It is hard to get excited when you know your team is out of the playoff race, especially when you only have 3 home games in the last 2 months of the season.

I am still looking forward to our you guns ahving a good run tonight.. I hope.

Crosswhite is the man to shut down, hopefully DJ is given plenty of minutes tonight.

I still think we will win, but there wont be much in it.

Taipans should win this one

Doubt the Sixers can shut down Crosswhite, especially with Loughton lurking as another offensive threat.

Putting all my luck behind the Sixers winning it, but mind says the Taipans by 6.

Dont forget the pre game
u12 boys
Port Pirie Panthers vs Whyalla Stealers
Great to see some teams from the north getting a gig at a 6ers game

I am not going to fall into the trap of suggesting the 36ers should allow the Taipans the win because they have nothing to lose, because any suggestion on a previous occassion about which team deserves the win more has been responded with a lot of criticism. All I want to say is that Cairns have everything to gain, Adelaide has nothing to lose, lets make this game mean something. I don't agree that Adelaide have pride to gain in this game because pride does not come from one game alone, it comes from the whole season. They have not set the standard throughout the season to make playoffs so pride means nothing in this single game. As for Gold Coast and Wollongong needing an Adelaide win, well the answer there is they are not playing this game, they have to get to where they want to be off there own backs, or to put it bluntly, do your own dirty work.

Tonight and the last home game is all about entertainment as far as I am concerned which is the same for every other match.
Crosswhite looms as the danger but the Taipans are on a downer and well in front of us obviously for wins, which says...we can beat them.
If we are higher than them, we would lose guaranteed as seen with 2 wins against Perth in a row then playing Sydney and Gold Coast who were lower.
As for helping out the other 2 teams trying to make the playoffs, I couldnt care less. Wollongong have incentive in that, they win the Championship, their millionaire owner gives them an incentive with shares or so I read. Thats enough as it is. Gold Coast, well dunno and dont care. Id hope we can win but its line ball. I tip overtime and again another loss.
But most importantly, give the 2nd unit game time like last time. They set us up in the 3rd only to be let down by the starting 5.

Dragging the gf along tonight to her first game in over a decade - she's desciding if she wants to join Dad and I next year with our season tickets.

I sincerely doubt tonight will motivate her to purchase said tickets. Well, aside from wanting to keep an eye on my Super Dry consumption...

In any case, let's focus on the positives. Skip - when I give the signal, hit my entrance theme. I want to hear The Game blaring like never before now that I have a vallet accompanying me ringside.

I mean... courtside.

Also, I don't think we can risk starting DJ at this crucial point of the season - best save that for the third year of the plan I reckon.

Sixers by 6 for the sake of alliteration.

EC, that's true, but pride over a season is only made up by individual games. Might as well show up to play tonight - it's the least they can do.

Serious question - has the club considered employing the help of a sports psychologist?

Especially re: road wins?

We have very little pride / intensity etc.

Don't know for sure though I have heard it mentioned in NBL circles so surely someone's tried it. Players are serious investments for clubs so it strikes me that something like this may well be worth trying on an individual or team level.

Have to pay that!

Fly in Charlie Sheen as a guest coach for the last round.

Crowd numbers skyrocket.

Sixers start #WINNING.

Shame its not televised.

Taipans by 5

Lol. Doing dance moves that look like they're from Step Up or some other movie ain't hip hop. I thought we were gonna see some b-boying not some pop song backup dancers.

This is the lamest capitulation in recent memory.

Massive comeback by Cairns, Loughton is a beast!

This rabble will finish dead last!!

Sixers outscored by 20 in last 1/4 after being ahead by 15 at 3/4 time. And they said last years team was bad.

Not a fan of booing your team, but kept my ears open knewing it was coming. Absoluet crap last quarter.

I am wondering what was said at 3/4 time. This game is a lot like playing Nz last season. Up by 17 at 3/4 time, lose by 7.

I dont get it?

Unfortunately the players have lost all confidence in their coach..........

You have to give Marty another year and the club won't want to pay him out 2 yrs but tonights effort was a disgrace.

I think home pride flew out the window at 3/4 time Isaac. (first post)

I hope Marty Clarke and SOS heard the boo's tonight because they absolutely deserved it!

To be up by 15 going into the last quarter and Marty Clarke deciding he would "Experiment" for next season was an absolute joke!!!!

