36ers will win tomorrow, but will not make the top 4 at seasons end.

I have this gut feeling that the Breakers will win this one. After watching the Blaze game (and previous games) IMO Groves needs to be replaced. For an import he is not productive and makes poor decisions when it is 'crunch time'. Unfortunately it appears that the new management may be too nice to get rid of Groves or maybe it all comes down to finances. Also Hill seems to make the same mistakes that he does in the ABL. All the commentators (even the bad ones) agree that Ng is an incredible 3 point shooter so why not set screens which allow him to shoot (surely an ex Sturt coach and a current Sturt coach would be aware of this?). In the Blaze game he was wide open on the wing and Groves (Mr decision maker) kept looking the other way and making fancy moves which resulted in a travel call. Unless these problems along with Gilchrist giving his team mates crap on the court are fixed then the 36ers will continue to head downwards to an early end to the season (no playoffs).

Battle of who wants to lose least!!
Breakers have been playing well, just can't close it out.
Sixers haven't been playing well and don't seem to have the same strike power.
If by some miracle Sixers get up it will be a huge body blow for Breakers.
Wonder if they regret Awvee Storey decision?

It's not a case of who will win, but who will lose the game.

leaning toward Breakers 78-87

"Oscar the Grouch" to fire - 6/9 from the 3P at least

I hope NZ win but not gonna hold my breath as we suck on the road lol, and at home as of late

I think Adelaide can get one back on NZ...

On balance, 36ers to get up by 5-10 I'd say, but only because we're at home and not playing the Melbourne Tigers. I'm sure Oscar will torment us from outside...

I think NZ will win. They didn't have Penney last game and they still managed to beat us. We probably didn't have Burstons though. I think Oscar is due for a big game as the last few games against us he hasn't played well.

NZ will be more hungry for the win I think, with the Sixers kind of out of sorts at the moment. However, you never know as Ballinger and Groves might have a big game and as a result we will take the victory.

NZ by 7 is my guess.

Breakers by 4.

Sixers by nine.
Breakers can't travel and apart from the Tigers we've been pretty good at home all year.
Balls due for a big one after just the 6pts on Wednesday.

Home Sweet Home

They've been thinking about 'tinkering with' our starting line up for a while now.
I'd be thinking about Ng for Groves and maybe Cooper or Burston starting, also.

Stream was very impressive for me against the Tigers. Can't tuen in tonight as won't be home but otherwise I'd be streaming for sure.
Think the breakers will get us unless we find a way to own those boards and defend the three ball, also Vukona often gets to do what he wants against us all too often.

Tez will get 20+ tonight to silence the haters for a week.

On the court - Gilchrist-Groves, Ballinger, Holmes,Hill.

Horrible start - turnovers . Time out Ninnis.

4 turnovers in 3.5 minutes?

5 in 4.5 minutes?

A bit better with Burston on .
And Ng and Herbert.
mmmmmm

Burston Ballinger Gilchrist Herbert Ng - is easily our best line up, tonight.

can i trouble someone 4 the score.. Stuck at a 70th birthday party....

come all the way to adelaide and i cant even see the game... By the sounds of it do i want to know the score.

ADL 74 NZ59 at 3qtr time

Thanks to the Burston Ballinger Gilchrist Herbert Ng
line up.

Up by 15 to down by 2 WTF?

60% from the field, 50% from the 3point line, more rebounds, more assists and we are still losing?

Deja FUCKING vu!

If changes aren't made during the week I will be burning my season ticket.

22 point turn around - explain that Ninnis

I was actually laughing at the end of the game. It was hilarious viewing !

We need to have Groves on the floor more, actually scrap that, the recycle bin for cans only.....that would be more effective on the floor.

Sadly Cortez is more valuable sitting down at the moment. What was Scotty thinking bringing on on just when NZ were making a move.
Now can we bring back Davo!!!!!!!!!

It's a shame the way they changed that winning line up and didn't consolidate a comfortable 15point lead with that line up.
Lost by 7points instead. (Groves was on tooo long in the last quarter,as we all could see.)

So true elite i was laughing as well....also crying. We just never seem to learn anything. How hard is it to get the ball to ballinger in the post when the shit hits the fan EARLY in the clock. Even when gilly was getting pressured it took a while for people to help so we could get the ball in. I just cannot believe we can repeat the same mistakes over and over.

We are very dumb basketball side. As a whole, bad decisions are made far too consistently.

FFS are you serious?!?!??

Get a f$@%ing hand up on the shooters!!!

