Should be a good game. Looking forward to Sam "Stretch" Harris dunking and "Tommy Terrific" swishing baskets making the Ninja look like a three point apprentice.

It's appropriate that the Hawks from Steeltown NSW are up in Steeltown South Australia.

should be a good game, either way I think it will be close

I think we look a bit better with Ballinger playing at Power Forward - when we can do that.
While only yesterday some have Ballinger as allstar 5 PF and this gives us a chance to see that, some of the time.

Even though I like having a big 7 footer on the team, I hope the sixers look at spending their availbe 8 points on a better player

I'm heading over there shortly, so I too will try and keep you updated as well.

Skip....

Catch up????

Be good to put face to name

For sure Showtime.

I'll be the guy there playing music.

sixers by 5

While you would not want to miss Herbert all season the Harris addition makes for a better balanced line-up.

Winder and Carter are a great combination at point guard.

DeVries and Ng are deadly shooters and hopefully they can do other things as well.

Holmes and Hill. Holmes adds toughness and rebounding to the squad while he can hit the 3 and Hill at his best is a great slasher and athlete.

Ballinger and Dowdell are both pure power forwards and must stay at this position. All else fails Clarke can throw Ballinger to the pivot.

Johnson and Harris provide size and Johnson can be a quick bunch scorer whilst Harris takes up space.

"Holmes and Hill. Holmes adds toughness and rebounding to the squad while he can hit the 3 and Hill at his best is a great slasher and athlete."

Holmes isn't a small forward. I think that's what I disagree with most when all you people suggest signing another big man. I wouldn't be comfortable with him spending more than 10mins a game there. He's far more effective inside.

Dowdell is more than capable at C as well IMO.

The team balance was fine with Herbie. Hopefully they can find a capable SF to replace him with.

Hawks are without their starting GF backcourt - Mat Campbell and Rhys Martin so this will test depth.

Their minutes will primarily go to Tin Coenraad, who has been large in his pre-season games to date, and 11th man Tyson Demos who has been impressive playing out of position in a couple of starts at the point.

The Winder / Ervin match up should be good.

Cant wait, go sixers!

I'll be there too so will be happy to give some insight into what I see!

"I think we look a bit better with Ballinger playing at Power Forward - when we can do that. "

I couldnt agree with this more. Ballinger has such an impact on the game playing at Power Forward and I hate watching his natural game nullified by people playing him at centre

Quarter time. Sixers lead the Hawks 31- 22

Winder and Davidson in a double unsportmanlike after wrestling to the ground.

Pretty good - Don't mind a bit of Carter PG Winder SG
DeVries SF Ballinger PF and a Centre.
Winder 19,25 pts - gotta get 26 tonite.

Half Time at Whyalla. Hawks have taken the lead from the Sixers. 50 - 47.

Any chance someone can provide a boxscore at the end of the game?

Wish I was there, the Upper Spencer Gulf is a great part of the world and has some great local basketball comps.

I will try and get some full stats. Down 67 - 68 at 3/4 time

Scorers ?

Thanks Skip.

Sixers win 80 - 79!

Thanks for the updates folks. Go 6ers!

Stats sheet doesn't seem to exist at this point.

Cheers for the updates skip! how did Harris go? did he play much?

I went to this game in Whyalla making the trip from Port Augusta having moved from Adelaide and having to give up my season tickets at the start of this year.

Was an entertaining game and relatively high intensity and physical - especially for a pre-season game. Hopefully its a sign of the hard-nosed physical defence Clarke will hopefully get the team to play on a consistent basis.

We were lucky to win the game at the end with a careless backcourt turnover in the last 25 seconds giving them a shot at the win.

The 36ers offence looked best with Carter, Wynder and Ballinger on he floor and these three were the most impressive for the night. When one of these guys were off, we tended to struggle to create good shots. Carter was particularly impressive directing traffic in the open floor.

Harris hardly played and was tentative when he go out there. Can't see him making much of an impact to be honest.

However, overall I was impressed with the sixers performance and was happy to see a close game.

Also Skip, loved the fact you played Moscow, made me think I was back at Brett Maher Court.

Boxscore? Did young gun Daly get any minutes?

Great result to get a win!

Thanks for the summary Minx. We might just have a spare ticket for you when you come back to Adelaide for the odd game...

A big congrats to Whyalla/Wildcats for a well organised game.
Sorry Skip about not catching up but i was holding the bar up and it took its toll by the end of the night.
Was very impressed with Carter as Minx said he controlled the court well and i like the combination of him and Winder in the 1/2 spot.
Daly saw minutes in the first quarter.
IMO the game was of a very good standard for pre-season
Big Ads you'll need to get back to your old stomping ground and see some games late Oct and late Nov

From the NBL site:

Adelaide : Adam Ballinger 25, Craig Winder 16 , Darren Ng 11
Wollongong Ervin 21, Forman 13 and Demos 9

Ballinger looked really good, stroke looking sweet as usual. He would have ended up with more points if he didnt find himself in foul trouble. Unfortunately when he was off the court the sixers offense looked stagnant and confused without him being an option.

Love the guard combo of Winders / Carter. They hustled hard and clearly were looking to find their team mates first most of the time. Bringing the hard work and defensive focus that Marty Clarke has talked about going into this season.

The only notable criticism I had of Winders was his shot selection with less than 2 minutes to go, shot a heavily contested mid range jumper with the game in the balance. Hopefully it was just an error on his behalf and not a deeper problem with decision making down the stretch.

Was good to see both sides down here and were definitely playing to win (loved Saville's dummy spit at the ref after the final siren, probably warranted though!). Thanks for putting on a good show for Whyalla!

2500 at the dome for Crocs game and Starplex sold out today for another Wollongong game. I think sixers may have won agen, today - I think so , DeVries may have played, so should've won - Probably been a big crowd at dome today.

6ers won by 5....cool down the stretch....was very good coaching

Carter Winder Clarke - seem pretty good.

how was harris this arvo?

Would've been good to be able to see it.
Boti gives a good write up now.

How did Johnson go? do people think he is likely to play at the level he was at when anstey was out last year, averaging 15pts 5-10 rebounds??
I hope so as we need atleast 20 mins a game out of him,
Any news on Herberts replacement?