Sixers by 10 if they are allowed to play a free flowing running offense.
Hawks by 5 if we get over structured again come crunch time.

Sixers to get over the line if they play like they did last week win by 5,need to shut down Deleon

Sixers should get this but I am looking forward to an interesting matchup with the Hawks appearing to be back to type of team they were in the seasons before last. I think that games played against the sixers this year will be some of the more exciting to watch with their team containing plenty of free flowing scorers and still having enough players with little attention to the other end of the court to keep oposition scores high.

Matchup between Forman and DJ could be the key and I expect both of them to go for plenty.

Sixers, just.....

The DJ-BigO tussle will be a clash of the titans. Controlling the game is the key. Gordie is more cunning than a fox who is the professor of cunning at cunning university. He has an ability to make the most of a situation to his advantage.

Did many of the $10 tickets get sold? A big crowd would be good for the sixers to get up in a close one. CJ to score 10!

CJ massivefail would have to be the worst import the NBL has seen, would he not?

I agree Jack toft. Gongers by 5. Gordie will embarass Marty!!

Probably the worst paid one by a long way too

You're right orbit, Marty needs to call those timeouts when he needs to and matchups (or mis-matchups) are the key.

If the game is turning, call a timeout or make a change. You can't catch a falling knife! (or falling chainsaw)

I think we have to stop looking at CJ as an import. He happens to come from the US but is really in the team as 9th player. Leaving for the game now - looking forward to this one!

Tip: tight, high scoring game. Hopefully the Hawks get up.

Sixers by 11 points @ $21
That's worth a $5 punt on centre bet

Hawks by 15. Tell him he's dreamin

Any reason for 11 points exactly?

I got $200 on the Hawks @ $2.60

Spurs fan kiss your funds good bye. Your comment re CJ shows you have no idea. We are only 3 games into the season, CJ is our 8th -9th man and showed what he can do in the preseason. He only got 3 mins court time against NZ and was quite in the other 2. Give the man a chance

James Harden traded to the Rockets while we're all focused on this game.

Who for?

Hawks hanging in at the half. I expected a higher scoring game so at the moment it is more of a Hawks style than sixers style game but the Hawks are ice cold (3-14)from three point. Happy as a Hawks fan where they are after their cold start and if they can hit the threes (Oscar?) they might be able to steal a big away scalp.

Can't believe spursfan giving Massingale the worst ever tag. Surely Showron Glover can't be that easy to forget.

Carfino "Schenscher doing what he does best!"

This was after an O board and putback drawing a foul. Fuck
If that's what he does best - Adelaide in strife!! Lol

Game Over. Adelaide capitulated badly.

Deleon simply torching Gibbo and making Cadee look silly

So I guess all those bagging spursfan look kind of stupid right about now, huh?

I can't watch any more Sixers games while Marty is still coach. People, please don't insult your own intelligence by telling me it's the players' fault. The buck stops at the top and it's getting ridiculous.

The three year plan is right on schedule.

An embarrassing capitulation. Pathetic.

Marty Clarke.

Sack Marty and Weigh is crap posts to start in 3.....2.....1.

Sorry I was too slow

HAHAHAHAHHA, Sixers are hams. What a fail.

Soon as Deleon turned on the heat, they folded.

Who knew that talent alone doesn't win games? I thought the refs were the most stupid people out there until the 36ers took the court in the 4th.

Then again, 3mins to go, hawks are on a 10-0 run (or thereabouts), Marty doesn't call a timeout. Tries to call one after another empty 36ers possession, so 36ers rebound a miss turn it over in a 2 on 4 "fast-break".

Weak.

After today's performance Marty Clarke wouldn't get a job as supervisor of the crew moving the deckchairs on the Titanic. Unfortunately some of the players would get a job moving them.

Either the players are following Marty's game plan or they are not. Something has too give and be fixed before the season goes down the tube. So much talent there but no one taking charge like Deleon. Far too many turnovers, poor shot selection, poor defence and what offence are they playing? Pretty soft rebounding effort again both ends of the court.

Far too much let go by the referees. A talk to the players followed by the softest of fouls and then back to basketbrawl.

Ok a lot of new players but same old, same old from the past few seasons. What a waste of a Sunday afternoon after the first quarter.

