Absolutely critical game for 36ers as Cairns are in the coveted 6th spot.

In a sense all games left for them are, I guess, but the longer they can fight til their season is killed the better.

Keep the hope going in the team for as long as possible!

I'm hoping Adelaide can steal this and make the table incredibly tight.

I'm thinking the same essenx. Cairns also have the chance of slipping to 8th or even 9th if they lose. Cue forde blaming anyone other than him and his players! He's turned into this seasons buford!

Should be a good test for Sixers, true indication of where they are at. Cairns hot and cold but still dangerous. Hopefully great contest and refs let them play. If the good Cairns turn up they up probably get this by two.

Adelaide will now win this because Dunkman said otherwise. Sorry, Dunkman.

Agreed, 36ers are in test and experiment mode at the moment, it will really inform next season more than anything else

Wiley and Flowers are back for this one, so will be interesting to see how someone like Galloway does from here.

I'd be very happy if Sixers won, yes I’m horrible at picking winners, :::))))

If Kell could play like this for a full season he'd be first on your recruiting list. Ninnis has so far done a fine job with this side.

Marshall starting to show he's got what it takes as well at both ends.

Horrible call, block all day.

Humphries is the Australian five in the world bar none. Liking what Sixers are doing, they have the nucleus of an excellent team with out to many changes

Best Australian ^^^^

Can Cairns afford to sack Forde if they miss the play-ins?

Maybe in the press conference after losing by 17 Forde could complain about the foul count and free throw attempts... yeah nah

Very solid performance by Sixers, I can't see them playing finals but it’s been a remarkable turnaround. Cairns got get the chip off their shoulders, maybe stop believing some of the media hype their players have, no finals for them either.

That's a telling interview with DJV at the end

What was the crowd number?

What was the crowd number?

Announcer said 9400

What was said in the post match?

9471 was the crowd number I think.

Seemed to be a heap of empty seats.

Loads of empty seats. We moved down from back row and there were almost entirely empty rows nearby.

Forde has made excuses for his players all season so guess what... when he tries to hold them accountable they won't respond. He's not the first to find this out the hard way

@Rhino

DJV said Ninnis deserves another year after how well he turned the team around from where they were.

@lLaPark

Thank you.

Yep - big statement to make

I think he also said "Adelaide's home now"

@Dunkman Marshall showed last season he could play, but for some unknown reason CJ parked him on bench this year, set him back a bit.

Forde has made excuses for his players all season so guess what... when he tries to hold them accountable they won't respond. He's not the first to find this out the hard way

It's rubbish to say Forde has made excuses for his players all season. The majority of his after game press conferences have been similar to the last night's press conference. If the team has played poorly he says it straight out and he generally offers good insights to what he was thinking during the game.

Yes, he took aim at the refs (rightly or wrongly) a couple of games ago but that was after 2 games in a row of a very high foul counts and he isn't the first coach to complain about them. I suspect a few of the coaches were quite happy to see him make those comments as the number of fouls called per game has been an issue all season.

The Taipans have been playing 3 players down in the last 3 games. They managed to have a very good win in Illawarra but haven't been able to replicate that in the last 2 games. Klintman, in particular, has been a big loss as he provides energy and a point of difference. I also think the team has just about run out of gas. It has been a tough season, schedule wise, with the NBA trip being a bit of a disaster health wise and playing wise and then in December they had 5 double headers in a row to catch up the games missed (going from having played the least amount of games in the season to then having played the most amount of games in the season) and injuries have messed with the on court continuity.

The poster who suggested Forde's job could be in danger was surely joking. They have still won 11 games which is probably about or above what most people were expecting and it is a very young team.

I'm not having a crack at Forde, because I think you’re right, he has been a good coach. But I do think Cairns deserves a lot of the foul calls against them. They remind me of the old Goorjian teams where they hold, push and reach in on every play and dare the refs to call it. Unfortunately it works quite often because refs know the audience don’t want to see a free throw parade!

Agreed Beantown.

And on the other side of things Cairns are so flop-happy that it makes it hard to call offensive fouls because their reactions aren't in any way shape or form trust worthy.

Totally agree with last two posts

My post wasn't really about whether Forde was justified or not in having a go at the refs (I did say rightly or wrongly) it was addressing the claim that Forde had been making excuses for his players all season which is simply not correct.

As I said, Forde is not the only coach to have expressed his frustration with the refereeing. John Rillie has just done that regarding Cotton. I think it's the lack of consistency that upsets people.

For the record, I agree that Cairns style of defence tends to lead to being fouled more often and I also think that the players could tidy up their interaction with the refs and Forde could tone down his interaction with the refs.

Can we please stop the gimmick of crowd standing at start of 3rd qtr until opposition score. This have never been an Adelaide thing. For the last however many games the court announces trots it out the opposition has had first possession to start the half and has scored easily in the possession every time. The crowd standing hasn't helped Sixers get a stop yet so what is the point of it?

Fan engagement champ

Fan engagement? Most the crowd only do it to be polite.

Refer above..but they do it

Can they do other fan engagement? That particular one sucks and they need to stop trying to make it happen