Hoops

NBL Grand Final Game 3&4 Pre-game fan banter

Any reason why Ticketmaster refuses to take my money? Won't let me pay for the tickets.

If Childress is on reduced minutes or sitting out then Adelaide will probably miss his rebounding more than anything. There are probably people who can fill the void on offence.

If Boone is still hampered by a back niggle then it's Advantage Adelaide. He's a rebounding machine and Adelaide looked way more comfortable when he was warming the bench.

If there's no structural damage I would imagine he will suit up. If he has soreness maybe he'll play less minutes.

Thanks Snooch, I see it now! I'm glad there's no structural damage, but it seems like we are still in the dark as to whether Childress will even play, let alone have an impact.

Just posted to their website.

Hope you're right Snooch! What's your source!

Childress cleared of structural damage

You can hurt lots of different bits from shoulder inpact like that. Especially as you get older. AC joint, SC joint, supraspinatus, fractures, bone bruising. The list goes on. Fingers crossed it's not major.

Game 1, Ware came back to bench and when teammates asked him how he was, was clearly shaking his head as though to say he is a no go.... then started 3rd quarter. Hard to analyse this stuff.

FWIW...from a distance I saw DJ ask Chill after the game presumably how his shoulder was and Chill (his back facing me) said something back to him. If my lip reading is correct DJ's response was..."That's F'd".

I just cant see how he tore or popped anything in that incident. It is hopefully just a insanely deep bruise. Yes being on his left side is a mini bonus, but United will attack that shoulder with relentless savage approach.

IF he is fit, Adelaide will win this series in 4 from here though, so in my eyes this injury is the key for Adelaide. Childress has become the X factor of all X factors.

Predict a tear, cortisone and a load of tape and pain killers to get him through then surgery. Wear and tear proba finally have way with the knock and Chill probs knows he’as close to wnd of his yeara playing so will want to play and resign with them for his remaining game days.. just my thoughts

When Boone got hurt Majoc had a very good few minutes getting O boards and tap outs but then sat and was hardly seen till the end. Playing Adnam and Hooley together was also strange especially defence wise. Adelaide went on a 11 nil run at the start of the third and no subs made till towards the end quarter in which Melbourne then won 8 to 4 till 3/4 time and at start fourth quarter he went back to his starters, should have kept who he had on at 3/4 time for the start of the fourth because defence looked a lot better, not who was on at the finish of the third quarter.
Coaching battle one all. Teams one all look forward to Friday night.

anon - I agree. The starting fives for both teams are all aggressive, confident players capable of scoring 20-30 in a game. And then a couple of bench players from each side who can put up 15-20 points comfortably.

Yep, this series has gone as I expected so far.

And I think the injuries are indeed crucial.

Before game 1 I said Casper was Melbourne's main man and the number one advantage against Adelaide.

His 7 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 6 minutes before his injury, and then his game breaking second half would seem to back me up here.

Boone is the other major piece for United- and yesterday we saw Adelaide dominate the boards as Boone was hampered, in foul trouble and sat most of the game.

This is an epic battle of two franchises trying to come of age- a United group with plenty of experience, but as a franchise United has always underachieved- until now. 36ers are still a relatively young group who have promised much over the past 18 months, and it's finally coming together on the biggest of stages.

Game 3 should be a cracker. United to win in the first single digit margin of the series.

Sixers coach starts this group to start the last quater:

Ng
Daly
Johnson
Heliwell
Weigh

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