Anon - Gibson is selfish? With 7 assists? What does that make Deleon, who *only* had 7 assists as well?

And anon #384953 - I didn't get to see the game (bussing kids to and from movies and birthday shopping)but am curious about the 36ers being the better to 3 quarter time.

While they may have been in front at 3 quarter time, after the first quarter they were outscored every quarter to the tune of 65-42. That suggested to me that the Hawks were by far the better team from quarter time onwards and it just took until 3 quarter time for them to erase the 36ers' lead from the first quarter. The scoring worm on Live Stats looks that way too.

Wish I'd seen more of the game but One started the coverage earlier than advertised in my TV guide. I only saw last 2 minutes. :(

Today we saw the difference between a good coach and a pathetic coach.

One coach has had a successful career as a coach in the NBL the other coach has been an embarrassment.

We had the chance to continue to dominate the game by playing big and dominating inside but then Clarke decides that we will play to Hawks strengths and puts a small line up on. Hawks end up getting confidence. Massingale finally scores in a game where offense would be key in getting a win. However with the pressure off Massingale it was more important to put the offensive and defensive machine Crosswell on for 17 minutes.

Once again what does Crosswell offer to this team? Apparently leadership and passing. His great passing was good for 3 assist and 3 turnovers. Teams must be very worried about him knocking down the open jumper.... and on defense what a beast. Poor Deleon and Hurdle had no chance.... Also it should be a rule not to have Crosswell on while Creek is out there as it gives us no chance from outside.

Weigh went back to his old fashioned cruising game whilst still getting his 33 minutes. Seriously the guy had 3 points leading into the last quarter. He then finally drove to the basket to get 2 (Where is this the rest of the game?). He later on hits a 3 when we are down by double figures to pad his stats up to 8 and would have gotten a pat on the back for that effort from the wonderful Clarke. Realistically he scored 5 same as Creek whom only played 12 minutes. I don't buy his defense on Saville was good, Creek could have done the same job and at least helped us on offense.

Johnson had an average game and that dunk he missed was very bad. However what happened to this great player developer coach that we have? DJ gets benched for it and then sits out several minutes and the team struggles when we really could have used him. The learning lesson could have been done by him trying to make up for his mistake. He can't do that on the bench.

Hawks on the other hand stuck to the game plan and played to their strengths. Deleon hit some amazing shots and had an excellent game. Well done to the Hawks who clearly out coached us.

Disappointing 4th quarter from the Sixers, but credit where its due, the Hawks played pretty good D after the first quarter and then Deleon closed it out with some great play.

That's twice now that the opposing PG has run riot against us in the 4th though. That says to me the Sixers need to work on their help defence as a priority.

The Sixers lack of outside shooting is being exposed a bit too. We really need Massingale to work his way into the rotation and start being a credible threat from deep. That will spread the floor and open up the lane a bit more for Luke and DJ, who are being swarmed near the basket right now.

DJ isn't getting enough of his sort of shots either. Its all very well to establish Luke inside, but DJ is a far better scorer and should be getting the most shots on the team.

Marty has a bit of work to do to get the best out of his team!

How has noone mentioned just how pathetic DJ was on the court today??

"The DJ-BigO tussle will be a clash of the titans" Didnt happen like you thought Jack Toft..Forman barely shot, he just didnt need to!

DJ's effort is pathetic, shoot a three and he is at the half court line when it misses, CHASE your ball in!! Players driving on him and his arms are at head height, when your 7ft you HAVE to have your arms up everytime! Then Saville a what..40yr old now?? beats him to the lose ball and bodies him out of the way....absolutely pathetic. He might have skill under the basket and a three shot, but if you dont put in effort for your team your not worth it.
Petrie and Simpson last year showed what effort can do for players who arent as naturally skilled and I am fed up watching DJ's patheticness on the court.

Deleon and Hurdle showed how under skilled Cadee is..I thought Cadee was quick but those two out ran him and had better handling skills. Cadee should watch their tapes and really learn from it, he has alot of promise and those two showed him how far he has to go. I like Cadee and dont like to bag his effort or game but today he just got showed up. On a positive for him, he works really well with Petrie, did the same thing over and over and it worked everytime.
Crosswell needs to develop an inside game, running under the basket and running back out doesnt cause the team to collapse on you and open players up outside, everyone knows he does this regularly so dont heavily defend his drives.

