Perth were brave essentially with Doolittle and pinder against an offensively loaded hawk's teams. Will be short maned without Doolittle and Pinder in Adelaide. Adelaide should get this W

Sixers are down Harrell and Vasiljevic.

No Doolittle, but Withers is a pretty handy fill-in for the Cats.

Okwera into the starting 5 in place of Doo

Martin out of the starting line-up for Mayen.

Hopefully the kick up the arse he needs.

20 points in ~ 4 min for Adelaide.
#wilcats

Martin two fouls, he just can't move

Rillie: we b need to be better in defence
Gives up 20 points in 4 mins.

I'll say better by the 36ers since they didn't start the game 12-4 before they started getting into gear offensively.

Davis is fantastic, Cotton is Perth, Martin looks like Shaq.

Ref had no line of sight to call that foul on that Cotton 3. Complete guess work.

Not the first time this game that ref has totally guessed

Are Tassie going back to back simply because they're the only team who play D?

60 in a half
#wilcats

Ref couldn't see the defender moving sideways either.... charge.... another guess but no time-outs for perth....

Surprised Rillie didn't challenge that last charging call on Cotton, I thought it would have been overturned and Cotton would have had free throws. Instead Davis comes down and hits the buzzer butter - 4 point turnaround.

Dech out. If that's a hammy, 36ers are just royally fked.

Geez 36ers are just completely shot, they don’t have the depth to go through this

It's turning into a bit like nba, get the wins needed during the season and turn up the D at finals time. Without Cotton cats are very ordinary, Davis fantastic. Sunday out going to hurt big time.

Also yeah that complete guess by the umpire was ridiculous given there was no line of sight.

There's one thing to make mistakes which is life, but in this instance the decision to make a call in the first place when you don’t have line of sight is a systemic failure IMO

Ref's seem to only be able to see clumsy fouls on the cats....

Can't see henshall get hit on a layup, but bails our Davis afte bc picked the direction... be nice to have the home cooking against perth acknowledged for once

Another missed call leading to a turnover...

Perth now complaining about calls, 36ers getting walked to the line... ref's get it back out to 10pts for Adelaide....

Bryyyyyyyyyyce

Blah Rasmussen that was silly and costly

Yea, no need to play that risky.

Cotton if he say was Six foot two he would be a borderline star in the NBA. He is just as good as lamelo ball who is a star

Cotton is unstoppable. Rest cats been below par. Cats will get away with it against sixer but not better sides.

It's understandable given all the guys we have out but too many costly mistakes from Rasmussen so far. Still can't believe we blew roster spots on Griscti and Rigoni, we're paying for that stupidity now.

36ers guards are very good at getting Humphries dragged out of the paint, which kills them on the offensive boards.

Can't say i've seen a ton of Griscti, but he doesn't look to have any sort of decent amount of agility or speed that'll make him a starter.

Oh well it was fun whilst it lasted.

Martin putting the ball on the floor, what's he thinking?

Stripped by Withers too of all people.

Adelaide's season is done surely, their percentage is awful and away games to finish the season if they’re lucky enough to have a full side by 2025

6 on the court after a to and no technical.... home cooking....

So many ball watchers on D for the 36ers. Just watch a guy wind up and make zero effort to contest.

Classy booing from the 36ers fans there....

I'm not sure we’re quite comprehending what Bryce cotton has done the last 2 weeks

Yeah that ball watching was terrible - much needed time out.

Relax Perth Anon, your team will win.

Problem is when you are Wagstaff and flop a few times each quarter, people don't know when you are ACTUALLY hurt.

Marshall on Cotton is gonna end up points for Cotton every time.

No tears for Flopstaff he's done it way too mnay times in his career, just unfortunate this time it was legitimate.

Last 2 offensive possessions have been in the hands of Rusmussen and Marshall. And no buckets.

Withers with the dagger, fitting. Shown more this game than that whole season with the Sixers.

Does the Bryce goat debate have more credibility than it did this time a year ago? And is there yet a plausible case for him to have the title?

Glorious

Wagstaff has only ever exaggerated contact, you don't need a brain to know when a guy is actually hurt from no contact... not like bubbles who goes down and asks for calls without contact

Don't take this little masters greatness because next season he might be gone to another league with his ex coach

With all due to respect Andrew gaze cotton is the GOAT

Disappointed Cotton didn't get 50 again. He could’ve been far more selfish in the last 90 seconds when the game was clearly done.

Anyway, I enjoyed this round! Hawks won, Melbourne lost and everyone seemed to shoot the lights out. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more D, but it was very entertaining.

Lordy kordy lordy wildcats prevail. Attrition and all. Get the goodies. BC is the king cat.. hail the king.. tough win. Maybe give JR credit too.

Why was that so triggering Anon?

It was a pretty subdued boo until the highlight showed just an unfortunate ankle roll and then no boo.

That happens with literally every NBL crowd or sport crowd ever.

