Hoping the Sixers get a good win here.

Hopefully DJ uses these 2 games to get back into form as they are weak at the 5 spot...

Lots of "hope". Haha

If we don't go 2-0 this weekend, you can pretty much say goodbye to us making playoffs.
That said, I have a bad feeling that we will drop at least one.

Cairns have done well to be competative considering they seem to be getting very little out of Trigger and Laughton. the seem to be gettign more from Burston and Bruce, not taht I've checked any stats to back up this impression.
Hawks seem to have changed their player rotation a bit now with Forman seeming to be less important and Ellis starting to get some time and actually look like he might become a player.

Samhan cleared to play.

Crocs by 8.

Who plays as the second Centre for the 36ers when DJ is off the court?

Maybe the NBL Live app could have a little icon of Homicide's face next to any game that will include his commentary.

Matthew, probably Petrie while Hodgson is out.

Maybe it's just my memory, but Omar Samhan was a lot bulkier/less mobile back in college... Actually looks reasonably agile for a big.

DJ's in a bit of a shooting slump of late. His free throws especially have regressed badly.

Someone said it in another thread, his confidence really seems to have taken a beating now that he finds himself matched up against guys like AJ/Khazzouh/Jawai-Knight etc.

What the? Creek didn't play at the 2012 Olympics for the Boomers!

Good call ref.

Joey you definitely can still catch and shoot.

Is it just me, or does Clint Steindl kinda look like Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman all grown up?

Samhan is looking good so far - however it is against a smaller team.

Forgot that Gibson was playing tonight until I saw his face in that timeout huddle. Guessing that's not a good thing.

Players slipping on that court quite a bit tonight.

Nick Kay and the Bad Three

Just onto the live stats - Corey Maynard fouled out in 6:41?

Yep, not sure why Maynard was on the court with 2:40 left in the 3rd Q on 4 fouls.

I know Ive put forward Webster as the MVP favourite lately.

IMO Randle is by far and away the MVP of this league - no doubt about it

Miles better than Ced in my opinion.

Without Randle ADL would be fighting SYD for the spoon.

Randle is definitely a step above NBL standard. The fact that he's down here playing basketball is probably an even better sign than even AJ/Khazzouh/Goulding that the well is running a bit dry in Europe.

Imagine if Steindl played with the same kind of reckless abandon from deep that Goulding does.

Not another blowout :( :( :(

Where's blowout troll, I want to know which team bet against themselves tonight?

DJ's gone like 4/4 and 6/6ft since I mentioned he's in a slump.

choke much?

Holy shit, what a finish. What a season.

WTF just happened?

As an Adelaide 36ers all I can say right now is wow. Horrendous choke. Absolutely freaking pathetic. Deserve to miss the 4 on that alone.

Pissweak.

Wow. Speechless!

Massive credit to the Crocs though. They played superb denial defence.

Really good decision to have Steindl guarding Randle on that pass, with the length to take away that rainbow inbound pass... bad decision to try make it anyway.

MIRKO

That was effing awesome! Mirko massive in the clutch. Been a crocs season ticket holder for 20 years and that was one of their best wins ever. Great reward for the never say die crocs

Almost speechless, that was the worse out of bounds play I have seen for years. Randle was obviously going to be closely guarded which he was, Petrie gets loose and leads towards Gibson. He looks at him, and throws the ball across court to the smallest player in the team. Intercept, lay up, game over. Pathetic!!!

I had better coaching than this 50 years ago. Wright is certainly being found out and so is Gibson.

Dennis is coaching better than all others. Team plays for him.
Whinging Joey Wright is terrible.

As mentioned above, the 36ers became so fixated on getting the ball to Randle that they didn't have an alternative plan/mindset.

Dennis being the very smart coach he is knew they would look for Randle and defended it accordingly.

Gibson's drive late in the game was also wild and erratic.

CROCCCCCCSSSSSSSS!!!! Giant killers. Epic win. I like the new guy. Big contributions from all.

Well guys, atleast the 36ers didn't risk that team chemistry Joey Wright was trying to sell people on. Hasn't been a happy to season to support this club. Dumb choices and disharmony, but that chemistry has not been risked nor making a finals run.

