Good point about starting Helliwell but I wouldn't bench Simpson to do it. Also you are spot on the money that Clarke wont try anything you mentioned and will stick to his normal unsuccessful strategy.

I would start

Helliwell
DJ
Simpson
Weigh/Creek (depends which Weigh turns up)
Warren

Townsville start with

Schenscher
Holmes
Blanchfield
Crawford
Gill

In offense we should post up Simpson every time until they take off Blanchfield. However, knowing the Sixers we would not take advantage of a mismatch as that would be unfair and too basketball smart for Clarke.

When one of the bigs get tired put Creek on.

During the game if Creek is being guarded by the crocs shooting guard getting him to post up.

I also think the Sixers will win this one or at least should win.

36ers by 7

Warren to have a good game, along with Johnson.

Is it an unsuccessful starting strategy if they've started well the last two games?

6ers can try all they want, but I think Crocs will continue to inflict the same old pain. Crocs will be very aware of how poorly they started the first half last week too. They have to much fire and power at all positions and are much better coached. Havent checked the odds yet, but could be good money at 11+

I think Kobe makes a good point. Adelaide are going to need to play better than they have any time other than against Perth to win.

Going away from the usual pessimistic self, i'm tipping a 36ers win in the form of a v Perth type Sixers game.

Ofcourse, losing 7 in a row...that would be a new low point.

Ive taken a day off work to see a bloody Sunday game!! They had better win!

Clark to get a double tech and ejected from the game...SIXERS WIN WOOOOOO :)

You know the coach is unpopular when the fans wish for him to be ejected from the game

I just hope that Clarke leaned a lesson last Sunday and doesn't have Simpson guarding Big Red. Start off with DJ guarding Schenscher and rotate Helliwell & Simpson with Wade taking the duties on the Crocs centre when they're on court together. I know DJ isn't the greatest defender around but he's a bit more mobile than Schenscher and there is only a 4cm height difference between the two and not the 15 than Schenscher has over Simpson.

Other than that the rest of the 36ers need to start showing something. They haven't won a game all bloody year...

Wow the Crocs are paying 1.80! Get all over that people! The 36ers havent shown any reason to believe they will change their ways from coaching staff to 10th man... Crocs have alot more to play for too

Isaac, so if they start well and the rest of the game they don't do well then its not unsuccesful?

Isaac- our first quarter was good but we might have had a better lead if we could have contained Schensch. I believe if Wade roughed him up he'd think twice about what he was doing inside.

King James- suggesting Weigh won't start is just being completely unrealistic. The guys got a busted foot but is still starting and playing 30+ regardless. I'd just give that lineup a minute or two and see if it works or not but I'd suggest Simpson would be on after a few minutes unless we ran up a 10-0 lead. Ain't gonna happen anyway.

Kobe24- you're right, the Crocs will be better prepared for Creek and obviously did their work on DJ and DS last time. They took DJ completely out of the game.

KET- I've tipped against the 36ers a lot of late too but for some reason think this is ours for the taking.

I thoought DJ missed a number of shots he had been making for most of the season.

KJ, talking about the starting combo.

I like King James's starting line up.

Luke is rattled easily and a bit soft. Helliwell is perfect for the assignment.

I bet anyone $50 who thinks the 36ers are going to win!!

Normally I would, but my $50 has gone.

You see, I chipped in for Tonya Harding not to do Hinder's other leg so we have a chance of getting Jacob back, but the Crocs signed him anyway.....

I think we played away last Friday and Sunday.
Weigh : " The soles of my feet .. I swear they were burning , at the second game. "
It's allright , Weigh . I'm only bleeding.
We trained here on Thursday and Friday , with Maher , Davis and Stirling . Get ready for the changing of the guard. All you have to do is wait , and I'll tell you when.

There's the obligatory valentines day proposal...

Oh, and the obligatory Sixers halftime lead.
Oh, and the large lead already almost blown.

Ng with 19 so far. #winnNg, #Ngpossible is everything, etc.

8 points up - 4.40 to go - can we hold on?

whats the odds of o/t?