I wouldn't count Adelaide out just yet. Trez and DJ (and Dech) are huge outs for them. They’ll be much better at full strength. They should be thereabouts at the end.

Everyone except Cairns and NZ has a chance. I’m also sceptical about JJs simply because their offence is worse than anyone else’s. Their D will win them some games against mediocre teams, but I can’t see them challenging the top teams. Perth would be in deep trouble without Cotton, but they’ll always have a chance while he’s in this freakish run of form.

36ers management would be finding it more and more difficult to justify getting rid of Ninnis now. The team can't guard a chair, and there has been absolutely no signs of improvement in this area over the first half of the season. Ninnis had the team playing far better D at the backend of last season than what we are seeing at the moment. Not sure what Wells is bringing to the table on that side of the ball but it’s clearly not working.

Anon carries on like a porkchop in every Wildcats game thread. Humphries knowing Wagstaff's rep through his hands back immediately to let the refs know he didn't touch him incase they called one of his phantom calls again.

I'm not sure I would still be going on about the Ninnis firing, decent end to last season 8-7 but wasn't great the first time he coached us either.

But yes Wells has been pretty ordinary so far but given he spent nearly 30 years coaching in the NBA is it any surprise he's crap defensively?

The hiring of Wells and then signing of Harrell was clearly an indicator defence be damned we're going to try to blow teams out of the water offensively. Hasn't worked so far but second half of the season still to come yet.

If Harrell didn't turn up for Martin Sixers would be in the bottom few. Martin has been horrible, well over weight on his kings days. Davis has been great, injuries to key players have really hurt them, bench is poor, Marshall and Cadee can’t play D as well.
Perth are Cotton with a few others helpers, I don’t see championship even with Cotton, he’ll always hurt you but better teams will kerb his production.

Ninnis finished last season 7-3 with the team playing mostly quality basketball at both ends. To justify getting rid of him how they did, this 36ers team needs to be high level and they've been a way off that so far.

Seems like the 'sugar hit' has worn off.

He may have finished the season 7-3 but we went 8-7 under Ninnis, it was still a big improvement over our 4-9 start under CJ but nothing to get too worked up about if he wasn't re-hired, he was mediocre the first time too.

It was the unceremonious firing 10 days into training camp this season that was a terrible thing to do.

Gleeson could not have coached that team to win, after Dech, who is a top quality defender, nil, Davis, Humphries ok but rest ball watches, no instincts on D.

"He may have finished the season 7-3 but we went 8-7 under Ninnis, it was still a big improvement over our 4-9 start under CJ"

This comment unwittingly highlights what a quality job Ninnis did to turn a basketcase into a 7-3 side to finish the season. To justify replacing him in the manner they did the new coach would have to get the team performing at a high level and that simply hasn't happened.

For all the comments about "standards" at the ill-fated press conference, under Wells there is very little in the way of standards at the defensive end.

I think it was more CJ was such a shithouse coach rather than a basketcase team, which made Ninnis look much better than he is. I'm not defending Wells whatsoever but I think a lot of people have forgotten Ninnis' first stint as coach.

He was both fortunate to have gotten the job again full-time and unfortunate to have been sacked just a couple of weeks into training camp.

Both teams think defence is the thing that runs around dehouse.
If there was a game that Martin needed to step up in, it was today. Just made up the numbers.

He's been very disappointing and actually looks like he's getting worse the more games he plays. If Harrell wasn't coming back next game I would be wanting Martin cut asap. I know there's still the second half of the season to go but Martin doesn't remotely look like he's going to come good.

"I'm not defending Wells whatsoever but I think a lot of people have forgotten Ninnis' first stint as coach."

I would say it's the other way around. Ninnis first stint was one decent year with an ok team, then one poor year with a pretty average roster. Of course, that was 15 years ago now.

As for last year, I don't think many would say finishing off 7-3 with that roster wasn't an overachievement (and at the time I didn't think Ninnis was a good choice to take over so I was surprised), especially given they beat four of the six finals teams in that stretch.

To be fair to Martin today, would probably be helpful if Davis and others would give him the ball, he was open a lot in second half. He was on his own in the key about 3 times waving his hands in the air and nobody saw him which is pretty bad at this level. And then in the second half was sitting on the wing and corner on his own so many times and completely ignored. Perhaps Martin should've worn number 24 today and Davis might've passed to him. I can't work out why you wouldn't skip the ball to a 3pt shooter. If the excuse is because they didn't see him, then that is even worse.

Are Tassie going back to back simply because they're the only team who play D?

Could work out nicely for you PW

Assume Kelly will now sack Wells?

has there been an NBL owner with a poorer record of 5-6 years?

2 hamstring injuries is unusual. One you'd say it happens, but 2 means there is something they are or aren't doing which is putting them at risk of injury.

yep - under-resourcing their strength and conditioning.

Yes, multiple hamstring injuries, Martin still out of shape, not looking great on paper for the strength and conditioning part of the program right now.