Gibson had a great start and should never have been subbed for so long, killed his effort and seemed as though he never got back into the game. Few bad passes and needs to remember Schens is 7ft tall and cant pick the ball up from his knees for shit.


Marty Clark I have been saying you should be sacked the entire time you have been coach and this team shows that you have no idea what you are doing and cannot motivate the players to play their best.
Watching Ballinger's effort friday night showed to me that you have no motivational skills at all if Antsey can get Balls to hustle like that again well..you should be ashamed.
Every player under him under performs and really..I am fed up with watching his crap, he has bullsh#tted to fans, shown us no respect and cant coach..why are we still standing by him.

Very dissapointing.

After the best opening start we have had in years Marty decided to play with our B team and I began saying whats Marty doing?!!

Nothing really changed from then on through the next three quarters we had weird and unbalanced combinations of players and choked at crunch time!!!!!

Put the profit from the Hawks win (which was a stupid bet because I'm an idiot who knows nothing) on Cairns vs Sydney total points under 153.5

Suck a fat one, Jake and #944.

Once again we have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Wonder ifGordie lectures in cunning?

Oh credit to where credit is due...Hurdle and Deleon work bloody well together and Martin doesnt let them down when he comes on court. Those two stretch the defense so far out and then just run past them...Obvious why the Hawks are doing so well. Being well coached helps as well.

KingJames, good points about the Sixers going small late in the 2nd and about Massingale, Crosswell and DJ. Was thinking the same thing!

I did get the feeling Marty felt we were in control in the 2nd quarter and decided to experiment with going small and trying to give Crosswell some minutes to get himself going. I remember thinking that we lost our intensity in that stretch and allowed the Hawks to work their way into the game.

The only thing I disagree with you about is Weigh. The past two seasons have convinced me that Weigh is a role player who is there to play defence, rebound and knock down the open three. I thought he basically did that today, not forcing shots and playing solid D. IMO, until Creek learns to shoot from range, we are stuck with Weigh playing big minutes, because we need to spread the floor for our true offensive threats DJ, Luke and Petrie.

Beantown do you seriously consider Weigh to be a better defender than Creek??? Weigh gets schooled week after week by players Creek is able to stop.

Like Beantown KJ I agree with you except the Weigh/Creek stuff. Creek did nothing much but throw the ball away, and his complete absence of any outside game plays into the hands of any opposition who is organized defensively.

Skud, I don't think either are great. Creek has the athletic ability to be much better than Weigh, but he is not there yet - still makes a lot of mistakes due to inexperience/ lack of focus.

What I was focussing on was that, because the offensive strength of this team is inside the paint, Weigh's ability to make the three is critical to team balance, hence he spends a lot of time on the floor.

Believe me, as soon as Creek shows he can shoot from range, I'll be the first to say he should be starting and playing more minutes than Weigh!

I was at the game and Deleon had some personal things to say to Gibbo, then Gibbo chested him in the back and I thought oh shit it's over now he is in Gibbos head.

unfortunately there are some players that excel when trash is thrown about and Deleon is one baller you dont want to piss off. For those who weren't at the game Deleon scored or assisted on all but two baskets in the 4th. Came up big in crunch time and made Gibbo and Caddee look like chumps at Brighton.

Hats off to he gong. Sixers will be ok though these losses are tough but we will string some wins together soon.

And those of you jumping on Marty again, settle down. Marty wasn't guarding Hurdle late in the 4th when he drove into the biggest gap I have ever seen in the lane for an easy layup that's just terrible help defence.

Robert Pack when, after 3 years of horrible coaching are we allowed to "jump" on Clarks back lol...want to give him another 3 to mature??

Anon - fair enough re Gibson - you saw how he played, I only have box score to go by. He did take 2nd highest # of shots (12) on the team. However, he also was on for 2nd highest # of minutes (31) and from comments above it sounds like he might have been expected to provide an outside threat much of the time?

And as a general question to those at the game, any comments on Schensher's game? 4 shots and 4 rebounds in 25 minutes from our starting centre?