Well finally we win a game. Probably because I decided not to go.
Good to see Jacob back to the form I remember of him when he was with us.
DJ continues to have a great season.
I dare say a swab will be taken from Darren Ng.

A little bitta Maher Davis Stirling for a coupla days was enough going at it.

Hmm... Seems to be an echo. Sorry bout that.
Great to hold on and win a close one.
Simpson's 'injury', who thinks that was a ploy to get the defenders out there?
Ng lighting it up and having plays run for him was nice to see.
Simpson and DJ were great again.
Some nice passing from Weigh and Warren.
3 man show won it though.

Townsville didn't put up much of a fight.
I understand Schenscher was on 4 fouls, but he still should have been out there when it was there to be won.

Good win by the Sixers. Helliwell was the unsung hero disrupting Schenscher. Good to see Clarke persist with that match up. Obviously Schenschers fouls were a big reason he played so little however when he had a second life Helliwell did a great job. Camel you must be very proud.

The rotations for most part were good espically leaving Ng out there when he was shooting good was refreshing to see. Only bad decision was to leave Herbert out there which almost back fired. I would have prefered to have seen Creek on Crawford. Instead Herbert lets crawford have a 3, misses a foul shot and fouls Holmes. He did make a layup but those other things were almost very costly!

The offense to defense subs worked well in the final few minutes.

Bartlett did well to steady the ship and also to contain Gill somewhat. Weigh and Warren with 12 assist between them was good!

DJ and Simpson were solid. I think DJ should have dunked it on the break however he made up for it with the shot over Holmes. How Holmes got minutes over DJ last season I will never know.

Good to see Holmes back to his normal shooting.

Why the coach for Townsville never got a tech is unbelievable! He had so many warnings then he gets another warning and goes complain to another umpire.

As Hendo mentioned they probably should have gotten Schenscher back into the game.

Helliwell was the unsung hero. He pestered Luke to frustration and cancelled him out of the game.... NEXT !

That decision to hold up the game after Simpson was injured after the dunk in the closing seconds was as bad a refereeing decision as I have ever seen. No mistake on a close call, bad angle, not my area BS to covert it up. Just a complete lack of understanding of the rules that cost the Crocs their best chance at a basket to even the scores. If the NBL refs manager is fair there should be an apology to Woolpert and the ref should spend a few weeks on the sideline studying the rulebook.

Why is it a bad decision? If a player is injured they always stop the play. He didn't do it on purpose.

Only thing is he should have had to automatically be subbed off for that I think.

Yep I often curse Helliwell out but he was great today. Good just to get a win at home for once, or win period.

King James you've stolen the words out of my mouth!

Helliwell: A+ for the defensive effort and even got a few interceptions and tips as a result.

There were a couple of times offensively where he threw the ball away when he was roughly 3ft from the basket with little time on the shot clock left; take the shot wade!

Diamon Simpson: Definite keeper for next season. LOCK HIM UP.

Rebounding was great, especially the offensive rebounding effort on his own plays, the ability to switch hand and score the basket when fouled still has me in awe. Marty Clarke needed to put him on for longer during the 4th quarter, waiting until 4mins left does NOT cut it. Simpson can handle a couple of extra minutes.

Warren: Assists aside, A couple of points doesn't really cut it from an import. This is probably the difference between Adelaide and the top 4 teams, we need a consistent 18ppg import guard.

Darren Ng for Threeeeeeeeee!: Love him, always loved him. Clarke hasn't given him much time this season which has been disappointing but today Clarke saw he had the hot hand and gave him the time he deserved which resulted in a very accurate 19 points. His hot streak continued with some great defense including a few steals, interceptions and taking a charge. Sometimes he struggles to get free - that's why we need to make sure we move the ball offensively, to get him open!

Weigh: I understand he's very competent, he can do a bit of everything and he's a bit like the 'rock' or the consistent player of the 36ers, but he's still getting too much time. He just doesn't produce, 5 odd points does not cut it for the amount of time he is receiving. Give a few more mins to Ng or Simpson or Creek.

Bartlett: I'd support keeping this guy next season, he'd probably be fairly cheap too points & salary wise. He can handle the ball extremely well, his defense is strong and he can facilitate. Good game from him.