Gotta love Joey Wright still whinging even with 38FT away from home. Just STFU and coach.

How can you not love the Crocs? Just a pity they don't get much support from their city.

& the choke of the year award favouritism moves from the Kings to the 36ers.

import= Sam I Am with his green shirt and pants...

Didn't see a crowd figure for Townsville, but looked bigger than we've seen lately. Definitely a team that deserves support.

All I can say is a big up yours to all the Croc bashers out there thet believe they shouldn't be in this league

Atleast Ebi Ere will be able to give a great locker room speech and help with the chemistry after that one.

Gibson finished with 2 field goal attempts? What happened there i saw he only played 19 minutes. Even still 2 shots! Crocs are terribly underestimated this season.

Yes it is, it does happen, rare but a genuine play.

Joey said get the ball to Randle which any coach would've done as well. Gibbo was so so set on listening to his coach he didn't care to look anywhere else. This loss is 100% on Gibbo, not Joey.

"The 6'ers just hitting their stride." Marcus Camby said this last night after the Hawks beat the Taipans and continued to lock in 4th, hows that going now buddy. Season dead and buried and a few people need to be answering some serious personnel questions.

I would suggest you are right on that, it used to be a basket cannot count if a charge is call, not sure if the rule or interpretation has changed at all???

"Miles better than Ced in my opinion"

I agree but maybe not miles better. I get the sense Jackson's game has dropped away this year and he's definitely not in the MVP conversation.

Irrespective of the last play you have to give it to djeric and steindl, two minutes to go and down 9. Djeric 3, steindl 3, djeric 3, djeric 3, that's some crazy shooting to even give themselves a shot at the last play.

Joey has to be the biggest grub or a coach in the NBL
How the hell he didnt get a tec is amazing.

He is a consistent embarrassment with his behaviour for a few 36er fans... its not pretty.

Get off Joey's back after all he's done for us ffs

What has he really done though, things couldn't have gotten any worse under Clarke so the next man up was always going to be better compared too. And really he cant pick an import combo to save him self and this team is a complete disaster. Being smashed by Perth in GF game 3 and then smashed last season against the Breakers in the finals. Getting there only goes so far for so long. His team has regressed this season and he needs to answer the reasons why Ebe has stayed on. Even the Crocs had the balls to make a change and bring in a guy who had 10 and 6 tonight. Im not sold anymore on him, and he hasn't been able to get anything out of Gibson.

Questions do have to be asked of Joey Wright, he's regressed all three years in the job. Like Kobe24 said we got smashed in the GF in 2014, got smashed in the SF's last year and almost no chance of making the playoffs this year.

Aside from his stubborn refusal to change our woeful switching defence the lack of professionalism shown with the Ebi Ere situation means questions need to be asked of him.

Ere has shown all season he's done, he's barely a SEABL standard import let alone NBL standard to the point you almost feel sorry for him watching him out there and now we're stuck with this dead weight for the rest of the season just because he and Joey are mates.

Even a superstar like Jerome Randle who probably has the MVP already in the bag can't do it all try as he might to carry this team.

Glad someone agrees with my assessment waiting for all the 'Joey never misses the playoffs' fans to rip into me for being negative, when intact its really just stating the facts of what has gone down. Regression of the likes of DJ isnt a great sign either... something is definitely not right in Adelaide.

@Kobe24.

You seem fixated on bringing up the Chemistry thing (I'm guessing from the latest article) in the negative and also Ebi's positive locker room influence (again in the negative).

Why can't you accept that the Team, the Coach, indeed, the whole organisation is committed to their strategy?

Can't you just put your bias aside and support the team you purport to support?

I respect your right to air your views, but this constant negativity is not really helping.

@Kobe24

""The 6'ers just hitting their stride." Marcus Camby said this last night after the Hawks beat the Taipans and continued to lock in 4th, hows that going now buddy. Season dead and buried and a few people need to be answering some serious personnel questions."

I'm happy to cop it sweet for thinking this was going to be a win.

For 37 mins it looked pretty good, Randle being Randle, DJ coming on board finally and Petrie continuing his remarkable mid season improvement. There are a lot of positives there.

