Here here, i totaly agree with the assesment. I couldn't believe we didnt use a time out after Kenalls 3. Smyth spent more time bitching to the refs than assesing what was going on tonight, and our rotations were horrible. I have a bad feeling we are missing the playoffs this year, i wont right them off yet, but it will be interesting to see what excuse fairytale comes up with this time for the loss.

Where was Ng in the final quarter too when Majstrovich subbed off? Replace a shooter with a shooter.

Up by 5 and with Sydney needing to foul we would want the ball in Brett's hands and both plays we got this.

I suppose it was Phil's fault we turned the ball over twice?

Doesn't detract from the time-out. That's the issue at hand.

The whole game Phil's coaching was crap. Ng had 11 points in 9 minutes at half time and perhaps saw 2-3 minutes play in the second half. Copeland and Nash did nothing all night but he went with them for large portions of the 4th quarter. And Cooper ditto. If it wasn't for Brett (and Willie in the 4th, although he had a crap game all around) we would not have even been close. He was lucky Brett made him look better than he deserved.

double clutch,

thats what i am getting at in another thread. Im sure he snoozed in the last minute of normal playing time. i realise that the plyers on the court should be able to recognise this situation but the coach gets paid to make these decisions. wake up phil!!!

I guess it was Phil's fault that in the final 12 seconds when we were up by 2 and had possession, Brett slipped with the ball on the wet floor. The refs could have had the decency to get the floor wiped before resuming play. Instead it was an oversight on their part and then treated it as a turnover. In the final 12 seconds, we had the game won. There would have been no need for overtime.

The reality is we got the ball in Brett's hands twice which normally means it's a W.

here here DC I'll add to the fund to send Smyth away from here.

Just what did Ng do wrong 3 fouls 11 points in a half and he gets perhaps 2 mins in the second half.

outcoached outcoached outcoached
makes me wonder why I forked out the $600.00 for season tickets I could have stayed home and watched it on fox.

Lockstock how can you say Nash did nothing all night? I guess you just look at the points socred and make a guess from there.

EC,

It was a terrible spot to get the ball anyway, he was going out of bounds and we sent a bounce pass to someone running towards the ball in a narrow space. We wouldn't be having this conversation right now if Smyth called the time-out.

There is absolutely no way to defend Smyth over this. Mistakes an under 12 coach wouldn't make.

I wonder if Richard Hill would have called a time-out?

Not once since Smyth began coaching have I said anything against him - but he screwed up big time tonight.

Also while we are the topic of people who deserve a bullet what the hell was the deal with playing Jessica Simpson tonight? Or not having "hit the road jack" lined up when Worthington fouled out. Acid must be cheap at the moment.

Did a good job with some selections but disapointed with the above two mistakes mainly.

And if the 6ers had pulled the win out, Smyth would have been a hero.

Damned if you do, damned if you dont.

Would love to see all the arm chair critics start applying for NBL coaching jobs, they seem to know better than the people actually doing the job!

I think with the Ng situation, it was due to his lack of defense, he got killed by Rowland in his small stint in the 2nd half so we couldnt play him any more, and Sydney were the better side, we need to improve our team defense big time!!
on the positive Horvath was great, as was Maher, and if Willie can keep his 4th quater form going, we should only get betta stay positive the season is young!!

Ah Yogee, I was wondering when you'd join this debate. We can always count on you to defend Phil no matter what.
As for Phil pulling the win out, this would have hardly made him a hero. FACT is we had it in the bag and he screwed up BIG TIME!

Maybe a hero to you only Yogee.

I don't know any other coach who has an uninterrupted pre-season who needs 5 to 6 weeks of loses before anyone should expect results. Or some defense or an offense creating looks for the right people in the clutch.

Smyth has survived on the brilliance of Maher the past few seasons, and if Maher can stay healthy and pull out enough close wins again the 36ers will make the first round of the play-offs. Maher will be run-down without his legs under him and we will lose in the first round to another bone headed defensive lapse like the Anthony Stewart three last year (look for the in-bounder for the 3, oldest play in the book). Smyth will say, "Well we got the best out the group, but you have to understand we can't pay as much as other clubs" we will lose out on another promising rookie who no one from the Sixers bothered to scout, or told their role in the team when pitching a contract, or given any indication of what the program can do for their game.

Meanwhile Hill will leave, Smyth will say he left for the money and if he stays on the cycle will repeat itself. We will continue to be a retirement home for players who want an easy training schedule for the end of their careers.

2003 to now has seen the same repeated failures by Smyth. Hopefully new owners put a bit of pressure on him.

Who did Rowland kill in overtime?

yeah and all game he would shake and bake himself , turn up the degree of difficulty to max with a high arcing low percentage fadeaway . Then he finally hits one and he shakes his head ? ? ? .
The guy should be able to coast to 22 ppg within the flow of the game . Maybe try simple things like taking the open 3 , penetrate , post and then fade , back door cuts , dump inside and relocate , but no i want to prance around with a snarly face .

