Ken Cole spoke to the group , and the players wanna knock down walls and Joey wants to play.....
Cole has gotta presence on him...

Cairns are due a win, I reckon.

Cairns are due a win.

They were strong in the pre season, and then had to fit 3 key pieces back in, all in quick succession, with Wortho, Trice and Jawai all coming back. But all 3 will be more comfortable after a game or two each.

Cairns have lost two very close ones and will be desperate. Meanwhile, Adelaide's young team will inevitably be inconsistent, cos that's just what young athletes do, and they're coming off an extremely draining win on Sunday night.

Taipans by 7

It's a double header tonight, yeah? Lightning game just started?

Adelaide Randles I mean 36ers by 17

‏@boti_nagy
There's a bomb threat at Titanium Security Arena, forcing an evacuation of the @NBL venue


:O

Expect this game to start late. Everyone is outside, and will take ages to get everyone inside again.

‏@boti_nagy
Fans are being allowed back in now the venue has been swept. Should be only about a half hour delay til tipoff.

Not even. Clock shows the game will start in 20 minutes.

Lol

I hope Randle lights it up.

Taipans to snatch a close win.

Gees the Taipans can miss a WIDE OPEN look or 10

Randle looks like the 2nd coming of Michael Jordan in this league.....Yet cant even get a look in the NBA.

Says everything you need to know about this league

I cant wait till my Kings absolutely THROTTLE this overrated 36ers team

Teys has no place as a starter in this league.
Joey is poo.

So Tempo. You have no respect for the standard of the league but you can't wait for the Kings to beat the 36ers.

You are all over the shop aren't you mate? Don't worry there is probably some medication available to 'even' you out!

Wow, the 6ers are stinking up the gym in the 2nd here.

Never in my life have i seen a team miss so many wide wide wide open shots as this Cairns team....NEVER.

Against any other team, this 36ers team will be punished.

Straight up: Cairns are an average unit. Average imports, alongside washed-up vets like Wortho and Weigh, and even Loughton. Jawai is also completely ineffective (thank god Perth got rid of him)

Cairns have always been greater than the sum of their parts, but they've usually had at least 1 big time import who has lifted the team, but none of these 3 have done that so far.

Sobey with some air time!!!

How many shots has Edwin missed?

Teys.....lol

Feels like he's missed about 10 corner 3s alone.

30 of our 45 FGAs have been threes....

Wortho looks pissed. Lol

Go on Adelaide...give those SAME looks to Cadee, Lisch and Newley and lets see what will happen

Jawai definitely in offseason form.

Adelaide are still HORRENDOUS defensively..they have just been absolutely lucky that all these WIDE open shots arent dropping.

Against any other team this team will be dropped

Randle is such a pocket rocket.

Cairns are in dire need of some home games.

Get Teys off the court, smh.

Are you guys not entertained with this game, a win is a win, but whether or not Cairns is shooting well, the 6'ers have another home win, be happy!

Teys is woeful.

Great to see Sobey develop. His hustle, reading of the play and work above the ring is impressive.

Yep, I figured Sobey would take a step or two forward this year, but so far he looks like one of the top Aussie guards in the league.

Great to see 36ers winning some early games, it will keep the NBL damn competitive!

Thoughts:

- Joey's not a bad coach, we've got 3 wins with a very very young side - part of that comes down to good coaching

- So much for the "Randle is overrated" and "Randle will struggle" crowd. He's averaging 23ppg, he's (almost) always the man of the match for us. The only thing better than his shooting is his passing (and his shooting is DAMN GOOD). He's just so dangerous, everytime he has the ball I expect something and he comes up good

- Sobey had a very good match. Shot well, defended reasonably, moved the ball nicely and gave us real energy

- Hodgson and Jacobsen had productive matches, but neither should dribble when down low, they keep losing the ball

- Ferguson is a sweet shooter, but he's young and does a few little silly things. Got sucked into Worthington, lost the ball being a bit ambitious etc. All part of development.

- Johnson shoots decently (albeit flat), but he needs to stop running away after shooting it. It costs him a rebound or two

- Teys had a bad match. Missed his shots, a few bad passes and didn't do enough generally. If you can't knock down the three, then probably don't shoot it.

- Drmic needs to relax and not be too ambitious with drives. To start with, he needs to get himself free and knockdown a few more open shots

- 36ers played active and alive. The offense, for the most part, was very well done. It was a little frustrating to see Cairns so many offensive rebounds, we need to improve on that.

