Slim

Tonight, to say "we have something to play for" is an under statement and as I have commented before, at this level they should have something to play for every week. It was interesting to note that Boti mentioned that Chappell and Dench were on their last chances, but Phil appears to be in the clear?

I would love to say that Sixers will run over Blaze tonight with a strong display of defence and actually running an offence or two, but that may be hoping for too much.

Chappell - 10 points
Dench - 0
Davidson - 21
Ballinger - 23 and 10

But Harvey - 31
Crowe - 19
Blaze by 12

Boti did make pretty clear mention that he thought that Smyth could well be out of a job at season's end.

Winnable game given the Blaze's inconsistency, but it's going to be all up hill. They have home court advantage, appear to have their full roster, and Joyce will have whipped them after that Bullets loss.

I'am going for the win.

109 - 99

Isaac, anyone: odds on the performance tonight of SoJ?

I reckon there would be good over-unders on say 20 minutes of court time, field goal percentage of 35% and 0.5 turnovers per minute played.

Not to mention 10 negative posts on him, his position in the team and/or his relationship to the coach on this forum post-game.

12 points for SoJ I reckon. Scored OK against us last time.

Put your money on at least one post on OzHoops about how big Pero Cameron is though.

BTW, tune in to the NBL radio thing in case Bruce Palmer is commentating tonight - he is gold.

No chance Bo - you would send bookies broke!

as far as beting goes I would think backing a low scoring match would be the best bet. After last weeks debacle (which Joyce has described as the worst defensive effort by the team this season) the screws will be tightened on Adelaide this week and even with the smooth slick offensive sets that Adelaide run it should be a low scoring affair.
For the Blaze Hpefuly we can conrol he ball better than in recent weeks with minimal silly turnovers. Crowe must pick up his game as PG and distribute well while also penetrating the key. His match up on Davidson will be interesting to watch. Harvs I see as the key to a Blaze win as I cant see who will guard him? If he goes off for 20+ we win. Hawkins will be our defensive go to man and Chappel will need to do something special if he is to break out of his slump with Hawk all over him. In the bigs dept Ballingr will be harrassed by everyone and will need to make some good passes to open men early to make the defense think twice about doubling him.

All things point to a low scoring game with Blaze getting up - lets say 88 - 83 but as Isaac with the Blaze anything is possible!


also just for you Bo - for Junior J lets say

26.35 minutes - 2/6 shooting 4/4 FT 9 points
2 rebounds - 3 assists - 1 block 3 T/O
12 comments about his lack of game/nepotism

I think the Blaze by 14.

Interesting that the most indiv pts bet at the TAB doesn't have Ballinger in it?

36ers by 5. Ballinger to rock the house and score 35.

Blaze by 4. Home court gets them the win....

"After last weeks debacle (which Joyce has described as the worst defensive effort by the team this season) the screws will be tightened on Adelaide this week and even with the smooth slick offensive sets that Adelaide run it should be a low scoring affair."

I don't know what smooth slick offensive sets you are referring to. I know you didn't see the game on sunday but the sixers offence was anything but these things. All the Gold Coast will need to do tonight is put up some decent resistance defensively and I can't see us scoring anymore easily than on Sunday. The only ways we are going to win this is if they are equally bad on the offensive end or Ballinger and/or Davidson go nuts for 30+.

ring....ring

"Hello, Mal speaking"

"Hi Mal, Phil here.........isn't great we won against Blaze?"

"It's only half time Phil......what are you talking about?"

"Bloody hell, is it really? We are back at the hotel celebrating. Mike had scored 7, so we thought it must have been full time. Hang on a sec Mal, I have another call....Hi it's the General here........Yes Axel, you are OK, I will keep you on.......no, not at all, 2 points and 1 rebound in 8 minhute is good.....7 turnovers?....don't worry, I have a line for away court disadvantage I can use for that one.....see you later......Mal, are you still there?"

"Yes Phil, what are you going to do about the walk out at half time? We will be fined and the team has lost another one now."

