Hoops

R15: Wildcats vs United

A big concern for Perth is why they haven't got an injury replacement for Knight. They obviously need some help there and I wouldn't trust Knight to be back in time for the finals.

yeah you cant drop 7 in a row and expect to be alive come the end of the year. I hope we can pull it off somehow but i'm assuming i'm like most and just enjoying this push for what it is.

To the anon who thinks Perth are the same as last season. You are delusional. They are nowhere the offensive or defensive team they were last season. Not even CLOSE!

Clearly the Wildcats are tanking to avoid facing the 36ers in the finals ;)

Don't know who's talking about cutting players, but the rumbles about Gleeson started last year and have been picking up a bandwagon from early on this year.

Ahaha, I wish x.x

Bloody Melbourne.

Did you guys listen to him in the half time footage on Friday's game?

"yeah, uh, we're gonna run, uhhhhh, that thing...."

Actual quote

Been leaning towards feeling that Gleeson needs the sack for a while now, the thought gains a lot of momentum every time I see us coming out of a timeout and producing a lot of spuddery.

Paul is on the money! Hence the coach is under pressure...

Martin's offensive sludge this year is a pretty serious concern.

I mean, last year Martin was racking up some phenomenal stats that made him a threat at both ends of the court. Unfortunately, this year he's basically opening up the double team on Beal because he won't take open shots, and when he does take them, he's missing them.

If the Wildcats dont have 5 American born players they going to find it hard to win against the top teams.
Im sure they can find another "American Aussie" to fill Earnest Ross's spot, then they will be back t full strength and dominating again!

Adelaide still have a game to go against Perth... I think its 2-1 but point differential looks right.

and 1 win...

From memory Adelaide are down about 25 pts

Melbourne's win over Perth gives them the season series and United also already have Adelaide covered there too. Melbourne still need to win games, but they are now in a pretty good position with the other two final 4 contenders.

Okay, well, now it's a problem.

"Why did Hire start and not Daniels?"
I assumed it was just to give Daniels a bit of a shake-up. If so, it definitely seemed to work.
It's about the only thing that did though.

A coach under fire and feeling the pressure...

Wow - what a massive win for Melbourne!

Top 4 in danger for Perth after second straight loss

Although they own a two win advantage over fifth placed Adelaide, four of Perth’s final eight games come against Cairns and New Zealand while a Round 20 match-up with the 36ers looms as a potential elimination final.

Starting to look like a three-way battle between Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide now for the final 2 spots in the top 4.

Perth. By a lot.

If Adelaide start losing games again, no need to blame Wilson. Bringing DJ in when the team is doing so well could backfire bigtime

I don't see the Cats as the same team as last season when they had a aura about them. This season they look like a team with downgraded defences and their offence looks clueless.

I think last seasons Cats would still be the team to beat this season, but this years version looks really, really bad compared to last season.Talent wise I don't think the Ennis to Daniels conversion is that much of a downgrade to warrant such a spiral in performace.Injuries to Hire and Knight haven't helped, but it looks something is not right.

Losing 7 games in a row is gonna hurt Adelaide so much, the fact Wildcats lost ain't gonna help them whatsoever... And just when they seem to be getting a run together and starting to gel... Haha, be so funny if having DJ back they start playing shit again. They would be better of without DJ at this point but should be a good laugh if it turns to shit like what happend when they got Motum in.

2 games actually...in a week, with one of the games telecast on TV :P Most games have been 12K or above also

I have especially enjoyed the signing of Luke Martin.

Before we signed him I had my doubts about our championship credentials but now that we have another ball handler who can't get the ball out of the backcourt without turning it over i think we'll be fine.

In all seriousness Wildcats fans cannot complain, we get to watch our team in a great arena and we have been fortunate enough to have a lot of success.

Cats offence is just plain ugly. Really missing Knight who was a big focul point on their game plan. I like how Daniels is coming along but Beal is really struggling. Gleesons rotations seem to be a lil bizarre at the moment also.

Last seasons offense looked better because Ennis could erupt for 30 plus at any given minutes and blow a game wide open. This eeason there are no more match winners out there. Beal was balling and the Cats were wining, once teams adjusted on Beal in the last few weeks the Cats offense has dried up.Redhage is not the a match winner like he was 4 or 5 years ago either.

It dosent help Knight the Cats best player thus far is gout for the foreseeable future either.

