Every sports fanatic in the world loves to see a series go the full distance, and basketball fans here in Oz got their wish on Friday night.

The Perth Wildcats defied all logic to pull that game out of the fire and send this thing to a third game decider - YOU BEAUTY!

The NZ Breakers, led beautifully by the evergreen CJ Bruton, seemed to have this one in the bag all game until Perth, with a bit of luck, somehow clawed their way out to give us one last hurrah.

Both camps are tired and have injury scares which could almost balance each other out but I'm now leaning towards the home court Breakers being slightly in better nick right now.

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Having 10,000 screaming fans would certainly make them favourites. It's gonna be a slog, it will go the distance and I've got my six-pack ready for ONE HD at 10.30pm Tuesday night.
 
In the footy Nathan Buckley said last week his Pies had been brought back to the pack but, it seems, so have reigning premiers Geelong.

The Cats beat a gallant Richmond by 10 points but seem to lack that fire power which has made them great for half a decade. In fact when you look at the ladder Essendon, Sydney and West Coast are all undefeated but they are definitely beatable.

Hawthorn and Carlton just got wake up calls and Freo look the real deal. When Ross Lyon coached the Saints they came within inches of premierships and he seems to have instilled this toughness into the Dockers.

It just goes to show that putting on rookie coaches who have been great assistants in successful clubs doesn't bring instant success - only someone forgot to tell Chris Scott!

Rookie coaches Buckley, Watters, McCartney and especially Neeld are certainly having roller coaster rides in the big man's shoes and Sanderson over in Adelaide has also recently been served up a dose of reality. 

I wouldn't be surprised one bit if next season struggling clubs start head-hunting the experienced mentors like Malthouse and Eade. If these guys have the desire to keep coaching it would be the best way IMO to get quick success.

This week's winners
Still alive in the tipping; 00, Goodies Cafe (NZ in 3)
Toni Bennett, Coral Sea Villas (NZ in 3)
Kerry Larson, Happy Pools (Perth in 3) 
Sam Evans, Goodies cafe (Perth in 3)
Glen Saville, Wolloongong Hawks (NZ in 3)
Lucas Agrums, Quicksilver (NZ in 3)
Bruno Bennett, Coral Sea Villas (Perth in 3)
Jodi G, U Beauty (Perth in 3)
Michael Gabour, Radio Port Douglas (NZ in 3)
                                                            
This week's losers (But not by much)
Steve hull, Ironbar (Perth in 2)
Nathan Evans (NZ in 2)
German, Happy Pools (NZ in 2)
Coops, Senior Crocs Coach (NZ in 2)
Roy weavers, Newsport (NZ in 2)

The lucky winners by the way get to take me out to dinner... 

Join us on Radio Port Douglas this Saturday morning for the Saturday Morning Sports Show (9 - 11 am, 90.9 FM on the dial) as Roy, Kez and I will be chatting with Breakers coach Andrej Lemanis as well as another big name and all our local sports legends covering all sports.