- 36ers perimeter defense is absolutely horrible. The amount of wide open three point shots was astonishing. Against most NBL sides, this eliminates our lead completely. Even though we were consistently up, I couldn't believe Weigh and Worthington being wiiiiiiiiide open all match.

- Jawai had a horrific match. That cost Cairns big time. It's not easy starting with 3 away games though.

Their imports are useless.

Edwin 1-8 fg, 0-7 3pts how much longer will he last?

@ anon: huh? at 21:16, to be precise?

KET, yes many open threes, but with defenders closing out hard on them, late in the shot clock due to what...?

Check the main defensive strategy 36ers employed tonight... Trap the ball handler extremely hard off the attempted high pick and roll so the PG is forced to pass. This leaves the other big under the hoopp hedging the key between 2-3 players at times reading where the ball will go and then other players rotating to recover once the big who trapped the PG gets back to the key/back on his man.

How many drives to the hoop did you see tonight iwth easy shots or made lay ups!? Lucky if they had 3?

Yes, had many threes, but like I said, off many swings and rushed due to agressive rotations and close outs...

Angus,

Anon interpreted your post as claiming you predicted Sobey would be a big improver (prior to this match) and would like to see the evidence.

The "just now" reference is a sarcastic way of making the point that it is easy to make the claim after the fact (Sobey's good match).


Ofcourse you just said you "figured" which is hardly a big statement or claim, nor trying to gain any sort of credit. It's more of an off-the-cuff, by the by which didn't warrant a reply, or this analysis for that matter.

Yeah I think you are pretty hard up if you did not enjoy that game. Sure it was not the best in the world but it's a home win and Sobey when under control is a joy to watch.

Yeah, odd. And by "step forward" I meant to solid rotation guy/fringe starter. Happy to say I was way wrong, because ever since the Hawks game the Sixers have been one of the most enjoyable teams to watch this year, and half the reason for that has been Sobey.

Cavolo, the 36ers defensive strategy was very clear, but if it ends up in wide open threes like Cairns had then that's a serious issue. It's easy to say "we won therefore it worked", but a better shooting NBL side would destroy us with those wide open threes, and this isn't the first match we've been woeful at defending the perimeter.

If this is going to consistently occur, we will consistently lose as a result. We've been lucky in this match and against Melbourne that we won on the back of awful shooting by opposition, but teams won't be shooting 30 or sub 30% from the perimeter all season long against us.

KET, your definition of "wide open three" I don't believe is very accurate... The shooter is receiving the ball off a hot pass, flat footed, late in the shot clock with one, sometimes two players closing out hard with a hand contesting the shot (most times). IMO, one of the toughest types of three point shots to take and make.

Yes, sometimes teams will make more of these shots, but I personally like Joey backing in his young, athletic players to rotate hard and contest these shots. Don't know if that will be the defensive strategy for the whole game, every game, but the psychological pressure that was clearly evident from their aggressive, in your face, part-trapping defence is fun to watch I believe has helped them win some good games thus far. :)

Is it just Joey's defensive philosophy though ? Challenge to make the 3 ball and if they miss get out and run ? Surely he isn't oblivious to how easily opposition teams seem to find open shooters.It seemed like Cairns were only an extra pass away from a wide open look all night.

Cairns had *at least* 10 three point shots where they were thoroughly unbothered or the "contesting hand" arrived after release. Some occasions they were so open, I don't really know why the defender even bothered trying to contest and end up running past the shooter preventing themselves from competing for the rebound. If you want to talk wiiiiide open, look at Worthington's first three he sunk (and then about 5 others of his shots).

Closing out late doesn't change the fact the threes were open. You can be as aggressive as you like defensively, but if you let an open three occur - even on the last seconds on the clock and they go in - then it's considered letting the opposition off.

Aside from that, I enjoyed the 36ers aggressive defence and of course it was a very entertaining match. The open perimeter is one gripe among many positive comments of mine.

Sobey failed to have his usual 3+ brain explosions, so played very well.

Worthingtom and Trice put in 100% 100% of the time. the other 2 imports were fairly ineffective.

Weigh and Loughton had very sub par games even for them. was not due to 36ers defence, just not good games, can't see that getting any better at this stage of their careers.

Jawai - cairns need to be able to get him the ball where he can catch it when he has his defender pinned. i don't think that their plays are set for him, or that their guards have any idea how to feed him. He actually looked as nimble as I've ever seen him since his u/20 national championships.

Cairns made the 36ers look good, including Hodgson - no mean feat.