DJ plays all of the 3rd quarter and had 11 points 9 rebounds by that stage and then he decides he will play Jacob Holmes for almost the first 7 minutes of the 4th while have DJ on the bench. Prior to that Holmes had 0 points, 4 rebounds, 2 turnovers. Any other coach would have had him anchored to the bench but I guess any other coach is above us on the ladder. ONCE again Clarke didn't learn from the Tigers game where he did the same thing he went defensive and the Tigers came back and won. How stupid could one coach be that is getting $100k+ and has years of experience!!

WHY Play DJ 10 minutes in the 3rd and THEN decide not to play him when he is having a great game!!!! Is it because he was proving a point that all season he should have been getting more consistent minutes and Clarke would not let that be shown since he is too stubborn OR is it because Clarke wants to Experiment for next season. If it is Clarke experimenting please I hope no one attends because we are wasting our money and time for the sake of Clarke trying out stupid things that have not worked in the past!!!

That was an absolute embarrassment!! Cairns could not believe there luck that Clarke could be so incompetent as a coach so they could get a win that they should have NEVER been able to get!!

The reason why I am aiming this also at SOS is because they are letting Clarke get away with his absolute embarrassing coaching! Don't sit back and twiddle your fingers! Tell him how to coach since he doesn't have a clue how to do it!!

Outscored 27-7 in the last quarter!! Yes Clarke your defensive strategy worked brilliantly!!

I feel sorry for people that came for their first game tonight or anyone that had a walk up ticket. Unfortunately us Sixers ticket holders whom spend Hundreds of dollars have to put up with that pathetic excuse of coach and the funny thing is he will probably blame the players as of course he is never at fault!

This is the very lowest point to be a Sixers fan! Thank you very much Clarke!

Whats with Shannon? Is he a relation of Julius Hodge?
As a sports trainer, i made a comment to the guy beside me that there was nothing wrong. Id be surprised if there was cos he was back on court pretty quick after subbing out. When the chips are down, we always have one guy who fakes it. And thats a sad reflection on the game. Grow up or back to the states u go

We could have had Bevo if it wasn't from past owner putting up an insulting offer because of lack of cash

I know it is wrong to single out players, but what about Balinger's last quarter? Really, his lack of defensive rebounding, general defence and his dumb turnovers are just not acceptable.
That overall was the worst effort of all time and I am wondering how I am going to front for the last game. Just how much can any fan take?!

i do believe i called a 5 point buffer to the Taipans!! Hi Skull
...

Cheap NBL team for sale, renovators delight

All I will say is it's embarassing to be a Sixers fan right now.

& Marty Clarke gets a Boomers assts role. Brett Brown & his fantasy world are confusing. What about Bevo or Gleeson? Is he scared they might have an opinion & disagree with him? How can you be promoted when you are doing a terrible job? Why is Brown so infatuated with point guards? How about a 'bigs' coach?

Thank god Coopz showed commitment and determination to putting in all the hard work he did. I will now have the pleasure I going back in time to the Golden Years and watching a 36ers program I admired, respected and wanted to emulate when I was older.

Still how do you develop admiration or respect for a team that comprises 1 starter and 9 role players. Clearly there should be four players who need to start looking for work elsewhere and 5 players who need to accept they will be starting on the plastic seats next season.

So we keep Ballinger (starter), Hill, Creek, Herbert, Daly (Development Player) and Johnson. Bring in Al Green, Darryl Pearce, Bill Jones and Mark Davis for the four other starting spots.

I really hope there is a youtube vid with the coach speaking about tonights performance but doubt it big time. Cos id love to hear why the game changed. And yet I damn well know why.

Honesty gets you somewhere, lying to 5000 people gets you a pollies job anyday

Ballinger - only re sign if we can get a legit big and relegate Balls to shooting his preferred jump shots. He's too soft and hasn't got the co-ordination to play in the lane.

Johnson - played his heart out tonight, he's got a lot of talent but needs to be in a system where he's a go-to post guy. Why the HELL he's out at the 3pt line when he's not setting screens floors me. Keep as a backup big next year, hopefully behind someone legit that he can learn from.

Hill - Really showed what he could do in the first quarter, then got subbed for way too long. Not sure what Clarke was thinking. Keep next season if we can fit him.

Shannon - Selfish shot selection, slowed the offense down way too much. Piss him off at the end of the year, he's not what we need going forward.

