Hoops

2014 GF Series - Game 1

^ Been insane at work for the most part - legit saw neither. And no, I don't watch TV - that's what the internet is for :p

Someone here just mentioned the interview over lunch - first I'd heard.

I think we've covered off where Adelaide sucked - very few people even in here have argued the points.

Always hard to bring up the umpiring in a losing game without sounding like excuses. Still tough to argue with the 13 to 44 FT line. Hopefully we get the same advantage Friday night.

Anyone else contemplating heading to Perth if there's a third?

When did Joey complain about the refs?

Gastro confirmed for Cadee, Teys and worst of all Creek. Joey didn't make a big deal out if it at all - "It happens".

The Game 1 GF reca is now up on PnR:

NBL 2013/14: GF Game 1 – Wildcats draw first blood

Perth is a single win away from an NBL championship after a hard-fought 92-85 win over a relentless Adelaide side in game one of the NBL grand final series in Perth.

Yeah, makes you wonder if we had some South African supporters who remembered New Zealand getting that very timely bout of sickness before a Rugby World Cup final in South Africa :D

Lack of rebounding was our first problem,
secondly DJ throwing up crap and then the reffing a distant last.

Considering that we were not that far off.

I we rebounded the ball less fouls would of been called on their second chances.

Must admit watching Knight look like he got shot by Gibbo was pretty piss weak though.

Let's hope their accomodation here in Adelaide can give them the runs too.

Gibbo did freak me out with that late 3pt barrage.

Why does there always seem to be someone late who just refuses to miss 4th quarter 3P's to scare the crap out of me. Gibbo this week, Clarke/Forman last week, other people like Goulding during the year.

Damned frustrating.

^ Looked that way, yeah. He was probably our best shot of stealing the game in the last quarter.

Ervin, Carter and Cadee didn't seem capable of taking over.

Ah, well, that'll take some creative recruiting. When is Schenshwatsit coming out of his contract? Seem to recall he was on a rather absurd amount of money, might help with the recruiting if they can pare some of that back.

Nathan, that would be true if DJ remains a Sixer next season, but it looks like he may be heading to Europe. If so, that's a huge hole to fill before the Sixers can even think about putting forward a better team next year.

Any truth to the gastro rumour someone mentioned re: Creek?

Beal was a huge difference maker - played exceptionally well.

Gibbo's 5th seemed like a nothing foul too - was a bit disappointed in that. No idea why we didn't go after Martin harder when he had the 3rd or 4th.

I do think that when Wright and the 36ers fix up their import situation over the coming off-season, they should probably be favourites or near-favourites for the 14/15 title. Will take the squad from very strong to leaders. Suppose it depends on how things go on the Marquee front though.

Poor coaching if Ervin didn't want to be there, and he kept him out there, have the players on the court who want to play. Make the match ups work to your advantage.

Must be his lingering guilt about potentially ending the Goulding lineage back in SF Gm 2.

Situaution- Martin had to temper his natural defensive game due to 4 fouls, i'm surprised Adelaide didn't isolate him on the block more often in the last quarter, and clear out.

Meh, some games the fouls just seem to come in no matter what. I was more suprised Ennis had 0 personal fouls on him last night.

Never a good thing when your 4xDPOY has to sit with 3 fouls in the 2nd quarter and miss about 10minutes of play. Needs to be a bit more careful when he's going for the steal. Seemed overexcited, hopefully a bit steadier in Game 2.

I know a lot of people love /Hate Ennis (and thats to me the sign of a really good player) But Im bigger fan of Dollar Beal. He slips under the radar a lot because of Ennis and Martin and co, but once he gets going he really cranks him up. The Wildcats have it pretty good at the moment being able to cycle through Martin, Beal, Hire and U'U'.

Its good to hear the Adelaide game is a sellout (or is it ? apparently some people are saying yes, others no)

The Wildcats have room for improvement as well as Adelaide. Matt Knight was ordinary, and was outplayed by DJ and Schenscher, and we actually looked better with Jervis on the court, he should have been played more, also Martin's foul trouble helped Adelaide with containing Beal in the 2nd half, as he had to assume the main ball carrying role in the 2nd half, a lot like what we expected of Lisch last year. Redhage and Wagstaff can also significantly improve on last nights effort, so whilst Adelaide can improve, so can Wildcats.

Think you're on the money there, Isaac. Thought Perth did pretty well in conceding fouls that were side-line balls rather than trips to the FT line.

Perth needs to sharpen their shooting up, fell away in the second half. Also need to keep that rebounding effort up. Was massive, and probably the single most decisive element in the game. Except maybe Ennis attacking the rim like there was a Miami Heat contract on it, which had all sorts of wonderful flow-on effects for us.

True. No one mentioned "Irvin".

Ervin, on the other hand, has about a dozen mentions above.

