Perth Lynx Preview – Home to Sydney Flames
After a hectic start to the season and winning three of those first four games, the Perth Lynx have had some time to take stock and get ready to host the Sydney Flames this Saturday night in WNBL Indigenous Round.
The Lynx had a gruelling opening to the season but performed well in the absence of co-captain Amy Atwell starting with the win at home against the Southside Flyers back on Saturday November 2.
Four days later and it was a narrow loss also at home to the Townsville Fire before the Lynx hit the road and came away with victories against the Adelaide Lightning and UC Capitals to come out of those opening four matches with a 3-1 record.
The last of those was the win at the buzzer thanks to co-captain Anneli Maley in Canberra last Thursday night with the Lynx to now be back home at Bendat Basketball Centre this Saturday night against the Sydney Flames.
Lynx coach Ryan Petrik knows that his team still has plenty of improvement to go as the WNBL season progresses, but is more than happy with that 3-1 record from the opening four games.
“We played four games in 11 days, or whatever it was, and we were cooked after that game in Canberra so I was glad to get out of there with the win without playing anywhere near our best basketball,” Petrik said.
“If you told us pre-season we were going to be 3-1 with Amy Atwell not playing a second yet we’d take that every day of the week. It hasn’t been our prettiest basketball or our best basketball, and we’ve got a lot of things to fix, but 3-1 we will take for sure.”
The game is also part of WNBL Indigenous Round this week which aims to embrace First Nations culture and heritage with the Lynx wearing specially designed uniforms to mark the occasion.
The artwork for the uniforms the Lynx will wear have been designed by Aaron Sutton, a Waramungu man from Central Australia who now resides on Whadjuk Country (Perth/Boorloo).
The design vividly captures the unity of the Lynx team and is intertwined with the organisation and the community as the club embarks on a transformative Lynx journey together.
As for the game itself on Saturday night, the Lynx will be looking to continue a good run of recent form against the Flames especially at Bendat Basketball Centre.
The Lynx have now won the last four games at home against Sydney with those victories coming with an average winning margin of 18.3 points.
The last time the Flames beat the Lynx in Perth was March 5, 2022.
Overall, the Lynx have also won six of the last seven games against the Flames which included wins by a combined 54 points last season before Sydney did score the late season victory over Perth on its home floor.
Now coming into Saturday night’s match up and the Lynx sit on a 3-1 record and will be playing a first game in nine days while the Flames are now 1-3 to start the new season.
It’s the second game of the road trip to the western side of the country for Sydney too and they will be looking to rebound from Wednesday’s 24-point defeat at the hands of the previously winless Adelaide Lightning where they only managed to score 54 points.
CYGNETT WNBL SEASON 2024/25
Round 4 – Perth Lynx v Sydney Flames
Venue – Bendat Basketball Centre
Tip-off – Saturday November 23, 7.30pm AWST
Tickets – Available by clicking here
How to watch – Live, free and on demand on 9Now