I fear Sydney may be angry enough to get this one back. I think the Sixers will need to get off to a flyer to have any chance. Sydney by 10.

The rematch of the season!

At the end of Q1 last game I was ready to rip up my ticket and drown my sorrows at the Findon Hotel. The Kings were out of the blocks faster than a group of Willaston netball girls on an end of season trip to the Balak races and the Sixers just stood there wondering what happened. They were like a king kid whose ice-cream fell on the ground after one lick and wondering whether they should pick it up.

Then the unbelievable happened and the Sixers got up.

This game I would expect the Kings to be all over Randle like a cheap suited farm boy from Pinery at the Balak races. He will find it hard to bag another 20 something game.

I'm not expecting Kazzough to foul out tonight. Home court calls might see Peach or Hodgson take an early shower, but they better make sure they don't make contact in the last minute of the game after the ball has been declared dead. What a way to ruin a great game.

You all know who I'm going to tip, and with very good reason.

The rematch of the season!*

*Except for the Townsville v Perth rematch!

Really looking forward to this one. Sydney are showing they can score a lot of points, Harrington is getting his legs slowly, and it will be tough for Adelaide to pile on a heap of points on the road on the second leg of a mini series like this.

Having said that, if the 36ers can keep it close you know Sydney have some scars.

I think the key for Sydney will not be overplaying Harrington, 32 minutes last week was way too many. They're better to get 20-25 minutes of quality than 15 good and 15 crap due to fatigue.

"*Except for the Townsville v Perth rematch!"

or the upcoming Breakers Vs Floppers....

What are the odds on a flopping tech being called in the NZ v Melbourne clash?

Im hoping for a 36er win but expecting the Kings to be hungry so if the 6ers dont make a add solid start it could be trouble. Hoping the 6ers have had time to sort out what the hell happend for 3qtrs last time because they were shithouse. I mean really really bad. If they rectify that they are the better team. Would be nice for Ebe to help out for more than one damn quarter too. Randle will be exhausted come play off time if not.

Wondering what the crowd is going to be like tonight. Only so many times they can bill their home games as 'Must Win' in the supporter emails.

Jack Toft is tipping the Violet Crumbles!!!!


WHAT??!

Yeah agree, but wouldn't it be nice to have someone else help him out a bit and get him some rest every now and then. Usually thats DJ but he was mia last game, just wondering how small the role Ebe is actually playing. Gibson not likley to get you 20+... but atleast he can control the tempo and get others involved.

They would defend but they know it will just be a blowout anyway so they don't bother.

Hahahaha Harrington banking in that 3. Love it!

Who's the little guy, possibly assistant coach, with the awful glasses on the Sydney bench?

And who told him those glasses were a good idea?

Prewster is a stud. Will have a long career in the league. A guy who has that game where he can give value to any team..has a real niche.

6ers are in deep doo doo now. Nasty finish to the half. Sigh this squad just isnt deep enough to absorb runs... randle will have to try do it all... again.

One highlight Ebi Ere is on absolute fire by his standards. Great stuff.

Adelaide perimeter defence has always been prett poor under but our interior D is actually pretty good, especially without any good shot blockers lately.

Yep he did. Its the most satisfying thing ever watch a bank three from the cornee where it clips the backboard haha

Sydeny lead into double figures with just over a quarter to go, I am just waiting for the 6'ers come back now...

ADL $6 at TAB now. Hmmm..sounds good even though theyre down by 11

Sydney losing their minds. Cadee with horrible shot selection.

Randle needs to explode now for any chance of the W. That Cadee 3 hurt at the end of the 3rd.

Enough with the lol's its so sad. The league is great its respected deal with it.

Ah the irony of that post..the NBA reg season games are nothing more than pick up games.

Wonder if Joey will regret his 'its called defense' line?

Well anon go find another league to support and fuckoff... ok pumpkin

Isaac is there a mute button for this spam?

Where are Sydney's fans? The stadiums empty, and even looking at the size of this thread compared to other teams games shows a lack of interest, and 25% of posts in here are anonitroll

Teys should definitely be suspended for that

Thats not very smart from Teys that foul.

Nice cleavage in the Ref Cam too.

Adelaide are feral. That's the country bumpkin attitude this league doesn't need. Go back to Elizabeth and your barrels

Disappointed that Teys wasn't benched for that.

Yes there was only .4 seconds left, but that is not the style of play any coach should accept.