Johnson: Ofcourse another definite keeper for next season, he works very well with Simpson, he rebounds, he can shoot and he can move (stark difference between him and the giraffes in Schensch/Helliwell). Should have dunked, but bailed himself out by nailing the jump shot. Another good game from Johnson.

Herbert: Defense wasn't quite up to his usual self, offensively he's gotta knock down those open shots!

Creek: Keep driving to the basket. Drive, drive, drive.

Marty Clarke: Good rotations this time around, give Simpson more minutes, ESPECIALLY in the 4th quarter and reduce Weigh's minutes by a couple. Good subs in the last minute changing between offensive and defensive lineup.

How bad was our shooting in 1st qtr and half with so many open shots missed.
I would like to see photos Weigh has of Clarke as how bad was he again for all those minutes given . though must admit Clarke made some better moves tonight although we nearly coughed it up again.
Good to see him lose patience with Warren and run Bartlett etc.
again let Ng get cold and not create shots like those that won game .
Simpson and DJ were huge and getting Schens in foul trouble early was a key.
Though cannot believe coach left him off in last 5 mins really wierd.
Agree previous poster how Crocs coach never got tech was hard to understand.
That NG shooting reminded me of Brett days just unfortunate cant do regularly like the master .
How did we get that good crowd there as was good to see and hear.

Diamon's dunk:

http://youtu.be/drc5KzyrLfg

King James. they only stop the play when the player is in danger, not when the ball is heading to the other end of the court. Had the same thing happen to me in a NSW junior championship finals round when I was coaching and believe me I was going as ballistic as Woolpert was at the ref. A player falling to the floor in the rebounding contest in a 1 point game and the ref pulls up the game after the outlet pass had been made and my team had a 2 on 1 at the other end developing.
Not saying Simpson was acting buut he was certainly in no danger.
I suggest you like the ref should learn the rules.

A win! Great game. Had some good strategies on both ends but shutting out Schensch through doubles and physical play got us the win. Ng had a blinder, Simpson and DJ battled hard, Weigh played a role, Herbie and Creek played hard D....True team game. Sell more $10 tickets 36ers, nice to see the stadium fuller and it helps when the boys get on a roll having some noise


Game review here

http://www.36reasons.net/2012/02/sixers-snap-crocs-adelaide-v-townsville.html

I was there and I agree that Helliwell was our unsung hero. Never an offensive threat but he was invaluable for the most part, other than passing to Bartlett when he was out of court :p

Good to see Clarke run plays for Darren Ng when he was hot, about time too... Clarke's subs didn't seem to kill us today and for once our "B" team didn't lose the lead as easily as they have recently.

Other than the last 5 or so minutes the Crocs weren't really in this one were they. Helped that we managed to get Big Red in foul trouble (is it me or do some of our cheergirls have thicker legs than Schenscher?? Not that I'm complaining about that hehehe).

DJ had our hearts in our mouths there in the last, at times he couldn't buy a basket but his shot over Holmes was good.

I'll admit to being surprised by the size of the crowd considering we'd lost our last 6 but 5,072 was good to see :) The standing ovation was also nice rather than what might have happened had we lost it.

YAHOO WE FINALLY WON!!!!!!!

Lucky no one took me up on that $50!! I would be a broke ass!!

fstos, I am sorry buddy but the rule is that the official may stop the game if the ball isn't in play. They had the ball on the sidelines so it was the correct call. So perhaps you should learn the rules and apologise to the umpire as well for a few weeks.

Also sorry to hear about what happened when you were coaching it sounds like you still lose sleep over that call. I hope things get better for you.

Thought you might see .. like run a few plays for Ng and few changes , now that Clarke's got some fresh help , out there.

( Bevo gave up on putting Nevill back in the game against 11 , W . Hellwell . So , I'll have to watch this Woolpert/Schenscher agen .)

36ers won a game?

Fans go from saying sack the whole team to keep the whole team!

But seriously, I tipped Adelaide this week.. not sure why just thought that if they could get everything correct for once, it would be win for them at home no worries. I guess that means Clark did his job well?

