Adelaide would've definitely made some noise, even on the road.

The win by NZ was great, but I wonder if they could subconsciously feel as though they've won their final and accept that as a good enough finish a little? Certainly doesn't get any easier having to hit Brisbane tomorrow night and have to fire again.

Agreed, but if ever there is a good time to play Brisbane in Brisbane, this is it. NZ is coming off a great win, Brisbane has been idle and has had some inconsisent performances of late, and probably has more to lose.

I notice that "Itchnee" didn't last too long!

A few clowns from QLD being idiots on here recently posting more along the quality of "Melmeth to the NBA". Zzz.

Statman? He probably wants Melmeth in the NBA so he leaves the Blaze.

Great win by the kiwis last night. Will be tough though to back it up against Bribane tomorrow night.

Do I detect an understanding of why I am so bitter about the way the season ended. I don't think anyone can deny the fact that had circumstances changed and the 36ers made the playoffs, there would be a hell of a lot of noise being made. For the last one third of the season we had the team to do it. Sure you can blame the club's management for not showing the courage to do what needed to be done but you can also blame things beyond the club's control. If anything had to go wrong with the 36ers this season, everything did. Absolutely nothing went their way. I couldn't help notice when reading the NBL article about Goorjian saying the Kings are ready for anything. It made mention of the fact they only lost 3 games in the regular season. Which team was responsible for one of the losses? Which team was responsible for the biggest loss? (The other 2 were single digit losses). Its games like this that leave a long lasting sour taste in your mouth when you think about the abrupt end to the season.

Yeah, nothing went their way, like the signing of Davidson was a shocker. Wait, no it wasn't! And Ballinger was rubbish and had to be swapped - actually, that's not true either - he would've been even more of an MVP candidate had they won more games but had a superb season regardless. And Chappell's replacement was crap. Umm, wait, Hodge turned out to be one of the best players in the competition. And Ng regressed too and should've given up basketball to study. I forgot, he was actually really very good and was a star when starting.

Davidson missed 4 games through injury. Mottram missed a few as well. Chappell didn't turn out that well, and Maher couldn't hold injury at bay when played 35-40 MPG over the first half of the season (as fans worried about last year).

If anything had to go wrong with the 36ers this season, everything did. Absolutely nothing went their way.

That's complete and utter rubbish.

Brisbane missed their MVP for much of the season. Perth replaced an import. Townsville lost an import very early and then persisted with another one that many doubted. Gold Coast had to replace an import too. NZ started without their star shooting guard, had a point-guard miss games injured, their starting power forward missed a few and lost both imports to injury and gambled on replacements. Wollongong replaced an import, lost a starting guard for the season, had to dump their replacement import for being lazy, played on without him and still had a respectable season considering. South replaced an import and gave up on their captain/coach. West Sydney lost their starting guard for the season and had other players missing games through injury. Cairns replaced Tucker and had Mee and Cattalini miss loads of games, and haven't had Grabau recently either. Melbourne replaced a terrible import and had their other import miss a swathe of games through injury. Sydney are probably the only team to survive largely unscathed, though they did take a fair while to activate Victor.

I'm really surprised that you can't see some outstanding highlights in the 36ers' season. Ballinger was brilliant, Ng lifted perfectly when required, Copeland was better than last year, Davidson was one of the best Australian recruits of the off-season, Hodge was a top recruit during the season and we had a few very, very good crowds that had everyone talking.

+1 to isaacs post , top post actually,

Isaac, thanks for your version of War & Peace but I can sum it up a lot quicker than that. We had some great players throughout the season and Hodge was a huge pick up however, had little effect to the season when he arrived too late. Even if an import was replaced earlier, it wouldn't have been Hodge anyway therefore the end result is that he did little to help the season. Ballinger, Ng and Davidson were magnificent as well but 3 players do not make a team. We had some great individuals but not a great team and a team with hurdles every step of the way. True my focus was on the 36ers more and therefore more aware of what was happening with them, but this last season has to be the worst I have experienced in terms of frustration. I can look at the positives but its the negatives that put us in the position we are in. Players like Dench who played 2 legitimate games the whole season. Sutton who has been on a constant downhill dive. Copeland had some great games but was inconsistent.

If everything was as great as you say, how do you explain 9th position? You know the saying, the operation was a huge success but the patient died.

The "If we replaced Chappell earlier, we wouldn't have got Hodge" theme is from the same school of thought as "let's not replace Chappell because we might not get anyone better" that came up a few times from about the third game of Adelaide's season to the mid-point.

Not denying that injuries impacted the season, like they did for every other team, but saying that nothing went our way is absolutely unbelievable. The biggest negative impact, IMO, was having a largely non-contributing import for half a season and dealing with that was well in the hands of the club (whoever anyone deems responsible) more than individual performances or injuries were. Might look worse in hindsight and it's easy to call for a replacement when you're not paying for it all, but I do think something that had a very significant impact was quite manageable.

OK Isaac, if it makes you happy, lots of things went our way, that's why we finished 9th. What a wonderful achievement, I now can truly be happy with the season just passed.

In regards to Hodge, a total misunderstanding has occurred in what I was trying to say. I merely pointed out that he wasn't with us long enough to make a difference to the season. Its only your comment about all the things that did go our way when he was picked up that prompted the comment that if it had been any earlier we would not have him. I never said that Chappell should not be replaced because we might not get anyone better. After Chappell's 4th game I was ready to replace him with anyone (literally anyone).

False dichotomy. I'm not saying I was satisfied with the season or that there weren't problems, just that whining about everything going wrong and so on is terrible. When we replaced Chappell, we got a gem. When the Hawks replaced Peters, they got a dud. Only one of our imports was replaced. NZ had to replace two. How you can talk about "Absolutely nothing went their way", I don't understand - a lot of things went their way.

I don't think Mal would be interviewing coaches (see the post before yours) if he thought that 9th was fine considering the circumstances re Chappell and other injuries.

EC - "We had some great individuals but not a great team"

EC, isn't the primary role of the coach to bring individuals together as a successful team unit? Bearing this in mind do you still agree Phil did a good job and should be retained?