Q: Why aren't they just resting Markovic entirely? Surely playing 15 mpg isn't helping his injury, or the team. He needs to lose some weight and get that hammy right.

Really strange injury management approach.

And I think the Crocs need to answer that same question, Jack. Similar records, both teams underperforming.

Mick, it was even more strange a few games ago when they played NZ in NZ.

Markovic didn't play the 1st and 2nd quarter yet was thrust into the game in the 3rd.

I found that decision very odd - why come on in the 3rd when the game was already slipping away. Surely if he was going to come on, you would think it would be in the 1st quarter.

Mick, agree! The Crocs have a few hard questions to answer too!

Jack, your previews are absolute gold man. Keep em up!

Mick, every week we ask Dennis about Marko's injury and he says the same thing. "It's a real shame", "nothing we can do" etc. I'd rule out any conflict between he and Dennis because Markovic plays the end of games. The only conclusion I can draw is it's one of those injuries where total rest isn't exactly going to fix the problem. Don't quote me but Loughton had something like that with his groin a couple years ago and Fearne had the same kind of approach with minutes. He's clearly not 100% at all though, literally registered zero stats in eight minutes against Cairns Sunday. With his rotation atm, he misses the whole first half and comes on about halfway through the third quarter probably just to give Mitch/Mirko a rest more than anything.

You have to feel for the Crocs though, with Marko healthy and the growth of Vinnie they're a top four team. As Dennis said in a recent presser, the three people running the show are 23 , 21 and 19 years old so you have to hand it to em for the job they're doing.

I feel like if they just shut him down the moment he got hurt he would be in better shape by now than he currently is. They had a very curious approach to PC's injury last year as well.

Something isn't right.

Yeah there was much more to that PC thing

Yeah totally, which is why I just left it at "curious", but outwardly it's the same thing: a guy is playing who is clearly hurt, and he's neither helping his team or getting any healthier.

If the Sixers lose this one would be safe to say that, they are a bottom 2 team this year?

If they lose this, you'd be wondering who they plan to beat to accrue wins. Wollongong in Adelaide? Need to own the home floor and pick off others on the road.

The game is indeed tomorrow Jack. Oops

Is that premature Jack....??

I write it as is it gameday

If Markovic is suffering from personal issues then I wish him the best in his recovery.

A healthy Markovic makes the Crocs so much more dangerous and fun to watch.

God only knows the Crocs need as much product on the court as possible to drum up support.

Shame you didn't correct the first person that raised it.
Trouble here is that there is so much incorrect information that purports to be true.
Anonymous' like you are so gullible that's the problem.

So anywaysssss, 6ers in a mini upset by 10. Crocs gave it there all against the Taipans and came up short. Ive been up and down on this one, but just as you count the hers out, and rightly so, they always win the ones they shouldn't. Same won't be said against Cairns, but thats a different story.

Reckon it'll be a breakout game for Motum and Sixers to get up like they did in Round 1

Sixers have to get a win eventually so I'm going with them by 7.

Anyone interested in knowing the 1/4 time score?

Sixers doing well after trailing by 6 in the first now leading 22-17. Quarter time.

Adelaide 1/4 time stats:

Points: Wilson 7, Motum 5, Creek 4
Assists: Creek 2, Wilson 1
Rebounds: Wilson 5, Schenscher 2, Motum 2

Starting 5 was Wilson/Gibson/Creek/Petrie/Schenscher

over reffing much?
both sides.
can see why the CEO left, the refs ruin a game.

Wilson not hogging the ball is making a huge difference to everyones body language and input! Not a flashy eye catching first half, but always nice to grind out a lead in a feral environment at the half.

Also some positives with Motum, A works with him off the bench, B great character to come out and score 11 in a half as opposed to cracking the shits! C'mon 6ers, can still give this season a shake!

Adel 41 - Crocs 77 1/2 time. Adel lead by as many as 10...

The lead has been trimmed by 1 but the 36ers lead 41-37 at half time.

