What a return serve by the bipolar 36ers, after getting absolutely pantsed they pulled a 36 point reversal.
It was great to see Adelaide play with intent, play frantic on D and possessed in O. The firey, back-each-other-up mentality showed real character.
The Umpires
Obviously it was always possible the bad blood could produce several boilover moments, but the refs tried to oppress the narrative of the game far too much.
It is understandable to have an intent to keep the game civil, the refs went too far and ended up interfering to the extreme. Five first quarter techs was a joke.
- Johnson's tech for a flop was plain wrong, the rule demands a warning first and Johnson received clear contact that barely warrants a warning let alone a tech, the ref should have let the play go on.
- The double tech between hodgson and petrie was a disgrace of a call which even the commentators picked up the obvious bs nature of it.
Here's the events:
- Petrie and Hodgson talk a bit of trash, not happy with each other
- Hodgson walks away as the ref says to both to stop it
- Hodgson is gone from the situation, hasn't said another word
- Petrie still yells out
- Ref calls double tech
So essentially Hodgson receives a tech because Petrie couldn't shut up?
That's lazy reffing dealing with the situation double teching, and it gives Hodgson an extra foul against his name, that's an unfair punishment for someone who heeded the refs warning.
- The unsportsmanlike foul on Drmic was an overreaction by the ref, it wasn't called a clear path foul as the ref explained, however to say it was excessive contact is just silly, any other game without the refs being whistle happy this is a normal foul.
- I don't know if this is a failure of the refs or the NBL's rules in general (probably the latter) but the way Randle was being physically handled and handchecked in defence even as far as the halfway line was ridiculous, we can't have this occurring in this league. At least one foul was called for the handchecking, then the Brisbane player complained as if he was being treated badly - the defender should have been fouled out long ago.
- Refs got one back telling a yapping Brisbane player "you're being spanked by 20 so don't do anything dumb" and "i've been around longer than you" to put him in his place. That was admittedly amusing and chuckle worthy.
Randle
Backed up his own talk and wasn't going to have three bad matches in a row. Loved his game. The way he dealt with the physical handchecking defence was spectacular and he used the screens superbly. Knocking down those jumpers and some of his drive and dimes were absolutely on point.
My big criticism of him remains the over dribbling without making a move but part of that may be to do with the 36ers traditionally slow offensive movement
Teys
Some clutch three pointers, especially that massive one with a minute to go in the third quarter. He either airballs horrifically or knocks down huge threes...truly representative of the bipolar 36ers.
Shouldn't bring up the ball, he's bad at it and he loses it. Also has the ability to travel and make stupid passes.
Sobey
The turn around jumper was a tough one and a silly one to attempt, apart from that I loved this game from Sobey. He didn't score en masse, he didn't knock down jumpers and yet he still produced a massive presence. That's how we know he's becoming a consistent star/quality player for Adelaide. Two things astound me: firstly his rebounding, he pulls down some athletic rebounds which is always valuable and secondly the way he drives to the basket and manages to cooly and calmy hit the toughest layups as if there's no defence. It should look erratic but it doesn't.
Ferguson
What a standout performance by Ferg. His dunk capped off a great game for him. He didn't do anything over the top or ridiculous (apart from the dunk), he just played with confidence and smarts. It does help he knocked down his threes, but he did more. He drove more. He dished more. He defended more. This was the kind of game we were hoping to see more of earlier, the type where he uses his natural skill to make life tough for the opposition. The confidence boost and starting 5 spot worked like magic. The question will be: will this type of game be consistent for him? He might struggle some games, but if between now and the end of the season if he produces more games like this then games he struggles, we will be happy.
Drmic
Player of the match out of inspiring the entire thing? Surely.
He did what we would love to see each game - knocking down those threes, he finally got them going.
Hodgson & Jacobsen
Some huge defence, loved it. Inspiring stuff.
Criticism for both: stop dribbling like you're a guard. When you're next to the basket, use your footwork to square up don't keep dribbling where the double team will swipe it away.
Deng
He's a bit of a struggler. He loves to go for a run, obviously, however he needs to work on knocking down some closer shots before shooting far away. Like Hodgson and Jacobsen, he needs to stop dribbling, especially his attempts to go coast-to-coast. It doesn't end well. Deng, you're not a guard, don't try to be one until you can learn how to maneuver your movement around good defence in conjunction with your handles.
36ers offense
Looked better with the movement, it's the way we'd like to see the 36ers play each week. Obviously the 36ers won't knock down shots at such a high rate and the opposition won't miss shots like Brisbane did, but it certainly looked better.
A criticism remains: over dribbling above the perimeter. The 36ers love doing this but it makes life easy for the defence as they don't end up achieving anything except for losing the dribble, getting in each others way and causing turnovers. 36ers are too busy dribbling and doing handoffs without additional movement to create.
It might be easier and go to basics: use Randle or Sobey dribbling with a high screen, allow for the drive, have a cutter, big man flash or sealoff his player, high screener open himself for a jumpshot if it's Johnson etc.