https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW3rp1uJc4o

Starting lineup:

McCarron
Randall
Cleveland
Franks
Johnson

Great start, is it just me or are they playing a different style. Maybe the little bit more room gives us better spacing.

Daniel Johnson all time leading NBL scorer? I mean, nice commentators did research, but.....

https://www.basketball-reference.com/international/leaders/nbl-australia/pts_career.html

NBA commentators generally no nothing about basketball outside the US so don't sweat it too much.

Someone probably slipped the guy a note saying DJ is the active leading scorer in the NBL rather than all-time.

Dr Mic is in the house!

36ers lead 33-28 after QT 1.

Good assertive offense in that quarter.
Gotta watch the defensive switch on the high picks.
Try and deny entry to Landale etc.

McCarron playing very well

Enjoyed Gaze joining for a bit there as a guest commentator.

Johnson on fire. Lot more space in the nba, it's really a 3 point league.

Really impressed with the way Adelaide are playing up 71-59 at half-time.

Could the 36ers shock the world?

^ If they can continue to execute and hit shots.lets hope so
A few defensive lapses in that 2nd half.
I'm really liking 36's push in transition and assertiveness though - it builds confidence

Someone needs to get Franks some bigger shorts.

No Johnson, no Adelaide.

36ers lead 96-90 at 3QT.

Randall OMG

We're going to land up getting our imports picked up overseas at this rate. Crazy how well we have shot.

Those last three possessions in a row from Randall (immediately before the timeout) are why he won't, and why he will frustrate the heck out of Sixers fans even more than he already has

Yes - does Randall have a NBA out clause??

Randall & Franks seriously might've just got themselves NBA contracts. Jesus even Mccarron has been great.

Incredible result for the nbl

Well, well, well

Can Adelaide keep this team together?
Hope so but man a lot of guys going to be getting big offers after this

Can Adelaide keep this team together?
Hope so but man a lot of guys going to be getting big offers after this

Just brilliant well done to ADL

So good but like others, now you worry these guys will get offers. Just crazy.

36ers create history beating the Suns 134-124.

Congratulations Adelaide, Mccaron was fantastic, very good point guard with good players around him.

Cleveland was damn good too. Can't wait to see this import trio in action in the regular season.

CJ did well on the sidelines as well, not certain why Brisbane overlooked him.

What a great day for Aussie hoops and the NBL. As bitter a rival as Adelaide is for my home town team, that is a fantsatic result. Congratulations to all involved. Hopefully this garners some attention from the media!

As I understand it, 24 threes is an all-time record for an Adelaide team in any game.

Congrats Sixers.

Does Adelaide now have arguably the best import lineup in the NBL this season? If they can stay together...

Kai Sotto with a dominate performance 11pts 2rebs 1ast 2stl.

Wouldn't be surprised if his agent is in talks with NBA teams to sign a contract.

History.

Great effort by Adelaide. Will be a good feeling in that locker room. Be interesting to see if they can keep it going

Kai Sotto with a dominate performance 11pts 2rebs 1ast 2stl.

Wouldn't be surprised if his agent is in talks with NBA teams to sign a contract.

Special mention to McCarron, he almost had a double-double: 16 dimes, 9 boards and 3 steals, only two turnovers - not too shabby at all.

McCarron was very good today and goes some way to proving those right that said he's a much better player when surrounded by talent. He looked a million dollars at United, looked very average last season and now back to looking like an elite PG.

We live in a time when the impossible becomes commonplace, and a sentence like "the Adelaide 36ers have beaten the Phoenix Suns" is a sentence that can be said without irony.

I am sure the hardcore NBA fanboys will have their rebuttals. "Oh, they weren't even trying!" It wouldn't matter if the whole team were blindfolded, international teams just do not beat NBA teams. It doesn't happen. I am not sure why Phoenix would have to playing with Game 7 intensity for the win to be meaningful. In a game treated like how NBA teams treat all exhibition games, the Adelaide 36ers were every bit an NBA team today.

Bodes well for the season. Looks excellent on paper. Puts the NBL and the Adelaide 36ers on the world map. Probably upgrades the career prospects of our imports. What is not to like about what the boys did today?

Adelaide you magnificent bastards. Bravo!!!

Amazing win. Obviously the shooting was incredible, but loved how connected they were defensively covering for each other. They played at a very high level today, not just hot shooting.

Very exciting time to be an Adelaide 36ers fan

NBL, you're on notice

international teams just do not beat NBA teams.

It's not a bad gameplan to replicate for these games - come out firing and build a sizable early lead. NBA opponent then has to decide whether to play their superstars and starters more minutes to wind back the deficit.

In all probability they won’t and risk taking the L, and the pasting from their fans and the internet.

The only caveat is you’re going to have to shoot the lights out, and time will also tell if this Phoenix squad is going to be one of the weakest teams this year. They've had a tumultuous off-season. Maybe KD dodged a bullet.

