Any news on Jacksons replacement ?

Kings by a dozen.. no matter who plays or doesn't.

Well, if it goes according to what's o paper then Sydney by at least 10, and more if Goulding doesn't play.

If paper turns out to be merely something you wipe your butt with, then a galvanised, desperate Melbourne team can pull off a gutsy win.

Hopefully the latter.

Garlepp started with two bonehead plays and Gaze subbed in Hill. About time ! Pity Hill isn't matching up well with Wesley, this is where Khazzouh would've been handy to have around to see if he could do better.

You just need to let Wesley get his points and attack him on the other side.

Yeah, Adnam on Lisch is not going to end well...

Not a big fan of that camera angle they keep cutting to when the Kings have the ball on the closest sideline, too zoomed in.

Maric just getting better each game.

Ominous sign for United, Cadee found his touch again. Adnam managed to answer both times though.

Adnam doing well on offense, but much like Wesley (execpt even more so) you just gotta take those points back on the other end.

Entertaining first half.

United is doing ok, but why did Majok sit for the entire second qtr while Sydney keep getting to the basket, scoring at will inside the key with little rim protection. Maric is proving tough to handle but Majok is our best option on him.

What's Garlepp been having lately? Driving two hand slam vs. Bullets and a massive block on Wesley?

I think Majok's on foul trouble LV? Is he on 2 or 3 fouls?

Did anyone know Steve Blake played in the nba?

Majok 2 fouls. Had 2 baskets off cutting hard and finishing at the hoop, hopefully he comes back on asap

@Duncan, never heard of him till they hyped his arrival :).

I had to find his Youtube highlights to find out who he is. Looked good in those clips but hell everyone looked good in their highlight clips even Kwame Brown heh.

LOL Heal talking about Gaze and white line fever? Its Ray Gordon he should be talking about :)

Melbourne I think are the first team I haven't seen press Sydney all the way up the court... strange decision.

God, seeing Andersen catch the ball in the post with Garlepp on him is a nightmare.

That must be so frustrating for United, 3 attempts couldn't score then turnover and Powell gets a dunk.

Garlepp except for that little stretch before 1st half played pretty crap the whole game. Why isn't Gaze subbing in Hill or Moller? From the little we saw of Craig Moller, he could develop into an NBL version of Rodman if he ever gets his bulk up and defense polished. That boy has an uncanny knack for getting offensive board.

How did Newley not get continuation on that? Awful.

BLAKE CAN'T PLAY

BLAKE IS BAD

Did... did... Wesley just, pass the ball?

BLAKE STINKS

BLAKE HAS A +/- of -34 BECAUSE HES CRAP

Bold anon's insight stinks. Blake has played a shitload of NBA games, which probably means he's pretty good. He's out of shape, yes, but stinks? You're a moron.

Not only did he play in the nba, he played 923 games. If that's ever a trivia question it is now impossible for me to forget thanks to Dwayne Russell.

EAT A DICK ANGUS

Another classic call, well done.

Forget the 3 imports, I reckon the point differential rule is a killer for end of bench guys/dev players.

Demopulous has to be on borrowed time doesn't he. I'm not a United fan but his demeanour and clear lack of buy in from his playing group is clear for all to see

Heh Moller subbed in and within 3 sec grabbed an offensive board.

Thanks to DD, he & MU keeping the Sixers off the bottom of the ladder :)

Gaze still striking that balance between coaching and commentating... lol... Good to hear an unscripted, raw perspective though.

Did I miss something tonight re: Majok playing so few minutes? Did he pick up an injury or something?

Does anyone else agree that Moore can't defend? Week after week, he gets beaten by a quick first step.

And Williams still looks lost out there. When I see him working faster at getting around the court, and providing some help defence, then I'll start to rate him. Sure, he didn't get many minutes in the beginning, but now he's getting the minutes and still not looking that good (or motivated).

Byebye DD

Williams' problems are his lack of court awareness, limited basketball IQ and poor aggressiveness. Great bulk suitable for NBA albeit not much athleticism.

Not sure if his glasses are impacting his peripheral vision but his eyesight is not compatible with his 'head down' playstyle. He needs to crane his neck and look around more often. Sometimes he just put his head down and sprint downcourt instead of looking left, right and centre.

DD's coaching probably not helping as well, so when plays broke down, it really exposes his rookie mistakes of standing in the wrong spot or making wrong decision between going towards the basket or running back on defense.

Steve Blake averaging 4.8 points on 25% shooting in 21:53 this season. That's almost as bad as Scott Christopherson.

A scrappy United win looked possible there, but Lisch's brilliant display killed the hopes. Cadee was hot early and Lisch was all class in the last, but overall Sydney isn't clicking at the moment. Probably the result that was expected in the end, but Sydney had to fight much harder than they should've. Give it 2 more games and if Blake keeps struggling, the attitude towards him might change from "give him time" to "pressures on".

Good to see Barlow out there too! So much for people saying he couldn't be counted as an injury.

On another note, if NBL is serious about stamping out flopping, they need some system of review after the fact. Garlepp should've got a tech, it was one of the most blatant flops I've ever seen, yet Adnam gets the unsportsmanlike and Garlepp gets rewarded with a trip to the line. I know people who don't usually attend and were part of the 9,000+ in attendance. Not a good look for the NBL, not when they play the replay 5 times.

NBL should review flops as part of their usual reviews during the week, and hand out fines, warnings and eventually suspensions for multiple offenses.

Barlow will be hitting threes and playing solid D this season. I expect 12-15 minutes a game, 5-6 points, at least half to come from 3 where he'll shoot 38-40%. Tonight was a good starting point.

Yes DD is an imbecile but MU are/have been missing some good players. Its a fair excuse for being on the bottom of the ladder in a tight competitive league

Scott Christopherson - there's a name! I did a quick google of him, he went to Switzerland after his disastrous NBL stint. Seems to have retired from bball now.

The LISCH, LISCH, LISCH...... and LISCH show.
Nothing Melbourne could do about that.

Fire DD...hire Marty Clarke he couldn't do any worse

It wasn't a convincing win other than Cadee and Lisch lighting it up, but as Gazey said in the presser after the game, that first quarter especially shouldn't just be a case of the D being bad, but United were just scoring really well too...

A better contribution from most players in this game, Newls didn't have to take on so much himself, but boy I love seeing him get to the basket, and that zinger of a pass to Lisch through traffic... VERY nice...

LV, you saw the replay how many times of Adnam trying to tackle Garlepp and you're still saying it was a Garlepp flop? lol... Come on now... If the little fella can't take a solid screen and chucks a sook, he needs to go back to his U17 team...