"It's OK Mal, think of all the new excuses I can use now!!! Can you please ring NBL and see if they can change our home game against Razorbacks to Sydney so that I can use volume 2 of my excuse book? Gotta go Mal, I heard that Hammer wants to come to Adelaide"

(Mod: You're gonna cop a beating from some for the teasing re excuses, but "We are back at the hotel celebrating. Mike had scored 7, so we thought it must have been full time..." was pretty funny, so one little ball for you, Spinner.)

Wow minx...never heard of sarcasm huh?

Gold Spinner..No beat down happening here, just laughter..

I cant help but giggle.

WAT TIME DOES IT START??

When you stop shouting enough to check on NBL.com....

.au

SHOUTING??

7:30 aest

its doesnt come on to around 10 min before the start of the match.

if not you may need to download the free winmap

just tested i am receieving music, so you should be able to as well, the Bruce and co come on 5mins before the match

Spinner - great stuff! Mike 7 points pure GOLD!

Chappell will go off tonight... hell shoot the ball and take it to the rack alot... after this weeks comments in the paper and that he knows its his last chance... if hes on his game expect another 30 points... if not - SOLADA... lets hope for everyones sake dench stays on the bench!

Here on sunday sixers seemed to be in lazy summer afternoon mode. Not fired up. If they can fire up maybe able to just win it.

should of just tipped off, correct??

Sixers up 7-4 couple mins in

Live stats now working I think.

NBL Radio works with iTunes OK. Rebuffering suggests that Sportal aren't prepared for the load of 36ers fans hitting their server?

Thanks for the ball Isaac.......Hope I am wrong and he goes off for 30!!!

Hit a 3 early. Down 19 - 18

NBL Radio seems to be working fine now in winamp - no buffering running smooth.

NBL Live scoreboard working properlly now too. (well as properly as it does).

Palmer says he's impressed with Sutton's speed.

No one dominating yet. Harvey has the game high of 9 so far.

36ers shooting at 55% and lead by 3.

Joyce has 6 points.

Buffering all the time at first, slowly getting better.
Melmeth and Ballinger going hard at each other.

still is buffering all the time. getting frustrated!.

Harvey with 4 fouls before half time!

Palmer 'When you see his gait, it cries out oaf... He's not quick laterally..'

Classic. He was referring to...

Dench

Blaze back in the lead with the last 8 points

Agreed Kobe!

Perth just hit the lead over Sydney.

76 - 75 on a 11-0 run.

3 and a bit to go.

That feed is just painful,

As is the game... Sixers giving up 15 points from the mid way through the term to be behind by 8 at the half.

Don't want to start another thread about it, but if anyone wants to know Perth is up by 4 with 11 secs to go.

soj is having a great game, crowe so far like a dog

Great Box score - if you add up the points for the 36ers, a three is worth one point!

Wow, Palmer just slagging off on Davidson -'he is at best a back up pg in this league and should be getting D. Joyce or T. Demos minutes at best... He had his best year in 2001 coming off of the bench for Townsville...'

Is it to earl to say 'season now shot'.

Too early? No offence, I'd say you're coming in late!

hey chappell is on 7pts lol

Na mantis i would say your to earli mate if the sixers got this game we were still rite in it. now two maybe three games in a row out of contension it just doesnt look like we r going to get there.

81 - 91 5 mins to go..

Phil just called time out!!!!

But these are the easy games...

Looking forward to Chappell's immenent sacking now...

ur kiddin rite. haha sixers supporters and chappel here we go again.

are we up or what?
whos top scorer??

Solada Chappell... Solada Dench... happy Kev?

Wow is it me, or does Palmer really dislike Davidson?

Forget it, we lost.

hmmmmm... before I fire anymore 9mm's over the bow of the shipwrecked Adelaide 36ers I'd like to hear Statman's review of the game (I'm guessing you went to the game Stat).

I will fire one round now and say goodbye and farewell Mr Chappell. I'll remember your days as a Cannon, but I'll gladly forget your days as a 36er.

Just waiting for all the lame arse excuses to follow....

season is gone, coaching staff, Chappell, Dench should be cleaned out as well.

Ng is developing and it looks promising.

Looks promising, has bulked up, and seems to have got a lot more hops....but he is going to study isn't he?

