Hoops

WNBL Round 13

If it’s an actual sprain she’ll be long odds to play Wednesday and even game two

Good news, hopefully won't affect her play too much

Whitcomb cleared of a break.

She was taken to a Townsville hospital amid fears she had broken her right wrist, but scans showed she had only bone bruising and a sprain. The injury is to Whitcomb’s shooting hand

Great work too on the tipping, Melb Fan! If it's the singlet Suzy wore this round then it shouldn't be too sweaty.

Liz will get a dream run with the refs. That is the only certain thing about the week ahead.

you dont know the team might come out firing for Sami if that is in fact the way it goes them playing without her.

The best team in the WNBL will be the team with the least amount of injuries!

One thing that can help Perth is all the home finals.

We could replace anyone but her and Courtney but going to be tough if we are without her.
Such a blow too for her opals and WNBA dreams if it is in fact a broken wrist.
Do you think Perth have a chance still without her?

Is Sami confirmed broken wrist or is there still hope?

Obviously the Perth injuries are killing me right now, and suck for the competition overall, but I don't think the schedule can be blamed for them. Just 2 very unfortunate incidents.

Flames-Fire should be a great matchup. Townsville are such a deep team, I actually wonder if they're too deep for their own good. Hamson finding some nice form lately for Sydney will be important. She needs to keep those hands of hers out of trouble and get some good support from Boag & Greaves.
I probably lean Sydney's way with home court, but Townsville are quite capable of sweeping the whole playoffs so who knows... (certainly not me, based on my awful tipping year! :p )

Who do people think Melbourne will meet in the final, Sydney or Townsville?

If only Perth had a good center, they would run away with the championship.

How common are hamstrings in Basketball? Palau, Todhunter. Were there any others?

Did Melbourne finish 4th?

bad news for Perth if thats the case, was really hoping they could put Boomers out first round of finals

The new WNBL condensed season has struck again with another injury!

OFFS!

I think Suzy still is pissed about Burton making opals. Smashes her every time

I hope Whitcomb's minutes stopping on 7:28 is simply just part of the plan.

Fire were just being their flakey selves.

Bendigo AT HOME might not be such a walk in the park?

^ Correct.
Hard to know how motivated the Fire will be today. I guess they'll be keeping an eye on the Bendigo-Sydney score just in case.
Even with 2nd spot likely out of the equation, I still feel like the Fire have a lot more to play for today at home though, after that lacklustre effort in Sydney. (Anyone think they were holding bit back? You wouldn't think so with home court advantage at stake, right?)
Perth have even less to play for, and I think that's a tough thing to overcome, so it's a Fire win today IMO. Could be a big one.

Ah ok, so yeah barring something truly remarkable, Sydney has second spot sewn up

Unlike the NBL, there was no change, so still H2H.

Season H2H.

What’s the tie breaker for teams on level wins this season? Is it pts diff or series h/h ?

"Went to my first WNBL game last night ... "

WNBL games are a great day/night out! Usually like to find a dual reason for making the two hour trip but think I'll go Wednesday regardless.

Interesting to hear about Todhunter, one more injury to the tally.

Yes, Fox sports deal is what I understand to be the reason plus they argued that players could play WNBL and then options would still exist to chase a dollar in Europe.

Is Comm Games the sole reason for the change in schedule this season?

Went to my first WNBL game last night with my daughter. Not much of a game but full credit to Justin Nelson for providing the crowd participation and noticed him at one stage mopping the sweat off the court.

After the game had a great chat with Amelia Todhunter from Dandenong said she tore her hamstring in the first two minutes of the game. She showed amazing courage to play out the game!!

"Perhaps Rangers had a bad year riddled with injuries and didn't have the depth to cover those injuries."

Yeah, they started the season a little more underprepared (they & Perth started slow, as two of the teams with lots new faces) but lost Sara just as they were building into form.

The condensed format has been a farce IMO. Arguably more injuries, exposing lack of depth on rosters and also meaning more games missed per injury, including players that normally would have returned Jan or Feb but instead their season was ended.

With Dowes injury, I think Townsville will beat Perth today to remain in second spot. Although Townsvilles defence is a worry..

Perhaps Rangers had a bad year riddled with injuries and didn't have the depth to cover those injuries. Larissa coached the team into a wnbl grand final 10 months ago so perhaps the league is better this season and the Rangers needs to find more $ to remain competitive?

Rangers as usual ran out of steam , basically ran with 7 players two of which have been unfit to play for the last few weeks
Blicavs could barely get her shots as high as the ring, Lavey just wastes so much time dribbling and going nowhere

They better do more than get better imports next season , perhaps a change of coaching staff is due too

Pretty sure I read Lynx have a lay-over in Brisbane, then straight to Melbourne.

Surely the Lynx head to Melbourne after tomorrow’s game ?

Haven't heard anything official, but apparently the injury is a knee and didn't appear to be caused by contact, so that's a scary combo if true.

I'm seeing triple OT in the Townville game.

O'Hea hasn't altogether set the league alight, now seven turnovers tonight! No wonder Rangers got within fourty!

What is the prognosis on Dowe (obviously didn't appear after very early Q2)?

Btw, congrats Melb Fan on winning the Basket Case tipping comp!
:-)

Her previous game was 17 points, 8 boards, 4 assists. Pretty good numbers in a team that went 0-7 to end the season.
Carrying too much load for too long must have worn her down. Overall she had a very good season but tonight and the recent Spirit match were awful shooting games for her.

Boomers looked pretty good in patches today I thought. Cambage never got into top gear, O'Hea never got out of first gear, but the team still looked pretty comfortable thanks to Smart, Conti, Purcell & Tomlinson all making solid contributions.
I am seriously sweating on Dowe's health right now, and kinda hoping that a storm or a blackout can cause tomorrow's Fire-Lynx game to be cancelled.

Steph Blicavs was bad for the Rangers tonight. She's had a disappointing last few games which hadn't helped the Rangers?

Rangers might want to get some new imports next season that can score?

Interesting commentary about Rangers being TOO relaxed in prep for their final game. Would a memo from the league about serving that up on TV be appropriate? Shot 27%, 3P;2/20!!

lol that is insipid stuff from Dandenong.. they scored the grand total of 16 points across the fourth quarters of their final three games (2,14,0)

Yikes. A zero point 4th quarter by the Rangers. On tv.

^ Well that was a fizzer :/

Williams named in the Lynx starting 5. That's a relief.

Clydesdale thus far 8pts, FG3/3, 2-RB, 3-AS but has missed a free throw, which I think is quite disapointing!

It was May 2016 when Deakin Melbourne Boomers Head Coach Guy Molloy and General Manager Justin Nelson posed the question to each other of whether they had the finances to keep Australia’s longest running elite-level women’s sports team alive?
...
Now, 18 months later as the Boomers head into the WNBL finals for the first time in four years we catch up with Jackson, Molloy, Hallam and Nelson to ask them about the club’s rise to being the WNBL’s leaders in so many areas.

She said the ice was precautionary, but the way she was limping around at the end of the match, and unable to join the handshake lines ... not sure if it was gamesmanship or real, but it was convincing enough to concern me.