36ers must be using Kangatech or something with those hamstring injuries popping up.

The 'standards' that were lacking in Ninnis' time must have been horrendous if we're now meeting them!!!

So fickle sixers. Back your coach back the team back your stars.

Seems to be the usual negative nellies posting lately. Davis's first game back and had one of his best games for the season although tired towards the end. Vasiljevic and Harrel out plus Dech was out just before half time. That is three of their best 6 players missing. 36ers lost to Perth by 10 points but it was only in the last 5 minutes that they had the streak that built the gap.

Martin is an issue for sure but as a few others have mentioned, he cannot get points if he isn't given the ball. While the bench players have done a few good things, their lack of experience in dealing with the higher pace and pressure level of the NBL has been evident with the extended minutes on court.

Someone always has to bring up the owner as he is to blame for all the woes. Perhaps he is to a certain extent but he is the one who has put up the cash so there is still a 36ers team. Be thankful for that. It is over 20 years since a title and there have been a lot of bad years in between.

In regard to Ninnis, it is all conjecture whether him coaching would have made any difference as we will never know. Until the Melbourne fan fiasco, 36ers were going well and improving. Defence has been an issue for the past 10 years for some reason but if you score more then the opposition, you will win anyway. A lot of the people who attend the games are not long time basketball tragics, they go there to be entertained and seeing 3 pointers and dunks are what attracts them. Defence is not exciting to watch unless it is a great block.

Hopefully, Harrell will come back refreshed and continue where he left off. Vasiljevic is a loss but the I would rather Davis take more shots than the hero ball shots DJ takes at times. Going to be interesting the next few games to see how the 36ers cope with the everchanging line ups. With a final 6, there are only 4 teams that miss out so the 36ers are still a good chance to make the finals and then anything can happen. They are only 1 game outside the six so the season is not ended yet.

year after year .... excuses, excuses. Bottom line is culture is rotten and that starts at the top .... the one common denominator over the past 6-7 years.

As Ushiro said, there is more to it.

Hard to find someone chucking money in, if not happy maybe make a play yourselves and either put your hand up to coach or buy the franchise. As you said it's been twenty years so it’s not just a new thing. The nbl really got Sixers this season and they are still in the mix.

Wells just doesn't cut it. The blow out games where our players Jack up a 3 in the first 7 seconds of the offence. We are getting slaughter and instead of stemming the tide, he has us playing upbeat. The more offence you give the opposing side, especially when you are missing studs, then your margin is going to grow.

Wells has no skin in this comp. When we lose it is everyone else’s fault or injuries or the refs. He doesn’t rally the boys to lock in like Scotty did. Wells should be moved on, but in the interest of saving face, Weston should be gone by Friday.

Our conditioning, our attitude, the ill thought out sacking, the piss poor game day discipline against Melbourne is all his mismanagement. If he wanted to walk the talk about standards, he wouldn’t wait for the club. He would be man enough to stab himself out the door.

I just want a coaching team that puts in some effort.
With Perth missing two starting bigs, Humphries shot 11-12 and Martin shot 3-4.
Yet in the second half Kendric shot 5-15 ?!?
Surely we should have been attacking the paint more...

A game Davis v Cotton is not winnable and for me is not the sort of game I pay to watch. And the first time I saw Corton double teamed was with ten seconds to go in the entire game?
And what was the scout on Henshall all about?
I just want some effort from the coaching team.

So far, I don't think Wells seems any more capable than Ninnis, but Adelaide were reasonable placed before suspensions/injuries, and when you invest so much in a tight rotation, you really can't afford to lose Harrell, DJ and Davis at the same time. Once again, we just can't defend competently enough, both because of coaching choices and personell combined. I think Wells realised quite quickly that he doesn't have the time like they do in the NBA to iron things out. I really can't understand what the Serbian assistant coach is doing here. They really needed someone familair with the league to give wells a bit more of a headstart, and he just seems more like an encouragement type coach.

Pretty simple for Adelaide. If they can't defend at all, then top 6 is pointless anyway.

Marko Marinovic does seem like a top quality cheerleader though. Excitable guy at the games at least.

The list has to many players that don't understand D, or play D, hardly Wells fault. Cadee never really been a defender and Marshall for all the hype a local player isn’t even as good as. Martin has been a waste of coin so far. Twenty years of not so good performances, it looked on the right track till the suspensions.

Rasmussen has instantly become one of the 36ers better defenders through effort alone. Marshall and Mayen in particular against Perth had some very poor efforts. Marshall is easily exploitable by anyone that has a decent first step.

Pretty simple for Adelaide. If they can't defend at all, then top 6 is pointless anyway.

Both teams might as well tank for better lottery odds

Underestimate Wildcats at your peril. If BC remains healthy and if get all on court legit. The jungle is a w. More you disrespect perth the sweeter wins become. In JR we trust and d onto care about outside noises...

Yeah we ont care about that noise. Unerstimate & isrespect us at your peril.

The jungle is a w.