Taipans to finally find their bite and cause an upset here.

But it will be a minor recovery as their season continues to splutter along after tonight.

LV, Who will step up for the Snakes?

Starks looking aggressive so far, this is the player we've been waiting for.

Now lets see what the 2nd unit can do.

two average teams

Cairns' offense is clicking.

Still waiting for ebe to do something, anything.

Walker's biggest problem has always been his inability to stay on the floor due to foul trouble. Has been a bit better this year.

Randle is such a fun player to watch. I hope he sticks around after this season

Yeah, definitely a fun player to watch. Probably takes too many contested jumpers, but makes up for it with everything else he does.

Dick move by Petrie there.

He's got a lot of moves. Reminds me a bit of D-Mac

Wow, second quarter charge by Era on Burston, not called was just unbelievable, possibly will make top 10 worst calls of the season I reckon...

LMFAO

So Petrie can just whack people without consequence? Right in front of a ref too.

Randle not delivering tonight, not yet anyway?

No surprises Joey was complaining to the ref. One of his players could kill a guy and he'd still be complaining that he didn't do anything wrong.

I'd love for a League-wide crackdown on the talking to refs. Everyone is somehow an expert.

I knew I may have spoken too soon, Randle steps up!

This looks like it is going to be a close one, if the 6'ers get it going in the last 6:00 minutes, look out!

Fearne's accent is one of the great wonders of the world.

Starks v Randle, great to watch...

Yeah, I think the NBA has gone too far re: tech fouls.

But the NBL does need to tighten it up. Joey jumping up and down, pointing at refs, constantly yelling should warrant a tech.

Wow at both of those shots.

Just great drama, again in the NBL, enjoying this season no matter the issues people keep coming up with, it is watch worthy...

And, yes, I have been one of those people, I am not hiding from that...

Yikes, Peach....

I'm loving this season so far. So many epic matches.

56 seconds to go and Era pushes into Worthington, who flops badly, I thin if he stays on his feet it is a no call, great call to give it against the flopper on that occasion... IMHO

Great ending in this one, who can keep their nerve?

Hell of a game from Starks. First time since the blitz that he's looked the goods.

Holy shit Randle, wow.

Hahaha yeah these 101-101 blowouts are rubbish

Speechless. Wow !!!

Starks!!!!!!!!

WOW.

Amazing game.

.3 left...

Starks has been huge, what a massive last shot.

Starks was probably 50% or more of his way onto the chopping block before tonight. What a performance.

Scotty who ?

Clutch Free Throws at the end not recognised obviously.

Adelaide were woeful tonight great finish but frustrating performance. Ebe is over the hill offers nothing. Imagine having a Torey Craig instead of the over the hill guy... thatd be danger! Really frustrated with that. But cairns wow they kept making the big shots.

"Starks was probably 50% or more of his way onto the chopping block before tonight. What a performance."

Cairns just don't cut players. You've got to be caught with your nose in something for that to happen.

I bet Starks won't get half that next game though :-/

Oh no doubt the 4-4 free throws were huge from Ebe, but overall 10 points is not enough from a guy in his role. Was non existent for large portions of the game. And as bad as Adelaide were in spurts, the chances were there for someone to take that one by the scruff of the neck. But troll away Camby...

Starks tustve been relieved about the Wilbekin situation haha

Four free throws down the stretch doesn't mean much when you've given up that many points at the other end because you can't move laterally.
Interesting to see Joey bake Gibbo during a time out. Warranted too, he was far too passive again early. Cairns was always going to come out hard and the Sixers allowed them to dictate terms on their home court. Allowed a team averaging under 80 to score over 100 through poor defensive effort.

A lot of layups early and often given up. Really disappointing performance, surprised they were able to get as close as they did. The trap worked for about 1:30minutes at the end and it nearly got them over the line!

Ebi has seen better days. Offering absolutely nothing.

