Easily the better of the two games today.

4th v 5th. Cairns stumbling a little on a two game skid. Adelaide on a four game win streak, although tbh the wins haven't been overly convincing.

Is McCarron back tonight? If not, I say Cairns. If he’s in, anyone’s game.

With Pinder out 36s should have the advantage on boards, feel Clarke can cover for McC not playing. 36s by 2

I'm leaning to taipans, sixers just don’t like playing D, crowd influence on refs and Forde dummy spit will probably help. Hopefully Adelaide turn up and play, Dech the key on D, play him 35 minutes if needed on McCall. Taipans by one, I’d like to be proved wrong though.

Cairns will be celebrating by quarter time

No ponder Adelaide should win and win easily if we are being honest

Will be a close one - Taipans coming off a few losses to good teams without Pinder and the Sixers coming off not pretty wins without McCarron.

McCarron is playing.

Jesus Christ that loud mouth fool Williams is on the broadcast. Ruins it with his dumb comments

Hooley worse than homicide. How come he gets Christmas Day and then New Year's Eve, surely nbl can do better. Kuol wrestles all time on d, hopefully Forde going to tell him stop hurting his opponents players.

It really amazes me. You drive to the hoop. You score or get fouled nearly every time. When are coaches & players going to work it out or are they too dumb to see it?

I've never been a fan of Drimic, I’m changing my mind quickly if he continues playing like this.

This is rather shocking that Adelaide is actually going in for the kill.

Adelaide might choke yet, forget the kill.

Spoke too soon.

This seems silly to say, but I'm struggling to fathom how the f*** Adelaide is going to lose this one.

Why is Franks playing so long, he's been so average. Sotto should have started the last quarter.

Oh my.

Huge win for Cairns. HUGE.

Adelaide kicking themselves if that loss haunts them when United starts hunting them on the ladder.

Very poor decision making by the players or very poor coaching - perhaps a bit of both, but it just shows how lucky they have been the past few games.

Choked on epic levels.

That four on five where they failed to get a shot off was inexplicable.

Happy new year. Truly pathetic.

That was very 36erish

That was just poor coaching. Didn't even try to break the momentum early enough. Players making poor choices and maybe tired and yet keep playing.

Oh boy, what do you say, credit to Cairns. I had a feeling it would be there night. McCall got to have best defender on him, not Franks. So many poor options by Sixers down the stretch, certainly not the smartest side in town.

Sunday Dech made such a huge contribution, so good, he needs way more minutes! It's so clear how elite he is!!!

What in living hell did I just watch??

Up by 18 with 7 minutes on the clock and lose by 3 ... in regulation time.

Bruton choked, plain and simple. An 18-2 run and he does not call a time out and has Clark among others (e.g. Sotto) getting splinters on the bench.

I'm a 36ers fan and I hope they learn hard from this. That was absolute garbage.

36ers gonna 36er.

Happy New Year.

"Why is Franks playing so long, he's been so average. Sotto should have started the last quarter."

Didn't even play the 4th just like the last game. Starts strong in the 1st but doesn’t get played in the 4th.

That was an epic coaching failure on so many levels.

How does a professional basketball coach let the opposition go on an 18-0 run to tie the game in the 4th period and not call one single time out or substitution???

"How does a professional basketball coach let the opposition go on an 18-0 run to tie the game in the 4th period and not call one single time out or substitution???"

He actually called 3 timeouts in the 4th and had lots of subs during that time. The Clark sub coming way too late was a big issue though

Mccarron should just not be on the court in the 4th quarter. He pisses his pants, too scared to do his job. We had a 5 on 4, he had the ball at the top of the key completely open and you could tell he just wanted to get rid of it instead of driving it for a two. His turnovers were terrible, his defense not much better. Clark should get his minutes in the 4th.

Unfortunately, Franks and Cleveland drink their own bath water and are more interested in trash talking and personal battles then actually getting the job done. A big difference was Cairns imports staying focused while Franks (especially in this game) and Cleveland not focused.

