch, with rebounding a storyline throughout last season. The Wildcats have already conceded 27 offensive rebounds through two games, leading to 30 second chance points which would have the full attention of the Perth coaching staff. On paper, they project to improve significantly on this end of the floor and I expect that to be the case.

Olgun Uluc: Headline. The first two games of the season weren't great signs on that end of the floor -- particularly after last season's issues defensively -- but the personnel is a lot more conducive to the Wildcats figuring things out. Rebounding is still a problem, and defending the point of attack may be tough with the backcourt they've brought back, but there's reason to trust the back line of the defence to not be too concerned long-term.

Has anyone watched Usher on defence?! He is absolutely horrendous, off the ball is worse than him on the ball.

He Carrie's on with a lot of fake energy but he is clueless. The highlight dunk on Sarr watch him gtfo out of the way, it was his tag.

Import phx guard straight line drove past him a bunch of times.

Tonne of box outs missed v Tassie.

36 points but -3 for the game v Tassie.

I think its the Rillie factor, he got out coached by Mike Kelly

Despite getting a stacked roster cannot get basic offensive sets to be run or defensive schemes to be played.

I don't mind as long as it results in a coaching change next season.

#Gleeson2024

Cats guards were beaten off the dribble, that's how Cooks scored 23. Many of them were hand offs, putting him in good positions to score near the hoop with his main defender out of position due to helping on the driver

Completely agree about Ushers defence, this guy came in saying he wanted to be DPOTY, they start him defending the point guards who just blow right by him. I really hope we can move on from Rillie at the end of the season as he clearly isnt up for the task of head coach.

I remember Rillie saying last year he wasn't concerned about rebounding. Something like "yeah, it will get volleyballed around occasionally, but thats ok, its not that important."

in the first game it looked like the bigs often over committed defending the perimeter leaving the basket wide open, or it seemed to easy for the opposition to get Cotton stuck defending a big. defenses should be screening and attacking the basket constantly until something changes.

Listen to Rillie's SEN interview and never mentioned rebounding or defence once in what he thought was a problem. Hoping that stuff being worked on behind the scenes.

There were a few too many passages of play on Sunday reminiscent of the last couple of seasons - where everyone could see that the cats were moving the ball around for someone to chuck up a 3, the 3 goes up and the player closest to an offensive rebound is near the 3 point line or has already started running down the other end of the court. Only game 2 but if offensive rebounds are going to be as low on the priority list as they were the last 2 seasons we are going to be up against it big time.

Pretty sure Rillie had his contract extended this off-season so he is contracted to coach next year as well.

We'll see if they turn it around as Olgun and Kane Pittman said. They have the personell now. The only reason for them underperforming is Rillie.

Last season with Manek and that 3 guard lineup (Webster's and Cotton), not even Popovich could turn that into a good team defence.

That's why I've always been hesitant to blame Rillie. But no excuses anymore.

Precisely as he has the horses now.