A fairly even second period with the refs being whistle happy. Hopefully we come out with a better second half attitude than we had last week against the Kings.

Points: Motum 11, Wilson 10, Gibson 6
Assists: Creek 3, Gibson 2, Wilson, Schenscher, Motum 1
Rebounds: Wilson 5, Petrie 4, Schenscher, Motum, Teys & Anthony 3
Blocks: Schenscher 1

Adelaide are 7/12 from the FT line but we're 0-8 from outside (the Crocs are 11/18 and 4/10 on those). Our worst offender at the FT line is Teys (1/4).

Schenscher and BJ have 3 fouls each, Gibbo, Wilson, Teys and Motum 2 each. No Croc has more than 2 personal fouls.

We can win this one.

Joey Wright calls a time out after losing the lead.
Crocs so far 9-2.

Schenscher on 4 fouls......

Watching this game at the RSL Stadium reminds me of the old days when teams played out of tin sheds.

Adelaide must get wins against Townsville and Wollongong and hope for some upsets to havd a chance this year.

Great to see basketball going back to their original roots that made it so popular.
Currently Adel9 str8. Motum scoring 15 so far.

Blachfield rolls ankle. How bad unsure Adel / crocs all ties up. 54 all.

While Motum isn't starring so much, tonight seems to be an improvement on his previous 4 games.

Peach is having his best 1/4 in a while too.

The PC 3 at the death of the 3rd is potentially HUGE! Man I wish he was utilised better, he is a gamer!!!

Townsville 69
Sixers 64

Crawford with a 3 on the buzzer has reduced Townsville's lead to just 5 (69-64) with one period left.

The third continues to be Adelaide's bogey period. We were outscored 32-23.

69 / 64 adel trailling. 3 on the buzzer by Crawford for his first score of the night to keep them just in the hunt.

Crawf has undone his 3 by throwing a bad pass for a turnover, fouling and then stepping out of bounds, killing our first two offensive sets and gifting the Crocs a 3 point play.

Peach is keeping us in this right now.

LOve Wilson; gotta take every shot possible even when double teamed.

and that was the game

Right now Adel looking like losing. 4 mins to go in the 3rd. 80 - 74 to the Crocs.

Oh FFS........

6 in a row. Lose tomorrow night and we're 1 game away from equalling the two 8 game losing streaks we had under Marty Clarke.

The second half of a game is currently not Adelaide's friend right now.

Wilson needs to go, then again fuck it season is done, keep him and let him et his stats for the next gig. RIP 36ers

Also, side note those Crocs polos are flat out disrespectful to fashion.

Adelaide's inept second halves continue.

This season is now dangerously close to being a write off, if it isn't already.....

Outscored 59-43 in the second half after leading at 1/4 and 1/2 time.

Oh ok Wilson is even hogging the after game interviews. I mean seriously who gets interviewed from the losing team after a game haha FML

id keep Wilson, let him do his magical bullshizen and forward n back crap. according to some, he's the general. no thanx.
think im gonna bet against them from now on.
cant even get a W for creeky in game 100

Sixers blew it big time. The season is all but over for them, really needed this one doubt they can beat Cairns.
Wonder what Joey's record losing streak is

Joey now under the pump.

Only one answer is to go back to those 2 good wins and get that team back on. Sack Wilson and Motum, bring back DQ and Ritchie. What the hell is going wrong ??? Unbelievable...

Gibbo showed some life in the last couple of minutes. Problem was that for the first 38 he looked clinically dead.

Wilson's team leading 18 points looked ok, but in the last when we needed quick movement and scores he danced around at the top of the key so much without looking for team mates that the Crocs forwards were able to get inside and block his drives.

Schenscher was largely ineffective thanks to the whistle happy refs. Sometimes it seems that all an opposition player has to do is bump into him and he's called for a foul.

Peach had his best game in a while. When he was subbed out on 4 fouls early in the last, we fell apart.

Brock Motum was ok tonight, at least he was better than he's been lately. But I think his D is a bit more suspect than what people give him credit for.

