Hoops

R18: Perth Wildcats v Cairns Taipans

In all Seriousness though, it is a little strange.
Televising Perth home game, rather than Sydney away game.

Why doesn't Gleeson coach Jervis to have his arms up straight, like he always does after the foul is called. He defends with more lean than the tower of pisa yet is mortified when he's called for a foul.

Anonymous, you clearly take me way too seriously.
Guess I should have put a ;) or a :p in there somewhere.

^^ Hahahahaha +1

Sorry, but Kevin White scoring 20 points instantly disqualifies Adelaide-Sydney from being classified as a good game.

I was very happy with the way the game went. The Cats defence was as good as I've seen this season.
I'd never accuse that of being an attractive game to watch though.

From a defensive point of game it was a good game. Offensively it wasn't the best to watch but I'm not sure what else you would expect when watching the 2 of the best defensive teams in the league going at it. I actually enjoyed the game , both live and on the replay, plenty of intensity. What a difference having Knight back and good to see Damo still being aggressive offensively .

Glad to here Adelaide supporters using excuses now for only beating Sydney by 19 points. Apparently Perth playing 4 games in 9 days was a poor excuse and we were going to get flogged by Cairns .

What was all that nonsense about 19-pt margin against Sydney being a sign of how far out of contention Perth was? Hey, anyone want to tell me the margin for Adelaide hosting Sydney?

@sixers147 - Were your parents related ? Like, before they were married ?

Cairns didn't take advantage of their bigs at all. They had a huge size advantage and Loughton was schooling Redhage everytime he posted him up. I think they got little to trigger happy from the 3pt line to eat into Perth's lead to quickly.

Another thing was Craig was kept in check, in all 2 of the Taipans wins, he has come off the bench and torched the Cats. utside f Bruce, Cairns bench was kept petty quiet.Perth are nowhere near the offensive team of last season, but tonight their defence got somewhat close to that of last season. the last 5 games Perth's defense has been putrid.

That was the intense cats defence of last season.They have looked like the shell of themselves but tonight for the 1st time this season they played great physical defence and got running in the open court.

Their offence still is horrid, but having Knight back helped that interior defence.

Thanks for that Dazz :P Makes a bit more sense, I'm not much of a gambler. I always thought odds were based on who was more likely to win :)

Those odds seem a little surprising really.

Sportsbet showing $1.56 for Perth, $2.44 for Cairns.
Sounds like surprisingly good value for you there, Train!

I should throw $100 on Taipans winnng, knowing my luck with gambling the Cats would win for sure :P

Really looking forward to this one.
Beating Sydney last round proved nothing, except maybe that a crappy team will often drag a game down to their level.
This is a proper test, and one the Cats need to pass if they're serious about making any post-season noise.

Not going to lie, I'm a bit nervous about this game. I really hope Cats blow them out in the first quarter like the last time they played here.

^ LOL

Perth are always hard to beat at home. At home they are fierce Panthers with an average score of 82 to 72, but on the road they are purring pussycats with an average score of 79 to 82. Cairns travel well. Their average score on the road is 84 to 83.

Massive pressure on the Cats. Cairns are in finals and have an excellent 7/4 away record so will have no fear tonight. So far the series is 1 win each with each club having a home court win.

The recent absence of Knight shows just how vulnerable the Cats are on Knight for the offence and defensive sets. If Fearne has done his planning right, I would expect to see a few plays to interrupt their rhythm. Drive a guard or two into Knight early on looking for the blocking foul and the pressure will be right on the Cats. Oh, that's right, that would be an offensive foul in Perth, so better drive that guard in on the side and wait for the big fella to drop his arms to guarantee the arms foul.

Beal is the man to watch. He is their leading scorer, but the last few games has lost some form with inaccuracy. Against Cairns his average is lower than his season average. He is not a big rebounder which may mean he doesn't like a bit of argy bargy. A few hard bumps on him might test his steel.

I'm not too sure who to pick for this one. If Cairns has a plan, then they will silence the crowd. If Knight is firing on all 8 cylinders and his influence is not quenched early, the Cats will get a 10 point win.

How bad do you want it?

"It's a HUGE game for both teams."

I disagree. Sure it's a huge game for Perth but I don't think it's that important for Cairns. They know what they are capable of and just need to make sure no-one gets injured over the last month. The top teams' (NZ and Cairns) away records are good so I'm not sure home ground advantage is that critical to them.

As I said in a previous post Gleeson is the problem at the cats. He need quality assistants around gim to succeed

This is a game that Perth should win. No more excuses from now, the team is looking good with Knight and Hire back in the team.