Refs have been solid so far.



















...I know!

unlike our defense though, it is not a great game to watch so far

Both teams average defensively. DJ is having one of his soft games. Someone needs to smack him in the face so he shows some aggression.

Whats up with the arena music, does anyone agree?

wow someone just told dj he is 7foot


good to see a bit of confidence from him, howard and creek

In Port Lincoln for work, can't get the game as even though the town has digital TV, they don't get One HD. Pretty poor. First game I haven't been at all year!

Half Time:Gold Coast
Worthington:12 @63% +4 rebounds
Gibson 11 @63% +3 Rebounds
36ERS
Shannon 13 @45% +3 Fouls
Balls 11 @63%
Howard 10 @80%

Am I the only one that finds Corey Winguard's commentating annoying?

36ers had 7 players score double figures.

Yeah nice to see them show some nice intensity on defence, and get the W. Not a playoff team what so ever, BUT a win is a win any day at the Dome!

Looked like a good crowd on OneHD. Any idea of the crowd?

i was in a courtside box at the taipans v tigers game last night and the defensive intensity was frightening.

after watching the 36ers v blaze game today i am lost for words on the 'pissweak' effort on defence.

i thought the AIS would have been preaching defensive effort(apart from a few basic rules,it is EFFORT)..........is this why our juniors(mostly) can,t get any further than college.
they are obviously lacking that next level of intensity that is required for europe and nba.

with the excuses from clarke and co,when the problems are obvious, i am glad he is out of the AIS.

Just read this on NBL.com Write up

"The 36ers' run started with a massive three-pointer from Howard before Brad Hill exploded off the bench with two points".

since when do you explode for 2 points

Everybody seemed to be more switched on today. Shannon & Howard both good games, Balls set the scene in the first + some awesome blocks, Bruce's best game so far, but the one who impressed me was Mitch Creek. Given good court time & made the most of it; I hope they have a long term contract with him.

Im beginning to wonder if we are ever going to see some good consistent refereeing ever in this league. there were shocking calls made both ways. Towards the end Shannon virtually had to be rugby tackled before the refs called it then were wondering why a fight nearly broke out. you gotta be kidding me. Some shocking calls on Gold coasts behalf to and im sick of people say it all comes out in the wash because it doesn't.

Was i the only person there that saw Howard on the court? he had a good game but there were so many other chances he generated for himself but it seemed that no one was watching to make the pass.

And why did howard only get 26 minutes of game time? he is getting paid six figures to play 2.5 quarters. while balls and shannon got the 30. seems hard for howard to make a decent impact when he is on the sidelines a lot. however when he did get the ball he did good. I know people keep saying they are subbed to keep the intensity up but in the past when a player starts getting on a roll you leave them on. not only that though they are professional athletes, 26 minutes is a walk in the park for some of these guys.

That game showed both teams have a lot of work to do. glad we got the win but was not convincing. feel free to bag me or whatever but thats how i felt after that game.

The consistant subbing hasnt worked all year for this roster. Stick with your core players 5-7 and just a few subs from there. The team has no identity because no one 5 player group has enough time to produce one! Cant say how annoyed i am week after week with Clarkes coaching style....but im not a fan of his, im a fan of the 36ers so i will continue to yell at games and get behind them, even though they are up against it this year...again.

Good to see DJ tak the ball under the ring a few times, made him have an instant impact on the game for the first time. I wish he would do that more often as well as holding some rebounds instead of his stupid little jump shots..oh those one handers made me want to kill him!!

I agree with the 7 or 8 man rotation, i think our main 8 should be

Shannon
Ballinger
Hill
Howard
Creek
Johnson
Bruce
Carter (when he returns)

Holmes and Dowdell should play 5-10 mins max, unless showing real good signs in their minutes and one of the above is playing worse.
Not that these 2 are terrible, just allows more opportunity for players to get in sync with each other.

Id rotate the team something like this like this

PG Shannon(30mins)/Carter(10 mins)
SG Howard (20 mins)/Bruce (15 mins)/Cater (5 mins)
SF Hill (20 mins)/Creek (20 mins)
PF Ballinger (25 mins)/ Creek (5mins)/Holmes (8 mins)/Dowdell (2mins)
C Jonson (25 mins)/Ballinger (10 mins)/Dowdell (5 mins)

What happened near hte end of the game when Shannon was fouled by Golding? Looked like Shannon wanted to go on with it and Howard had to calm him down.

Anybody down that end get a good look - too far for me from the north western corner!!

When was the last time a 36er had six blocks in a game. Also great to see Carmel back dancing with the girls.