Skud I appreciate your passion but Marty isn't the one throwing the ball straight to the opposition , not carrying a hand on d and blowing shots

Players that don't do that get taken out and then a lot is people on here attack him for bad coaching. A great quote " players win games , coaches lose them "

Short Priced Favourites for Hoops posts of the year.

Supersfan : I got $200 on the Hawks @ $2.60.

Jake : Spurs fan kiss your funds good bye

Reply #384944 : Spursfan you're an idiot (at least the grammar is correct).

PeterJohn, Gibson was great in the 1st quarter when he was pentetrating at will against the Hawks lazy D. After that, Gordie obviously got his team focussed and Gibson found it difficult to create much.

Offensively, that is where the Sixers are struggling right now. Once Gibbo's penetration off high picks is shut down, we look bereft of ideas. That's where I think there needs to be some good sets to get DJ the ball in the high post where he can face up and shoot over the D, or drive to the basket. In time, one would hope he improves his passing to find Luke, other cutters, kick outs for three, or hand offs for Gibbo or Creek.

I was surprised to see in the boxscore that Luke only had four shots. He saw quite a bit of the ball, but didn't really catch it in threatening positions often enough. Probably got to credit the Hawks D for that. I thought Luke was okay today, but as I keep saying, he is a limited offensive player who can be shut down by good opponents.

Deleon off the bench was pretty good .
Gibson shouldn't take it so personal ,
tried to outdo him .
" Look for Stevie first . " Clarke told 'em , of course , but we just threw to the Hawks anyways.
Bit of a rabble out there , after the first .

Give Wollongong credit they hit some bloody hard shots. And in the end thoroughly deserved the win.

Petrie impressed me as was the first time I saw him play in person, he has range and tried all day.

Definitely wrong matchups by Clarke, its not hard to clog the paint with dj or schench, how many uncontested layups did they get in the 2nd, someone should be contesting or knocking them on their butt at least.

Fundamental basketball is all we want to see, they went away from that and then game over. Dj's missed dunk and it all went sour from then.

If creek could shoot the 3 then he would be useful as they fall off him so much on d when he is outside the 3 he becomes a liability. He should just shoot it once or twice.

I've never coached more than my brothers primary team when I was 16 but I recon I could do just as good if not better with understanding the momentum of the game. Get him an earpiece and a decent coach in the stands to tell him what to do



I said scench was overrated and soft before we signed him and nothing has changed there.

Grubbed was a man among boys on the boards and with the ruff stuff.

Adelaide have run Wollongong and NZ for three quarters before dropping when the pressure really came on. Whether that's the standard 36ers' fade-out or the result of not being as familiar with each other as Hawks and Breakers only time will tell.

Watch Gibson's little celebratory skip in that video after the alley goes down. Haha.

Wow, figured there'd be some activity after that game today.

Some thoughts on individual comments..........

fstos/Jack Toft- that Big O/DJ match up was a fizzer. DJ continues to struggle against physical bigs while Big O has another forgettable game back in Radelaide.

Jack Toft/Orbit- agree, Gordie is a top coach. Adjusted so well and ensured his guys still believed despite Adelaide's crazy start.

King James- hearing you on the small ball stuff. Marty is making a meal of his guard use. Cadee and Crosswell should never both be on at the same time as both want the ball in their hands. Cadee should have the ball handling duties with Gibbo playing shooting guard. Too often Gibbo runs the point with Cadee or Crossy playing the 2 where they are far less effective. The Cadee/Crosswell/Massingale and Cadee/Massingale/Gibson lineups made no sense.

Anonymous #384992- The numbers back you up that Gibson is poor under pressure. Shooting 29% in the 4th quarters and has now been torched by 2 top imports who have swung games (Ced Jax, 2Hard2Guard). Gibson was ok on offense in last week's 4th qtr. Today's 4th qtr line- 0/4 FG, 1 ast, 1stl in 7:34min.

Some other thoughts.............

Can't decide on Crosswell this year. He's largely been used as a 2 guard which is ridiculous as he's not an outside shooter and plays best with the ball in his hands. He's third on the team for +/- at 8 and features in our best +/- lineup (Crosswell/Gibson/Creek/Petrie/Johnson).

That's 2 games now we've been destroyed by point guards at the end of games. Better work on that at practice this week. Perhaps Creek should get some 4th qtr minutes and get a crack at some of these guys.