In his 100th game, Mitch Creek was one of our better players in the first. Sadly wasn't sighted much in the second half where he seemed to a bench spectator for the most part.

All in all it was a very disappointing effort in the second half from Adelaide. And the sad thing is that Townsville weren't THAT good, we were just shocking.

On the plus side, Brett Maher is commentating in Perth tonight. Good to see Ten recognising his mic talents (an NBL game without Carfino calling a "Euro-step"....we've all dreamed about it but never thought it would happen).

As I've said time and time again following previous games, its the DEFENCE.

That's the issue plain and simple. 94 points given up this time..that adds to the 90s and 100s they've been giving up for the last how many games.

You have to remember the NZ game was an outlier because they shot the hell out of it. When they shoot normal %s they lose because they can't defend a deck chair.

MACDUB, I wish I could but I can't argue with you lol. Our defence in the second half was shocking.

Sorry Holden, wasn't a direct response to your post. I agree with your comments.

Adelaide out rebounded Townsville 42-33.

Townsville shot at 49% (33/68), Adelaide 43% (33/76).

Townsville shot 44% from outside (8/18), Adelaide 24% (4/17).

Townsville shot FT's at 67% (22/33), Adelaide 64% (14/22).

Adelaide scored 48 points in the paint, the Crocs scored 36.

Townsville scored 13 points from turnovers, Adelaide scored 6.

Adelaide had 12 turnovers to the Crocs 9.

No need to apologise mate, I was just saying I wish I could argue lol.

Sack Daly and a DP player will achieve what exactly? Bring back DQ too, Maybe Cj as well?
How about fix the problems. Make no mistake the 6'ers are spending big and right now lost to the 2nd worst team this season. Nuff said.

Great thanks!!! Glad you care. ;)

Aren't Adelaide the 2nd worst team?

No, don't sack Daly, sack Wilson, bring in a decent 3 man with range, and insert Daly to the main rotation, for fucks sake it isn't rocket science!

Just bring Wilson off the bench as they won't cut him now. Let Gibbo run the show, and Wilson can do his instant offence thing when Gibbo sits, not a perfect solution but might give more team balance.

Wilson is not the problem, yes he has imperfections in his game, but overall he is of more value to the team than not.

Defence is the problem.

Why do you guys keep overlooking the 93.5 points conceded / game like its...'oh well..thats just the Sixers'?

Focus on the main glaring issue first then sweat the small stuff.

The 36ers defence is a big problem right now. We have some guys who are rated as good defenders (Creek, Gibbo, Teys), but letting opposition teams score 93 points a game doesn't say much for team defence let alone individual defence. But there are other problems as well.

I hope he starts proving me wrong soon but I'm still not sold on Brock Motum. Offensively he's not as good as DJ was, and while the word is that his defence is better I'm yet to see it. I can understand the 36ers letting DJ go and not wanting to stand in the way of his career, but personally I wish he was still suiting up for Adelaide.

Right now Adelaide doesn't have a focal point in its offence. Wilson tries to be and is leading the team in scoring, but the problem is that he tends to forget that he has talented team mates who can also score. When he's on the court he's the one doing most of the scoring and taking most of the shots. When he's on the bench is when his team mates are scoring. As a PG sure he should be taking some shots, but he should be creating more for his team mates.

Wilson's selfish play with the ball in his hands is a problem. Gibbo going missing for 95% of a game is a problem. Our continued lack of defence against 3 point shots is a problem. The lack of plays to get our better shooters open looks is a problem. Playing the second half of a game with little or no urgency is a problem. I could go on but what's the point?

The Adelaide 36ers have problems. I just hope they figure out how to fix them by the time they take the court tonight against Cairns. Not holding my breath though.

What in the hell is happening with this team???

Recap: Crocs bounce back, bite 36ers

Gladness was arguably the pick of the dominant Crocs foursome, finishing with an almighty 19 points on 8-12 shooting, 14 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. He was simply unstoppable, an impenetrable force on both ends of the court. He physically dominated Luke Schenscher, limiting him to 2 points on 1-5 shooting and had him in foul trouble early.