Unfortunately the 3 minutes of mental lapse cost us. But hey...this is what makes this season so enjoyable. ADL was able to catch SYD and now another nail biter.

This season is far from dead and buried though.

I see this as a small speed bump rather than a wall.

But we really need Gibbo, Creek and Waxy to step up more to give the playoffs a right shake.

"What has he really done though, things couldn't have gotten any worse under Clarke so the next man up was always going to be better compared too. And really he cant pick an import combo to save him self and this team is a complete disaster. Being smashed by Perth in GF game 3 and then smashed last season against the Breakers in the finals. Getting there only goes so far for so long. "

Wow....that is so thankless.

Joey took a spooner team to the Grand Final, then again to the Semis the next year. Most teams would take this type of record any day.

Just because we had Marty as coach, doesn't automatically mean the next coach would automatically achieve success.

By saying what you did, you just dismissed a trip to the GF as nothing but an accident.

I think that is disrespectful.

Joey of all coaches has earned some capital from the fans, terrible that it is all so easily discarded and invalidated at a drop of a hat.

Re Randle v Jackson. If the 36ers had Jackson they wouldn't regularly give up cricket scores on defence, and fans wouldn't be talking about all the players other than the point guard who aren't playing near their potential, because Jackson would be spoon feeding them.

Randle has some amazing skills, but he's got work to do actually making his team and teammates better at both ends before he can be put alongside Jackson.

Yes Marcus Camby.You love to deal in facts.The facts are than any coach after Marty
Could not of done any worse.They could not of finished any lower.That is all Kobe is saying.

Most people are saying that Joey has no plan B and should maybe get one.Which might help in certain situations during the game.

I've just been through everyone of your post you have posted on here. You are not even a 6ers supporter. That is what you clearly wrote on a earlier post from years ago.
If people would like to go back and read his post you figure out pretty quickly you are a troll.

Super effort from the Crocs. How late did the game go? Refs were a joke with the foul calls. Time for you Adelaide fans to realise Gibson is just coasting & no longer a starter in this league.

Wasn't just the foul calls, the ten-minute delay to put 0.3 seconds on the clock to end the second half for no reason didn't help.

Troll away Camby, the 36ers needed to make changes they didn't, now they must deal with the consequences. They are one key piece away from being genuine contenders for the playoffs. Joey worded it that no move was to be made because of the risk of team chemistry, id risk team chemistry any day to avoid the risk of not making the playoffs. They must be damn tight friends to gift him an import spot on a team, not just a 10th man role. Something is fishy about how this season is turning out, Gibson a ghost, DJ not himself, Teys not even getting the hustle plays he is known for and we have a passenger bench import when i wouldve happily taken Omars 10 and 6 at worst!

That... was painful. And season defining.

In my opinion, there seems to be some unhappy campers in that 36ers team.

It doesn't appear that everyone is entirely on board and that is worrying.

That play felt a bit like what Sydney do RE Childress. If he is even slightly open they go to him, even if there are people with a better path to the bucket.

I think you certainly have found a great player in Randle btw. Id like to see him stretched out a bit, but the guy has got moves.

The issue at the end of the season will be who can Adelaide put around him next season to not only compliment him but give more attacking options. You dont want to end up the one string Childress team.

Did someone really say he lost the group?? You obviously have no idea about anything related to the 36ers.

Re Jackson v Randle. If Jackson came into that Sixers team in the same way Randle did and was trying to learn the systems and his teammates on the run, he wouldn't have been as effective as Randle has been.

Just watched the last 5 minutes of that game. Yikes! Quite an effort to lose it from that point.
On the other hand they clearly did something right to be up 15.

Having to wait until tomorrow to get the replay of this, looking forward to it. Saw the final play though, reminded me of 36ers nailing the Breakers in 13/14 off the inbound steal.

Still can't believe Gibbo threw that final pass, what a howler.

Someone on these forums made the remark that Gibbo hadn't seemed engaged with the team and play in general this season. Couldn't have been more apparent when comparing his play last night to that of his play in the Classic Bullets/Tigers game that was aired a few nights ago.

