Hoops

Wildcats vs Hawks - G3 - pregame thread

Need some tissues Anon?

Looks like its the "Perth Bogan's" going through to the Grand Final. We might be bogans....but atleast we are winners. #7championships

OK. About my comments about Perth "selling" GF tickets: my wife heard it from someone. I couldn't substantiate it. But people above have said it was on Ticketek and attributed to human error.

As to the game: fix the flapping passes, Hawks. Then your shooting can take care of itself. But too mant turnovers = not enough shots.

Hawks to hit 70% of their 3's and just scrape it in by 5.

Wildcats keys to victory

Offence: Casey Prather needs to get going, and then stay out of foul trouble

Defence: Please miss lots of your shots, Hawks. Pretty please.

"Apparently flogging off half price tickets in the last 4 hours..."

Where are you getting this info ?

"Expecting minimalist crowd again."

Was going to don my usual red wildcats polo but I might change to all black everything so I don't feel out of place.
Also instead of "Let's go Wildcats, let's go!" I will only be chanting "Let's go Wildcats"

looks like its Troll season again.

Seriously can't wait for this game to start. Haven't been this nervous before watching a game for yonks. Hope Lisch is good to go and may the best team win. Go Wildcats :)

Oh R@nD0m... what tripe. "lost to the better team" LOL! The Wildcats are the better team. That is already established. So IF we lose, which we won't, it can only be due to other factors outside the team's control. Or alternatively, match fixing. But that seems unlikely. And btw I would never blame the high price of the chips for a Wildcats loss. The two are not connected. The chips price is what ruins the whole game night experience. Costing us wins lies squarely at the feet of the corrupt refs. Duhh.

Hi guys,

does anyone know a site that i can use to watch video's of entire quarters of the NBA?

Thanks

Mark

Hi,
Jaimee Rogers here with the latest NBL odds.

Hawks price has come in from > $3 since the good Lisch news but they're still reasonable value in a 2 horse race.

Wildcats $1.42
Hawks $2.88
Margin -5.5 points
Over/Under: 168.5

Good luck and I hope you back a winner.

Wow, Boti is still going on about it

"Is tonight the night? Does Illawarra leave its consecutive losses in Perth at Jordan’s famous number ? (23 ... not 45) Or will the Wildcats’ premature announcement of playing for their seventh NBL title prove prophetic?"

That was a ticketek.com.au stuff-up. Not the Wildcats.

Yes i recall a picture on ATF.net showing a blurb describing that Perth had made it to another GF appearance.

Was that not the doing of Perth (i.e. a third party error)? - genuine question.

OMG they're already talking grand finals at the Wildcats. Arrogant!!!!

Who wins?

Depends on how the referees referee the game.

And I don't mean in terms of bias/favouring one team.

I mean as in whether they call the game tightly or allow a free-flowing game.

If it's called as a tight, stop-start game, then Perth will, IMO, win in a canter as it suits their style.

If it's free flowing, up and down with minimal referee intervention, I will lean towards the Hawks.

"
"I know Perth are supremely confident of winning on Friday (even heard rumours they're talking about selling grand final tickets already?)"

It reminds me of the Tigers wheeling out the championship trophy in the fourth quarter of a Game 4 then wheeling it away when the Kings made an epic comeback to win. GF 07 or 08 I believe. "

not as big a fail as when Graf had the caps spent over $10,000 on several thousand "Three peat Dynasty' T-shirts .

This ain't going to be easy Lisch or no Lisch. They have some serious shooters. The key for the Wildcats is to get Foreman into foul trouble as he has to play as a big. He cannot shoot three's if he's on the bench, plus means Coneraad has to then play tall inside.

Wildcats have been up and down this year, so who knows which team will turn up.

Defensively Martin has to go to Penny if Lisch isn't out there. I'd think about it even if he is. Prather has shown he cannot go with him. Let him take Martin or a less than 100% Lisch. Penny is good at drawing the foul, and Martin is a bit smarter and also his defensive history as best defensive player numerous times gives him more leeway it seems :).

Yes, I understand. If we stopped being good at baketball, and stopped making the finals, then after 20 years of "haha yooz d-serve it cos Perf suks," people might get over it...

Well at least we don't use a two-syllable chant for a monosyllable name. When Wollongong start chanting for the Whore-Orks, it conjures up really alarming images.

And for the record, the only place where the Hawks are "everybody's second team" is Wollongong.

Well they've certainly been my 2nd team for several years.

Awesome to read that Lisch is a real chance of playing.

I hope Hawks get the win here. They are everyone's 2nd team this year.

Meh, have to except that in practically any game non-Perth fans want Perth to lose. It's a weird psychological condition, you could probably write a book on it, but it is what it is, I have stopped trying to understand it.
As for this being some massive spectacle, and a game for the ages, I think the 5 day break (and no g3 in the other series) is making people bored. It's a game. An important outcome is no guarantee that the game itself will be anything special.
Knowing Perth, there's a reasonable chance it will be a defensive brawl.

Train, I think it's a combination of the schedule going weird at this time of year (why have a big rush between games 1 and 2 but then a decent break till game 3), a little bit of sick of Perth vs NZ (it's always nice to see an outsider in finals in any sport) and a lot of I just don't like Perth (this is more about not liking Redhage, Hire and Wagstaff, and the leniency afforded to Damien Martin - the Wildcats franchise themselves I have a great deal of respect for).

Plus I'm a cheapskate so only watch the FTA games or attend home games, so with the Taipans out that only means watching the one FTA game a week.