TR, stay away, no disgruntled workers in your occupation needed here. There are enough pissed off supporters to start a lynch mob here already methinks...

Don't know about you guys, but I am really dissapointed that Chappel could not get it together. Deep down, I hoped (but did not expect) the coaching would adjust, but I really thought we had the big one when we snagged (pfft) him in the off season.
Cannot blame the guy for taking a contract, but damn, I really wished some homework on his injury had been done beforehand, and he had not been put in this scapegoat position.

Hers hoping some sort of changes happen, young guys get a gig and we pinch a few wins toward the end of the season, and don't break THAT record from last season..

I love Chappell the man, the citizen, the one-time import great, you couldn't find a nicer guy if you tried.

But the key word there was "one-time".

I was prepared to be patient seeing he came in with a back injury, but I was also a bit worried it might not work out.

But my patience has run out.

Dench could be a real assett if he was in a system that had some structure. He obviously doesn't get that hear. It's not often you can find a 7fter than can shoot 3's consistently.

Crowe once again killed us, and from the feed it appeared that SOJ looked half decent (damn, are we that bad?).

Enough is enough, we need to get some fresh blood in, as opposed to using a recycled import - Bring in an unknown, they are either going to work or be a bust, but really anything is worth a try. At least bring some excitement and intrigue to the team, I'm over the Sixers being a wrecking yard for all the imports that other teams throw into the scrap heap (Ballinger doesn't of course fall into that category, but you get the idea).

Well well well......

Go the Blaze!!!! - Yes TR I was at the game - Ill try and put together a bit of a run down while its still fresh in my memory - but really your 9mm better have a few bulets in in the clip as it has plenty of targets...

interesting to see all of SoJ's shots were 3-balls!! 3/7 from outside. plus his 4 FT to go with it.

what is final result?

I think it's pretty clear who the Sixers' next recruit should be. SoJ.

Rightio here we go......

Start of the game 6ers scored the first couple of buckets with Chapell opening scoring with a shake and bake on Hawkins and drive through the middle of the lane for an emphatic slam....immediatey I though 'oh poo' here we go. Davidson is a little terrier and Ng surprised me as well with aggression and confidence to take open shots. Blaze D was Ok - nothing special and teams traded baskets with sixers having the edge by a few points by the end of the first. Junior J hit his first 3 and Harvey was great for the Blaze while Ballinger showed signs as did Chappell, but nothing to write home about. Crowe made some crapy decisions and copped it from the coach - spending a fair bit of time on the bench. 2nd started - Chappell and harvey picked up some soft fouls (but they were there) and sixers were up by 1 - 6 most of the way - was scrappy and ordinary to watch and I was starting to think we could be in trouble....
Then Pero drilled 2 3's (from exactly the same spot on the floor as he did in Adelaide) and Junior J hit as well and the game picked up tempo. In about 3 minutes a sixers lead became a 8 point Blaze lead as we hit our shots and the sixers offence just died in the arse. They couldnt get open looks and it was 1 on 5 stuff trying to create but jacking up shite! The only one looking half dangerous was Copeland.
2nd half started at the bar so by the tme I was back in my seat Blaze were out by 11 and Crowe had sparked to life. Blaze were in control all he way from here and Joyce controled the tempo from the sidelines. Anytime the Sixers looked as though they had a sniff a timeout was called and the team regrouped and executed their stuff. Crowe donated the 2nd half with great suport frm Harvs and Melmeth. Game ended up a a foul athon and sixers tried in vain to peg back the lead. Crowe and Joyce the recipients of some easy points from the stripe to ice the game. In the end it was only 8 but Blaze never seriously challenged in 2nd half.

For the Blaze -

Crowe - crap first half with poor decision making - ended up on fire and loves it when he is on a roll - great long range shooting - certainly answered the challenge from his coach after half tme
Hawkins - awesome D fence and just always there - does all the litle things that are needed (except shooting free throws)
Mcgegor - quiet night but did his bit on the boards and in defence
Harvey - great all round game
Pero - again great D and a couple of big 3's in the 2nd to break the game open
Frank - again good D and a couple of big blocks - still a nutcase!
Junior - best game to date I have seen - hit 3 of first 4 triples and actually played Ok D - looked to have more confidence against Ng (probably due to both of them being scared Pero may eat them)
Melmeth - again great D and boards - offensively a little tentative and was swatted away a couple of times by Ballinger when he should have gone harder at the ring
Coach Joyce - as animated and intense as always - got right up Crowe in first half and had the team running the plays he wanted in 2nd half. Outcoached Smyth by a mile!

