Hoops

Shorter vs Ware

And of course this is also the reason why it's silly to say that Shorter is as good as Casper because his stats are almost as good.

Adelaide plays at a faster pace.

If Casper played for Adelaide he'd have better looking stats for sure

It only appears that way because Vickerman's system has more structure.

He's played a slightly different role this year. Quarterback on a successful team (23-9) vs free wheeling gun slinger on a team that didn't quite live up to its talent (10-8 with him).

His stats may have dropped but he remained one of the top handful of most valuable players in the league.

Ware looked like MVP material last year but this year he's dropped back into the pack. On a given night he can be a game winner I'll give him that but he hasn't backed up his form from last year.

For LV that is easing up.

Defensive fundamentals impeccable? Ease up.

This is also why the refs hurt United so much on Sunday- Casper was limited to 18 minutes and ended up fouling out- with several loose ball foul calls against him that could've easily been left uncalled.

Casper's defensive fundamentals are impeccable. When he fouls out, it's always worth looking over the tape to see how it happened.

His hip injury remains a big X factor in this series for mine.

Ware is more important to United's chances.

When Goulding was out early in the season, United played some nice basketball.

Look at stats in wins vs losses:

Casper wins (23 games): 19.0ppg, 5.0apg, 3.2rpg, 1.2spg, 2.2topg, 40% FG, 36% 3P in 33.4mpg.

Casper in losses (9 games): 10.1ppg, 3.9apg, 2.7rpg, 0.3spg, 2.7topg. 31%FG, 30% 3P in 29.7mpg.

Goulding wins (21 games): 16.4ppg, 2.9apg, 2.3rpg, 0.6spg, 1.7topg, 41% FG, 41% 3P in 32.7mpg.

Goulding losses (9 games): 10.4ppg, 2.4rpg, 1.9apg, 0.4spg, 1.2topg, 40% FG, 36% 3P in 30.1mpg.

Casper is United's barometer more so than CG43.

Boone's offensive rebounds make their average 3 point percentage look better than they are I guess.

Surprised at 34.5% since everything Ware has shot recently seems to go in.

Ware is a lot more dangerous than Goulding.

Whichever team flexes the most is probably going to win the championship. I'd say there's a direct correlation there

They're quite different players, but one thing I like about Shorter is that he's not afraid to body up against bigger players if there's an apparent mismatch.

Thought that said, someone like Andersen has a bit of a repertoire at the basket and managed to cope with him OK.

The flexing might seem a bit much, but those sorts of reactions are great fodder for highlight reels when the NBL are making preview videos, recaps, etc.

I did like Creek flexing at Majok Majok, and Majok couldn't hold back a smile in response at the flex battle he'd walked into.

Yeah it’s cool they are yakking about it etc but it’s pretty lame type of trash talk realistically. Shorter so dumb to say a thing after the best player Adelaide has went down injured. That comment immediately didn’t age well.

I'm loving the banter, don't know why anyone thinks this recent episode is a bad thing. People are talking about it!

Dome Rat...Ware is a lot more dangerous than Goulding.

As Ware said, why is Shorter shooting his mouth off, he doesn’t even defend him, Sobey does. When Shorter is good enough to mark his opposite and not let Sobey do it maybe he can say something.

But we all expect such high standards from Cory....

The poor form is your assumption of Homicide's wrongdoing

Snooch, if you watch Homicide's YouTube video, he asked Shorter whether it was okay to Tweet that

Sounds to me like Homicide is the one who's started all the shit. Shorter didn't say anything publicly - Homicide is the one who made a conversation public. Poor form.

As far as war of words goes this is pretty boring and just petty. Shorter should’ve shit his mouth from the start and not said a thing to fire United up. Really really dumb... and I’m a 36er fan.

Players talk trash all the time. This is just being pushed by Homicide to get extra attention and fuel interest.

Personally i could do without seeing it played out publicly. It's more fun to watch it happen on the court.

Jerome loves to weigh in, but I'm not sure he's the best opinion to listen to given his mouth got him in trouble during last years finals and then he couldn't back the talk with performance on court in the Semis.

Anon, NBL currently don't keep bicep flexing stats, so we're going to have to check the video for that one, but I would hazard a guess it would be Shorter! ;P

LV, just saw your post after posting the stats. What leads you to conclude that he is "clearly the better player"?

I like too Manu! Being a stat lover, here are the numbers:

GF Series totals thus far:

Shorter - 61mins, 26pts, 13rbs, 5asts, 4stls, 1to, 11-26FG (42%), 16+ (+/-), 32EFF index

Ware - 44mins, 26pts, 6rbs, 6asts, 1stl, 5to's, 8-19FG (42%), -4 (+/-), 22EFF index

NBL Season averages:

Shorter - 29mins, 13.3pts, 48% 2pt, 32% 3pt, 77% FT, 5.2rbs, 4.2asts, 2.7to's, 1.2stls.

Ware - 33mins, 16.1pts, 41% 2pt, 33% 3pt, 88% FT, 2.9rbs, 4.7asts, 2.1to's, 1.0stls.


From stats alone, what could be concluded? Pretty similar stats throughout the season with Ware edging Shorter in mins played and about an extra bucket per game, 11% better FT and a touch cleaner with the ball. Shorter has a much higher FG% and a stronger rebounder, while it's pretty square in steals, assists and 3PG%. Adjusting for minutes, they're pretty hard to split statistically?

GF Series - as they're just stat totals, then Ware's lack of mins in game 2 leads to the discrepancies, but I would hazard a guess that if mins were a bit closer, we'd see similar numbers?

Therefore, hard to give bragging rights to either player, as such, fun to see them and others banter about each other's play! :)

Casper seems to be a big game player.

He got smack talking with Sosa when they played in the regular season, and got the better of Sosa that day. Then in the big grudge series in the semi finals, he destroyed Sosa again, especially in Game 1.

Game 1 of the GF he came up big too. He's won a championship in France in 2016.

Based on all this recent history, if Shorter wants to talk it up- good on him. It might provide a bit of extra fire in Casper's belly. He's clearly the better player and if he can bring another game or two like Game 1, it'll go a long way towards ensuring United wins the title.

All 3 need to go to their rooms for a time out.

Okay I like this

Randle's defence felt much more improved this season as did a lot of things he seemed maligned in Adelaide for like leadership and passing the ball

With Balls and Crossy out I guess the new captain can only be Weigh or Herbert?