Gibbo hasn't really looked interested since he took the Breakers apart early last season.

The +/- split numbers certainly indicate something is going on with Gibson at the moment. Three games in a row with a team worst result (-18, -14 & -9), his -46 total in those games is double the next worst result (Petrie at -23), and in that span he's dropped from 2nd on the team (+19) to last (-27).

Updated results for the season so far...
Creek +23
Teys +19
Randle +17
Sobey +12
Hodgson +6
Johns +3
Petrie -3
Larkins -3
Johnson -4
McNeail -6
Carlin -15
Walker -16
Ere -26
Gibson -27

I don't think Gibson is maximising his potential

Has anyone noticed that Joey Wright only has 1 assistant coach compared to 3 or 4 for every other club. Judging by last night he looks like he is trying to manage the whole game by himself. Surely he needs help with rotation of players, the + & -'s of each player etc....They won't make the finals if this keeps up.

In that 4th quarter they had on Johnson, Sobey, Teys, Petrie and someone else and had the tempo and the game sewn up. Why chuck in Ebi and Gibbo to disrupt that is just mind boggling!

Such an exciting game I had forgotten until this morning that I had $10 on Crocs @ $3.50 for a win.

Those +- numbers don't add up, ie 18 + 14 + 9 = 41.

Even so, assuming it's the lower number Gibbo is -41 in 70 minutes in the past three games, and the team is +19 in the other 50 minutes. Wow. That's incredible for a guy who is usually makes his team better.

That Gibbo pass at the end was not worthy of U/10 Div 4.

"All I can say is a big up yours to all the Croc bashers out there thet believe they shouldn't be in this league and are hopeful of their exit at the end of the season."

I think its the Townsville general public that don't think they should be in the league. The people of Townsville should be ashamed for not backing their team. The rest of Australia loves the crocs more than their own people do.

FOR GODS SAKE....GET OUT AND SUPPORT YOUR TEAM!!!!

"All I can say is a big up yours to all the Croc bashers out there thet believe they shouldn't be in this league and are hopeful of their exit at the end of the season."

If they are going to enter in to VA in another off season then I will be glad to see the back of them, despite their impressive on court performances this year.

Sorry Paul, that first number for Gibson is should have been -23, not -18. The -46 total is correct.

Just remember someone mentioned its half way through season,Sixers still can make the finals!!!!
As Joey stated we are not going to make any team changes.Kobe24 is still complaining,see who will have the last laugh.I said that Joey wont release EBi and i was right.
Just a bummer Sixers lost last night,sharp shooting from outside,very rarely seen at Crocs stadium for a while.We will bounce back with a win come Saturday.

Thanks Flea, incredible numbers whichever way!

Gibson has been bagged on here all season (and seasons before that) but has mostly been a valuable contributor, but his involvement has dropped off a lot the last three games (only 5a in total), and those numbers suggest something is going on behind the scenes, be it injury or something else.

Gibbo is an issue but unlike the IMPORT he isnt easily replaceable and in the case the 36ers had the balls to push Joey into cutting Ebe, Gibbo would be paid out regardless. The whole thing is silly at this point. The quickest fix to upgrade an NBL team has always been to cut and replace non performing IMPORTS. Hence Ebe has copped it this season, he is a passenger.

Changing the subject, WTF happened here?

Kobe24 we don't know what was on Ere's contract. Perhaps there was a no cut clause. Owners aren't going to pay out a contract and then pay for another import. Gibson can be replaced, replaced onto the bench! Not sure why he is such a golden boy to Wright, Petrie had some off games and he put him on the bench, yet it doesn't matter how bad Gibson is he will always start.

If the 36ers were naive enough to put a no cut clause in a 34 year olds contract, especially when he hadn't been seen for years, thats just bad business. A few people I've heard from, who are very knowledgable have said they assume this is the case, as he has been so low on impact compared to what was expected, that it could be the only reason he is still here. Even being mates, Joey would care for his own job before a friendship with a guy soon to retire anyways. And I dont think Joey and Gibson are getting along all that well of late, and its reflecting in Gibson's game.