6ers by 6pts howard to break out with 20 of his own.
brad hill to score more points than harvey

I think Blaze beat Sydney and we didn't but if Howard were to get 20points we'd win.

I put $10 on the 6ers, purely due to Wortho's injury, may take them awhile to adjust. Plus its on TV so may keep it interesting....but realistically the Blaze will probably still find a way to win, most teams do against the 6ers on the road.

Already down 26-12 and Ballinger has been a ghost....yawn ahh so predcitable.

Any chance we could just run a set with a post feed to ballinger? Clarke hasn't had to play D once yet?

Surprised Heal said Marty has done such a good job as coach this season....no he hasnt...

One more thing, there hasnt been one bad call by the refs yet, and game is over already. So no 6er fan should blame the refs on this one.

At least when my gf gets home I can honestly say I don't mind changing the channel. These performances are awful.

why is it that when we play away every other team has there best game. Clark looks like he has nothing to say

This Marty Clarke is the most insipid first half performance from the Sixers I have ever seen. That is on your head and the team.

This is a please explain!

send in the dogs starts at 7pm on nine. Might check it out

send in the dogs starts at 7pm on nine. Might check it out

Big Ads I totally agree, Marty had a massive say in the players signed on this roster, and i was very worried when he chose to resign so many from lasts seasons 10-18 sqaud! DJ has been a bust, Marty hasnt help him develop his game what so ever....im just not sure why everyone talks about him as some super coach???? Oh not to mention the imports we had to cut....both of them.

Half time......the pants are sitting nicely around the ankles and the exposed cheeks are red raw!
Please show some heart at the defensive end at least in the 2nd half.

Lets some up the sixers

Defense is non existent
players have no heart
Do not have anyone who can consistently shoot the three
Ron Howard cant create his own shot.
Eddie Shannon has no jump shot and holds on the ball for way to long.
Daniel Johnson should be working in a butter churning factory he is so soft.
Adam Ballanger does not demand the ball.
No one beside Jacob Holmes crashes the boards.
We have a team full of guards that cant shoot.


This season is OOOOOVER!!!

I don't mind the import changes. They can be hit and miss so when they don't pan out I would rather someone who cuts and replaces rather than hope it will work out. The rest I agree with, especially the lack of height.

AND WE HAVE SEVEN REBOUNDS IN A HALF OF BBALL

I think Aaron Bruce replaced Carter on injury wavers and maybe Ng but maybe not.

Dougys, apart from that everything else OK? lol
I am going to have to change my nappy here as I am bleeding so much.
It has been hard justifying to my wife the ccst of 2 gold season tickets and I am wondering if I should send an email to the Sixers asking what I can expect next year before renewing again.
So so disappointing.

You dont sign a Centre a genuine centre, what did Marty expect ofcourse we were never going to rebound this season! LUKE SCHENSCHER was in adel before start of the season, and instead of sign him, they went on about this 'MAD MONEY' he demanded, yet didnt seem to be a problem with the Crocs paying up hmmmm

Well this is insipid at its best. Where is the D?

I dont think I will take notice of emails sent out by the club when they tell us, 'the guys trained hard and with the recent win at home, this gives us a platform of momentum or some story like it'.

Im glad my TV went to shite after cutting Foxtel. I woukdnt be seen to be watching this sort of garbage.

Well if theyd thrown him in this lineup, wouldve changed everything, i suspect if Shannon had a 7'1 guy to play with he would find him all the time with a perfect dime. But i guess they can try for him next season.

Funniest thing is they keep updating on FB that status of the game, id probs take it easy with that, being down 32 and all hahaha

Ron Howard is excelling himself

ridiculous shot _ Airball

ridiculous shot _ Airball

Unsportsmanlike foul.

just fly direct from the gold coast to the US we will send your gear for you

sixers are playing like they dont want fans next season. The players just look lost

The refs have been fantastic.

Also, since we're on the topic of aberrations, DJ just boxed out Ira Clark for a nice offensive put-back while drawing the foul.

