Calling all Sixers Fans!

Forget the free food and drink at your Staff Christmas Party. If you can only make it to one game this season, let it be this one. On 3rd November, the Sixers were in second spot and the signing of Motum meant a flurry of annual leave forms went into bosses in anticipation for a finals series and the inevitable flight to Perth or Auckland. Now, it looks like that leave will be spent cleaning the gutters, or sorting out the sock drawer. They have fumbled second spot and are now second last. Like a 16 year old boy fumbling a bra strap, they may have fumbled their opportunity this season.

That is why you need to get to this game and get L O U D. They are on a 7 game losing streak and that needs to stop. A loss this game and it's time to draw a pentagram on Brett Maher court and summon Marty Clarke by chanting his name backwards three times so he can officially welcome Joey to the Super Eight club. Prior to 3rd November, their average score was 90:88, since then they have gone 84:96 - a 14 point turnaround.

Last time Melbourne were on this court, they blitzed the Sixers from outside the arc and they had their best win so far this season. Let’s hope the Sixers spread the defence a bit and get some pressure on shooters. We can only hope that with all this talk of the South Dragons coming back this would be a distraction for the TFKATT, and the Dragon’s next captain. Which United players have been chatted to, and who will grab the tiger by the tail to jump ship?

While it all looks doom and gloom for the Sixers, so far this season United have not won a Friday night game. Their average score is 84:81 (+3) for all games, on Friday nights, it’s 73:84 (-11). Sunday afternoon is their slot winning 4 from 6 games.

I know it’s stating the obvious, but the Sixers must win this game and they need a very clear game plan to shut down United. That should not be hard, but we need to see a united Sixers team focused on one goal.The Sixers fall apart when they try too hard and forget the basics. Keep it simple boys. Just gotta get a decent shot up each possession and get a sop of the defence, no hard is it?

I'm tipping the Sixers to get this one.

As much as I would like to see this 7 game losing streak come to an end truth be told I just hope we don't lose by 40 again!

United easily.

6ers are a joke.

Sixers just need to go out, play hard, play cohesive and not worry about the end result...that will be taken care of if they do the above!

If you guys can beat United, then lose to us and then Melbourne can beat NZ, that would be SWELL.

Nathan: Wildcats got pants'd by the Breakers last night. Team was so cold you would catch Hypothermia from standing next to them.

"Has Adelaide won a game since sacking Montreal. Not sure the massive contract Brock got given was worth it."

No they haven't. What massive contract? He is probably on the same as what Montreal was this season. Next season he will get a big contract and with his credentials so he should. Why do you say he is not worth it? Did you predict we would go 0-7 with him here? If you did then please open a sports bet account as you are a genius and will make billions with your predictions.

I am a Montreal fan but he is not better than Brock. Montreal was unlucky with injuries and timing. This is how professional sports go.

Duly noted, Matthew, thanks for that analysis.

I didn't back united this time. I reckon its possible to beat them. I don't think we will have a stinker this time around. I played the safe card by betting on taipans over t'ville.

last time we had motum for a game and no creek. one player doesn't cover the team but it changes the plans a little.

if I was hoping for anything this weekend, id like to see us play well win or lose, see perth lose again, and see the breakers beat Melbourne. that would be extra nice.

Has anyone lost all faith in Joey Wright aswell....

6ers will give a little bit tonight, no team can be down that bad that long, but it'll take a minor miracle to overcome United. Sad times, few changes need to be made in the offseason.

"Has anyone lost all faith in Joey Wright aswell"

No way. The only negative I see is he has made a couple of strange moves in games and has liked Gibson a bit too much.

Not a bad start (7-0). Lets see if they can go on with it.

Looks like Gibbo is under instructions to actually earn his minutes tonight.

Brock has started like he actually means it.

*shakes head in disbelief* did I just see Jamar Wilson drive and actually pass off to a team mate (Schenscher) who hit a 2?

So far this looks like the Adelaide 36ers we expect.

48-38 at the half. Much better effort but we need to come out in the second half and do more of the same because Melbourne will come out hard in the second half.

Yep.....

Reffing absolutely apalling

Won't argue there MACDUB.