"What happened near hte end of the game when Shannon was fouled by Golding? Looked like Shannon wanted to go on with it and Howard had to calm him down."

Eddie was mugged not once, not twice but numerous times by Goulding who, when challenged by Eddie mouthed off and shrugged his shoulders. Eddie then decided he wanted a piece of Goulding but was calmed down by Ron Howard. Ray "Mr Monopoly Man" Hunt decided to put his oar in and grab Eddie,from behind, who flared. Ron Howard then put his arm around Ray Hunt and walked him away from any conflict. I don't know what Ron said but Hunt ended up laughing and the game continued.

Contrary to what Xtatik and others have said the refs were abysmal. I would like to know how many fouls were called on the Blaze players compared to those on the Sixers by Ray Hunt. Ira Clark seemed to be given carte blanche to hold or push the Sixer players while soft off the ball fouls seemed to be regularly called on the Sixers when the Blaze needed to stop a run. Tom Mills is inept and seems to have a big dose of small man syndrome even though he is not that vertically challenged. Fillmier reverted to his inconsistent calling of the game, what is a foul at one end, usually the opposition, is play on at the other.

The Blaze on this afternoons display have two guns, Gibson & Goulding. A better than average player, when he decides to pay ball, Worthington. A thug, Ira Clark then an average or just below average group of players.

Think Shannon thought Golding was throwing elbows when he got wrapped up. Not much in it from where i was sitting, also does not help with the size difference between the two.

i like shannon and hope he returns

The Blaze aren't one of the toughest teams so this isn't that "the 36ers have turned everything around" moment. But you can only beat what's put in front of you and the 36ers did that with some good moments from almost everyone.

Ballinger's blocks were awesome. I'm hard on his D generally, but he was right there at the right times. Obviously on offense when he's on, he's a machine.

Creek is a winner. Has his flaws (not really a shooter, etc) but he has that killer instinct and he is out there to win.

DJ excels when given some space. Had some great buckets against Garlepp, but Worthington had his number one-on-one.

Looked like Clarke was experimenting with the line-ups a bit tonight? We got to see a bit of everything.

Eddie threw the ball away. I think he should have technically passed it to "everybody loves Raymond" Hunt, but I think Ron Howard was saying, "He was passing it to me man!", then Ron Howard picked the ball up, politely passed it to him, and said to Ray "There you go man"

Probably a big chink in Eddie's armour. A couple of times a few people have got under his skin and he has chomped on the hook like a marlin in FNQ.

Refs are consistently inconsistent how filmer gets games is beyond me. There is clearly A lack of ref depth locally if bad refs keep getting Nbl games.

The only thing I want to say is hallelujah, we used DJ the way he should be and it basically won us the game in the 4th!

More of that please Marty! Give the kid a heap of court time and tell your guards to stop ignoring him when he posts up! (As they did several times in this game too).

DJ just needs experience and confidence and he will start producing offensively. Defensively we can take our lumps for awhile. We're not making the playoffs this season anyway.

I can't wait to get Carter back. Every lead was given away with Bruce on the court. He doesn't give our team offence threat like Ng or Carter does. His defence on Bubbles was dismal, no wonder Bubbles had a shot fest in the third with Bruce not closing out or busting thru the screens. When Howard took over Bubbles, it shut him down. Only problem with that was Gibbo then hit a three or two on Bruce.

Good team effort. Our help and hedge defence needs work. Scouting clearly identified when guards could drive thru our key and who would come to help.

Kiwis on their own court. Lets get them sixers

"Got to love it from Xztatik, 36ers win and of course the refs are solid, if the Gold Coast had managed to get up this afternoon Im sure the refs would have been embarrasing/pathetic/woeful or a blight on the game.

A one eyed import is very appropriate for Adelaide!"

I posted that in the 2nd quarter you clown. At that stage they were actually doing quite well by their standards. As others have mentioned, that deteriorated in the 2nd half and I think they actually favoured us quite a bit at the end of the day.


Likewise, I posted that comment about DJ right before he turned it on. I guess he had a laptop on the bench. If only he could keep that confidence/aggression up consistently.

I didn't understand that little 4 minute run he gave Daly... at all.

Thought Bruce was fantastic at both ends. I must've missed those mised close-outs because I really rated his D tonight.

Howard did exactly what we need from him for his 2nd quality game so far. Great work running the breaks.

One of the best games I've seen from Creek too, especially on D. He looked quite capable of guarding everyone from Gibbo to Wortho. Nice work picking his spots and recognizing mismatches offensively too. He got to the rim with ease on those bigger guys and finished strong. He'll be a jet.