FM, especially a coach like Joey

Good to see Gibbo continue on after a blistering first term.


Oh wait....

Where's all the hypocritical DH's wanting Cotter's head?

You fuck wits are so predictable. Guess you are all kissing his arse tonight?

Do Damo a favour and stay away. He and the Kings don't need you!!!

6ers may've needed that loss, the more of that crap that is served up the closer they are to coming to their senses and upgrading the over the hill import. The only spot we van actually upgrade, unless there is any Aussie talent floating around... then Joey can keep all the locker room presence he wants and cut someone else who is under performing.

Good game by the Kings. Still some things I wasn't happy with - Garlepp, please, please, pretty please just pass the ball when trying to beat the press, Carter please find Khazzouh when he's posting up Gibbo rather than launch the contested three - but lots of positives. Prewster is the player that Kevin White never was. When Cadee plays with swag, he's 10x the player he usually is. Harrington played like what we probably all expected Harrington to be like. I liked Garlepp's fire off the bench, but he can not defend the perimeter to save his life.

As for the Sixers, not sure why Gibbo just disappeared after a quick start. I barely remember him after the 1st Q. Randle is awesome, but you almost have to try turn him into a shooter - he can hit it (at a great clip %) but he's more dangerous when he's getting inside and attacking. DJ looks like he's struggling to find his way now that Randle is the focal point of the offense.

And who knew Ebi could still throw it down???

Oh, and as for the crowd, yeah it wasn't great, but what do you expect after the disappointing start to the year, combined with crap weather.

Still at least a couple of thousand, I'd say 3k?

Harrington in Ebi out

I think there were two scouts sitting two rows behind me too. Spalding notepads jotting notes all game. Getting a look at Thornton or maybe Harrington?

Yolo, we can only dream, only dream. One thing is for sure, when Childress is fit again, what are the kings going to do. Cut ties with NBA affiliates by dumping Thornton, or get rid of a guy who is just starting to find his form. Harrington could be the beast of all beasts if he keeps rolling. Unlike Sam Young he cares too, real love for the game type.

Yep, it's refreshing to see an import, especially with the profile of Harrington, come in and actually seem to give a damn and be a team player. Haven't seen one since... well... Childress. :)

I suspect he's only down here to get in shape for a shot at making an NBA roster around All-Star break time, though.

Spot on Angus, thats what I was thinking too. Get in shape, hang in a great city, scouts etc will be keeping an eye on Thornton anyways and hopefully latch on to a contender and the rest will be history. Ofcourse thats the perfect Al Harrington scenario anyways.

The thinness of the Kings squad worries me a bit. Are the development players terrible? Cotter never plays them, even in what is clearly garbage time. Jeromie Hill looks OK but hardly gets on the floor. With Markovic absent, they're basically down to 8 players.

At this point, the thinness of our squad is immaterial... With not much shot at a top-4 finish, I'm just hoping for some more fun games like tonight.

What's wrong with Markovic, read on a tweet he Has an illness or something?

Not sure what it is, but he was in the building tonight and down on the court at the end of the game.

Nate Jawai is therefore the fittest guy in the NBL.

Well Ebi threw down a nice jam so must be chiseled.

And I'm fully with whoever said Teys should be suspended for that (or at least receive some sort of sanction). No place for it in the game, the only thing it could have achieved was injury. Surprised to see Brendan do that.

Al Harrington retired from the NBA...I'm not sure where this talk about making a roster by all-star break is coming from.

@Kobe

You seem to enjoy pinning all the 6'ers problems on the over the hill import. I'm not sure that is fair.

First and foremost, if you want to look for something to blame, you needn't look further than Sydney's 106 points @ 54% FG%. Before this game Sydney averaged 83.7 PPG @ 42.6%, the second lowest FG% in the league.

I think the team defence needs to be addressed first before pointing fingers at individuals.

This over the hill import scored more than the rest of the bench and had more output than Petrie IN LESS MINUTES.

This over the hill import is also third in the team in PPG, which is not too shabby when you consider the team has DJ, Randle, Gibbo, Creek and Teys.

Consider that the average of the import PPGs is 13.9, the over the hill import's 10.6 is not that far off and especially when you consider you have Randle at #1 @ 22ppg taking a large portion of shots.

Now I'm not saying I'm 100% satisfied with this over the hill import's production, theres clearly plenty of room for improvement, in particular the scoring efficiency.