Hope the last few home games go quickly and this season dies ASAP. Another crappy year to be a Sixer fan.

At least he is now getting game time into the younger players! Play Daly instead of Shannon and anybody in place of Howard!!!!

Clarke has no clue what he's doing out there, he doesnt seem to be able to get through to the players on any level. I doubt theyd have much respect for him, where as dare i say it, a Brian Goorjian, you simply couldnt not play hard for.

TIme to go into the room of mirrors

"DJ has been a bust, Marty hasnt help him develop his game what so ever"

What do you expect him to do in 16 minutes per game? Either way he hasn't been a bust his numbers have been decent for how many minutes he is playing and how little the coach has confidence in him.

A great "Culture" Clarke is developing!

Good to see he has benched the imports for the last quarter. They certainly have deserved it

If I could ask Marty one question right now it would be this....
"Give me one reason why anyone should attend the next home game?"

I would love to hear his answer and then keep that in mind when watching the next game?

DJ for what he is and who they didnt sign because of him, has been a bust. His stats which i dont even know, surely lie, he offers no presence inside what so ever, can not stand watching him play. If he was performing even marginally, he would be playing more than 16min a game.

Not an NBL standard performance tonight. The coach was quoted as being pleased with the progress made this year. Based on the results for most of the year, the team may match last year's win-loss result. That looks like a best case scenario. The difference will be that the Kings will stop us finishing bottom. Bet Scott Ninnis wishes they had played last year - he might still have had his job this year.

If the club has any respect for itself and its supporters/corporate stakeholders, then a 'please explain' from the coach should be in order along with its two imports who did well for the opposition tonight.

Im happy to lose provided we try, and try we sure didnt tonight.

As for imports, all i can say is 'same old', 'same old'. Always flop. Perhaps try getting a Euro League player or Turkish player other than Dickel.

Fizzle you cant have presence in 16 minutes. He has been performing for the minutes he has been playing and is probably the leading scorer per 40 minutes for us. No question his defense needs to get better but can't do that from the bench. There is no doubt we should have got Schensher, the whole season I have been saying it was a mistake not to. The reason we didn't get Schenscher was beacause he wanted a quicker team and what a great team that is! Not getting Schenscher was up there with Smyth not getting Newley or Ingles. All Clarke has done so far is provide an embarrassing season and proved he doesn't know how to coach at the professional level.

King James, i agree with enough of what our saying, this is just a tough time for us supporters!

Agree Fizzle its not a good time and the supporters deserve better then this!

That was just painful to watch. As a supporter you don't mind your team losing when the opposition are just too good, but it's just so disappointing to see them being conistently beaten because of their lack of basketball fundamentals. No defensive intensity, no one boxes out, very few times do they close out on shooters and there is a lack of movement on the offensive end.


The other frustrating issue for me is the fact that Marty Clarke has not realised that this starting 5 just doesn't get the job done. Playing centre is killing Ballinger, particularly in the first half of game. On the offensive end Holmes is basically just out there to set screens and occasionally touch the ball and I know he has had a couple of okay scoring games lately but generally when he touches it he never even looks at the basket. Eddie Shannon and Ron Howard don't work well together. Howard is at his best in the open floor in transition and Shannon just doesn't push the tempo enough. By holding onto the ball he takes away Howard's best asset. Howard and Bruce in the backcourt together is a much better combination because they both like to push the ball. And Brad Hill is just up and down like a yo yo. One week he looks amazing, the next it looks like his head is in the clouds.

IMO the starting 5 just doesn't make sense. Just play DJ at centre, yes he's raw and a little soft atm but at the very least it would allow Ballinger to play PF. Mix up the guard combination and throw Creek in, because we seem a whole lot more productive with him on the floor.

WHY DID WE LET GARLEPP GO
AND BIG RED
the list of potentials is endless.

Fizzle & King James..How about you show some support like true supporters..Easy to bag the team..Glass half full or half empty stuff...

"this is just a tough time for us supporters!"