The help defense was as bad as it could get in the 4th quarter. How about mixing it up by playing a zone for a possession. Sotto could of also been a great option as we had no rim protection. Also our last play and even last game when Cleveland threw the ball away you just knew was going to be a rubbish play.

Big shout out to the family on holiday from Adelaide who tutted everyone around them the whole game like they were in church. Welcome to the snakepit guys and happy new year!

Yes totally agree with Sixers fan, Franks thinks he nbl lebron, Cleveland not so bad but as you say not focused on winning and not that smart. Drimic, Dech need more time.

"How does a professional basketball coach let the opposition go on an 18-0 run to tie the game in the 4th period and not call one single time out or substitution???"

Maybe, but Clark was on the bench at the most crucial time. And why Harris even sees the floor in crunch time is a mystery. Defensive transition was non existent, that's what killed them when it mattered. Play Sotto in this one at the start of the 4th, and it wouldn't have got to panic time.

Adelaide are terrible when DJ is relied upon for pretty much anything these days. CJ isn't a good coach, but he’s an nice guy with a marketable name blah blah blah same old.

18 points up in the fourth quarter is crunch time now?

Franks and DJ makes a fantastic duo. Both bad defenders. If their offense isn't on, no point in playing them. I don't know why both Sotto and Galloway weren't tapped in the 4th. And whoever were defending Scott, damn it.

Ladder wise and given poor percentage, Sydney would need to go 5-5 next 10 and Adelaide win every single last game for Adelaide to go #1. So thats well and truly ruled out. NZ would have to go 7-4 and Adelaide win every game, so that's #2 gone.

Cairns would have to go 7-3, but if Adelaide lose 1 game, Cairns would have to go 6-4. That would be a bridge too far for Adelaide.

So that leaves positions 4-6, and SEM have already done more heavy lifting at 12-8.

Realistically Adelaide is looking 5-7th spot now if they can avoid more than 3/4 losses in the back 9.

That’s a terrible place to be with this roster and a bridge too far to contend for a championship IMO.

"CJ sat idly by and let an 18-0 run happen while Ian Clark was on the bench is a take that is not even slightly supported by the facts."


Great analysis Kobe. I laugh at people trying to blame the coach for this. How did the players give up and 18-point lead, if they're going to be so inept there is only so much a coach can do.

Even if all the coaches have been ejected from the stadium a team should not give up that big a lead.

^^^^
Exactly, blaming a coach on that failure at the end is ridiculous, the players got have a good look at themselves. They need a leader out there to talk their D up, they just get lost in coverages.

Sydney
Breakers
SEM
Perth
Cairns
Tasmania

That will end up being the playoffs makeup

I think those things are still a symptom of coaching disconnect though. Credit to Cairns, but Adelaide blew that and it will be costly.

I'm not convinced Perth or Tasmania are locked in finals yet.

Nothing short of an incredibly consequential massive screw up that is close to imploding the season.

That win would have made them a competitive chance for 3rd but that's basically ruled out now.

It’s essentially a double-loss because it’s against cairns.

Players have to take responsibility, yes. But Bruton still obviously blew this one, not properly using his players that he got lucky with in the past. Sotto and Galloway not getting any minutes in the 4th? Did Marshall play?

At least this game will be a kick in the ass for Bruton. He'll know to play Clark for most of the fourth going forward, and put it in his hands to make plays

The Coach doesnt make the bad passes, the turnovers, the poor defence, the poor shot selection etc but he is ultimately responsible for the players who do. He is responsible for getting the best out of the players, putting the right combination of players on the court and making changes as appropriate to maximise team performance.

Last night was yet again another example of failure by both players and coaches to be able to read the game, make the appropriate changes and make the right decisions under pressure. The best player does not make the best coach nor does pure athletic ability and talent make the best player. It needs the combination of player and coach for the best performance.