Apparently he is a great locker room presence... cop out of a reason to keep a guy producing so little around. Cut him, bring in some extra talent and try and make a run at the 4. Adelaide although fun to watch, wont make the 4 as is imo.

I give Ebe credit, he was good for 4 minutes, as he usually is.
But he was god awful for the other 20. Not as bad as Walker was, but pretty close.

We didn't really deserve to win tonight. We had a good last 6 mins, to make it real interesting, but Cairns were easily the better team.

Dumbass awards go to

Sobey fouling with 4 seconds left of the 3rd with Bruce having the ball near half court giving him 2 foul shots.

Walker for being Walker.

Ere for the foul shot violation when he is guarding the shooter.

Petrie for two absolutely embarrassing attempts at layups.

The umpires for absolutely shocking calls all night for both teams. Special mention for Vaughan Mayberry for doing his best to become the worst umpire in the league and will be gifted the grand final games for his efforts.

Honourable mention goes to Gibson for still thinking he can guard centers/power forwards inside. No you can't! Every time it is a huge mismatch! Gibson should go back to the basics of trying to guard Gliddon from walking into the key catching it and scoring.

I don't know Wrights deal with Walker but it's time to glue him to the bench until he earns his minutes. We need to develop Hodgson quickly so he can have more court time! He looked like he deserved more time tonight and would have finished the layups Petrie missed. We can't get Teys back quick enough. Someone who plays smart basketball.

Would have liked to seen Johnson pressure Burston with the ball on that last play. Great game by Starks. Cairns deserved to win the game. Hopefully it will be a wake up call for the Sixers

Looks like Worthington want's to end his career with no class at all with his dirty plays.

Yeah really didn't like that unsportsmanlike Wortho gave up on Randle. Too much of a cheap shot.
Pretty decent recap KingJames

Ebi got awarded two of those free throws because he caught the ball all alone right under the hoop, but took so long to gather himself to go up for the layup his defender recovered and fouled him.

That sums up his problem - he is too slow for this level of competition. We need more from an import than 10 pts on 31% shooting, which is his season's average. Tonight he was actually below average.

How about that time he decided to dribble and charged right into Wortho... how they called that a block I dont know. But wow it was like watching a car crash in slow motion. 2 old veterans... problem is unlike Wortho who is a ok to have as a bench guy, Ebe is a god damn IMPORT! Too valuable a spot to be wasting on him, friend of Joeys or not, this is a business.

Scottie?

Scottie Who?

Loughton one of the worst players you have ever seen? Get off the drugs he is a great player, can do it all.

I originally thought Weigh's put back was Ere's fault but if you watch the replay he had to make the right decision to box out Trigger instead. So it was Randles fault for not boxing out Weigh.

I may be a little harsh as it was a quick play but Petrie needs to dunk that at that stage.

Doug I haven't seen the replay but at the time, I thought he surely mustve been in 2 minds what to dunk or layup and in the end was one of the worst butchered jobs I've seen. Was like he was expecting contact and was too open... was a hell of a play by Randle.

And yeah totally agree, you dunk that or miss trying!

@Mantis

"Ebi got awarded two of those free throws because he caught the ball all alone right under the hoop, but took so long to gather himself to go up for the layup his defender recovered and fouled him."

Ummm....that move is called a fake, its a veteran move he executed to near perfection. If not for the opposition basically riding his shoulders he likely would have absorbed the contact and got the and one.

Regardless, I think the focus is unfairly on Ere. What about Petrie's layup? Sobey's foul in the penalty?

What about Walker and Creek? Ere had almost the same minutes as the two and scored more, stole the ball more, committed less fouls and got the same amount of rebounds to them COMBINED.

And Ere is MORE THAN TEN YEARS older then Creek.

I'd rather not focus on individuals, it can get quite personal and counter-productive.

The Elephant in the room is the team defence. You cannot allow 104 points in a 40 min game and expect to win more than you lose. Top down, everyone is accountable for defence, so that needs to be addressed foremost.