I'd also like to ask why the team wasn't up and pressing in OT down by six 44 seconds to go and they allowed sydney to run nearly 20secs off the clock before giving up a cheap foul and putting them to the line for shots.

that happened in front of the coaching staff, surely someone should have been screaming to foul.

surely teams should be aware of what to do in this situation. Horvath virtually allowed his player to stand on the spot and dribble uncontested.

btw Jasmine, how in the hell would the refs know the floor was wet until Maher slipped? Maher is more than capable of asking for the floor to be wiped. Perhaps they all didn't realise it was a problem?
Besides it was a crap pass. It was a game sixers should have won they threw it away.

I'm wondering if a time out were to occur, would Phil discuss the weather and like with the assistants for 40 secs and then take another 5 secs to get players attention, leaving just enough time to say "get the ball to Mahar" - - - Time in.

Yes Phil should have called a time out, BUT the inbounder (was it Farley?) should have also called a timeout when it was obvious the only inbounds pass was going to be to maher stuck in a corner (ended up slipping out of court).

2 to blame here guys!

Yogee, the point is that even armchair critics can see a time out is needed in that situation. Anybody agree that some blame rests on Maher for playing absolutely no defence on Kendall when he drained that 3? They just passed it to him, he waltzed up to the line and knocked it. Terrible.

I nearly cried last night, had money on Sydney being ahead at the half, and the Sixers to win it. Was paying $6.

This is my recap on the game/entertainment for last night and a score out of 10:

MusicMan - Was good for his first game, just needs to have "Hit the Road Jack" ready for next time, even my mum made a comment about it not being played. 6/10

Entertainment - The Navy Seals were awesome =] jkz, I think the player intro's were ok, dancers were good for their first game, night in general seemed to be ok but should get better. 6/10

Smyth - Should have called a timeout no question. Should also have been running a Screen & Roll with Horvath and Maher, the Kings were switching everytime and Horvath was either getting looks inside and scoring or dishing or Maher had some open looks - don't understand why they didn't run it more. 2/10

Maher - Again was the General on the floor - was pointing where everyone should be on offence - looked like our guys got lost on offence sometimes. Maher worked his arse off again and he can only do so much. Finshed with 24, 6 & 11. 8/10

Farley - Can someone please check Singapore Customs? I think he left his game there! But seriously why not attack the hoop with the game on the line? The lane was open and they we were in the penalty so why not attack? Only needed one free throw to win. Needs to find his mid-range game and not continually shake and bake. Also needs to fight through screens not just bang them lazily fight through them. 4/10

Nash - Was big in the second half on the boards and finished with 10 I think. Was good defensively and was a cool head. Worked hard. 6/10

AJ - Played well, looked strong from behind the arc and wasn't scared to attack the basket. Did look a bit timid at times. Was really hustling on the boards and actually got up on Elliot so he didn't have open looks for 3. Very good pick up for the Sixers. 6/10

Horvath - Again looked dominant inside, had 15 points at the half. Then we stopped looking for him. Came away with another double double 22 & 11. Was unstoppable inside with his little hooks and was setting solid screens. Another very good pick up if we actually use him. 8/10

Cooper - Didn't look as strong today but was good to see him taking the jumper from the corner. Did well on D and was ripping down some boards, finished with 12. 5/10

Copes - Shot terribly, just wasn't his night. Made passes that put us under pressure. Night to forget. 2/10

Wheeler - Only played 12 minutes. Looked good when he was on. Don't understand why he didn't come back in when Crosswhite went down, we had a height advantage. 4/10

Ninja - Never looks of balance when he shoots, his body is but never his arms. Played well tried to attack the rim. Hit the open shot when it was there. Not sure why he saw limited minutes in the second half. 5/10

Hill - MIA - what the heck is going on there?

Sutton - DNP

Dodman - DNP

Overall Sixers should have won, passing should be top priority at training this week.

All of you arm chair coaches are brilliant.I really dont understand why the likes of Doube Clutch, Pacey and Tony Blair dont coach the sixers, could be because your not good enough and you are where you are because your not good enough and phil is where Phil is becasue he is good enough. Look at the big picture. Has Phil in any year that he has coached underachieved? I would say no.

You go Double Clutch, vent that frustration! Spot on though.

I would say YES! He won back-to-back titles yes. But we should have done more in the last 7 years than what we have. We should still have Oscar and Jacob + We should have Jingles. Who's fault is that boy wonder? DC's, Pacey? Tony Blair? Mine even? No it's Smyths.

Idiot!

Boy Wonder

hmmm, finished in the top four at the end of the regular season for the last 2 years but then knocked out in our first game (at home) against a lower team. thats not underachieving is it. Wake up!

Be interesting to see if Boti castigates Smyth for the choke down the stretch as he did Goorjian in the WC's. I doubt it and at least Goorj admitted he f'd up when it happened. Instead we get the 'new team' diatribe again and then deflection to the first half! Sorry, but it don't cut it.