Yeah coz it wouldt be tough for the players & coaching staff would it you moron...

Squid, therein lies the challenge for professional sports teams. Teams have to lose, and no fan base, especially those who make a substantial financial commitment, want to see it happen to their team.

It's the frustration that comes with being passionate season ticket holder. Take the good with the very bad. Come renewal time this same tragic will be optimistic about the up coming season and once again spend the money, however some won't.

The club has used terms like "building a culture", "developing players" and "commitment and intensity to defense" but what I saw today makes me want to know just what is being done to achieve these aspirations as a collective and what is being done individually.

While I must admist its pretty easy to can the Sixers tonight as they were woeful they did come up against a red hot Blaze team. FFS we shot 70% for the first half, and no it wasnt all because of crap defense!

Ballinger is a pussy, he did nothing when it mattered and all of a sudden when the game was long gone he looked to score and even got aggresive. Well done skiper, pity you dont seem to want do it when it counts. Ive said it before, he isnt a captain. I cant believe Holmes was last signed this season, he give absolutely everything ALL the time, sure hes not the best on offense, sure he is undersized, but he makes sure he does everything in his power to make the team better, pity hes the only one!

Im not saying hes a starter, far from it! But he gives a shit load more effort that half the team that you guys troted out there tonight and can be valuable off the bench

People talk about Ballinger at PF and DJ at C as though we haven't tried that combo in games - we have, and it doesn't seem to have been that effective. The starting lineup is just one of many combos - Bruton and Braswell both come off the bench behind Henare! Better off hiding Ballinger with Holmes. We are wasting these years with Ballinger by not putting the right pieces around him.

We looked flat, woeful switching on D, as though we lacked more than one shooter (Ballinger) and Howard looked bad again. The game in Sydney and then this one showed that even the 'mathematical' chances at the finals are just a distraction. There is no real benefit in playing Howard. Thank him, let him go on to his next job and give all his minutes to Hill, Creek and Daly. If he was getting rebounds and had height, that'd be one thing, but he's not.

Another shocking night from long range. Without Ng and Herbert we're relying on occasional shooters (again, besides Ballinger who should have a green light on any shot he wants to take). Blaze have Harvey and Goulding who will take any opening they get.

When they showed 7 rebounds at half-time, I almost switched it off right then.

Kinda glad I was out for this game, only saw the last 2 minutes.

I do really wish DJ was played properly this season. I dont rate him as a centre based on his performances, but if he is part of a 3 year plan it would be better to see him actually get minutes to help develop him. Who knows, half a season with more than 15mins tops we could have a more well rounded centre than he is now.
Games that he has played well, Clark seems to take him off and not bring him back, it really doesnt seem right to me.

Anonymous, thank you for coming up with that information. It is certainly worth a shot starting him and giving him decent minutes however Clarke is too stubborn in his ways to ever let that happen! People will say "But we will have no defence then!!!" What defense have we had anyway? I know if I am an opponent I would rather have a 6'7 Holmes trying to guard me rather then a 7 foot long Daniel Johnson. Furthermore, as an opponent I would rather Holmes out there when I am on defense as then I wouldn't have to worry about him trying to score and can save my energy whilst help my team out more on defense. Having DJ start would allow Ballinger to play his natural PF roll as well as allow him to save energy not having to guard bigger opponents or getting into foul trouble.

Isaac, you said we have tried Ballinger and Johnson combo before however its different when we are down by 10 or they are on court together for a total of 2 minutes. Starting them together is worth a shot to get off to a good start and to give the right direction, that we will not play as an undersized team this game.

We have been losing by 20 odd so how much worse could we possibly do by starting him? If it ends up being a revelation well then at least theres one thing good thing Clarke did this season.

Holmes' rebound rate (according to anonymous above) is much higher than Johnson's. 12.4 vs 7.4 RP40. A huge problem has been rebounding (7 in the first half!). Do you really think we're going to get that much of a better start by sacrificing rebounding ability to that extent?