Have to say, BJ Anthony may not be the best player on the team but he will give you 100% every game.

1:40 to go and Luke Schenscher needs 1 point for a double-double. Question is will he get back on? Didn't look overly impressed when he got subbed out.

The Tigers are stacked, is it D Mac's fault they're not killing it? (i'll never refer to them as Utd........ever............ever.....unless they change their name back to the Tigers and I feel like heckling them...........from home...........on my own).

A great team game. Defense was excellent for a change. We really got stuck into them and then United's players imploded. We played hard for pretty much all 4 quarters.

I am happy to have put the mocker on Dennis and Mcrae by saying I would swap them for Gibson and Wilson. Dennis had a shocking game while McRae was too busy being mad at the referees.

Talking about the referees, only in the NBL could a player (Mcrae) when he was talking to the referee act out how he was pushed by actually giving the referee a full push and the referee just accepted it.

Could Walker be anymore of dumbass?! The referees talk to him and then the next play he decides to hold Tey's jersey. Then he has the capacity to complain about it.

It's great to finally get that win.

Tomlinson2015 is a shadow of Tomlinson2014

Very relived that sixers got this one didn't want the drought ending on Sunday

Brock is a 9 point player

For just about the first time this season Luke Schenscher's height advantage was used put to best use on the boards. Pity he was subbed off and couldn't get that one point he needed for a double-double.

Peach was good early, BJ finished it off.

Crawf had an off night though he actually had a couple of open looks which was encouraging. Teys wasn't at his best on offence either, but as usual his defence was good.

Mitch Creek - forget the alley-oop passes unless you're on the end of it. Attack the basket like you're good at. Top defensive effort when on the court though so did as much as anyone for this win.

Wilson.....one of the best team games I've seen from him. He scored, he passed the ball, he grabbed rebounds. Need to see more of it. It was good to finally see him drive and actually pass to an open team mate rather than put up a shot while being double or triple teamed.

I think Gibbo was under strict instructions from Joey to actually get involved and earn his minutes. No coincidence that his best game in a while results in a 36ers win.

Brock Motum set the tone early and while his scoring slowed it was a solid game from him.

Adelaide won the rebounds 45-24 and had 5 players score in double figures (Gibbo was best with 16). We also shot at 51.6% (compared to 42.3%). Along with a much better defensive effort than the last time we played Melbourne at home its not hard to understand why we won this one.

Lets take tonight's effort to Perth on Sunday.

Congratulations to Joey in responding to the challenge of seven in a row.

Tonight was a tough, scrappy and sometimes frustrating game. Full of emotion and effort.

Joey must have read Hoops last week because he has answered the critics. He reigned in Wilson who played one of his better team games and aside from a poor sub late in the first quarter where he briefly had four bench players on together, costing us a comfortable lead, he ran a great game with a well balanced side and brought about one of the best overall team games so far.

Joey made the changes which it was suggested last week were necessary and look at at the even spread of stats through the side. Great contribution from everyone.

The other Gibson is back and just look at the effort from the entire team.

Joey also made changes to address problems during the game, particularly rebound count which was not going our way early and we won clearly overall.

The best part of this style of game is that all players have great opportunity to play hard and contribute as all five on court are involved.

I am really looking forward to see how we perform against Perth and if he can sustain this game style and build on it.

Well done sixers, well done Joey, maybe well done Hoops!

Maybe Utd should put more effort on the boards than attacking the refs? 45-24.

Kickert 1 rebound.

Team full of front runners.

Agreed...Melbourne need to look a little closer to home and their love of the 3 ball and lack of love for rebounding.

Brock is way overrated and likely overpaid next year. His defence is woeful, his awareness is woeful and he tries to force stuff up when he is double or triple teamed. Since joining the 36ers I think his assist to turnover ratio is something like 2 assists to 25 turnovers - thats appalling!

Sixers need to take better care of the ball as a team too and stop trying to force passes that just arent there.

Can't get carried away with that win. Sooooo many turnovers. Melbourne didn't make us pay. Everyone lamented how crap our defense was last time we played when Melb blew us off the court. Now the defense is being applauded. It was the same defense giving up open 3's. Melb had LOTS of open 3's. Sixers still pointing at each other when switching on D and lose their man on screens.