Steve Weigh continues to cop criticism. Last year a lot of it seemed fair but this year he's far more controlled and has less responsibility on offense. Hit both 4th qtr shots today and only took 5 overall. Hardly the key to why we're losing.

Our offensive execution in 4th quarters is a worry. The main 4th quarter lineup used is Cadee/Gibson/Weigh/Petrie/Johnson. I'd like to see Creek play more down the stretch and get some of Cadee's and Weigh's 4th qtr minutes.


A full game review up on my blog (36reasons.net) and all stats referenced can be seen on the stats page (www.36reasons.net/p/36ers-stats.html)

I've been reading & listening to you all vent now for nearly 3 yrs. It's the coach people!! No cash to do anything & he's a nice guy - HARDEN THE F'' UP! Smyth or even better, Gleeson, could turn this round instantly given the chance with this roster.

Make a move now......

Must be quite a record over the last 2 years of how many games where the 36'ers have been up at 3/4 time and lost badly, same again tonight. Would be interesting to count them all.

I am a 60 yo Masters games participant and even I could have hit those easy jump shots Crosswell attempted (far to flat a trajectory) with no one within coowee of him from around the foul line. It's called "air" guys, just look at all the good shooters,we really have to improve those open shot %.

So many bad turnovers after quarter time with no offence and poor shooting - another disappointing game.

Every time I see a time out Marty is drawing up some play that never seems to work, I am starting to think we do need another coach who knows how to rotate/match up and gives players cmore onfidence in their own ability on court.

Just a couple of points from todays effort.

When it comes to 3 point shooting we are really hurtiNg.

Weigh played 33 minutes and only shot 3/5. Only 2 three point attempts. One shot attempt every 6.6 minutes makes him a waste of space offensively, at least in todays game. (Barely better than one shot attemt per quarter.)

I think Weigh is a great potential talent! But. He doesnt seem to have the balls to take on a defender too often. He only seems to attempt lollies. Why hasn't he shown significant and consistant improvement offensivly in the last three years. Why hasn't he been PUSHED to take the ball to the ring more often? He has shown he can do it occasionally. And. Today only 2 three point attempts in 33 minutes. Would a few less minutes help whet his appetite? He seems to be given undeserved court time. I think he should be coming off the bench until he finds a consistant offensive game. Creek or Petrie would be better at this stage in the starting line up!

Mitch Creek. It seems from my limited observation at home games almost like he's being held back deliberately, without enough minutes and today on court with the wrong combinations. It seems rare for a structured play to include him as a shooter. It also appears that if he shows any individuality on the court he is back to the bench fairly quickly. Does he play offensively with more confidence off season I wonder, as I have only seen him in a sixers shirt?

Once again so dissapointing today to see so much talent just doing the mechanical basics and running the routines with such poor outcomes. I cut work to be there and we gave the game away about six minutes in!!!

"Skud I appreciate your passion but Marty isn't the one throwing the ball straight to the opposition , not carrying a hand on d and blowing shots

Players that don't do that get taken out and then a lot is people on here attack him for bad coaching. A great quote " players win games , coaches lose them "

Marty is the one who took Gibson out after scoring 9 quick points, obviously the pressure was stepped up on him when he FINALLY came back on but seriously you dont sub a guy who has only played 7 minutes and is running hot.
Marty then put our B team on............WTF. Why wasnt Schenser on after sitting down for a few minutes when DJ came off, instead we goto Pero.

DF played horrible today, couldnt defend, didnt want to defend, didnt want to run, didnt chase rebounds but he played the last 6 minutes of the game over Schenser who was passing, rebounding and drawing in the offence.
Marty's offense when Schense was the only centre on the court was to pass to Weigh for a three...who does that the guys 1ft taller and DIDNT have plays run for him. Constantly dragging him out to take passes while everyone else was stagnant..thats bad coaching.

I cant see how people can honestly still think Clark has what it takes to win games and isnt the reason we constantly lose with decent teams...Look at the crows this season, got rid of a great trainer, horrible game coach and brought in a rookie who took the team to the Semi Finals...same players.

YES - Weigh's best 2 36ers games were his least sixers minutes and 2 wins , while against NZ and Hawks he played the team's most minutes agen . Seems we lost those 2 agen .

skud, I saw Gibson call his own sub once, though can't remember if it was that one or another.