Watching the jackjumpers a couple of games ago, I commented to my wife that it would be interesting to see how Scott Roth would go coaching the 36ers. He seems to get the best out of his players and the team works within their system well.

Perhaps their success is because the players were bench players given their opportunity that makes them work well but who knows.

Sadly, it looks like another wasted season for the 36ers, a season that should have been a lot better. Not sure who would be the right coach but that should be a priority for management going forward.

How was Adelaide's interior D?

Mitch had 2 massive turnover where he basically game them the ball in open court, to me they were the major errors. Clark definitely should have been in earlier but the sheer panic and lack of composure to settle and at least get an attempt close to the ring was insane.

Anyone with a decent level of understanding of the sport and even just a bit of common sense would know that it was the coach's fault. Know why some people are saying that Brutton didn't call timeout? They kept doing the same shit that has been exploding on their own faces, and he kept juggling the same heads that hasn't been doing the job, as if no timeouts were called and no substitutions were made. People are talking about that 4th quarter meltdown but, really, it all started in the 1st quarter where, again, Sotto had a hot start and yet gets subbed by Johnson early (just like what Brutton did the game before, as if icing the kid intentionally). Brutton should've instead subbed franks who was having a bad start. He would later on bring back an already cold Sotto midway 2nd quarter and then another short stint in the 3rd. He had options in Sotto and Galloway but opted for a short rotation of Franks and Johnson in the 4th. That while both has been struggling on both ends. Sotto and Galloway need not even score, just a couple of defensive stops inside the paint would've averted the collapse. and BTW, Galloway is 2nd in the league in blocks per minute while Sotto is 4th, and 2nd in rebounds.

Does anyone know how much was traded on ADL @ 1.01 before the 18-0 run?

I don't have the Betfair volume stats since it was NYE.

Brutons problem is he plays too many and then gets lost in his rotations.
Shorten the list that hits the floor, identify roles/mins better and things would change dramatically. This thing is so easy to fix. Need to be a bit of a prick to be a coach, and forget trying to be liked by giving everyone minutes.

I love all the armchair lounge room experts who apparently have all the answers but no elite coaching gig!

When those answers are almost universally "play Sotto more", it's pretty obvious what's going on.

Every sports forum has coaching consultants and this one is no exception.

While it might be obvious to you, if Sotto is playing well and more importantly playing D, he should play more.

Sotto hasn't played D in his life.

But still a greater deterrent in the interior than DJ...

Better than Johnson lately.

Putting a freaking chair in the key is a bigger deterrent than DJ!

Does anyone know how much was traded on ADL @ 1.01 before the 18-0 run?

Ha!, bet365's early payout for basketball is paid out on an 18 point lead, in the form of a promo that is too hard to hit, so it further shows how ridiculous the loss was.

Cairns take Charges at the defensive end during crunchtime, Sixers are nowhere to be seen in help D.
At the other end, 1 on 5 is ugly basketball when hero ball isn't working

Sotto isn't the problem, he needs 25 mpg cos who else they gonna play ?

I think Franks is the wrong import, they need a 4 that can slide to the 5.

Swap out Franks or Cleveland for Mooney or Jarelle...