Ballinger's dunk off the offensive board was pretty big! As was Clark's block on Ballinger.

Did any anyone else notice Howard open and creating opportunities for himself but no one reading it?

Also how nice was that Ira Clarke (i think) dunk, where he was underneath and came around from the other side with the one handed jam. that looked pretty epic.

Ron Howard plays quite a solid game and is a quiet achiever. The problem with quiet achievers is they tend to get under-noticed. 14 points @ 63% with 5 DR is not a bad game.

I think the Sixers need to work on their help D. A couple of times the man was beaten and the Gold Coast were given a gap as big as the SE Freeway to the rim. (and the consequent bucket)

Worked out the +/- for four players before work. Someone else might want to have a shot at the rest:

Howard +9
Holmes +8
Ballinger +2
Johnson +1

Ira's reverse dunk was huge - as was Ballinger's put back.

I'm with most people - very happy to see DJ utilised as he should be.

Not worth chiming in on the refs.

Here's my 2 Cents:

Our imports played exactly how we needed them to, they were aggressive, looking to create. Watching Howard off the ball is a marvel, he moves constantly, we just need to find him more often.

Ballinger was good in spots offensively, went missing for a while but played solid D all night, a few huge blocks also. Staying out of Foul trouble really makes him a much more dangerous player.

Our bench play was great, Creek, Bruce & Johnson were all great. I will most likely get flamed for this, but from last nights performance, Bruce is every bit as good as Gibson. Very similar players, not much between them. Creek is a stud, if he adds a consistant mid range jump shot he will be a 20ppg guy in no time.

I'd like to see us limit our rotations. No need for Daly to play those 4 mins, we would have been better off giving those minutes to Howard.

For the Blaze, they certainly have some talented individuals, but they clearly aren't on the same page. How many times did they throw the ball to no one? Worthington looks frustrated, I doubt he will be back for them next season.

Goulding was unbelievably inefficient last night. Why shoot a fade away with a guy right in your face? give up the ball and pick your spots. He would still have had around 19 points if he left those rediculous shots alone and just took the odd contested jumper mixed with the open looks that he nearly always makes. Also he is the greatest matador defender in the league.

Ira Clark is a beast, they need to go to him in the post as often as possible. That spin baseline reverse dunk was nasty!

I didn't think the refs were too bad for the most part, a few howlers both ways, and they lost control towards the end but better than some games I have watched this season.

Solid game by the Sixers, but not a game to hang our hats on. If we play like that away against NZ we will get belted.

No Deal, would be nice if Wortho leaves and comes to the sixers

"Creek is a stud" Are you a 15 yo girl?

Howard was yelled at by Clark during the second; managed to get something like "If you want the ball, you've got to go get it".

Howard was camping the corner for half the game and was expecting someone to pass to him THROUGH crowded passing lanes and he didn't even attempt to make space himself. Are Marty yelled at him, Howard started moving more and it payed off.

Reffing was fairly bulk standard. Some ghost fouls called there. Wortho got jipped on some very soft fouls; though the hack on Creek was legit.

Jack Toft again with the quick wit!

Clark's spin and dunk was impressive. Beast indeed. Thought Johnson (and helper) had him trapped, then he spins and is somehow on the other side of the basket before you've worked out how.

I think you will find Daly was brought in when Cadee hit the floor. Good option by Rat, we risked getting cheap fouls then and sixers run good offence when he is on the floor. He had a roll to play and did well defensively in those 4 minutes. In 3 offences he had to tell Bruce where to go. He is our 11 man and shouldn't need to tell players who are getting 15min a game where they have to be on offence. A few more minutes to Mitch, Hill and Howard and keep Bruce to look after PG when Shannon is in foul trouble. Eddie and Balls getting 30+ is what we need.

Daly getting a turn over for the 24 shot clock was a bit ruff by the Stats. Got given the ball whilst double teamed with 2 seconds to go.

Loved Daly's take it to the rack confidence. Got the 2 free throws and a valuable foul on Worthington. Surprised the hell out of me, I was thinking turn over for sure.

Whist there was some good highlights the standard was far from good from both teams.

To the Bruce haters, he wasnt the cause for Gold Coasts come backs, Shannon was when he held the ball for too long and try to be a one man show. It wasnt until Marty called a TO that he started passing the ball around more. Bruce was more than reliable IMO and to say that he is the new TO king is a far stretch!

Howard still didnt impress me. Didnt move off the ball much at all and got the majority of his points from a 3 or two and some fast breaks on which I thought he was a bit greedy and could have dished off on 2 occassions. Still doesnt look like he wants to work for the ball or can create his own shot?! However, his defense is pretty good.