That being said - thanks Phoenix for helping the NBL to make history.

Great win by the Sixers. That was an unbelievable 3 pt barrage! The Suns stars carved us up pretty easily, but our guys showed we could match it with the rest of their roster.

McCarron's stint with the Boomers has really built his confidence. He has been a massive improvement over the 20/21 version!

Randall absolutely on fire from three, but he also showed his ball-handling weakness where he can be pressured into TOs. Hopefully he works hard on that part of his game, because if he tightens that up, there’s an nba role as a microwave bench scorer somewhere.

Franks also good after looking slow and un-athletic early against the Suns starters. He still could make an nba roster if he convinces scouts he can guard 3/4 adequately.

Cleveland good, but looked like he was willing to take a back seat to Franks and Randall in the first half.

DJ and Dech good performances and Kai improved in the 2nd half after being awol on nearly every defensive possession in the first.

Good signs for the season ahead, but the Sixers need Kai to start playing some consistent defence or they will be weak at centre against some teams.

First NBL team to beat an NBA though, right?

First non-NBA team to win a preseason game in the US since Fenerbahce beat Brooklyn in 2015.

Was DJ just an ankle roll? seemed very sore.

What happened to DJ, was on fire till I'm suspecting some sort injury, any ideas?

If you are player 1 thru to 7 you probably shouldn't care. But if you the Phoenix second unit, or one of their extended bench players, then this is your time. What the Suns proved tonight is their organisation has no heart. The bench didn’t get the job done. Landale at least showed some heart and played a decent game.

[Does Adelaide now have arguably the best import lineup in the NBL this season?]

On paper, Adelaide's trio is ridiculously credentialled

Cleveland- Reigning all NBL 1st team

Franks- Missed All NBL but finished 5th in NBL in ppg and 3rd in rpg while shooting 49/39/76 with only 1.7 turnovers

Randall ii- Reigning G League leading scorer

United's 2018 import group of Casper, Boone and Prather was probably better on paper, and turned out to be pretty awesome on the court too.

Sydney's last year was pretty good

Thats 2 championship teams we're talking about.

Paper teams arent always winning teams, but theyve surrounded these 3 with quality veterans- DJ, McCarron. And role players that have been around for many years now, Drmic, Dech.

Prather missed two thirds of season due to injuries.
Kings last season will take some beating.

Franks and Randall II may not play a minute of NBL after that performance. Both with NBA out clauses

Clarification: as 36er players

Franks and Randall looking like walking buckets, while Cleveland is the reigning DOPY and showed enough glimpses on offence in pre-season to suggest he could be a legit two-way monster.

He can sit back like he did today and allow the other two to feast while he goes to work on D, or he can pick up the scoring slack if one of them is out.

I've got Sixers-Kings on 21 Oct circled on the schedule, that’s for sure.

That shooting was insane. It's like someone switched the game mode settings for Adelaide. Randall, Franks and Cleveland all look fantastic. I suspect the NBA spacing suits this 36ers team well. Looks like they were enjoying it. I don't expect them to come back to the NBL with the same style of game.

McCarron is a gold-plated swiss-army knife: if you don't have any other good tools, it's not going to get the job done; but with some other good quality tools, he will fill in the gaps and contribute well in many ways.

Imagine how much more trouble Phoenix would have had with Brendan "2IC Coles Nightfill" Teys on the court!

As a non Adelaide fan, I loved the way Sunday played.
His crossover pull up and 3's were very smooth.

DJ was excellent before doing his ankle (hope it's nothing major)

MaCarron's IQ and versatility is outstanding.

There's a genuine possibility they could make it 2 from two on Thursday but they'd need a fit DJ or some other offensive strategy to compliment the 3 ball as it's unlikely any team (besides GSW) could replicate that sort of outside shooting performance 2 games in a row.

Having said that, today's game was a perfect global advertisement for the NBL and will generate more high quality players in both imports and locals - as well as over-seas fan intetest

AC

"Imagine how much more trouble Phoenix would have had with Brendan "2IC Coles Nightfill" Teys on the court!"

Consider Like button pressed.

if they back today's game up with the same on Friday surely the NBA will be calling - if not they will pack wherever the 36ers are playing this season

The Teysy reference, lol.

Brendan "2IC Coles Nightfill" Teys

Haha, this _is_ on par with Mitch "4K" McCarron.*

Looks like Adelaide could be on their way to losing Randall already with 10 teams already enquiring as to his status. What would we have to do to keep him and do those enquiries necessarily mean contract offers?

Where did you hear that? That would be disappointing from a 36ers perspective but he looks like he isn't destined for the NBL.

I'll believe it when I see it, let’s see how his next game goes, media hype at present, which is great for nbl and Australian basketball fans.