"The only reason I have any remaining interest in the NBL at this stage of the season is because the Hawks are there. If it is a Perth-NZ GF I'll be tuning out."

Just out of curiosity Wilson, is that because your sick of seeing a Perth V NZ final, or you don't particularly like either of those teams?

From memory there have been some cracker games between Perth V NZ games in recent times. Not sure why any fan of the game would tune out for those games.

The only reason I have any remaining interest in the NBL at this stage of the season is because the Hawks are there. If it is a Perth-NZ GF I'll be tuning out.

So we shouldn't base anything on reality?
So the Hawks will obviously win, then win the GF in 2, because they won ONE game? Get Real.

If you want to talk about recent? Umm OK, Hawks recently played in Perth. Perth slept through the first quarter, then rolled the Hawks like a cheap fag.

I'm not "confident" of a Cats win, but neither should anybody be so "confident" of a Hawks win...

If there is one thing I have learned about this NBL season, it is that we need to expect the unexpected...

Even if Lisch plays how effective is he going to be playing on a dodgy ankle?

Wildcats Vs Breakers Final is what I am expecting.

The Hawks and Cats have played 6 times this season.
The three games in Perth were all easy wins to the Cats.
The games in the Gong netted two close wins to the Cats and one easy win to the Hawks.

Based on that record, this should be another easy win for the Cats, and if they get their shit together it will be. I'm sorry, but ONE game in the Gong does not constitute a new reality. Sunday's game is no basis for predicting a win on Friday.
As I've said, I don't fully understand why road games are so tough, but the Cats have been ordinary on the road, and almost unstoppable in Perth. That is the reality.

IF we make the GF, I am nervous about facing NZ, because I can't remember the last time we won there. But I'm sure it's NOT a ten year losing streak!

I am not "supremely confident." As I have repeatedly said, Jawai seems injured, Perth were flat at the start of game 1, our defence was shredded in game 2, and we have lost our ascendancy on the boards. I am HOPING we play like championship aspirants on Friday and reverse these deficiencies. If we do, we will win. If we don't, we won't.

Agree Dazz, if Perth play at their top form no one can run with them, however if the hawks get thier eye in from 3 and the cats D is off (like the 3rd qtr in game 2) this could be ugly again. Larry33, cats fans are most certainly not 'supremely confident', we've been pumped in 2 of our last 4 games. I think we'll win...but don't ask me to put money on it.

I'm talking about demonstrated potential, as in how they played this season (at home). Which is not an unreasonable proposition.
They have demolished the Hawks three times in Perth this season. I'm not suggesting that such a performance is automatic, far from it, I'm worried.
But they have shown that they can bury the best teams, including the Hawks.

I don't feel the Cats are clearly the better team. They have home court but they are not as good as some think. They have no true go to scorers so it's all about their defence.

I am really hoping for big things from this game.
The Cats have plenty of time to recover, analyse, and plan. They are the better team, and should win. They just need to get their shit together and start playing like they deserve another championship. Haven't seen that so far this series, hence why I am hoping for a massive turnaround.

Hardly.
I imagine both teams have contingency plans for selling GF tickets. Just as everyone makes plans for game 3.

Massive, massive game. It's been a pretty exciting season with a lot of interesting games (yes there has been some boring ones too for those "glass half empty" people)

Everyone's second team, the Hawks, travel to take on everyone's most disliked team, the Cats. It's the stuff of legend this game and if I were Cat's players and officials, I'ld be going with the browns jocks on Friday, and maybe bring a second pair just in case as I think this is going down to the wire.

The Hawks have lost 22 in a row in Perth and that can only mean one thing - a win is coming up. The Cats should have left them get a win during the minor rounds. Now, the pressure is on the Cats as the voodoo is very much up to be broken, and these kinds of voodoos in sport always seem to happen during finals.

The Hawks looked pretty good on the weekend and the Cats looked pretty average. It's almost as if they wanted a third game to get some revenue for the club. Momentum is with the Hawks and this should be a red, red flag to the Cats.

The long awaited tussle between Martin and Lisch may have to wait next season.

If the Hawks were smart, they'll bring over Saville and Campbell as well as the Old Red Fox. Imagine the inspirational speech those boys would give in the locker room. The Hawks would be walking barefoot on hot coals and the Cats could be throwing darts at them and they wouldn't hurt.

I'm going with the Hawks to put the Cat in the bag.

If the Hawks come to play with the same intensity and attitude they showed at home in game two, it is game on!

Looking forward to this and the final series...

I know Perth are supremely confident of winning on Friday (even heard rumours they're talking about selling grand final tickets already?) but this game is gettable for the Hawks, even without Lisch.

In game 1, they lost Lisch early and had to make in-game adjustments. They were obviously better at making the adjustment in game 2.

Also, in game 1, despite losing Lisch, they were 10 points down with about a minute-and-a-half to go. However, in that game, Penney shot 2/9 3s, Rhys shot 1/4, a few shot 0/1.

If Penney had hit 2 more (to take him up to his season average) and a couple of others had dropped, then that lead with a minute-and-a-half to go disappears and its a different game. Hypothetical, I know, but the difference between shots dropping and not was the difference in the result (obviously!). And most of the shots that missed were good shots - they were quite makeable.

"Great" admittedly is a relative term. He's not in the Kevin Lisch or James Ennis category.
I just mean that they are two of our best players and so often get the job done, but unless they have a blinder its not enough without others stepping up.
I have been disappointed so far with Redhage. I was really hoping the old warhorse would step it up like Forman & Vukona come finals time.