KET and Bretts the man - Simpson took himself off in the last quarter. After his dunk, he signalled to the bench (waved his right hand at them) as he trotted back up the court. But there's no opportunity to sub him until the 36ers get back into offence. The 6ers take a shot, miss and the rebound is taken by the Townsville player next to Simpson. Simpson immediately wraps the Townsville player in both arms, deliberately fouling, so he can get subbed off. He then heads straight to the bench in obvious discomfort. I was worried he might be injured as he looked to be heading to the far end of the bench. But the coaches put him back in with a bout 3 minutes left. So I saw it as definitely a case of Simpson needing a blow and calling it himself.

I thought the coaches handled things pretty well today. As pointed out above, there were several plays run for Ng and he repaid the faith with good effort without the ball to get free and sublime shooting. Warren was used more selectively, so the Gill couldn't monster him and take over the game. Helliwell was used really effectively. For mine, the switching subs in the last 2 minutes to get offensive specialists and ball handlers (Warren & Ng) on when the 36ers had the ball and defensive specialists (Herbert & Creek, I think) on when Townsville had the ball was good thinking and, at that point of the game, probably made the difference between winning and losing.

Geezus this shows what some outside influence on Clarks coaching calls can do..did we ACTUALLY put the team on the court that was best suited to win the game for once!!!!

Helliwell's defense was fantastic, I dont know why he wasnt on the court the entire time Schenscher was..Simpson cant guard a 7ft with a hook shot!

Ng had a hot streak how ever as always its a streak. We need to play him according to this, impact with plays run for him when he starts being heavily defended or missing..sub him out and bring him back later. It was interesting to see how much better his entire game was once he started hitting his shots though, defence and attitude suddenly picked up and he had a good impact.

Creek------can we give him alot of Weighs wasted minutes!!

Crawford lost that game for Townsville. That will go down as one of the worst games of his career I think, he couldnt dribble the ball hold it without dropping it and then finally stepping out on his game tying attempt...Just an absolute shocker from a normally solid player.

I thought they were right to stop the game as the ball was dead.

Well done Sixers, they nearly threw it away but Johnson got the job done down the stretch and Bartlett did a very good job too.

Helliwell was used as he should be tonight, as a screener and a defender on the likes of Nevill, Schenscher, Pledger and Burston.

Great result and fantastic to see over 5000 still turning out to support them after a number of tough years. Full credit to the fans.

I think the most pleasing aspect of today's win was that, unlike many other times in the past few seasons (not just with Clarke at the helm), when the Crocs leveled the score thanks to Jacob Holmes the 36ers didn't lose their nerve and panic a win to Townsville. They held steady and ran out 5 point winners.

Now they just need to learn how to do that on a regular basis.

Oh...If you ever decide to propose at the basketball..well dont..but if your silly enough to do so, DONT when your thanking people say how much organisation went into a 30 second well used setup!!! And wear more than thongs and an old shitty shirt

About the Schenscher comments above. Schenscher spent a lot of the game grizzling about calls - to the extent that it took him out of passages of play a couple of times. Other Townsville players clearly got upset from time to time but didn't let it affect their play (e.g., Gill). I wonder whether that was part of Woolpert's reason for not putting him back in at the end of the game?

Forget Linsanity. It was Ngsanity today. Well done, old chap.

Skud - good points. I did notice today that just about everyone took an outside shot early on today and none were dropping. Ng was brought on and missed his first but then started hitting once a couple of plays were run for him. That made the game a lot harder for Townsville to win, as it gave the 36ers a credible outside threat.

Holden - see my comments above. The coaches should get some credit for the end game, as well as the players. I thought the players' level of effort, at both ends of the court, was excellent throughout. In the end game, the coaches played smart to make sure they had the right people on the court for each play, rather than sticking with a single group of 5 players to bring it home. Maybe that helped some players to focus on their strength and stay better focused on doing well rather than worrying about stuffing up?

Great win @ home and great to finally leave the arena smiling.

The coaching was decent today.

Superb to see Darren Ng get some minutes, have a hot hand and used properly.

Helliwell played well for a change and put the big sauce off his game.

Creek needs to take more of Weigh's minutes.