Shit! Too angry.

Cut Tez.

This is a recurring nightmare. We really should have won the last three games and tonight the Sixers managed to hit rock bottom.

A real shame because we were pretty good for 3 quarters especially in the third where Gilly was excellent.

I really think that this is the kind of game that you look at and say, "something has to change". Groves was already on thin ice you would have thought and he certainly did himself no favours tonight. The pressure is also mounting on Ninnis with our performance this week.

Perhaps the Sixers need to give opposition teams a lead in the first quarter and play catch up for the entire game and then sneak a win in the last few minutes as we managed to do earlier in the season. Why just can't seem to play with a lead!

Ninnis to go NOW

We actually played three really good quarters. I would guess that the boys trained pretty well before this game and that Scotty has worked hard with them. Matt Burston looked good tonight for the first time this season, he was agressive and hungry for the ball and to score.
But then half way through the last quarter in comes Cortez and Gilly who has played a great game up till then decides he is going to do it entirely on his own. Play after play he ran the shot clock down until Scotty had a word to him with about two minutes left. Too late Scotty.

Congratulations to NZ played a fantastic game and applied one of the most intensive defenses I have seen in a while.

yeah what is with gilly trying to work the screen over and over until like 7secs left in the clock. i think the lack of posts on here says volumes, just cant believe we did it again.

I think it is hard to blame Ninnis for this one. He brought Tez on in that last quarter because Gilchrist couldn't get the ball up the court and other than Tez who can fairly securely handle the ball?

Why did Gilchrist when he knows a double team is coming dribble to the CORNER of the court?
Why doesn't Gilchrist pass to Ninja when he is in the corners or coming off screens?
Why does Gilchrist think that dribbling for 18 seconds and then passing is helping the team?

I think Tez is struggling but Gilchrist as the point guard needs to lead the team, not just hold the ball.

Burston was great, Ninnis called the timeouts at the right time and obviously worked with them on things between games as we saw in the first 3 quarters.

That last quarter it seemed like we went away from the plan - my question for the Ninnis haters - should he have benched Gilchrist?

Without a doubt the most frustrating game I've watched for a while. We played an awesome team game in the third to give ourselves a wonderful opportunity then in less than six minutes the Breakers had tied it up.

Positives tonight were Matty Burston who really gave something and set some strong picks. Ng again was solid offensively and Herbie played Penney well until the last five minutes.

Gilchrist again CHOKED when he needed to stand up, missing free throws late just as he did against the Tigers. As for Groves, well it's all been said before.

Seriously Scotty when are you going to start a Centre on the floor. Rickett had 9 points inside the first five minutes.

Starting 5 vs Blaze on Wednesday: Burston, Balls, Jacob, Gilly and Ng

Agreed Dazzman!!!

I'm really getting frustrated with gilly more than tez in these tight games. He is just trying to beat the team himself on most plays and when he can get a seam for the drive the clock is almost gone and we force a shot.

Its also bad knowing how good he can be as well. I just cant see how hard it is to get the ball to ballinger early in the clock, at least you will get a half decent look or get a double team for an open shooter.

should read cant get a seam

BALLINGER NEEDS THE BALL, the only good players tongiht were Burston an Herbert others had moments but only Burston an Herbert played consistently, Gilchrist has awesome number by 3 qtr time but then can hit a foul shot that 2 weeks in a row in the last 2-3 mins he's missed both foul shots. And i tried to give Groves the benefit of the doubt but cmon he is teriible lately, its probably too late in the season to make a change but i dont think we are in fear of seein him next season in 6ers colours.

2 weeks straight the 6ers make me believe then crush me, man its tough being a 6ers fan when they play like this

Just a thought! Maybe our fitness is the problem as it seems we can't run out games in the fourth.
Maybe the team should call Brett Maher for some personal training lessons. Surely they'd get mates rates.

Jacob for Captain

Groves for the airport

It's time to go...
Groves
Ninnes

Groves got the 7th most court time for the team tonight. Ahead of only Hill (who appears to be really out of sorts tonight) and Cooper (who Ninnes has absolutely no confidence in and now Burston's back has no position). I wish they did the Lenovo stat in the NBL like they do in the NBA, it would be good to see just how bad our team is when Groves is on the court compared to when he isn't.

Burston was huge for us tonight. There was almost as distinct a difference in the team with him on/off as there was with Groves (only it was a good thing this time). Shoots free throws way too flat like a certain number 24 we know, but other than that you can't really fault him. Trys hard on defense, gets the odd foul, but that just proves how hard he's working. Can make his shots and provided a target inside well. Came up with some big rebounds and I'm surprised he only got 5.