DJ just needs to post up, use his speed and be aggressive - attacking the basket!

Tornado, you must have been watching a different game to me. I thought Howards work off the ball was great.

No Deal, why did Marty pull him aside then and tell him if he wanted the ball he had to move to get it?

I sit on the opposite side of the court to the bench but obviously Marty and I were watching the same game in relation to Howard...

Marty should have said the same thing to the whole team. there were a heap of moments where everyone was just standing still, think its a bit harsh to single out Howard. the whole team needed a kick in the arse at times.

In the first half, I thought Howard looked very casual off the ball for someone who hadn't really impressed in most games so far. Throw yourself in there, scrap for loose balls and you will win over a few fans.

"Daly getting a turn over for the 24 shot clock was a bit ruff by the Stats. Got given the ball whilst double teamed with 2 seconds to go."

I think he got the ball and then drove and then was double teamed. Even if he was double teamed when he got the ball he still should have attempted to get a shot off rather then look to pass it, so it was bad play by him.

It was great to see the coach have confidence in DJ. I thought we looked better defensively with DJ and Ballinger in there together as DJ's length makes a difference.

I thought Howard was free in the corners sometimes but they didn't get it to him

Isaac - Your observations of Howard is right on the mark. I am scratching my head on what his strengh is. I lost count how many times he sat idle in a corner while waiting for someone to throw him the ball and then watch his team rebound and jog down the floor. Not good enough.

His shot is not great, and his open court 1:1 skills are average at best. My observation of him over the last few games is lazy, selfish and not a great decision maker. Hindsight is a great thing but I can only imagine Winder in our squad right now instead of Howard. I would rather a few brain fades but 40 mins of competetive basketball rather than someone who works hard when it looks like he might have a chance to score.

Overall I'm happier with our team than I've been in a long time, but not doing cartwheels. There are some really bright spots - DJ, Balls and Creek. The dark spots are Howard, our inability to find Balls the ball with any consistency and our offence if Holmes takes more shot attempts than 0. Also our uncertainty of who is the money man in the clutch?

These are things that Clarke needs to work out fast as the season in on a razors edge.

WG

Re Howard did some good stuff both on D and offence but certainly can do more .
Although did not camp as much in corners this week but certainly could lift intensity at times and more movement . His effort on a rebound down eastern end where same height think Goulding took ball over top of him was average .
But defenitely better than Winder and just a bit better than DeVries.
No doubt Bruce provided some good plays for us yesterday and at least doesnt sit holding the ball like Shannon does at times .
But defense wise more of a liability than NG was as Goulding got them back in the game when Bruce had him and then Gibson later on.
Seems to work hard but they blow past and shoot over easily him easily.
I though game was a good game and refs were ok especially compared to over reffing had other week.
How often do you see so many great blocks .
Thought Ballinger was much more aggressive this week on offence and D but why does he go missing for so long eg 2-3rd qtrs on offence.
We dont have too many in current team want to take that open shot currently although good Shannon starting to hit more now.
What a difference a half makes and confidence in DJ game . His las t Qtr was huge and showed his ability.
Know he can be frustrating with thinking etc but let him start and get good minutes and lets see what can develope.
Extra things noticed

1 Although other end noticed that just before Shannon had foul shots went over to Goulding and offered hand to be refused.

2 Carters great support on dide at all times during game
3 His team in white support in a awful aqua colour but Joey in a equally awful yellow type clothes
4 After seeing Wortho playing for so many years doesnt give the impression of a happy team camper at the moment.
close
Who saw the sign going into the Italian club car park .
Playing different game now

WG, seems like a smart guy though so what kills me is that the lack of effort and missing on what the team needs is right there to be seen in front of him. Has the physical tools to do what Winder brought at his best. Could be the go-to shooter (lost our clutch shooter when DeVries went). Could be the frantic defender, etc. Less time knocking the side of his head and more time taking charge of things. You don't often see Penney standing still waiting for the ball.

I agree with the flat footed / stagnant offence comment - happens far too often IMO.

4 guys spread the floor and one guy dances outside the 3 point line until it's time to jack a prayer.

Must be better options than that.

First game I've been to in a while since replacing our imports. I thought it was overall a good game by the 6ers. I thought Ballinger and Shannon were great, and was impressed by Creek.

I thought it was a good decision to bring Daly in when he did as Cadee just came in and we weren't going to lose anything in that matchup and get the crowd into a bit aswell by giving the young fella some tick...