Sixers
Ballinger - can see he has the goods but was smothered by the Blaze bigs and didnt get many opportunitys due to the D
Davidson - fast and passionate - is clearly the leader of the group with Maher out. Plays hard and hit some big shots trying to keep the team in the game. Seems to have a thigh? strain and was worked on in the breaks
Mottram - winges more than Anstey (Ok thats an exageration but you get my drift) seems to score like Dusty - picking up loose balls etc but come on just shut up and play!(and Dusty was at the game by the way - obviously got a free ticket from somewhere)
Ng - surprised the hell out of me - can elevate for a shot very fast and played well. at least looked a threat when on court. Ball handling is improved but still needs work.
Sutton - Crap Mo, and didnt do anything of note.
Cooper - every team needs him - just not playing 23 minutes! Busts his arse and does all he crap that noone else wants to (like boxing out!) Couple of blocks and changed a few other shots
Dench - Hmm I was told by Mum if you cant say something nice about someone say nothing - so i wont say a thing
Lanard - busted his arse and at tmes looked bewildred by how crap the teams offense was. Had to constantly create his own shots and also made Harvey work his arse off when guarding him. When you see teh effort and pride he has in his game you wonder what some of the others are doing
Chappell - seems like a nice guy - but we know where nice guys finish....Last! admitedly tweaked an ankle and had to be retaped but just doesnt cut it as an import. sorry Mike but thats just the way it is.
Burdon - who???? Oh the poor little bugger who didnt even get to take his shirt off - Oh well at least he got to have a go in warmups!
Smyth......hmmmmmm - Now most here would know I am a fan of his style - and the way he looks to build chemistry in the group which in turn should translate into a good on court performance....well not tonight.
He was outcoached, simple things like a timeout in the 2nd 1/4 when the blaze went on a run (in exactly the same way as they did 2 weeks ago in Adelaide) The only time he stood up was to winge at the refs - Ok a bit of contact was let go tonight - but nothing major - and it went both ways and it was consistent. At one stage someone in the crowd (ok it was me)yelled out something about running an offence - dont think he liked that! To me it looked like he is in charge of a group that are going through the motions - There is no inspiraton coming from him and it looks as though his message is falling on deaf ears. Its probably the same message that brought him wins in the past but this is a different group and I dont think he has the capacity to change and give this group what it needs.

well thats enough typing for me.....in summing up the Blaze continue to go beyond my expecations and from here SHOULD play fnals. The Sixers are ordinary - but still tease me and IF they were to all fire they could get on a run and play finals....but I just cant see it happening at this stage.

(Mod: Thanks for the eyewitness account! And the line about the young guys being scared of Pero eating them!)

How'd everyone's guesses go? I had Joyce for 12 (had 13).

Spinner was close with Davidson and Chappell plus Harvey and Ballinger's board count.

Statman correctly picked Joyce's 4/4 FT.

Who picked Robbins to go nuts in the fourth for Perth and get game MVP as the Cats won in Sydney against the top of the table Kings?!

I ventured into the world of sportsbet tonight - and while my 'under 180' on the Blaze game got hammered I picked up a nice windfall on the Wildcats....

as for 4/4 for Junior from he stripe - thats one thing you cant argue about - he is money from the free throw line - just needs to be aggressive and get there more!

West Sydney destroyed Singapore by 31in the other game tonight - Hinson back in form with 23 while Grizzard had 22.

How is it that SoJ (43%) outshoots Ng (29%)?

Maybe it is the defensive pressure that Darren has........

junior joyce has got game and is maturing as time goes on. He is an easy target for us all, but the kid hardly turns the ball over, is safe at the foul line, can shoot the ball. the problem i would say is that he doesnt shoot enough and just needs to be more aggressive. Man imagine playing for your dad, and that being the very intense Brendan Joyce. I would prob crack to be honest. I have been impressed with SOJ from his game in adelaide and from last night listening to the live feed. I predict in a few years that kid will be a force.