The Sixers just weren't hungry enough. I feel bad for Gibbo getting roasted by Wright on National TV, but it was warranted.

Never a finger pointed in Joeys direction.

Woeful D tonight, really wasted Randles hot hand ...too many 2nd and 3rd chance boards.

Agree that it's time for Adelaide to dip a toe back in and jump on another import.

BOOM!

Loughton is serviceable podge, not great. He never reached his potential imo. And I wouldn't say he's having a great year.

Rarely agree with Marcus Camby but his post a good review of game and his points on others that needed finger pointing others than Ere with very revelent stuff ups ,poor games etc In Creek ( where has his offence gone ) Walker (can be exciting but hope doesn't cost too much) Petrie ( love way plays but are we getting to a end in sight of great career ) Sobey ( Close to if not most foul ever )

But that doesn't stop the fact how poor Ere is and was again as absolutely not even a resemblance of defence and just plods around in offence and as nobody really worries about him, so gets opportunities which usually stuffs up.
If we are serious about getting into finals then we have to replace ASAP
But the relegation to me was that Joey is not the coach we think he is as all our points were gained by individual efforts and not by set plays or court movement which Cairns was especially in first half as they got so many easy baskets .
Joey had no answers for or a actual defence structure to break their game down.

Should have mentioned great wrap up of everything by King James post.

I agree the complementary pieces like Walker and Creek were poor, Petrie's layup miss made me want to throw up, and I've already spoken abt the poor D, but the fact remains this team needs its second import to be more than a complementary player - and as you say Marcus, he's 10 years older (and unfit!) I was one prepared to give him time but it's clearly not working.
And I didn't feel the least bit bad about Gibbo getting a serve on national tv. I felt bad that Gibbo once again went into his shell after 2 reasonable games (both wins coincidentally).

There's nothing coincidental about us winning when Gibbo plays well.

Problem with the 36ers team that i see is accountability. And it stems from Joey Wright.

Seems like he always wants to blame external factors e.g. the refs, scorebench personnel, other teams' players.

Petries' slap on Craig only served to fire Craig up and from memory he canned a three and two layups after that. Craig should always play angry!

I don't know why people are harring on about Ere and his offensive problems. 36ers gave up 104 points. His major issues are defensive-orientated.

Thats a big problem - mobility from a defensive standpoint. Petrie, Ere, Johnson.

MACDUB don't know if it's an accountability thing but on the subject Joey's behaviour towards the refs is terrible in my opinion.

MACDUB I agree with you in regards to Joey, he is great at deferring. His behaviour towards the refs is laughable at times a real baby in suit jumping on the spot. The reason people are getting on Ere for his offense, is because that's what the 6ers said he was here for... his Defence is non existent, and he missed some key assignments last night.

@Brett

If you believe defence is a problem, then just getting rid of Ebi is not going to fix it.

The Coach needs to instill into his team Defence is the primary objective, and with the fast paced players we have , can run it down the opposition's throats on the transition.

There needs to be a top down change in attitude regarding D.

Gibbo is our best defender, he must set by example, then folks like Creek, Walker, Hodgson will follow suit.

The Ere situation should be remain at the review and assess stage. Just look at the Starks scenario, the team rules out Wilbekin, publicly states the can win it with Markel, Markel begins to excel.

Well put, MC.

Review and assess stage... 10ppg at 30% odd. reviewed assessed, retrenched!

There's no reason for a team like Adelaide not to be hungry, aggressive defenders. They thrive on running off their stops, and at some point you'd think that would click with them and they'd realise that scoring in transition is fun & rewarding, and therefore doing the part that makes that scoring possible is a crucial element of the fun actually occurring.

They're a frustrating team in that regard because their best & worst are so far apart.

Anon Craig is the exact example I used last night as a replacement type that would make immediate positive difference. So true.

I know.. I know!

@MC: A fake is used when you are being guarded. Ebi wasn't being guarded, he was ALL ALONE. Nice try, but you're wrong as usual.