Bruce - I like what he brings to the PG spot but we need to have a system in place to take full advantage of his passing skills. With guys like Hill / Herbert / Carter he can initiate some great transition offense. 50/50 on whether to keep next season as we're pretty heavy at the guard spots.

Carter - showed good hustle, not his best night tonight but definitely a keeper for next season.

Creek and Dowdell didn't really do enough tonight for me to make a decision.

Nearly spat scotch reading Ad's post.

He is correct.

"the bench played better than our starters. how is that Clarke's fault."

Well if that is the case then the BENCH players should have been on in the 4th then. So that IS Clarke's fault!!

Did someone quote their Mum? Really?

The 36ers choked tonight and I don't like using the word "choke", but tonight its true. This was one of the worst and embarrassing performances we've ever seen from this team.

The home fans deserved to boo the 36ers tonight. That final quarter was a disgrace. This even started late in the 3rd quarter.

I'd like to see a 'Please Explain' from the Coach and SOS. The fans deserve it after what happened tonight.

And Jacob Holmes comes from that great club sturt, obviously didn't teach him to shoot just self promote like they do with most their kids!!

players need to have faith in the coach and when that happens it shows on the floor. My word is - no one has that faith. Coach is good with kids not a professional program or league

Someone had faith at some point, enough to push out to an 18 point lead. The team was looking great in the first half, if not to the third quarter. It's not like they changed coach at half-time or the last break.

When we go on those runs, it seems to be because of quality team play, everyone moving and contributing. Go to an individual game and things seize up.

2/16 from long distance. We don't have the firepower now to punish teams from long range. Once they realised that and clogged the paint, our fortunes changed.

The first quarter was a clear shock to cairns, they simply did not know what was wrong with their scouting report. That was the style of play that will win games. Plus the apparently new offensive pattern.

Unfortunately ferne did his homework and that pattern got covered better in the second half - although I did not really see it again until the 4th.

The group seemed to either have no idea how to attack a zone, or were totally focused on running a system that they just could not get right.

I always understood that there were 3 ways to attack a zone,

1) get down there before they set up, which is why fearne was screeming his lungs out at his group to get back in defence in transition. - I actually saw Hill pass up a driving lane in transition to set up their "breaker" - yet in the first Q he just ate the same situation up !

2) Pass and cut until a open 3 presents itself - requires at least 3 players moving at any one time, without Ng I don't see that working, and we did not seem to take it anyway, you need to have a shooter that can hit in the "seams" ie at the point or 45's against the even numbered front that cairns showed, not getting players to sit in the corner where the passing lane is restricted and there will usually be easy coverage from a drive and dump from the far side.

3) drive the seams and dump or dish out - which I did not see us doing.


And the No 1 rule that my all time favourite coach had ( 11 seasons , 10 GF and 9 premierships - all in the one club in U14s and U16's back when you could play zone - never, Never, NEVER put the ball on the floor if you receive the ball inside from a pass, just power up , hook it, or dish/dump. Yet I continually saw players try to get one bounce in to get through to the ring, do they not know that EVERYONE is dropping into the paint to crowd it up ??


Ahhh well, on the bright side, it looks like I'll be able to upgrade/relocate my season tickets seating again next season - due to the number of ex-season ticket holders

Anonymous, with Miami's record against the better teams, I wouldn't call the Heat "the best of them"..

very old, good point about not putting the ball on the floor in the paint.

What I find frustrating about watching the Sixers play is the huge amount of layups and open shots their defense gives up. Constantly they are getting beat off the dribble and the defense is not rotating quick enough to help. If your going to play full court D then teach to move your feet and channel the ball down the sidelines.

NRl betting scandal hit NBL ??

Anon #310511

all the knowledagble adelaide fans, what a joke

Yep clearly this loss can be levelled at Skip. SMH

People seem to blame Marty about restricting the players etc.

The team has gone from having 10 different zone plays back to 2 as some of the team doesn't have the basketball IQ to run that many. One is a play to get inside the lane and kick out, the other is to get Balls open for a baseline jumper. If the players don't run it, how is that Marty's fault?

Did anyone notice Jan on the bench having to explain a play to one of the vets? Shouldn't a vet know every play? It appears not everyone is buying into the system that is in place. It's obvious who is, as when certain players are on the court we play our best basketball. The +/- gives a fairly good indication.