Basketball On The Internet.

MELBOURNE United's 30-point flogging of the Taipans last night at The Cage will end speculation everywhere other than Cairns that the race for the NBL Final Four now is down to five.

Yes, mathemetically it can still work out for Cairns to be back to the postseason and, as coach Aaron Fearne has said, they have to believe that and work for it.

But forget maths and recall your geography and history lessons. When you're down this low on the table and find the numbers massing in the "L" column, that grand revival is extremely rare.

The Taipans folded along the dotted lines (again) as Chris Goulding and Hakim Warrick put on a highly entertaining show, Dean Demopoulos with the opportunity to clear his bench after Stephen Holt also joined in the fun.

Seriously now though, what's up with leaving Chris Patton off the scoresheet and Demopoulos signing off on that? Deano, they hand you that stuff for you to look over, not just blithely sign. Good thing no-one has shoved a blank cheque under Deano's nose before a game.

Fast forward to Perth and the Kings just hit the wall there in the third quarter after threatening throughout the first half to make a game of this.

It's probably appropriate Sydney "hit the wall" because the Wildcats were in the uniform of those Perth teams that boasted "walls" built of big bodies such as Andrew Vlahov and James Crawford.

From 46-44 ahead with about 7:30 left, the Wildcats skipped to 65-46 in a 19-2 outburst and it was off to the races from there.

Melbourne, Perth, Illawarra, New Zealand and Adelaide are left in the hunt for playoff places.

Sydney's cause wasn't helped by its imports Josh Childress (1-of-11) and Marcus Thornton (1-of-6) going 2-of-17 but Tom Garlepp fought the good fight with a game-high 30 points.

Casey Prather (career-best 27) led the Perth onslaught, getting to the cup with ease, and Jermaine Beal also caught fire as the Wildcats rewound the clock in more ways than one.

The 27-point win made last night the first time in eight years the NBL had two games decided by at least 27 points on the same night. There have been 1,017 games played since then.

Tonight: ADELAIDE remains in the race for the four and can enter it by the end of this round if it beats the Crocs in Townsville and Illawarra takes out New Zealand tomorrow. That's pretty powerful motivation against a Townsville team which will draw strength from its 15-point comeback win at the same venue last month. The absence of Mirko Djeric (eye) stings for the Crocs, the 36ers favourites for their fourth straight win.

Last night: MELBOURNE UNITED 98 (Warrick 19, Goulding 18, Blanchfield 16, Holt 15, Majok 11; Majok 9 rebs; Holt 4 assts) d CAIRNS TAIPANS 68 (Gliddon 15, Starks 14, Worthington 11; Burston 8 rebs; Worthington 4 assts) at The Cage, State Netball & Hockey Centre. PERTH WILDCATS 95 (Prather 27, Beal 19, Redhage 12; Hire 7 rebs; Martin 4 assts) d SYDNEY KINGS 68 (Garlepp 30, Carter 8, Childress 7; Childress 9 rebs; Cadee 6 assts) at The Jungle, Perth Arena.