We have players not completely confident with 3PT shot we all get jammed up in the keyway and our spacing suffers. Teys turned down couple of open looks due to lack of confidence in his 3-ball and settled on jumpers. If Creek can learn to hit the 3 consistently he can have the opposition at his mercy.
Need to isolate the player in the post. Not rush in on him. Creek gives to Motum in the post and then runs into the key dragging defender in giving Motum no room. This happens all the time with sixers. Space it out and give Schensch, Motum time and space. BJ was good at the end as he wouldn't allow defender to push him around. Melb are very physical.

Motum will be one of this forum's faves - at least by next year.
If he sticks for 3 seasons there will be more dismay at his leaving that at Daniel Johnson's departure - and one good adult season after two seasons with Melbourne and three over-paid under-efforted adolescent pouty ones with Adelaide.

he was a six year vet at the end, Brock has not done a full season yet and is way ahead of Danial.

Motum turned 24 a coupel of months ago. I was surprised to find out he was that old, based on what I'd seen of him.

Johnson turned 26 at the end of last season. So, at the end of next season, Motum will be approaching Johnson's age for last season.

For some reason, big men seem to take longer to mature as NBL players. I think VeryOld is right and we'll see better production from Motum. I think the big difference with Motum is that he's already had a shot at NBA and missed. Does he think he's only filling in time in the NBL? If so, he needs to turn that around and see how he plays in the NBL as a part of how he might get a second shot at the NBA.

I think he's going to be worth the investment.

What you write is correct - but not really pertinent IMHO

Motum - "College Rookie" first year out of college

DJ - His "College Rookie" season was in 2007 (6 NBL seasons ago) admittedly he bailed out of Pepperdine after 1 season, the only NBL season of his we REALLY liked was the last one under Wright.

A NBL Vets last season compared to a rookies first ?

Motum played professionally last season, plus three extra years at college than Johnson, but your point is valid, DJ is more advanced in his career.

Still, I think the counter-point is most 36er fans would prefer Motum to be sitting on the bench in Poland and Johnson to be stretching his out for Adelaide!

@sixtiesrockstar "It was the same defense giving up open 3's. Melb had LOTS of open 3's."

It was no where near the same defense of that last game! Last game there was about 25 open looks this game there was about 5. The defensive pressure this game was a lot better! Not sure what game you were watching

@Very Old, you need to get over your hate for DJ.
The first year Clarke played him about 17 mpg. He wasn't over paid he was under played. He still averaged almost 10ppg and 4rpg which is fine in that amount of minutes
Second year Clarke grew a brain and decided to play him about 30 minutes a game and he averaged 16ppg and almost 8 rebounds with not much talent at all.
Third year 16ppg and 8rppg which he lead the league in (you forgot to mention that).
Fourth year 19ppg and almost 7rpg.

Please tell me which other players in the NBL currently get 16ppg and over 7rpg? He did that for almost 3 seasons and you're trying to say he was over paid and didn't perform. right! DJ deserved his money.

You do realise Brock is 24 now? When DJ was 24 he was averaging 19ppg and 7rpg.

So many people throw aroumd the "young" tag.

Motum, at 24, is not young.

People also say Teys is young yet he is 24.

King James

No high school flame wars here - Please read my posts, and find ANY "quote" of me that supports your statement "you're trying to say he was over paid and didn't perform. "


"Methinks the lady doth protest too much,"


I said that this forum was full of complains for him in the first 3 seasons here - perhaps that's not right ?

I did view his defensive effort and discipline and poutyness as immature in my opinion, but this is the first time I've posted that in this tread.

@KingJames - Melb had about 5 open looks in just the last qtr alone. What game were you watching. Barlow, Kickert, Wortho and Mcrae all had massive open looks in the last qtr that they buried the last time they played us here. What game were you watching. How many times did you see the sixers players scrambling to get to the shooter. I'm just saying if Melb hit those open looks we would be saying how bad the sixers are at defense giving open shots.
Yes their ball pressure was better last night forcing turnovers, etc, but the switching defense gets lost and gives open shots.