For 3 quarters, Gilchrist was great (free throws aside). Was agressive to get the ball inside, was making shots, didn't stuff around with it too much and was playing with a lot of confidence. New Zealand made a conscious effort to completely shut him out in the last and it killed us. He couldn't get the ball without having 2 players basically hanging off of him and noone else on the team was able to compete without him. Noone could drive, noone could create oportunities for teammates and the whole game plan went out the window.

Herbert has impressed me of late. His influence doesn't show up on the scoreboard or in the stat sheet, but he does a lot of things off the ball.

Holmes was pretty dirty tonight. Strength on the boards was key again, but just didn't do enough.

Ballinger seemed to struggle with the defensive pressure and the bad service he was getting again. Still made the most of it when given the chance, but he should be taking 20+ shots per night IMO. The team is so much better when he has the ball in his hands.

The team is just a disgrace at the death.
Noone takes ownership of a shot, Gilchrist loses his aggression, they don't give the ball to Ballinger or Ng, they just bounce it around for 20 seconds, then force a shot up.
Gilchrist needs to either drive the lane and draw the foul or make the lay-up or drive in and dish out to Ballinger/Ng outside for the open shot. Ninnes needs to draw up some plays to create space and time for Ng and/or Ballinger to have clean shots that we all know they can make. Groves shouldn't see court time in the last 7 minutes of a game. Just too big a risk. But in his defence, it appears he's the only one with the confidence and aggression to at least try something. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have the game to pull it off anymore.

I understand that money is obviously a massive issue for us, and for that reason, we will likely never be a legitimate title contender. We used to be criticised for dumping underperforming imports too late; at least we had that option, we don't even have that now. We aren't a powerhouse in the league anymore, we have a penny-pinching management, we have a coach that can't call the shots and we have players that don't work for or with eachother well. It's a recipe for disaster and can only go one way.

I find it hard to pay my $25 for a ticket to go to the game now. It's just far too frustrating. I feel like leaving at halfway through the last quarter to spare myself the heartache of watching what the team becomes when it's there to be won.

Respectively, I disagree that we played three really good quarters.

Trying to find some positives out of the game... Burston played his best game for us and if he can improve on that for the rest of the season and stay injury free it would be great. Ninnis kept the minutes of Hill and Groves relatively low. I liked Gilchrists attitude, no excessive whining and he looked as if he cared (not saying I liked all the decision making). The team looked for Ballinger a lot more compared to the Gold Coast game. The Tigers lost to the Crocs.

It's easy to kick a team when they are down, but I agree something needs to change. The same low IQ basketball is being replicated week in week out with little improvement shown on the same issues. IMO Groves should be long gone, but I question if that would change anything or mean more wins (especially if there is no chance of replacing him, I would happily take Davidson as a budget option).

Are the coaching staff on the same level as each other? Are the players responding to them? There needs to be a level of accountability from both the coaching staff and the players. I just want to know who goes first.

The cracks are starting to open up.

Balls needs to step down and Jacob up. Scotty might have to fall on his sword soon.

Gilly does over-dribble the ball like an U12 prodigy.

Why can someone like Rick Rickert shoot 3's?

for mine this game is on the players, but you cant deny that the same issues are showing up week after week and that is a coaching thing, or the players not respecting the coaches wishes.

Dispose of the entire coaching bench and Groves! What has Ninnis ever done to suggest that he is a good coach? That was rock bottom tonight and expect the crowd next Wednesday to be terrible. Fans can only put up with that crap for so long.
Full marks to the guys for saving the Sixers, don't get me wrong, but the same guys now have to react to save the club one more time.
Is it possible for someone at this late stage to actually show Jacob what a shooting style should look like? Giving him the ball tonight was never an option, his shot is getting flatter every time I see him.
As for foul shots, well we stink and it costs us games so often.
Have not been this low for a while and I don't like the feeling.

Actually thought the team looked better in offence when Gilchrist was on the bench and Tez ran the point.

Couldn't believe how terrible Gilchrist finished the game, is it a fitness issue or was he ill?

Teams seemed to have worked out our offence, maybe its time to change it up, run Ballinger off double screens and/or maybe have a 2 guard front instead of the double post stack which really requires post threat type players and a quick smart point guard.