I think you should look at the big issues before picking small things.

Just reading a post to say Harrington out of condition what does that make Ere then.
Frustration is Gibbo not wanting to shoot when needed but just get it to Ere who might get one amongst all those bricks.
No good talking about defence because there isn't any.

Still waiting...

Ebi is the only player who can be upgraded due to his import status. He was a bad selection from the get go, all the other team defense issues and whatever else you wrote apply absolutely, but he is the one talent based piece of the puzzle that can be upgraded... again due to him being an import. He has produced much at all on the court and the games he seems to score 10 or more we lose.

Ebi's all-court game has been good the past few games, and he's averaged 11p at 43% (35% 3p) in the past three. If he can improve those percentages just a bit more he'll be delivering exactly what was expected.

Given he's clearly on an up curve from earlier in the season I don't think replacing him is the right move right now. A win tomorrow night will mean the 36ers will be third or fourth at the end of the round with no reason to push the panic button. They should leave that to those fans who thrive in negativity!

The issue is at the defensive end, and that is where the energies should be focused, not on trying to integrate a new import into the team and putting the defensive systems back a step or two in the process.

I'd like to see Hodgson used more. Our best rim protector

"we just don't have enough fire power on the offensive end."

Averaging 91ppg in the past six games suggests otherwise.

Looking at the box Hodgson had 3 turnovers in his 8 minutes, but I have to say I don't really remember them. With DJ struggling to get his shot to drop, it is a bit surprising that he hasn't seen more minutes the last couple of games.

Why is it automatically a default to negative fan base when we call out a bad import production line. On an upward curve well shit, it has to be couldn't have gotten any worse! Fans aren't here to look at things half full for the sake of it and cheering basketball as the true winner each game. We want wins, we want rivalry and we want the best team out on the court to get behind and bleed love for the club with. We don't have our best team out there At this stage of the season. No panic buttons fine, but this same team will be doing nothing more than making up the numbers come finals time.... Go ahead and press the button then if your that blindly positive about the now!

Al Harringtons position certainly is suited to some extra meat around his lower body. Not expected to run and gun as much as pound it in and back down etc Ebi is a similar body type but is expected to play defuse on the perimeter and run more. Look at how many people were in shock he dunked...

I think Adelaide probably broke the import budget bringing in a player of Randle's caliber. They are one impact player away from being a serious contender as far as the title goes IMO, but I don't see it happening.

"91 isn't that flash a lot of teams are putting up big scores."

Over the past six games Adelaide are actually scoring 91.8ppg, which is number one in the NBL, followed by Illawarra at 91.5ppg.

Your comment that "we just don't have enough fire power on the offensive end" just doesn't stack up.

The highest league scoring rate in NBL history is 90 points per 40 minutes back in 1990. The highest in the professional era is 86 in 2007 and 85 in 2014.

Out of interest, over the first four rounds this season the average score was around 82ppg - which is a little below the long-term NBL average - and the average score in the nine games since is 92ppg, which would be a record if maintained for a season!

The breakdown of rounds is:

R1 - 81ppg
R2 - 82ppg
R3 - 81ppg
R4 - 85ppg
R5 - 91ppg
R6 - 96ppg
(after two games)

I don't know what they've put in the water lately but I like it!

Scoring is ridiculous and for all those folks who think that this isn't the most talent we've had in the league, the numbers speak for themselves. Globally the NBL would have to be one of the best talent/scoring ratios in the world. Teams aren't scoring because the defense is terrible, teams are scoring because of all the talent on the court.

"At the moment all teams have to do is focus on shutting down or curbing the influence of Randle or DJ and we are done...imagine if there was that 3rd player they had to stop?!"

I love it. I could imagine you as Adelaide coach:

"Guys, we are scoring more points than any other team at the moment, but we're giving up way too many. I think you all know what the solution is, we need another scorer."

"But coach ..."

"Ahh. I don't want to hear any of this defence business, look at the bigger picture guys."

AngusH, the funny thing is, around each continent the better leagues are the lower scoring leagues. It's a myth that talent leads to more scoring, because more talent means better defence too.

When the NBL dropped down to 11 teams in the mid-late 90s, and the first generation from the participation boom came into the league, we had the lowest scoring rate of any era despite having the most talent.

Factors like coaching and refereeing have a bigger impact on scoring levels.

I do hope the trend of the past nine games continues though, it's been fun watching these teams going at each other with a real offensive mindset.