Three of our key players, including out starting backcourt, played with Deleon just last year! Anyone going to stop him from getting POTW? Madgen maybe?

One of those games where we needed to put Ng on.

Is DJ still going to be MVP?

Skud, Im not sure who DF is but can only assume you are referring to DJ? If so, this isnt the first time you have made a comment that is incorrect. Perhaps this is why people dont listen to your Clarke cant coach rants....because you have no substance.

you quote: DF played horrible today, couldnt defend, didnt want to defend, didnt want to run, didnt chase rebounds but he played the last 6 minutes of the game over Schenser who was passing, rebounding and drawing in the offence.

DJ played less minutes, had the same amount of assists and 3 more rebounds than Schensch...

You must be watching a different game to the one I watch?

I'll throw in my 2 cents worth on the game.

We struggle to contain the dynamic guards of opposing teams and we lack that player who can create his own shot when it is needed. Most teams have that dynamic player that can turn a game and we dont really have that.

NZ - Cedric Jackson, Abercrombie
Perth - Lisch, Redhage
Wollongong - Deleon
Cairns - Wilson
Sydney - Henry
Townsville - Ervin

Creek has the ability to be that player but just doesnt look to be improving to me, he got into the key way and rather than using his athleticism to elevate over the opposition (ala Abercrombie) he decides to pass the ball out and turns it over.

DJ looks to be struggling with the Twin Towers experiment.

Schenscher is too light and against the bigger centers struggles to hold his position. Some are saying that it is bad coaching and he is getting the ball too far out to be effective but he needs to man up and hold his position in the post!!

Weigh needs to be used as our spot up 3 shooter...run some plays for him to get open and watch him knock them down.

Whilst Gibson is good he doesnt play with a lot of composure when the pressure is on. When we need a score he doesnt come up with the needed play. The last 2 weeks when we have needed a score a play has been run for him and he has shot 2 air balls.

Cadee I cant really complain about but he needs to become more of a scorer I feel.

Petrie you can never fault. Always works hard and always gets it done.

Crosswell should be playing very very limited mins.

Massingale needs to be given a little more opportunity so he can get going and create space in the post by keeping the defence honest.

Starting 5 needs to be retooled to;

Johnson
Petrie
Weigh
Gibson
Cadee

And we need to figure out how to guard opposition guards in the last quarter along with looking after the ball ourselves and running some good steadying offense.

Having said all of that, Deleon and to a lesser extent Hurdle made some tough ridiculous shots!

Obviously this game was lost in the last quarter, and I thought the biggest thing was the poor defending of the high ball screen.

Deleon got most of his points on switches from that screen, you cant afford to just repeatedly switch that screen with a guy like Deleon. I think it comes down to the players firstly, then the coach secondly for not making an adjustment (unless that was his final quarter strategy to start with of course).

Offensively they need to run through plays longer and identify their mismatches better down the stretch. As with NZ, when the pressure was on they reverted to quick shots and one-on-one play.

The thing I really liked was Schenscher's defence on the ball screens, you can tell he's been working very hard on that. I thought Weigh was extremely patient and efficient and should have been used a lot more.

A nice balanced post Tornado
We have dropped 2 games to teams that will be top 4
Even the back to back team went 18 - 8 our last title team finished the season with 17-13 record or 56%
As posted before Gibbo didn't score after the first quarter. Schenscher and Johnson went MIA offensively in the 2nd half.
None of Gibson, Weigh , Crosswell, Schenscher or DJ made a FG in the 3rd quarter
None of Crosswell,Gibson, Cadee, Johnson , Schenscher, Creek made a FG in the 4th
We only scored 27 in the 2nd half after notching 21 in the first quarter.
A dry spell of 6 minutes without scoring is always going to hurt any team anywhere against any level of team.
I would like to see some more isolation with DJ and Gibbo / Cadee. NBA style pick and pop would be a good go to play for us when we are in need of a bucket.
Before this game we were averaging almost 20 FTA per game- this one we got to the line 7 times.
Stats wise there was not much in this game. The Hawks got it done when needed.

Does our defence ever do ANYTHING other than switch on all screens, it seems that it is so predictable that come the 4th Q, the other team knows exactly what to expect, and plans for it.