After every home game, Ninnis comes upstairs and talks about the game. Its the same thing every time that the team trains well and looks impressive but does not translate to game night. Tonight he even talked about how they always practice press breaks. Gilchrist completely forgot how to do it tonight. As Boti has alluded to, they are not a very basketball intelligent team. They are not level headed to be able to think on the spot how to get out of a certain situation. They completely crack under pressure. They practice it but don't use it on game nights. If Ninnis has no control of this, then what is the answer? How about, if you don't perform, you don't get paid. Surely all their contracts come with a condition of always giving it their best shot. I think they give up too easily and don't have their heart in the job. One way of being able to tell this was just by looking at the NZ bench. In the last quarter when NZ was making a come back they were on their feet cheering and shouting for their team mates on court. Then you look at the Adelaide bench and not a movement was to be seen. They all just sat there with long faces and arms crossed. For heaven's sakes, atleast show you are a little bit interested in your team.

This sets up a Humdingga Next Saturday with Adelaide travelling here to Perth. the Wildcats will be Filthy and angry after getting slaughterd in Wollongong tonight.they will be Switched on and so will Adelaide after this Game. it should be a close battle i reckon. two very evenly matched teams will clash.

Not wishing to put boot in but Sixers modis operandi has become
"IS THERE ANOTHER WAY WE CAN LOSE ANOTHER GAME".
Win to Breaker saves our playoff hopes.
Two games we have pinched off Sixers (other in Auckland) that we didn't deserve.

Horror show revisited
Last Quarter stats (by my count)
Sixers Breakers
3pt 0/5 6/12
2pt 3/7 3/6
FT 5/8 9/9
TO 6 2

Adelaide just cannot finish games! Horrible 4th quarters so far this season. Nobody can make a good decision when it counts.

Boti's article: http://linky.com.au/bhfvd

"Having capitalised on the pungent whiff of familiar panic in the air, the Breakers tore through the final minute on a 7-0 run, Adelaide's offence as usual impotent in a crisis, the Sixers scoreless over the final 88 seconds after Matt Burston had tied the game at 85-85."

I wish, Cats Fan! The Cats will put the Sixers to the sword.

Gilchrist is horrible. He is the worst team player I have seen put on a Sixers uniform - selfish to the max. He would miss 5 assists per game and the way he doesn't run an offense would be giving Scotty the Shitz

I doubt he would have any team mates who would like plating with him.

I would drop him and put Groves at the point ASAP

"He is the worst team player I have seen put on a Sixers uniform - selfish to the max"

Mate, what about "The Cane Toad"

Yeah bag Gilchrist that's it.

It's about taking responsibility.
No one is prepared to step up.
Ball handling and decision making are poor.
It's almost as though players are too scared in case they make a mistake which they invariably do anyway.
Gilchrist atracts the double has to pass off and either can't find someone or finds someone who is content only to advance cautiously.
They need to attack and create easier scoring opportuities. Make teams pay for that back court double team.
As for breaking the full court press the inbounder needs to hold back and be available to reverse the ball to the other side of the court. Looking at the GC game the inbounder charged off down court oblivious to Gilchrist's double.
The times they did beat the press, no attack. Let's use the clock..... for what a brick. They don't have any decent 22 second options.
They need to be aggresive back their skill and take a few risks.

hereschenes, you gotta have more faith. you guys are playing as anyone for 3 quarters. if you can sortout the last quarter fadeouts, you gots have a team that can go with anyone. look at the Wins at the Gong and in Cairns by 30. i think it will turnaround and as Bill rightly pointed out, it comes back to good decision making. things like beating traps with better ball movement, boxing out and getting the ball to Ballinger in the clutch.


BTW, Bill, thats great post.

The old full court press - secret of Sturt

Truly amazing that we have a team of such talent that we consistently build up match winning performances against all comers. But then we crumble under a little pressure. Truly, the only problem with this team is a little composure. Replace a Gilchrist for CJ Bruton, and I believe there is the making of a highly competitive finalist. But as others have said, no leadership and no composure.

Perhaps the game was shortened enough by playing 10 minute quarters instead of 12 minutes. We need to take it further now and change it to 3 quarters instead of 4. We might win then.

Breakers used to have those kinds of issues when Henare was our #1 point guard, now with CJ we get into our offense quickly and have alot more options instead of jacking bricks on the buzzer

Thought the 36ers were really decent for three quarters. Burston was obviously showing what injury has been preventing him from doing much of this time. But I think opposition teams now know how easy it is to get the doubts into Adelaide's heads and run over them from there.