Things are better but they are still struggling with poor roster construction…

As for CJ, unless they go on a massive run and make the Grand Final, he should be done, unless he's kept as a puppet.
At this level there's more than x's and O's. He just seems too nice a guy and let the lunatics run the asylum. I used to be a Joey fan until the end, and one thing you could say he wasn't afraid to instill some fear into pro's, overstepping the mark a lot of times. But if he gave a spray in a timeout, halftime, after game, or even in practice, players would listen. CJ is like being told off by your Nanna, both have no real power and probably don't want to do it in first place, want to be the nice one.
It's not even really his fault. Obviously Brisbane weren't going to give him HC job. Can imagine when he went in to tell McKinnon he'd been given the Sixers job that his response would have been "Get the f@#k out of here, really?" Like most programs, assistant coaches tend to be ex franchise players, trying to keep a link to the past as a new coach comes in. Sydney's coaching staff could probably still beat Brisbane in a 3 on 3 comp. Adelaide had KB sitting there, presumably Joey's heir, but he had some mixed results in nbl1. Management probably wanted to clear away any links to the Wright era, but one thing KB has which Joey had, is a no bullshit attitude. Which this team needs, not a best mate "C'mon guys, I'm serious, please play defence!" approach that Bruton seems to display. The Randall behind the scenes footage was pretty bad in the fact that CJ played along with the knucklehead. If Joey allegedly assaulted Sobey at training imagine what he would have done to that prima Donna. But he would have gained the respect of the squad instead of looking like a substitute teacher. Even this whole 3rd import debacle was him just grinning and saying there were names on his desk. If only he'd been honest and said what was really going on.
And have to feel sorry for Sotto, he must be confused as hell. On face value he seems like a nice kid who genuinely tries on top of belonging to the worst nation of fan boys on the planet. He'd have such an improvement like Pinder if he went to somewhere like Cairns and given a set role instead of doing god knows what the coaching staff in Adelaide are trying to get him to do.
Sure, there's a lot of armchair coaches on this forum but it seems the general concensus is CJ is way out of his league. It's turning out worse than the Gobert trade. Management need to hit a home run in picking the next coach. Not just someone thats been in the g league. The Rillie experiment is questionable so far, so just picking an ex name from the college ranks isn't a sure thing. Goorjean is the coaching LeBron of the NBL, expect success but there's a price to be paid afterwards, if the team is still operating even. Only saviour I can see is good old Trev. Have to hope he is feeling a bit homesick, gotten his NBA oats sown, and give him a 5 year mega contract. Rather have a gamble with him than the past couple of years bullshit that we've had to put up with.

You've absolutely nailed it, especially re: CJ.

You wouldn't replace Cleveland, if anything find a way to lock him in for next year.

Franks probably leaves, Clark they should try to keep.

See if you can get a defensive big in the off-season and keep everyone else.

Haha what a post frisbee - agree with lots of that

"Sotto hasn't played D in his life"

*6th in the league in total blocks percentage.
*2nd in the league in defensive rebounds percentage (also league #2 in total rebounds percentage).
*Leads Adelaide in defensive rating (also his team's #1 in Net Rating).

I guess Sotto can't play defense while sitting even if he's 7'3

BTW, Sotto also tops his team in Player Efficiency Rating (#9 in the league).

I would've liked to see CJ fired after that big loss to SEM but then we went on a four game winning streak even though we were still playing poorly including narrow victories over a SEM team missing half their team and just getting over the line against Brisbane both at home.

This disastrous NYE loss in Cairns was probably the end of our season as any sort of a title threat. With so few games left now we will be fortunate if we even scrape into the Top 6 assuming we get there and it doesn't look like the teams above us have an inclination to torpedo their seasons and United just below us are getting it together and will probably overtake us anyway.

I mistakenly thought Randall was our big problem but it turns out that was just covering over other issues. CJ just doesn't have it in him to be a HC in this league that was clear even Randall was there who should've been read the riot act and benched. He deserves some responsibility for allowing him to become such a big problem.

Franks from what I've season of him this season has been massively disappointing his play, attitude, everything what was even the point of signing him if we weren't going to try and turn DJ into a somewhat more defensive focused centre? Or play Sotto big minutes? Cleveland hasn't set the world on fire either and McCarron is still McCarron nothing was going to change there. Wasted roster spots on guys like Galloway and Acuoth and there's just so little margin for error.

The very late Clark signing screamed of cheapening out the damage was already done by the time we finally signed him. With 9 games to go in the season not sure there is enough time for him to get his feet under him and significantly help right this ship. The rot has set in. Seven news at training last night showed footage of McCarron having a good laugh during his media interview. That pretty much sums up everything about this team.