Basketball On The Internet.

INTERESTING that Cairns and Adelaide, both opening night NBL winners, just couldn't get it done the second time they hit the floor in the same week.

The Taipans were on the road to Sydney and the Kings already had revealed the #1 favourite for league MVP honours, Josh Childress, was out with a foot injury.

If you're Cairns, having beaten Illawarra at home and now facing Sydney minus Childress, you're probably thinking this one is in the bag.

Um. Nope.

Sydney's 29-15 first quarter onslaught, then 28-17 second for a 57-32 halftime lead, meant this one was over before the Taipans even had a chance to get going.

So much for "sure things", Julian Khazzouh (Gesundheit) leading the proceedings and Jason Cadee picking up where he left off at the Blitz.

Sydney certainly had some demons to get rid of after their dismal conclusion to that tournament. Well they sure did that.

ADELAIDE was feeling good about itself after spanking NZ and opened at a cracking pace against arch rival Perth.

But the Wildcats wore their way into the game and dominated the boards, slowing the 36ers to a walk and revealing the blueprint for a win in Adelaide, 79-66.

The 66 points is Adelaide's lowest home game score against Perth in 57 matches, the Wildcats containing it to two baskets in the third period and three in the fourth. And even that third basket was a Daniel Johnson consolation three with 5.4 seconds left, when Perth already had gone from 63-63 to 79-63.

CAN'T comment too much on the commentary because I haven't seen the entire Kings-Taipans game and didn't care to re-live the 36ers-Wildcats game.

Given the latter was handled by the experience Dwayne Russell - who showed last time he called NBL games that he knows his basketball - and the exceptional Derek Rucker, I am pretty confident that was a polished performance.

In the Sydney game, we know Brad Rosen from his past exploits and while Andrew Voss sounded very much a rugby league caller, his enthusiasm was new.

Today: Can't see the Crocs getting up over New Zealand in Auckland, given the Breakers have that awful performance against Adelaide to exorcise as well.

And United should go to 2-0 in the first of their six straight home games - nice little run with the draw there - when they host an Illawarra already down Rhys Martin (Jarrad Weeks did a fine job, that said), and with Kevin Lisch clearly sore after hitting a big screen in Cairns.

Last night: KINGS 87 (Khazzouh 22, Cadee 19, Thornton 9; Khazzouh 9 rebs; Cadee 7 assts) d TAIPANS 63 (Worthington 13, Weigh 12, Gliddon 10; Craig 7 rebs; Loughton 3 assts) at the Kingdome. WILDCATS 79 (Beal 18, Jawai, Wagstaff 11; Knight 10 rebs; Jawai, Redhage 3 assts) 36ERS 66 (Johnson 18, Creek 13; Johnson 10 rebs; Gibson 5 assts) at Titanium Security Arena.

Online:

How the Wildcats stopped Adelaide: http://bit.ly/1VLC96H