The Sports Thread

This weekend sucked! The Aussie cricketers batting like shit & managed to lost the Fourth Test to the Poms while the Pistons lost to the lowly-ranked Utah Jazz as well. You get those weekends as a sports fan but the Pistons have the chance to redeem themselves against the LA Clippers this afternoon so I'm hoping for a better performance.

The Pistons fucking lost again yesterday which has really pissed me off. It seems like the other teams have discovered that if they can get Cade Cunningham into foul trouble early then they'll have a much stronger chance of beating us which is certainly the case & I'm surprised it's taken this long for them to figure it out. Kawaii Leonard had 55 points, equaling the Clippers' record points tally. Fucking killed us!! Here's hoping the Sydney Kings can thrash the last-placed Brisbane Bullets in this afternoon's NBL match to brighten my spirits.

The bloody Pistons have now lost three of their last four which is pissing me right off. Hopefully the Sydney Kings can continue our winning run tonight against the ladder-topping Adelaide 36ers.

And Usman Khawaja has announced that he is retiring from international cricket after the Fifth Test in Sydney next week. He's been a wonderful representative for the game but it is time for a changing of the guard. I just wish he didn't have a big whinge about his recent treatment at the hands of the media during his press conference announcement. It wasn't a great look in my opinion.

I'm having another bad little period for sport after my Sydney Kings lost to the Adelaide 36ers last night. It was a brilliant match though & showed that these two teams are likely to meet at the conclusion of the season to decide the ultimate champion.

Just watched great wins by Detroit Pistons over the Phoenix Suns & Sydney Kings over the Brisbane Bullets from yesterday with both teams looking really good chances at premierships this season which was a great way to kick off my weekend. Was also privileged to watch Dave Warner & Steve Smith hit supreme centuries in the Sydney Thunder vs Sydney Sixes BBL T20 match last night. Smith's was off just 40 balls with nine sixes!!

A tough-fought win for my Detroit Pistons over Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors this morning sees us maintaining our five-win lead over second place at the top of the Eastern Conference. We're looking really good to win the Eastern Conference this year actually & might even give the big-name Western Conference teams a shake for the championship too. Yew!

I'm now looking forward to tonight's second Australia vs Pakistan T20 cricket match & tomorrow's Sydney Kings vs Cairns Taipans NBL basketball match with the Kings in red-hot form & now up to second place on the ladder. I was pretty pissed with the Aussies losing game one against Pakistan a couple of days ago while chasing a total that looked pretty gettable to me so my expectations are high for a swift form reversal.

Another shitful effort by the Aussie T20 team overnight, this time being completely thrashed by Pakistan's spinners. I don't think the pitch was any sort of minefield because the Pakistani batsmen looked completely at home against our trio of spinners while our batsmen were totally at sea & made it look much more difficult than it was. It's time to get Steve Smith into the team in my opinion.

The fact that the Aussies have performed very poorly in the T20 World Cup has been more than made up for by the fact that my Detroit Pistons are now the number 1 ranked NBA team & the Sydney Kings have taken out the minor premiership in the NBL. Fucking loving my basketball right now, especially Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham who is absolutely sensational.

I'm seriously pissed off that the Detroit Pistons' superstar point guard has received a collapsed lung during a collision with another player during a match-up with the lowly ranked Washington Wizards a few days ago, seeing him having to sit out for an undefined recovery period just fourteen matches out from the play-offs. Thankfully we've got a pretty reasonable run to the finals & have already won our first two matches without Cade Cunningham but I'm pretty concerned about him missing the start of the playoffs & also about the potential for the Pistons to be overtaken for the number one spot in the Eastern Conference by the Boston Celtics who have recently been buoyed by the return of their own star player Jayson Tatum. Fingers crossed that Cade makes a swift recovery & it doesn't impact the team's chances too much because they deserve a good crack at the championship this year.

A huge "Fuck Yeah!" to the Sydney Kings who absolutely annihilated the Adelaide 36ers in game one of the five-match NBL playoff finals series last night. The victory was so emphatic that I can't see the 36ers being able to recover to be honest. Pumped about this today actually!

And finally, a big thumbs down to my Manly-Warringah Sea-Eagles after an abysmal showing against a struggling, injury-ridden Newcastle Knights side last weekend. Manly are now under extreme pressure after starting the season 0-2 with both matches having been at home. I'm afraid I don't hold much hope for a finals appearance this season.

I'm having another mixed weekend of sport. Manly lost the NRL to Sydney City Roosters 33-16 to leave us with no wins after round four. Our coach has subsequently been sacked & they've replaced him with a former player that has exactly three matches of assistant coaching experience. It's not looking good at all at this point.

The basketball has been great though with my Detroit Pistons knocking off the New Orleans Pelicans & the Minnesota Timberwolves without our best player & the Sydney Kings spanking the Adelaide 36ers in game three of the playoff finals to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. Yew! One win from championship glory boys!

I'm really proud of my Detroit Pistons today after they took the reigning champions & current western conference leaders to overtime without five of our top six players yesterday. Unfortunately, the current MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was simply too good in the end with 47 points but it came down to the last shot which would have surprised a lot of people. Thankfully, the Boston Celtics lost to the Atlanta Hawks so we've maintained our four match eastern conference lead with seven matches remaining in the regular season. Today's Toronto Raptors match-up will be tough on the back end of a back-to-back though.

The Sydney Kings will be playing game four of the NBL finals against the Adelaide 36ers in Adelaide tonight, taking in a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series so we have a chance to take out the title. Go boys!