How to watch & talking points: Perth v Melbourne

Perth Wildcats v Melbourne United
Friday, October 23, 9.30pm AEDT
RAC Arena

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How to watch

Watch every NBL27 game live on ESPN.

>> How to watch ESPN

Tickets

>> Ticketing information

How to follow & live scores

Live scores, stats, breaking news and game highlights are available via the free NBL App.

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Rosters

Perth

Expected depth chart:
PG: Knight (IP) / Rillie (DP) / Sam (DP) / Whitt (NRP) (out)
SG: Pepper / Dell'Orso / Kopa (DP)
SF: Windler (IP) / Huefner / Nielsen (DP) (out)
PF: Doolittle (IP) / Higgins-Titsha / Wagstaff
C: Brandt / Lual-Acuil Jr. (out)

Melbourne

Expected depth chart:
PG: Anthony (IP) / Ili / D'Angelo (DP) / Macdonald (NRP) (out)
SG: Machar / Wilson / Hynes (DP) / Shelley (NRP) / Goulding (out)
SF: Travers / Ingles / Fa'ale (DP)
PF: Waardenburg / Bowen / Bradtke (DP)
C: Oduro (IP) / Krslovic

Missing in action

Perth

Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. - Calf - Round 11
Blake Nielsen - ACL - Season
Jimmy Whitt - Personal Reasons - TBC

Melbourne

Chris Goulding - Calf - Round 7
Sean Macdonald - ACL - Season

>> View full injury list

Talking points

Who can bounce back?

Both Perth and Melbourne head into this game off the back of disappointing losses last round, where the Wildcats stumbled in Sydney and United fell short to the Illawarra Hawks.

Any time these two teams meet, it seems to come down to the wire, as this rivalry continues to add exciting chapters in its history.

With Kristian Doolittle back for Perth and United looking to have all their stars fire together, it’s an opportunity for one team to send a message across the competition.

Home court stand

The Perth Wildcats have a unique schedule to begin NBL27, with 11 of their first 13 games at RAC Arena.

Last season, John Rillie’s team found a way to have success on the road, while they stumbled at home in front of the Red Army.

This year they’ll be hoping to fix the latter part and rebuild the fortress of the Jungle back to a place where teams historically struggled to get wins.

The Wildcats have four wins from five home games so far and adding one more over United to continue that streak would put them in a strong position going into the back half of the season.

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