If Randall does get an NBA contract, does this automatically mean the Sixers will get a healthy buy out amount?

good on the players if they can get a NBA gig. What happened yesterday greatly improved 36ers stock and our recruiting profile would be at an all time high IMO. If it's backed up on Friday things will be absolute next level. However I expect a very big reality check Friday.

NBA scouts over looked these players. Hopefully teams consider their scouts future. Too many political pine sitters who need to be moved on.

Praying for a cash and stash deal for our players.

Would be a disaster for Adelaide when much of hype is based on recruiting known imports. Imagine losing 2/3 before the start of the season. Would completely turn things upside down.

Randall definitely seems like a special player, but wasn't long ago a few were still not sold on him.

Count me as one of those still not sold on Randall. People are getting sucked in a bit by one big game and forgetting his bad games in the pre-season. Gunners like him when it comes off for them look fantastic but up until yesterday he was clearly our third best import and still is IMO. Franks had a better game than him yesterday.

Frank's definitely has more versatility and can play more positions.
Probably a better defender too.
I won't be surprised if a team picks up Randle but he'd likely need to score at least 25-30 on Friday.

If he's not picked up, eyes will be on him back here in the NBL and he could get a call up from here, but it would be dependent on consistency IMO.
Good luck to him. Seems like a great guy from the interviews.

I'm not sure another big game on Thursday would move the needle on him in regards to getting an NBA contract. NBA scouts know exactly what he can do they saw him lighting it up in the G-League last season and he still didn't get an NBA contract, why?

Because in the NBA he won't get a single play run for him no NBA teams needs his offence they look for guys in the G-League who can fill a need as a role player, shot blocking, good defence, knockdown 3pt shooter when left open etc. Not a guy who thinks he should be the #1 option on offence.

Oops I meant Friday.

I'm more worried that CJ might have a NBA clause if we win Thursday.

There have been some very impressive performances by NBL players against NBA teams (Goulding, Sobey and Cotton are three that spring to mind) and none have been offered a contract on the spot, which is probably because teams have already carefully selected their pre-season rosters based on more than one game.

I think we will probably be fortunate if we finish within 20 points of OKC. Lets not kid ourselves the Suns would have likely done no scouting on us at all now OKC know what we can do and will likely shut 1-2 of our main guys down and keep in mind the Suns were keeping their main guys on minutes restrictions, it was their first pre-season game.

I agree about a 20 point OKC loss. I think we caught the Suns by surprise and it's not going to happen twice. It wasnt a good look for Phoenix to go down to us and equally it wouldn't be a good look for the Thunder. If the Sixers can keep it a nice, respectable margin then this tour has been an outrageous success

Bloody impressive game, hope to god the 36ers can retain this full roster free of poaching by NBA/Euro and free of injury.

I haven't been so amped for a 36ers year since that first Joey Wright year. Although I feel like we will both love and hate Randall - he will be like the JR Smith of the NBL going berserk nailing threes and winning games or clunking the shit out of the rim and looking stupid in the process.

NBL clubs have done well to stay close and even finish close for a couple of these matchups. The benefit the 36ers had this time was that they have pretty much 5 players that aren’t very far from NBA level/would be NBA level in some aspects of their game. Add that to shooting the absolute lights out - which simply won’t be repeated - and the sheer athleticism of the team, and they played in front most of the game and largely untroubled.

I think this will go a good way to educating both Aussies that aren’t cult NBL fans and foreigners/NBA fraternity over in America that wouldn’t know how to gauge the NBL. I’d say the NBL probably has 20-35 players that are NBA level - the top 2/3/4 players in most NBL sides are probably the equivalent to NBA sides 9/10/11/12 players.

When you have an NBA side with every player between on par to substantially better, it doesn’t take much for an NBA side to blow it out to 20,30,30 point leads. If a team plays their stars, what they can do in 5mins is a total obliteration.

You take the win in absolute delight and if they go to OKC and get wrecked by 30, it’s a successful trip anyway and the law of averages even out.

You'd assume they won't have DJ for the OKC game, which will certainly make it harder to repeat the result, but great experience for their young bigs.

To put Adelaide's win into perspective, the only other international teams to beat NBA teams on the road are CSKA Moscow (twice), Maccabi Tel Aviv and Fernerbahce from 106 attempts.

Only 20 teams have won or gotten within single figures in the US/Canada, and four of them are from the NBL.

36ers' owner, on radio, told us that it didn't cost him much more for this team.
Only 3 or 4 percent more than last season.
It was all done by CJ, he said, and the 3 Imports are very good friends.

JvG has always sucked and at a premium price.

Could CJ be the saviour of Sixers?

United should have won a few seasons ago, when Casper should have gone to the stripe for free throws that were not given.

I think recruiting JVG is the best thing for any club. However the fruit doesn't come until you sack him.