How many of those 6 game have we won... stats lie we all know that. The record is 4-5, that wont get it done.

Look Ebi is by far not the only issue, he is one of many, BUT as I keep staying, he is the only player that we have the opportunity to upgrade, PURELY based on the fact he is an import. It doesnt sound fair in a lot of ways, but that is the way the NBL and import positions align. Always has been and its cut throat. By no means am i saying bring in a stud and all is well, BUT it will go along way to making a playoff run, as opposed to being competitive against the top teams and being most of the bottom teams. Its not a personal attack on him his leadership and all that stuff, its purely a business decision I wish the club would make. If there was some awesome Aussie to become available ala Motum last season, then by all means look at other options to cut.... but as is, Ere is the odd man out, as Randle has been superb.

"How many of those 6 game have we won... stats lie we all know that. The record is 4-5, that wont get it done."

Exactly, that's why they need to address the defence. That's why they're not getting it done.

Agreed, absolutely 100% agree, wether it be full court press strategies more zone, no switching all of it has to be addressed.

But I also think they need to make a roster change. Many would argue offensive power and loads of it ala United put a lot of pressure on the opposition to score themselves, hence helping your defence.

We are basically nursing one of our imports through the season and getting all excited when he scores 12 and gets dunk, unbelievable any other year he would have copped the Tyndall treatment.

Bring in a guy who can score 12 if offense isnt the issue, but can also rim protect etc Plenty of imports can score 12 and also play solid defence.

"Where's all the hypocritical DH's wanting Cotter's head? You fuck wits are so predictable. Guess you are all kissing his arse tonight? Do Damo a favour and stay away. He and the Kings don't need you!!!"

LOL 2-7 record (13-27 overall), and finally a home win against a team that will probably end up in the bottom 4, if they don't make some changes. Whoopee-Do..... far from a kiss-ass effort.

Haha Jumpshot I saw that, and just put it down to passion in the moment type stuff, Sadly beating the 36ers isnt exactly job saving stuff, considering the board said they had his back etc

paul, in general I agree with you about the lower-quality leagues being the highest scoring, that's why I specifically mentioned the talent/scoring ration. Teams aren't racking up points because of piss poor defense. We have a small number of teams combined with a quality crop of imports and returning Aussies from Europe. Melbourne is probably one of the most potent scoring teams we've had in the league, with Illawarra not far behind them.

The games (in general, obviously) are being played at a high tempo and players are shooting good % from deep.

No doubt, it's been a quality season to date. I'm loving it, and I hope the high scoring of the past 2-3 weeks continues because people who are watching on TV are sitting up and taking notice.

Same thing happened two seasons ago when there were a lot of high-scoring games, only problem being there weren't many games on TV.

Anon im not surprised by it, just really pissed off by it. The way they selected there imports to start things off, had me feeling like they were throwing in the towel. Just how I felt, then I saw Mcneail and grabbed the tissues haha

Anon^
The 36ers have been a terrible team defensively for about 12 years. Most of that time teh results reflected that and we never threatened for play-offs let alone championships.

With Wright's arrival as coach, we've become a high powered offensive team that mostly can get enough points on the board to overcome the poor defence and so make play-offs. But the teams with better defence have beaten us in play-off series.

Beefing up the offence might get us into the play-offs but it won't win the championship. And that's why there has to be a change in how well the Sixers defend.

BTW, only Melbourne and Illawarra are putting up more points per game than the 36ers this season, which supports offence not being a major problem. On the other hand, only Sydney and Illawarra are allowing opponents to score more points per game than the 36ers.

Melbourne and Perth are allowing the fewest, 2nd fewest and 3rd fewest points per game and they're the top 3. Not a coincidence.

At the end of last season, three of the top four were lowest, 2nd lowest and 3rd lowest in points allowed per game. Again, not a coincidence.

"How do you think Golden State won the championship last year?"

By being an excellent offensive and defensive team. Adelaide have half of that equation going pretty well.

Possibly because it was called a flop, not a charge?

@paul, when did 'the professional era' start?

The points per 40 minutes of game time measure is interesting.

FWIW, the last 2 seasons have been the highest scoring 36ers' teams since 1991 (in terms of points per 40 minutes in regular season).

This year's team so far is higher scoring than every team since 1991 except the last two and the 2003 teams.

So Joey's teams score more heavily than all three of Smyth's championship teams. I don't think offence is the problem.