Haven't seen the stats, but we seemed to shoot a lot more threes than usual when we weren't getting stops / rebounds / outlets and opening up our running game.

The half court offense couldn't seem to get a decent look.

Hmm, Adelaide must be the most hard done by club in the NBL , it seems they are the only team that never get home town calls.

A lot of ref bashing going on here, no mention from Adelaide fans of the disappearing act from Irvin,Carter, Cadee, and the wild out of control shots taken from DJ in the 2nd half, maybe if he'd tried to share it around a bit the result may have been different. Even Gibson didn't spark until the last quarter.

The foul count was 31-19 in Wildcats favour, but how many of those occurred in the last two minutes, you could say at least 6 trying to stop the clock, so the actual count is deceiving, and maybe not as lopsided as Adelaide fans would want us all to believe.

Great result, now to beat Adelaide in Adelaide and wrap the series up.

The '09 best of five series was all home teams.

In fact, only game in a GF series since then won by an away side was, ahem, Perth Wildcats losing Gm 2 last year.

Grr.

08 GF series was oddball, apart from being Best of 5, crazy to have 3 away team wins in a row in a GF.

@ Jack Toft,

We would have won it in double figures but oh my giddy aunt, the FT shooting. Looking at the big guys Knight and Jervis here. Collective 1/8. Hit those at the rate expected of your average high-school player and it goes double digits and game done and dusted before anyone bothers with crazy Gibson-inspired comeback attempts.

Woohoo! Game 1 in the bag, great start.

To the person who offered a name bet, sorry, missed the post before the game D:

Good job "airball" heckler. We heard your lonely cries. With any luck the reinforcements will be on hand sunday.

Problem is only flights out of Adelaide that get to Perth prior to tip-off for Game 3 leave saturday. Hopefully the official carrier of the NBL puts on another flight to Perth on Sunday morning for those who can't fly Saturday.

Enjoy the afterglow Perth brothers, this ain't over yet!

Bedtime for me, school day tomorrow and body clock telling me it's 1 in the morning.

Perth should be extremely disappointed tonight with their performance. With all their hype, they should have won that in double figures.

Great job by the Sixers to hang tough in a game where they weren't shooting well and Perth was playing well. Need to improve rebounding next game but I think Sixers can win it if they play smart. Not going to be a 47-13 FT disparity in ADL.

I'd be interested to know how many pts were scored by Perth players other than Ennis in the 2nd half. Especially the 4th where it was basically Ennis going to the line.

Yeah he just seems more stagnant compared to his previous stints where he would get to the rim a lot more.

Perth too tough tonight. Frustrating watching those O boards and agree some calls seemed to favor Perth without sounding like a sour loser. They obviously know what they're doing though.

Game 2 !

Great heart shown by sixers to never give up even if Perth had 8 players on the court up to the last few minutes.
I think the refs felt their performance might only be judged on the last few minutes.
Ervin needs to do much more, poor performance overall although he did get called for 1/1 fend off compared to Ennis 0/666.
Nice fend off from Damo let go also when he was on 4 fouls.
Great game from Teys, Ervin should have been looking for him at the arc after Gibbo retired.

Bring it on Friday. Referees Beware!!!

Sorry should say no shot to win that game

Perth were pretty good in the 2nd and that was where the game was lost by the Sixers. Cats moved the ball well on offense and caught Sixers out of position. As said by Bear and Carf ad nauseum, second effort on offensive boards by Perth was the difference not the refereeing.

468098 - Differnce was this was a 7 point game, Tigers lost by 40, even if ref calls made a difference of 20 points, you still lose by 20. Tigers never had a shot to win that game considering how poorly they played.

And get your F*%KING HANDS UP ON D DJ!!!!!

Why doesn't Ervin do anything ?

Is ervin injured? doesn't look to have the quickness or the ability around the rim like he did in the first half of the season.

Good heart shown down the stretch by the sixers. Lost that game due to:
1. Rebounding
2. Refereeing, just look at the foul counts, and perth were the far more physical team.

Looking forward to Friday, still think we can win the series, win game 2 and the pressure of a game 3 means anything can happen.

Ervin's shot selections... wow.

Ok, usually Perth blow teams away in the last 3 min if up by 8 but ...............this is Adelaide!!!! To quote Mitch " yeah bitches!!!"

Blow out time????

When Carfino starts saying the calls suck, you know it's gone south.

Still baffles me why Ervin believes he can take on the tall timber down low every time.

Ennis a protected species

YEAH CARTER!

True story Loco that was an Under 16's type block ....all ball.

Huge props to Teys. Stepped up lately.

It doesn't get cleaner than Gibbo's block. Horrendous.

This still ain't over Sixer die hards. Stay positive.

Damn 2nd chances off offensive rebounds. C'mon Sixers hustle harder!!!!

We just can't rebound to save ourselves tonight :( No one boxing out.

Gibbo trying to save us.