It is not just the defence. It its the basics. not getting basics right will give opposition lots of chances to score. Sixers missed quite a few free throws early, should of been up by more. Their decision making in the paint is terrible, when double teamed, hopeless at finding open man. They miss LAYUPS, (teys again missed an easy reverse). They rush isolation plays, etc, etc.
Usually getting the basics wrong is lack of confidence and trying too hard. When Motum first arrived against Kings he had good instinct to shoot. Now very hesitant. Gibbo was shooting, now hardly jacking up anything. Is it instruction from coach to run the play all the way through even if opening for shot occurs, and are they worried about being benched/blasted if they miss?
I would like to see rotations stop and 5 players left on court as much as possible with only 1 player getting swapped at a time.

Lc agreed gladness was outstanding and played his best game of the season, some of those blocks were volleyball spikes. But the big difference for me was markovic, the crocs were looking stagnate on offense in the first half when markovic wasn't playing a lot and Norton was struggling. The second half markovic got the crocs offense rollng either hitting a bucket or finding a team mate for an open look, just seemed to change the momentum.

This has been the crocs biggest issue all season imo, with markovic playing limited minutes due to injury, the point guard duties have been shared with Norton and Djeric who are great but still very young. If you look at the top teams they generally have one or two big contributors at the point.

"This years team lack overall talent"

I would disagree. On paper this team should be performing better.

Jamar Wilson, Adam Gibson (Boomer), Anthony Petrie, Brock Motum, Big Luke to go with very handy players like Anthony, Teys, Creek.

You have a good import, two Boomers - one of which nearly made the NBA, an exprrienced NBL vet, a former NBA player, a Tall Black, and two very good players in Creek and Teys.

Its as if this season is just a filler for some players ( and others) before they move to an expansion team next season.

Oh the heartbreak!

I also disagree that last year's team was better.

Jamar is better with Ervin. Ervin is playing terrible now (likely with injuries) so Jamar is a big upgrade.

On the flip side Motum is a slight step backwards from DJ.

DJ is a better rebounder and scorer and the jury is out that Motum is a better defender.

Crawford for Carter is a straight even swap.

Teys has improved considerably from last year.

Creek's development, though slower than liked, is also coming along.

Overall this team is slightly better, which is good because it is more expensive.

Motum - star and will improve (lol at the hate!)
Gibbo - great player (overated by most 6ers fans but a great player)
Wilson - great player. Coached poorly IMO
Petrie - good ordinary player
Creek, Teys - Heavily overated

Overall the team is performing as the rest of the league would like :)

Sixers can't afford Bevo and Joey considers himself grossly underpaid anyway.

Fan-ciful,

Re: the hate directed towards Motum; i don't think anyone disputes his skill and talent. I certainly don't. Yet his behaviour in some games like the constant yapping, trash talk etc. Is tiring and its behaviour like that that makes people hate.

My concern witb Motum is that he looks like a player who hasn't come here to win ball games. He seems like the type of player who is happy to come here and use the league as an intermediary to head back to Europe. He seems content to put up numbers rather than getting Ws. He knows he isn't going to be around long.

I thought last night the 36ers were beaten on the sidelines. Yes Gladness and Conklin had big nights, but how many of their points came from Adelaide's press breaking down?

When their halfcourt D was working so well, especially the zone, why would you turn it into a pressing game against a team that presses every day in practice?!

When they were using last year's formula, slow the other team, pack the defence, rebound and run, the 36ers looked really good last night.

If they keep the press for the occasional surprise tonight and play with the same energy as last night I'd give them a good chance of beating Cairns.

Teys over-rated? No-one rates him, which is the problem. He's actually one of your best and should be a star of the team. But no doubt ADL will stuff that up and he'll be off to BNE.

Crowd: 1389.

I agree MACDUB. Team chemistry is very important, and he's not helping that by thinking about his next job. Or , indifferent attitude may be a factor in his NBA delisting.