On the plus side, our hip-and-shoulder technique is textbook

Yeah, there's very little purpose in our offence. Every possession seems like we're working things out completely from scratch.
Doesn't help that Damo is now passing up layups. Just a sign of where our aggression to score is at.

This team dosent have a Ennis to bail them out anymore. They look done. It is between NZ,United, Cairns and the 6ers with DJ.Perth are going to be making up the numbers in the playoffs if they make it.

Terrible coaching is being exposed.His flex offense is not very effective anymore.Beal has gone off the boil and they get no offense from Damo.

:-/ Well at least I got a piece of that $3.00 action.

Cats are serving up some real rubbish right now. The offence is as bad as ever, but now the D has got all kinds of holes in it as well, even basics like getting back in transition.
I didn't think Melbourne were that great, but they were more than good enough. eg. they didn't cough it up 19 frikkin times.

Still a game behind Melbourne :-(

If I were Perth, I would want to win one on the Sunshine Swing this weekend - otherwise there could be trouble.

take 2 or 3 players out n they are as hard to beat as hawks are. haha. no sympathy whatsoever

don't worry bout glory this year cats

Cats running with a 6 1/2 man rotation, Melb giving all 9 a reasonable run. Legs might be a problem at the end?

Come on you floppy cats! 34:41 at half time

2 games actually...in a week, with one of the games telecast on TV :P Most games have been 12K or above also

It's also one game, during school holidays, with no TV.

Try it every week, during school, competing with TV, and it might not be the same story.

If we do hit 13k+ on a mid-week game, you'd think that if Marvin was behind the resistance to mid-week games, as Boti et al, suggested, that he'd be feeling pretty embarrassed about the success right now.

Perth Wildcats Twitter : " Heading towards another crowd of 13,000 plus for tonight's game! "

13K for a Wednesday night, just days after pulling a crowd of 13,500.......just awesome.

Exactly where in Europe are you going to find a similar distance to a NZ->Perth trip? The only comparable trip distance is teams on the western edge of Russia travelling to Vladivostok on the eastern coast. And I reckon they don't bus that.

I think everyone outside of Townsville would like to see the Taipans win a title.

@Sixers147 Unfortunately its the few fans like yourself that give any clubs fan-base a bad reputation.

I hope tonight's game is as cracking as the game vs Adelaide. Well, maybe with the Cats winning the close one this time :) Was one of the best games I've seen in a long time and games are usually blown out at the Arena.

Every fan base has feral supporters with little or no idea, it's just that the Wildcats haven't had to many bad seasons for the rest of us to feel better about.

The best team will win the title and if it's the 3rd or 4th seeds then so be it.

If the Breakers can't win the title this season my preference is for the Taipans to win their first title as I think Fearne has put together a highly competitive team at both ends of the floor.

From there as Perth, Adelaide & Melbourne have all won numerous titles (United haven't as United yet but that franchise has won titles), I wouldn't have a preference if the GF played out between those 3 teams.

I'm hoping for a Breakers VS Taipans GF because they are the 2x best teams and I think it will be a super competitive final with at least one OT game.

At least if we lose I know our sacrifice will help end the finals charge for people like the posters above :)

It's a hard choice for Sixers fan which team to barrack for. Now I know how the CIA feel - "which bad guy do I support?"

Perth look to have lost a bit of their mojo and will need to bag this one to give them some confidence on the road. Bench depth is a concern, but let's not forget U'U scored 22 this season so it's times like these when the bench needs to lift.

Melbourne are the Steven Bradbury of the NBL. Just when you think they are done, someone falls over and they get the win. The two recent games against Sydney could have easily been losses. If they get to finals, for them to make any impact, it needs to be from their own hand. Talent wise, you could argue they are more talented than Perth.

Games like this get down to winning positions and winning each possession. Things are going well for Adelaide at the moment and that is why pessimists are tipping a Melbourne win.

However, confidence is something the Wildcats have plenty of and if you want to, they sell it in the online shop by the bottle, alongside the player's grandmothers. You can also get the GM to sign the bottle for an extra few bucks.

Wash my mouth out, Perth to limp over the line.

Spotted this on OzHoops:

Just on the local news Harvey signed a 3 year contract. Press conference not till Thursday however. Great to have his still will go much better with these better quality players around him and no Heal getting in his way.