Great report Statman - crap game though. I really hope that Sixers fans stick with the team AND just as importantly, I really hope that Mal makes some hard decisions NOW and does not let us continue to be let down.

Sturty, wasn't Ng 43% too? 9/21 FG? Exactly the same % as Joyce going by the official box. Remember that the NBL's live scores are rarely accurate.

"You couldn't question our effort but you go in down Mahersy (injured captain Brett Maher) and Ballinger is struggling with his back, yet we produce that last quarter," Smyth said.

That is not made up, that is an actual quote.

Phil yes i can question the effort.
If i am on your team and i read that in the paper the next day i say to myself yeah well at least we tried just like coach said

Imagine if Joyce was in charge.

"This was a complete bs effort from every single player on the team. Chappel will be cut if he does not step up, Dench has been a dissapointment and Motts is a whinging bitch who needs to toughen up."

TR you got more than a 9mm handy as i am saying cut Chapell at the airport and drop dench out the back door of the cargo hold on the way.

That may smarten some of the team up as at the moment no one has the knife hanging over their head, mediocrity has become acceptable.

This game was lost at the three point line. To take about the same number of shots from outside and yet to connect 8 less times (what was the final margin again) is piss poor.

In fact, the Sixers have to be the worst three point shooting team in the league. Consistently seem to be connecting at only about 20-25%. And this from a team that is supposed to have three point 'specialists' in Maher, Davidson, Ng, Dench, Ballinger and Copeland (and arguably Sutton) (no criticism going out to Maher).

I was also at the game.

Firstly, Darren Ng REALLY looks like he is finally getting his confidence up in the NBL. He looked really good last night. He hustles hard for rebounds and has a very nice pull-up mini-fade-away jumper that is super hard to defend.

Motts, Coops, LC, Ballenger and Sparky all had solid games.

Ench and Chappell were ordinary, along with the standard of refereeing. Is it just me, or does Mike look a little too relaxed for someone who is clearly on the chopping block?

I think Phil was on the +8.5 with me, cos he didn't give up on the game when it was out to 12 with 1:30 to go. He didn't run Erik for the last minute either.

Horrible game. The only thing that saved it from being a useless trip down the coast was a super sweet behind the back, no-look bounce pass through traffic from Ng to Ballenger(?) and my purchase of a Blaze jersey (since the powerhouse cant be assed to answer my calls).

XY, Adelaide are middle of the pack from long range, averaging 34% as a team. Best from the charity stripe, but worst in the league from the field.

Team Averages

Thanks kad, always good to hear from people at road games.

Kad....were you part of the group getting told off by a Blaze supporter for yelling when we took foul shots in the first half?

Isaac

I was talking about 3 Pt percentage. Which is meant to be Darrens bread and butter. I should have been clearer.

Sturty so far this season Darren has shot 16-54 (30%) from outside the arc and 45-110 (41%) from the field as a whole.

statman; nope, we were one the baseline down the blaze bench end.

A couple of things about the venue now im reminded of them;

1. The food is pretty awesome.

2. ALL the good seats are corporates. You cant buy your way into the best seats. Half of them were empty.

3. We paid $55 to sit in Row J on the baseline (partially obscured by the backboard). In comparison, absolute courtside at the Bullets is $75.

4. Scoreboard isnt as impressive in person as it is on tv. Horrible (unwatchable) when playing live video.

5. REALLY bad court side announcer who encourages "boo'ing" during free throws, bad form in my book.

6. When the Blaze came off court at full time, they gave gifts and high-fived kids who were allowed to gather in the race - nice touch.

7. Win a car promotion participants were all picked from corporate seats which is tacky, however, to win a new BMW 118i all you need to do it hit a free throw then a shot from half way. That seems way too easy!

Kad - there are some good seats that arnt corporate - but you had to get them very early - and they are season tickets only. (lucky me) Its one of the main gripes i have in that there seems to be a lot of boxes owned by the club and not utilised fully. Also there needs to be some better seating available for single game fans like yourselves as 55 bucks at courts end is robbery!