Could not tell if matt was finally getting it together, or if Cairns just had no idea.

Nice to see the home team win.

Pretty good win, even though Cairns are pretty terrible this year.
Randle is amazing. Can't see him not winning MVP this year if he stays in similar form to this. Also goes to show that Preseason form means absolutely nothing for quality players.
I have no idea where this Sobey came from, but I hope he stays. I'll be the first to admit I didn't rate him at all last season. He seemed to be all energy and no substance last year, but now he's making big plays, hitting his shots and even distributing the ball and rebounding well.
I like what we get from Jacobsen. No nonsense, just does his job.
Didn't see what happened with Ferguson's tech foul, but apparently he threw a punch at Worthington? Hopefully nothing comes of it. By the end of the season, I reckon Ferguson will be a quality import for us.
Joey seems to love Teys. Not entirely sure why. He'd be fine as a 15 min off the bench guy, not a 25 min starter. He's Joey's version of Marty Clarke's Stephen Weigh.
Wasn't DJ's best game, but he did some good things, as usual.
Drmic still looks like a development player who isn't sure if he belongs yet. Not sure if it's because we don't run anything for him, or what the issue is, but he's not a good player at this point. He got a bit of a Bronx cheer when he made a free throw.
Hodgson seems to have learnt how to defend a bit better now, without fouling every time. Which is the main thing that holds him back.
Deng hardly played and didn't really do anything.

As far as Cairns goes, they've got big issues this year.
Are there any imports in the league worse than any of their 3? Never seen them play before tonight, but all 3 seem to be SEABL level at best.
Edwin went 0/7 from 3. They were all wide open. Possibly the worst import game I've seen in the NBL.
Egwu wasn't much better. He doesn't seem to do anything. I assume he's a defensive specialist?
Trice was the best of the 3, and that's not saying anything at all. Had a purple patch where he hit a few shots. Otherwise, he wasn't much better than the other 2.
Gliddon is clearly their best player. He had a pretty off night tonight.
Loughton made the most of some mismatches at times. He's like a poor man's David Andersen.
Worthington had a typical game for him these days. Got into a couple fights, whinged at the refs, got booed by the opposition crowd, hit a couple 3s, then got fouled out.
Fearne doesn't seem to be giving Weigh much of a run this year. Not that his play warrants it too much.
Jawai is just a big fat lump that hobbles up and down the court. Uses his bulk and strength to make his was near the basket, then misses the shot.
Weeks played more minutes than Egwu and Edwin. He's a good young player, but he should be playing bit minutes, not as big a role as he's playing.
Cairns really need to make at least 1, probably 2 moves, if they want to be competitive this year. They somehow have both the worst import group, and probably the worst Aussie group too (we'd be their only contender for that crown).

Weeks is 27 years old

I suspect Cairns have a lot more than what they showed tonight. Jawai looks in better shape than last year. When he gets some touch back, look out.

For me, Sobeys the big story for the 36ers this season. Randle is doing what we expected, but Sobey is the guy who's stepping up. MIP front-runner no doubt

He isdefinetly good value for money, but the worst and most regular brain explosions occur AFTER he has injected energy, and even done some good, he then seems to expect everything to go his way and pushes himself into stupid mistakes, at least he di not do that this game, or perhaps joey did not let him, Joey was quick to hook Sobey out of the game when he looked like losing it.

Well, anon, lets be clearw. If Sobey continues to impact games for the rest of the season like he has thus far, then he wins MIP and the 36ers are a strong chance at playoffs.

Yep, Cairns completely out of sync trying to incorporate injured players back. They'll get their act together just have to make sure they don't dig too deep a hole.

You can play an uptempo style of game but remain in control and that's the key thing for Sobey. If he can minimise or eliminate those "brain fades" - which are 2-3 a game - then he becomes a better all-round player.

The 'Pans are in serious trouble with their offence (no shit, Sherlock) because their offence relies too heavily on jump shots. Weeks and Heuir are the only guys looking to drive to the basket, and neither are good enough to get to the hoop reliably against NBL D.

This is exacerbated by the lack of inside presence when Nate is off the court, as happened in this match due to early fouls. Egwu is not a low post player, and neither are the other Cairns bigs.

Having Trice, Gliddon, or Edwin hitting shots from 3 point land would be made much easier if we could collapse the defence a little.

"Weeks is 27 years old"

Wait... Really? I just assumed the 97 meant that was his birth year, so he's like 19.

Seriously?

Yes Sobey signed a 3 year deal with the 36ers in 2015.