Yes, rebounding is a team effort not a one man effort. I don't think there is much coincidence that the 5 top rebounders in the league (Khazzouh, Petrie, Davidson, Nevill, Holmes) come from the 5 worst placed teams in the league.

Holy hell how bad was that .
You really cant pick anyone out as they were all terrible .
Getting thrashed in rebounds oh no we dont need size we will have lots of guards who will run legs off opposition and shoot the lights out
Posters also want to keep Shannon next season
No way -- holds ball too long and then cant create open shots and his shooting is almost as bad as Jacobs and Howard
As supporters we use more energy yelling Defence that team does in applying it

Sure, and good point about the top statistical rebounders, but I don't think we're going to be a better rebounding team with Holmes out and Johnson in. A bit of the rebounding issue is with our guards anyway - Gibson, Martin, etc are all rebounding better than our PG-SF set.

I think the poor rebounding is more a by-product of the poor defence. Out of position guarding the ball = out of position boxing out.

But I agree with Isaac, I don't see how having Johnson on court more than Holmes will improve rebounding.

In the 20+ years of being a loyal supporter I cannot really recall a moment where I have questioned my support of the team..... getting close now! But I know it is probably just frustration. Some points I would like to put out and seek others opinions on:

I have noticed that our opposition seem to get a much higher proportion of easy unconcested baskets each game than the sixers. We have to expend much more energy and time to get what usually is a jumpshot.

When seeing Marty Clarke on tv coaching it seems to me he is more concerned with micro managing the next play rather than providing inspirational leadership and rallying the troops so to speak. These guys are meant to be pros and we have how many guards on our team? I am sure they can figure out the plays to call. They need someone to put a firecracker up their jacksey!

I cannot believe the number of times the opposing teams have gotten an easy put back of an offensive rebound and our guys are just standing around..... hell even in my under 12 days we were all tought when a shot goes up, find a body and box em out...pretty simple yet effective.

Performances like their latest they should have to do shuffle runs centrecourt for 10 mins post game! haha!

"In the 20+ years of being a loyal supporter I cannot really recall a moment where I have questioned my support of the team..... getting close now!"

You have forgot about Smyths 11-22 record in 2007! That was the worst season for me, followed by this season and then last season.

' Like a training run for the Blaze , against non-existent defense. '
and Harvey - 'Like playing in the juniors agen.'
Just then on ABC TV News.

I dont get fustrated at the team so much as get fustrated at the obstinancy of a coach not seeing what 10,000 people watching the same game, either live or on TV can see. Seems to be the more you are paid to coach, the less open the eyes and the mind are.

It isn't unique to Clarke, it was the same with Nissis and the last few years with Smyth. It isnt unique to the 36ers either. It was the same with Neil Craig and the Kurt Tippett move to Full forward.

Finally the move was made and what a difference it made. Lets hope a similar revelation happens at the 36ers.

Karma for those that celebrated Redhage's injury.

Everyones talking about swapping Holmes for Johnson, why cant they both be on the court?
Johnson SHOULD be able to score, and can when he doesnt try his fade away 1 handers.

Maybe try a starting 5 such as this.

Johnson- Rebounding, scoring hopefully some D
Balls - Rebounding, scoring, some D
Holmes - Rebounding, good D
Howard - Scoring and D, with 2 scorers on the court in DJ and Balls I would expect the lanes to open up more for his cut and slash game
Shannon - Scoring, D, assists

We then have our 3 best rebounders on court, 4 main scoring options so long as Howards playing his game, not Clarks, Holmes provides alot of D and with Johnson backing up him would prevent alot of scoring shots, Balls on the other side can now use DJ as an option if the shots not open to him for a quick under the basket layup.
Dowdell can sub for Johnson/Ballinger as well as Creek for Holmes/Ballinger, Hill for Howard and the pg's we have plenty of choice. Instead of having every player on the court for equal time, give the most effective players maximum minutes. IDK I'm so sick of this year I just want to see something tried.

Skud I would class Johnson as a rebounder only avg 3 a game