He is just trolling, its hard but best not to bite.

The positive for the Sixers was that Randle looks nearly unstoppable as a closer - especially if his three point shot is falling, which it wasn't really last night.

The negative is that after all these years with a stable core, we STILL can't play good team defence!

Can someone please explain to me why Joey insists on having his players switch on defence at the first hint of a pick? Players give up so easily on staying with their man and the resulting mismatches kill us every game.

Yeah, while I was disappointed in our defence and to lose to Cairns, Randle's skills as a closer left me feeling quite optimistic overall.

Given the way Joey seems to get his teams humming along as the season wears on, I feel like there is a good chance this team will still challenge for a playoff spot.

I agree about DJ on the last shot too. It was more a good shot than bad defence, but in that situation it would have been a smart move to close on him more tightly and force him to make a runner instead.

@Mantis.

Ere was free of his man but he had the veteran awareness to know he could be blocked by the bigger defender, hence the head fake.

I'd encourage you to watch the tape again.

To those using Torrey Craig as an example of a replacement, watch his games before this one. He has had a subpar season so far.

Ebi is one issue, I never denied it was an issue. However there are bigger issues that need addressing than how many birthdays he's had.

I'd rather not focus on individuals but if you guys insist then I'd suggest there are others in the team who should be questioning themselves not just Ebi.

I wish we could do the Torrey Craig for Ebi experiment.....then I could show you just how little impact it would have on the poor team defence.

I don't need to watch the tape, I was there and I saw how free he was. There was no defender to fake. Stop making stuff up.

I don't know why people see Craig play a couple of good games and think he would be a good import to have.

Last season he had 8.9 PPG (11 games where he scored 3 or less. 8 games where scored 2 or less. 3 games he didn't score). Imagine what people would be saying if that was one of our imports!

This season the first 4 games he averaged 6ppg. Only now he plays a couple of good games and then people want to sign him up....

King James he is just a general example i for one was using. Not him exactly but a player such as him which there are plenty of looking for work and exposure would be better than what he have been subject too.

@Mantis.

If you were there, what were you watching other than the game in the middle of the premises?

If you are going to spend money to attend the game, watch the game.

If there are no defenders, how did a Cairns player end up on Ebi's shoulders? Did he fall out of the sky in a Cairns uniform?

Pretty good wrap up of the game King James.
Gibson- not aggressive enough and went back into his shell. Becoming overrated.
Too much switching on screens, being mismatched, and not recovering to defensive assignments quick enough.

Torrey Craig is a perfect example of how bad our defence is. Against most other teams he is average to bad, but against us, he has gone off on more than one occasion!

@Beantown.

The play that stands out to me was Craig dribbling to the top of the key and the keyway just opened up for him like the Red Sea.

Its these defensive breakdowns that must be eliminated if the team is to be a key player post season.

"I don't need to watch the tape, I was there and I saw how free he was. There was no defender to fake. Stop making stuff up."

Gold! He had the most athletic guy in the league elevating to block his shot!

Correct. Ebi slipped Craig down the lane and ended up quite underneath the basket.

With Ebi's veteran experience, he would have known that a) Craig was not far behind and most importantly b) he was exposed to being blocked from behind having to go straight up.

Here you go Mantis...There's your Ebi is alone and undefended theory.

[IMG]http://i66.tinypic.com/14sgq6w.jpg[/IMG]

Hope the screenshot works.

There you go.

(Right click and select 'View Image' to see it full size.)

Kobe, how do you embed it in the post?

I saw the video, and I see the photo. Yes, there was a defender to fake. But whether or not the move was wise or not shouldn't justify, or otherwise, the keeping of Ebi Ere.

He made a few plays at the end, but spends 20 of his 23 mpg sucking ass.

Kobe, how do you embed it in the post?

I don't know what KJ is on but Craig can't produce waiting for his go behind Weigh?
Fearne groupie obviously?