The court announcer is a tool - totaly agree with you there!

Scoreboard - from some angles its ordinary - ohers its quite OK. Still thnk its under utilised - cant see why such a big $ investment isnt used as much as is humanly possible - maybe someone needs to go to the US and see how the Miami Heat uses there video boards -can really get the crowd involved

Brendan Joyce is also approachable after all games (losses included) and the club are making a point of trying to make the kids feel involved

The BMW promo seems to change from week to week. Again an awesome idea but needs to be done better. Supposedly there are 2 people too shoot for the car - Person 1 is seleced from entry forms filled out in the foyer before the game, person 2 is selected by afore mentioned tool with microphone who slects 3 people who scream loudest when he asks everyone too. Invariably he picks clowns and these 3 then have a shootoff to see who trys for the car.Its not always corps who get to shoot but somtimes you have to wonder if he selection criteria is random! IMO a much better way would be to have a randon draw from all seats sold for the game and whoever is sitting in that seat gets the shot.

Came across this thread by accident as it's not in the NBL category. Any reason why?

Anyway, great win by Blaze after Bullets shamozzle.

Great game call Statman. I like your style. It was good to relive the game again this morning. Perhaps you can start a 'HOOPS GC' website so we don't have to annoy 36'ers fans every time we beat them!!!

You didn't mention Demos driving past Copland baseline for his (only) 2 points late in the second. That has to go to the top of his highlight reel.

Ng's performance was impressive. Apart from lucky buzzer beating 3 point shot, didn't think too much of him in the Adelaide home game. But he did everything last night. Regained possesion twice, by himself against multiple Blaze players, after missed Adelaide free throws. Hustled all night. Pretty much solely responsible for an under 10 margin as opposed to an over 20 margin which is what it felt like to me.

Gotta give credit to a 36er fan a few rows behind me with two classic comments. "Get him another cheeseburger" after Pero turned over the ball, and "Does your sister know you've got her hair band?" to Casey Frank, just as he's shooting free throws. He missed both of them too!

I think the video scoreboard is great although the scores section goes haywire sometimes (Cairns had a score of 170 during the third quarter a few weeks ago!). Great to have all player stats (points/fouls)regularly appearing on the board but they need to keep these up longer than 2 seconds.

While not wanting to dwell on an issue that doesn't concern almost all of the readers, I think last night was the refined version of the BMW shootout. There were entry boxes at the entrance doors which meant that you had to be in it to win a chance at the shootout. Unless they only used forms collected from boxes near the coporate entrances, there's no way they could pick just corporates. While I didn't see where contestant No.2 came from, contestant No.1 definitely DID NOT come from the corporates. I think this is the best and fairest way of running the comp and Bruce Lynton BMW get 100 new email addresses each night to justify their potential contribution. I think there's more chance of selling a BMW through this basketball sponsorship than a Hummer.

Speaking of, Bullets have a winner with half time remote control Hummer race for kids. This should be mandatory at all home venues and even if the cars aren't actually replica Hummers, it would be a little bit more exposure for the League's major sponsor.

Finally, 100% agree with comments on the courtside and roaming announcers. I think the courtside guy actually did the same job back in Rollers days. This is where the Bullets are spoiled with Neil Hamilton Smith who has to be the best (if not the longest serving).

Go Blaze.

I think the blaze should hire 'Dancing Duncan'.

Not 100% sure, But I believe the sixers are also in possesion of a Remote control Hummer. I think all the clubs may well have been supplied with one.

Blazefan, just to answer the question at the begginning of your post, this thread was tagged as 'Sixers'. We have separate catergories for other NBL content and the 36ers stuff over here.

I just want to thank Statman for a decent post, its nice to read something meaningful on this site again instead of the whinging thats taken over here...Thanks again, it also brought some good replies made it feel like old times.


I dont want Chappell to go, cause I know hes a good player, but unfortuneatly I guess if hes not going to put the effort in he must. Most annoying problem is when he actually tries, he will either score, or create a good option. But then he stops trying again.