Hoops

Breakers vs United, Feb 10

As a Breakers fan you'd have to be very disappointed with all the basic errors they made this year, and the coaching staff's poor tactical adjustments.

On the flipside, their halfcourt offence and defence are close to the best in the league, and the improvement in Ili and Delany has been outstanding.

Heading into next season with those two, Penney, Abercrombie, Loe, Pledger, Vukona (and possibly a healthy C Webster) is a super platform.

Now Breakers fans just need to hope they can add Isaac Fotu and/or Tai Webster and they'll be in terrific shape for a title run.

Breakers finally looked after the ball.

Ili was clutch hitting the 3's everytime Ware hit one and Finn "Diesel" Delany showed his hustle and athletism .

I don't think NZ will make the finals but have had a tough season with injuries and have shown some guts and resilance in battling back to playoff contention which as a fan I'm happy with.

Good teams never play for themselves. They play for the Coach. Nuff said.

Just like the Brady Bunch... Goulding Goulding Goulding 31 shots the rest of his team didn't make. Time for a new coach and move Goulding on or get better control of him. Joey and Randle have the right idea... TEAM... Simples really. Wesley and Blanchfield should run for the hills if not. Injuries no excuse, they keep buying in ready made talent. Same as last few season. Consistent things from each year is the coach and Spoilding

Once again a hard year to be a Melbourne supporter.
Watching that preening cockbird is always a bit of an ordeal, but seeing the general lack of squad cohesion was often saddening. A team of champions, as they say, but not the championship team they should have been.
Yes, there were season disruptions along the way, but tonight all that was well behind them.
Melbourne's players have played for themselves alone, it seems, and not for each other.

Interesting lately how much Wesley has fallen out of United's rotation.

If Goulding was really that good he would be in the NBA...but he is not..

14/43 from the field in the last 3 games when it matters most.

Yes 41.5% 3pm for the season is terrible.

What was going with majok? Hardly see him play?

So NZ Hang in there.

Looking tough for MU.

... but where has he been the last 3 games?

Yeah let's just ignore the fact he helped them get into the position to be able to challenge for a finals spot idiot.

You can also remember it by Goulding not standing up when his team needs him the most and cost them a finals spot because he's a selfish, brick-shooting hack.

Well that was the Finn Delany dunk show.

Need Perth to win tonight - our chances tab on Perth > Sydney and Melbourne > Perth to knock both out.

Disappointing finish, (probable) to United's season there.

Gutsy effort by undermanned NZ, strong D

Although United were rubbish tonight, I'll remember this as a season ruined by injury. Goulding, Blanchfield, Andersen, Barlow, Moore all missing 5-10 games, it was a revolving door and the team never got any continuity or rhythm.

Go the Taipans!

That improves our chances. I think we can now finish no lower than 4th. Maybe not the wooden spoon that was predicted for either us or the Hawks...

So this complicates things further, eh?

United are flogs!!

What an inspid and gutless performance by Melbourne getting flogged by a Breakers team missing Mitchell & Vukona.

Goulding is 13/44 from the field in his last 3 games.

LOL. Pathetic.

88 to 70 Breakers FT

United are no different to last year...Absolutely NOTHING when there 3s arent falling...absolutely nothing..

Dry up there 3s and you have a bottom of the league team.

Where is Andersen and those flukey ass 3s he hit against the KIngs last week?

Thats all this team ever relies on...flukey ass 3s...ABSOLUTELY NO INSIDE GAME...NONE

United 5 assists on 24 field goals hahahahahahahahaha

LOL

With the season on the line CG43 shoots a blistering 16% from the field....2/12 bitches!!!!

Why does that guy go missing when the pressure is on?

Never in my life seen a more overrated and over hyped player than Goulding.

No wonder no NBA team will look at him...

We seem to celebrate rejects from other leagues in the NBL...always have and always will

Missed the first 3 quarters, but Delany looking the goods this Q.

United has many friends in not playing well on Road

United 4W-9L
Wildcats 4W-9L
Taipans 4W-9L
Bullets 4W-9L
Breakers 5W-9L
Hawks 6W-8L
kings 6W-7L

Why is it United can't play on the road? No sense of urgency either

LOL @ goulding....never seen a player that disappears in big games like him.