Howard was alright but if thats what a good game is from an import these days then it doesn't say much about the league... He shot well from memory and he doesn't mind taking 3 on 1 breaks all the way himself (although it worked everytime for him so good on him) but just not sold on his complete game. I hope it works out for him and the team though.

Holmes good defender and great rebounder, he just doesn't shoot anymore. Definately should stay a starter though in my opinion.

I've always like the way Hill plays - yeah he's gonna throw it away every now and again but he's agressive and can spark the team up with his play when we're stagnant.

Shannon has a great crossover that can free him up at will... great poise in offense, was wide open for a few triples down the stretch but waithed an extra second and hit someone even more open for a better shot - invaluable skill to have as a player.

Goulding is awesome - I would be a chucker to if I could play like that kid. Reads the game unbelievably well and plays with passion and is instinctive. I didn't even think he played that well tonight and he still top scored and brought his team back in the game.

reading these remarks on hoops makes me wonder what the fxxk balls has to do to make some of you dickheads happy .starting with know all isaac your comments like CARTERS PLAYwas great did carter have 6 blocks did here lead his team better than balls l think not .those others who say shit like balls goes missing the coach makes the team plays not balls .give the guy some credit last night he gave his all so fuckup and get of his back.

Cant see where Isaac mentioned Carter at all in reference to last nights game

Perhaps you should cut the dose

Wow Fedup what the hell.
I mentioned Carter not Isaac but only as something extra to the actual game as he was out injured but giving lots of encouragement on side lines .
Majority of time re feedback on Balls is posters want him back in PF role where I am sure he also would prefer to play so can play his natural game .

Reminds me of the drunk Hillbillies on South Park shouting incoherantly: "DEY-DERK-URR-JERBS!"

Glad everyone spotted Howard standing around on half the plays.

Guy is obviously someone who runs the fast break alot and tends to prefer to camp a spot on the court. Seems to love that corner jumper. Seems to have one of the worst takeoffs for a shot I've seen. Good posture in the arms, but seems to leap forward at the ring then try and lean back to land straight. Fell on his butt nearly every jump shot.... wierd.

I'd compare Ron Howard to Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole for Man Utd in Soccer:

Both are great at scoring the open goal, but prefer to wait for the ball to come to them rather than go after it themselves.

THEY TOOK HIS JOOOORRBBB Loco!

.... d' took err jooooobs! LOL guys

Someone mentioned earlier that Bruce's D was terrible on Goulding. Kind of true in that he got caught on screens a bit, but to be fair to him, he is a PG and Goulding has a fair bit of size on him. Bruce has about as much chance of bothering Goulding's shot as Shannon does.

I did like Howard's game overall last night. First time I'd seen him have any impact whatsoever, so it was well overdue, but a relief nonetheless. Didn't really pay attention to him off the ball, so can't comment on that, but I thought his D was pretty solid most of the time. Certainly glad we had him to guard Goulding rather than one of our platoon of PGs.

Very nice to see a team that defends the paint worse than us! I retract my earlier belief that the Blaze will finish above us. We will now finish no worse than 7th!

"Creek is a stud" Are you a 15 yo girl? "

Can't wait for the Sixers "fireman's calendar". Wolfman oiled up, Brucey doing "steel blue", Jeff working a blacksmith's fire.....should be very popular.

my mistake meant to say ira clark .sorry any way MUMS not happy with my swearing so l have to apoligize sorry .

my mistake meant to say ira clark .sorry any way MUMS not happy with my swearing so l have to apoligize sorry .

my mistake meant to say ira clark .sorry any way MUMS not happy with my swearing so l have to apoligize sorry .

X, "THEY TOOK HIS JOOOORRBBB" - a great SP episode!

fedup, not sure how much you've read of the thread, but I called Ballinger's blocks "awesome" (I've used the word "awesome" in 4 out of almost 1,800 thread replies in the last 12 months.) I also likened his offensive output when he goes on a tear to that of a "machine" - "machine" is a huge compliment in basketball terms (unless you're talking about Sasha Vujacic).

If you're upset that I haven't glorified him enough in this thread, I'm not sure what more I can do for you.

Did that 4 out of 1,800 replies include this one Isaac, or is it now 5 times?

DB5 - 6 - he used it twice!

Isaac, do you regularly screen your post output to ensure that you are giving fair use to each of the myriad words in the dictionary, or is it just for special cases such as fedup.

Fedups MUM, you might want to work on grammar and comprehension in addition to the swearing.

XY, no, it applies to everyone equally. fedup might be unhappy with me not glorifying Ballinger this time, but then someone whose favourite word is "exhilarating" might be unhappy that I've used "awesome" so many times. Can't win.

Isaac, you are the awesome one

Exhilarating!