@MACDUB

@MACDUB, 24 is young by NBL standards. The only local players I can think of who are younger than that are Blanchfield, Cadee, Bruce, Maynard, Odigie and Te Rangi. There's probably a couple of others but a 24 year old is going up against someone more experienced than him almost every possession in the NBL.

@sixtiesrockstar - You are right, there was more than 5. I fast forwarded through it and counted 13 times it was a complete open shot with no defensive pressure at all. The difference was the context. In that first game United hit 7 uncontested 3's in the 1st quarter (they could have had other open looks that didn't go down in that quarter)! This game they shot 6 uncontested 3's in the fist half, hitting 3 of them.

@Very Old - Sorry you were just generalising what the forums census has been over those years. Fine my apologies.

and again, just like last week, no match report on NBL website yet for 6ers vs United match last night.
I read a post last week where the NBL has now left it up to the clubs to do it. How very professional.

For all the discussions of other things, after a slow start this was a super game with big momentum swings and the atmosphere sounded electric on TV.

With regards to DJ and Motum.

DJ's first two years in the NBL with Melbourne (straight out of a season with Pepperdine College) was spent purely as a back up to Chris Anstey. He was never going to and for all intents and purposes didn't get any more than minutes when Anstey was rested and rarely did they ever see time on the court together. But DJ did learn a fair bit from playing under him, all he lacked was experience and Anstey's mongrel attitude on defence.

He signed with Adelaide to be the starting centre only to have Marty Clarke decide to move Balls from the 4 to 5 spot and again have DJ on the bench. When Balls did his ankle (ironically against Melbourne), DJ got his chance and he took it. Offensively he was already there and he immediately started averaging around the 20ppg mark. Basically when he got his chance to be the 36ers starting centre the numbers he put up was basically double what he had done previously. And his rebounding stats were more than double what they were.

Yes I'll agree it took a couple of seasons for his D and his attitude to smarten up. But with the team lacking success under Clarke its not hard to have a poor attitude. When we started winning last year that attitude changed for the most part (though the sulking still showed up at times). And I personally think his D also improved last year.

Motum has come to the NBL as both a current Boomer and as an ex-NBA player. The report is that offensively he is just as good as DJ and his defence is supposed to be superior. Offensively I think he still has a bit to do to achieve the consistency we saw from DJ.....while I am yet to be convinced he is any better on defence.

For mine, DJ is more athletic than Motum, is superior on offence and their defence is about the same.

However, the reality is that DJ isn't here any more. The 36ers management in their wisdom decided to grant him a release so he could further his career (and bank account) by playing in Europe. Brock Motum is here and is part of this team. But he needs to find consistency in his game if he is going to live up to his reputation.

@HoldenV8, ignore annoynmous's post what you said was correct.

"Motum has come to the NBL as both a current Boomer and as an ex-NBA player. The report is that offensively he is just as good as DJ and his defence is supposed to be superior."

You're believing the hype a little bit there. Motum is not an ex-NBA player any more than Luke Nevill, and his defence has always been known as a suspect area.

There's no doubt Johnson is a much better NBL player at this stage (and maybe always), while Motum did a little better in Europe and in national team trials.

I don't think Motum should be judged too much over the past few weeks (although at times his effort has been disappointing) because the team he stepped into was a bit of a mess.

@Paul, how was the team a mess? They were equal second on the ladder when he joined

@paul

Odigie and Te Rangi are what I consider "young".

Odigie is 21. Te Rangi is 20.


I don't see how you can say "by NBL standards".

24 is not young in any sport. Teys has been in the NBL since what 2009?

There's a difference between "young" and "inexperienced".

Just because someone is "inexperienced" doesn't mean they are young. I think that's where you are getting confused.

Young and old are relative terms. Someone who is eight attending kindergarten is old. Someone who is 24 in a competition where almost every player is older than them is young.

King James, I meant they were a mess in their performances. A factor in that was trying to fit Motum in while getting Wilson and Creek back from injury.

I reckon it's just the past week where the players are starting to look comfortable in their roles and Wright is starting to figure out how to best use his new line-ups.