Simpson was brilliant. Great to see him receive lot's of minutes for a change.

Let's enjoy this win

PeterJohn I can't argue with that, today the coaching staff got it right and the players responded not only when it counted but for pretty much the whole game.

We should see more of it.

I think no one puts as much heart into the game as Ng every week. A player is different when it's their town, their crowd and they are playing for the club that when they were following when they were a kid.

If clubs went back to the grow your own development days of the NBL, we would see a much tougher competition.

To paraphrase Kevin Durant's Backpack,

Super Ngtendo !

Good win by Adelaide. I'm a Townsville supporter though but the boyz just had a bad game. Like somebody else said there was only 24 points between Holmes, Schenscher and Crawford. Usually those 3 would score about 40. Crawford couldn't handle the ball at all today and caused numerous turnovers. The Cedar boyz were also heaps quiet and didn't get much court time or anything. Mims and Gill were the only positives.

I believe the WNBL sign is on the court as the Lightning will be using the Adelaide Arena for finals games

Should be a new NBL that if a player leaves the game through injury and stops play he has to sit out the quarter - a bit like the strtcher rule in AFL. Crocs had an esy fast break stopped there. They need to do IQ tests on these NBL refs.

Having just watched the game again on OneHD I have to admit that I'm glad Paul Woolpert wasn't tech fouled after Simpson's dunk, even though he probably should have been. It was good to see the game decided by the players and not by a ref's decision.

He is still playing hard though. He is rebounding at a very good rate. Some nights shots won't drop, but a sign of a good player is filling other statical categories to help your team (rebs,assists steals,blocks) and he still finished with a decent line.

Crawford on the other hand....Might be the worst 3-4 weeks I've seen him play for a number of years.

props to the Sixers on getting the win.

Great to see Darren Ng having some plays set for him. Everyone knows he is a great shooter but that the coach hasn't seen fit to use him properly. Seems the coach can't live up to a contract with a player until the end of the season. Just goes to show the character of the coach (just look at the tech foul incident).

Why do we assume it is the coaches fault that nothing is being run for Ng? I think it is just as likely that nothing is run for Ng because the players don't seem capable of executing anything remotely complex.

I've seen Marty draw up specific plays out of time outs several time this year and the players have completely failed to run what they were asked to run. A lot of it starts with our inability to get the ball in to our PG from the sidelines. Warren is terrible at getting open to receive the ball in that situation and when it goes in to someone else they seem to panic rather than getting it back to the PG to reset the play.

Lack of plays is also something that is not unique to our current coach. I don't recall the previous team under Ninnis showing much ability to run plays either!

dude, if we are going to do IQ tests on referees, lets make sure they can count to three at the Swamp, because Schenscher was allowed to camp deep in the keyway all night when we played them the other week.

Sixers were still terrible - just Townsville were even worse. Horrible game to watch.

Sixers D was reasonable, however Townsville helped them out alot.

Most nights that level of ball will see you get beat, play like that against Perth next game, and the 6ers will lose by 30.

Good to see a win. I liked the NFL-style D and O subbing from Clarke at the end.

Schenscher smothered Simpson most times they matched up, so it was impressive that Simpson still managed to get his numbers and reverse the foul trouble from their last match-up.

Ng has always been able to play like that. Surprises me how people forget that stretch he started when Maher was injured.

Good rebounding by Holmes, but that shot of his hasn't changed.

Thanks for the 0 in Dream Team, Cedar.

so dude, explain to me how the crocs had a fast break going when their player still had hold of the ball out of bounds when the referee blew his whistle to stop the play? The guy dunks the ball and immediately grabs at his left knee and looks in obvious discomfort, why shouldn't the official have stopped the game.
I believe the WNBL sign was on the court as friday nights game against bulleen was televised on the abc saturday

I dont believe that equates to being a dead ball by the laws of the game. They had the fast break going as they would have had a 5-4 fast break without Simpson in the paint = easy 2 points.

The fact was Simpson's injury was not serious. If a player hurt his finger would they stop the game? Probably not.

Im glad 36ers won but think if a player leaves the court through injury that stops play they should have to sit out the quarter.