I wonder if Marty has the attitude that "we will do it this way and we will do it so well that the other team has to adjust to us" - which would sit with the fairly arrogant vibe I have always gotten from him.

Of course its not arrogance if you can actually do "it" - but we have not seem too much success so far.

--

Does our defence ever do ANYTHING other than switch on all screens, it seems that it is so predictable that come the 4th Q, the other team knows exactly what to expect, and plans for it.

I wonder if Marty has the attitude that "we will do it this way and we will do it so well that the other team has to adjust to us" - which would sit with the fairly arrogant vibe I have always gotten from him.

Of course its not arrogance if you can actually do "it" - but we have not seem too much success so far.

--

Does our defence ever do ANYTHING other than switch on all screens, it seems that it is so predictable that come the 4th Q, the other team knows exactly what to expect, and plans for it.

I wonder if Marty has the attitude that "we will do it this way and we will do it so well that the other team has to adjust to us" - which would sit with the fairly arrogant vibe I have always gotten from him.

Of course its not arrogance if you can actually do "it" - but we have not seem too much success so far.

--

I blame Anthony Harvey. He was at the game and it was his fault they lost

Paul, I disagree. This game was lost in the 2nd quarter. It was the 2nd quarter that set the scene for closing in the gap in score each quarter after. One might have thought after the 2nd quarter, the team might pick up and continue on to win but in hindsight its obvious the problem started that early.

As for Clarke, I feel a continuation in the pattern of the last 2 years. It absolutely concerns me that the club after 2 horrible years would continue for another year with him. It is early in the season and early enough to salvage this season. Clarke has got to go now without his final year pay because he has not earned it. This year's coach's pay can be better spent. I absolutely refuse to believe that the service he has provided warrants paying him his final year. Bring in Gleeson if he is available, bring in Joey Wright (he won a championship with a stacked team) anyone is better than what we have.

"You must be watching a different game to the one I watch?"

Perhaps your not watching properly lol. Watch where DJ is when we put up a majority of our shots and those with effort go for a rebound..hes already at the half way line.
When he shot his 2 three point attempts he did not chase the ball in, he was once again at the half way line. Your a 7ft Centre, you need to TRY to rebound everything. DJ had 3 or 4 rebounds, 2 points and 1 assist in the last 3 minutes of the game..nothing like a bit of padding your stats in junk time lol, but you obviously didnt see this at the game you were at.

I never said he had more minutes, I said he finished the last 6 despite having a horrible night. You failed to mention he also had 5 turnovers (handling errors) in the minutes he had.

Thanks for pointing out I hit the K key instead of J. I didnt realise typing errors were so important or critical to people that they felt they had to point out minor slips. Im sure you feel better for it.

Having watched it again EC I agree, there was a patch in the second (and third) where the team just made poor decisions and let the Hawks back in.

But the game was there to be won in the last and the execution at both ends came up short. Watching again Deleon got plenty whether there were switches or not, but every time there was a switch he scored or assisted.

It was disappointing not to see a bit more variation in how they defended those screens - take the ball out of his hands early!

Skud, DJ is more in the mould of Dirk Nowitzki and he doesnt really play center....he starts at PF. Dirk isnt a massive rebounder because of the way he plays and unless DJ plays center he will step out to the 3 point line to try and stretch the defence and make it easier for Schensch inside.

DJ isnt the only one not rebounding and quite frankly if he is shooting a 3 (which he is more than capable of) and trying to stretch the defence then other players should be rebounding anyway. Perhaps he is getting back to prevent transition buckets which the Sixers are renowned for giving up.

He is 8th on the Average Rebounds per game for the season and considering the way he plays and compared to others in his position I think his rebounding in comparison is more than satisfactory.

I wasnt pointing out that you made a spelling error, moreso questioning whether or not you were actually referencing DJ or another player.

I never said you said he had more minutes, I was just pointing out to you that he was more productive in less time.

Whether he is padding his stats or not, the game goes for 40 mins, every player should be playing those 40 mins to the end if they are on the court...if the others slack off and he is able to pad his stats then thats hardly his fault. If they were playing to the end then he more than likely wouldnt be able to pad his stats would he?!

Girth wise?

100!