Hoops

Breakers v Bullets Dec 9

Nice summary LV. It's worth noting that there re three head-to-head series where teams have yet to play each other. One of those is likely to be important for 4th place:

- Cairns vs SE Melbourne - not yet played each other and have 3 head to head games

There are also some head to heads where teams have played once but still have 3 games, rather than 2, remaining. e.g., Brisbane vs NZ, NZ vs SE Melbourne, Sydney vs SE Melbourne, Brisbane vs Perth, Adelaide vs NZ, Adelaide vs Cairns.

Interesting to note that SE Melbourne end up playing 11 games against top 3 opponents (Sydney, Perth Melbourne), while NZ play only 9 against that same group. Adelaide, Brisbane and Cairns each play 10 games against that group.

Perth are paying 4.8 million, now that’s ridiculous. Second to Melbourne I might add.

The Bullets are paying $26 for the title, that's absolutely ridiculous.

You don’t win many games in the nbl with out a great point guard, Sobey and Cadee are not that good. Hodgson and Magnay are so overrated, so crap point guard and crap five man and you are going no where.

Weeks should be at end bench, better than Hampton, lol.

Honestly Shamir is lucky the club is such a basket case we don't have time to talk about his incompetence or that time he definitely worked with Rick Pitino.

But, having said that, if I had to stake my life on one of the options, I reckon I'd go Adelaide. Joey Wright is a proven quality coach. Randle and DJ have done it all before. And they've got 9 games left in Adelaide and already have 6 wins, so I think they're very, very likely to win at least 12 games, and quite probably 13 or more, which means they'll be right there.

Bullets don't have enough to challenge for top 4. Patterson is brilliant but the supporting cast isn't enough.

Breakers are now 4-9. The way it's going this season, 14 wins could be enough for 4th. They'll need to go 10-5, but with their remaining schedule it's a real possibility.

If you assume the bottom 6 won't win too many vs the top 3 (Cairns have bucked this trend so far, but with United now healthy and Perth now in form, I think the top 3 will win at least 80% of games vs bottom 6 teams for the remainder of the season. Perth appears the weakest of the 3, so it would be nice to work this into the model, but let's keep it simple for a basic check of fixture difficulty).

Remaining games vs the top 3, and remaining home games.

NZ (4-9) - 3 of 15 vs top 3. 7 of 15 at home.

SEM (6-6) - 5 of 16 vs top 3. 6 of 16 at home.

Ade (6-7) - 4 of 15 vs top 3. 9 of 15 at home.

Bris (6-8) - 6 of 14 vs top 3. 8 of 14 at home.

Cairns (7-7) - 4 of 14 vs top 3. 7 of 14 at home.

Based on that:

- You can count out Brisbane. They don't have the talent to get the required wins against the top 3.

- Count out SEM- very tough ask staying ahead of 50% wins when every 3rd game is against a top team and 10 of 16 are away.

That leaves Cairns, Adelaide and NZ. Cairns are the form team of the competition. But NZ could have the best depth of these 3.

Webster in career best form, Hopson looking very dangerous gives them two legit scorers. Henry also very capable. They go 9 deep with experienced NBL players- better depth than Adelaide or Cairns. So if Hopson turns out good enough, they'll be in great shape.

Gliddon got paid by Brisbane and has just stopped trying. He has fallen off hard.

Had free tickets and was glad to see the Breakers slug out a W.

Patterson off the bench hahahaha AL starts his two dud imports and brings his stud off the pine

Patterson is fantastic, Sobey, Cadee, not so.

32 FT Hopson and Webster down stretch almost brought it home. 10 up 2.05 to go.

Who in the entire NBL does well against Paterson individually? I'm not sure there's anyone that can stop him. Let Delaney earn his lumps and develop his defense.

Even the commentary were saying that Paterson was destroying Delaney on defence, there is two ends court, though most people don’t see it.

Delaney showing why he should've been playing 25mpg for the last 2 years.

DELANY JAM!!!!

Some quality guesswork from the refs re: the charge/block calls tonight.

Yes, Casey Frank is one of the best around.

Delaney very good though caught out defensively a few times, even commentators mentioned it.

The commentary far better than the over top crap we get in Australia.

Buzzas to roll these pricks in the second half

Delany had been superb! Attacking the rim hard all day and tearing the Bullets apart with his athleticism

Injured hip

Hip injury, as opposed to a Ball injury.

Enjoying the commentary compared to homicide, Heal bull shit fest.

NZ lighting it up from 3

Hopson sweating like Patrick Ewing out there.

Been a very entertaining first quarter. Delaney doing good. Hampton out with hip injury. Brisbane are an enigma.

I can't think of a more shit-tastic match-up right now in the NBL. Thankfully it tips off at 2:30pm here in Title Town.

At least Brisbane have won 3 more games; which shows you just how bad NZB have been doesn't it.

Bullets and nz are both rubbish, coin toss on who turns up. Maybe nz at home, unless Paterson really steps up.

I'm going to say Bullets.

Only because I don't know NZB's modus operandi to winning games. I don't know their blueprint.

Rice is fried

Hopson is playing tonight so Rice Jnr was always going to be released.
I’m heading to the game after work, hopefully NZ can get up

LOL..... just found out about that!

Rice is cooked

Sixers are hosting the Hawks in what will be a very interesting arm wrestle at Brett Maher Arena. Gordie under pressure with retirements, injuries and final 4 spots. Melbourne has to potential to replace Wollongong if Wollongong loses and the Tiggers triumph over Cairns. Townsville could replace Adelaide at the foot of the table too!

Marty just under pressure.

A four quarters effort is needed and when under pressure, the best answer is get it back to basics and keep it simple.

Anyone willing to back the Sixers?