United are almost cooked and where's Chris Goulding? Is he even playing still? Overrated hack.

Goulding is nothing but a flat track bully. That is why he never made the NBA

Yep, enough talented players in both teams to attack the rack. Where'd this 3 point obsession come from!?

Stephen Curry is a flog!

This would be such a great game if they would stop chucking from 3. Both teams.

How many years has he been in the league? And he's STILL inconsistent? Amazing.

CG43 is inconsistent....but if he gets hot, he'll take the game away from you.

Not many in the league are capable of that.

How did Goulding play for the Boomers? Trash basketballer.

I never thought Adelaide would finish on top and did with games to spare. Think the cats casually thought they would stroll in this season and to be fair Sydney is the only team to go out and make a statement on recruiting.

Adelaide, Illawarra, cairns, budget wise would be there abouts. Think they have exceeded expectations which is great for the nil in general.

I bleed Perth but this season has to be the most up and down and inconsistent on and off the court. When you pay good money to support a team that charges a arm and a leg you expect the best, if not drop the price and hope for the best every season.

c4l,
I think that in a 5 game GF series, Adelaide will win out.
If they are vulnerable (which is a big if) I feel it is in the SF.
The one team you don't want to face is NZ. Just ask MU!

If NZ win this one, they finish on 14 wins, with a very real chance of finishing 4th.

Dazz, Adelaide will be in the gf, nz won't be like last season. United and Illawarra I think have the fire power to compete against Adelaide.

My only question is how are they going to ref the finals? If Perth make it, is the physical style going to be allowed? If yes and Perth make it then maybe.

All depends on how Adelaide handle the pressure of finals and a full house expecting not wishing they win. Perth sometimes struggle at home when it's a sellout knowing the crowd is expecting a w.

Yep, yet another massive game, and as Isaac said in his OP, after tonight we'll have a much clearer picture. (Or at least a few less permutations.)
NZ lose, they are out. period.
MU lose, it gets very hard for them. They would need other results to go their way, and then win the last game against Perth.

Both teams are getting better at the right end of the season.
I've got to tip NZ at home, and I reckon that the 6's may come to regret dropping that game.

Tonight we will find out a lot about United.

They've have been bad on the road and trash in NZ so everything points to a Breakers win.

DD would be shitting razorblades!

The first Melbourne/Aus born from a proud Kiwi family I'm always conflicted during these match ups.

Melbourne never look great playing in NZ, but if their casual performance from last year's finals round is anything to go by I think they'll be taking it a lot more seriously tonight.

I think NZ might be just a bit too banged up and missing pieces to be a definite lock, but still tipping them to only just nudge out United for the fact they're at home.

Looking forward to the Ware/Dillard match up.

"(If Melb win both and Cairns beat Adelaide again, Melb get first)"

Obviously meant to say *second*

Other option is Melb win both and Illawarra lose to Brisbane (irrespective of Cairns / Ade), United would get 2nd in that scenario too.

Well, this is it.

For the storied Breakers franchise, win tonight or it's all over.

For star studded Melbourne United, win and you can start dreaming about second position. (If Melb win both and Cairns beat Adelaide again, Melb get first). Lose and they'll be relying on Sydney beating Perth to keep their hopes alive.

NZ hasn't been a happy hunting ground for UTD, but with a healthy Casper and CG43, United are 10-4 this season (10-6 overall with Casper, discounting the Adelaide and Illawarra games where injuries hit hard).

Mitchell's absence leaves NZ with a frontcourt of Pledger, Loe, the foul prone Vukona (Who leads the league with 3.6 fouls per game despite playing 19.6 minutes a game) and Delaney.

But really, there's no form guide for this game- the two teams haven't matched up with both Dillard and Ware in uniform. I'm tipping a gruelling, close contest. The stakes are high, so expect nothing less from two tough sides.

Bring it!

If Breakers and Perth win tonight then I think Cairns are in.

If Sydney win we could still end up with Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns and NZ in a tie-breaker for two spots, in which case the Taipans finish fifth (I think!).

Just to confuse it even more (you mean it isn't already?) I think if the Breakers win, we (Taipans) go through to the finals. Haven't a clue where, but I know it's not first :)

And you ain't seen nothin' yet from the guys...

it is 21.50 CST and the game on live stats is only at half time ???

was there a delay starting or..... ?