I listened to the stream on the computer last night - hurrah for the people responsible for that idea and implementing it - and was annoyed as anyone else about the way Sixers finished regulation.

But I find it ironically ironical that the first time Goorjian coaches against Smyth after his (ie Goorjian's) brain fade against Greece, Smyth performs an almost identical brain fade: up by 5 or 6 with less than 30 seconds to go and unable to organise his team to close it out. You couldn't script it.

I guess it's the reason basketball, and sports in general, are so alluring to follow, because unpredictable things like this happen.

It's still as crappy as hell to blow a game like that though.

Bizzy how can you blame Phil for any contract negotiations that took place over the past few years when he was handcuffed by the liability that was basketball administration in this state.

True, who were we to drop to find the money for J Ingles. No matter what his offer would have been greater interstate

"And if the 6ers had pulled the win out, Smyth would have been a hero.

Damned if you do, damned if you dont.

Would love to see all the arm chair critics start applying for NBL coaching jobs, they seem to know better than the people actually doing the job! "

-- Yogee .

You are a GOOSE Yogee . He DID NOT coach well in the final minutes before OT. Clearly he should have called a timeout with the momentum on the Kings side.
I doubt there was anyone in the stadium that thought we would win that game in OT. You could hear the collective sigh when Kendall hit that 3 pointer as most us IMO knew that it was gonna swing to the Kings if OT was needed.
Smyth keeps saying we are a new team and guys are getting used to playing together - well if thats the case, why not give them some instruction and point them in the right direction, use your timeouts so everyone is on the same page and can communicate their roles.

And by the way, if we had managed to win the hero would have been Maher or Farley -not Smyth.

Smyth was out coached. A Goorj time out covers ALL bases ALL the time.

Smyth spends 30 seconds talking to his assistants then spends the last 30 seconds of his time out saying 'forget the refs'. That is U/10 stuff.

it could be a long year indeed, filled with some big blow outs if we can't hit the outside shot.

We won't have many assists this year with so many spot up shooters, can any of them put the ball on the floor and create a shot or an easy pass to score? Mastro, Copeland, Farley, Nash, Ng are all spot up shooters. They are going to have to rely on some decent picks to get open and Cooper's too thin to do that.

Why didn't Smtyh keep going inside to Horvath in the 2nd half?

Now I'm just waiting for Boti(or Yogee) to chatise Smyth for not calling a time out.

Yeah, but on the plus side, we can carry those 2 timeouts over to next week!! What?? Oh.....

Agree, why not a time out?

An even more basic mistake(besides the fact that Coops should not have past the ball in) was that all our players were hanging around the Sydney Kings end of the court (mostly in the key)which gave Maher very little room to get free.

This is something we teach under 12's to execute - rack off and give the guard/s plenty of room, one on one to get the ball, Maher would have had no trouble getting free,but there were 5 Kings players in his way.

Amazing at this level.

Boy Wonder,

Have you ever paid for a product, not been happy with the quality and put in a customer complaint? Ever gone to a supermarket and complain there wasn't enough checkouts open when in a hurry?

Better still ever gone to get your car serviced and when you leave the garage it starts leaking oil all over the place. Would you get angry, complain and demand the problem is fixed or would you just say "well, I'm not good enough to be a mechanic, I'm here and those guys have the job so I should be happy with what they have done."

How about if a family member went to a hospital for a non-life threatening operation and came out dead? Applying your logic, you're not a doctor, so you would be an idiot to get angry over your relative's death.

Now I don't know your involvement in the game "Boy Wonder" but I have gone out and put back into the game by coaching, since 1999 in fact. I've coached everything from under 10s to under 18s and from division five up to division 1 (an undefeated division 1 team at that). I'm not a great coach by any means, but I've been around enough to know what I'm talking and have had the honor of being able to see other coaches much better than me coach, especially at my current club. I have seen the exact same situation Smyth has been in countless times and have never seen a coach who hasn't called a time-out. Never. And when these coaches call a time-out, and draw up something a safe inbounds is usually what comes up. Smyth had two opportunities, firstly after Kendall hit the three to get the ball in the front court and force Sydney to foul, and secondly after EJ scored, to get a good shot attempt off in the half-court. He failed to move on 2 occasions. The guy is lazy, and has been able to stay lazy while living off his media profile. No need to scout, no need to work on team defensive fundamentals, no need to develop players, just rock up each summer, smile at the right times while on camera, say the right things and collect a paycheck.

I'm currently coaching division 5. I scout opposition teams. I'm a volunteer. Phil gets paid big money and couldn't be stuffed going to Wayville to watch the nationals. I know this because I was there everyday.

When it comes to scouting, there is amazing amount of coaches around the traps better than Smyth. When it comes to recruiting, Smyth's track record has been a disgrace now that we don't cheat the cap. From what I hear Smyth's training are not much better than glorified scrimmages, and it is quite clear that Smyth is incapable of running a successful NBL program when he doesn't have veterans that don't need to be over-trained. Now just because I'm not capable of running an NBL program myself, yet paid $300 for season tickets, $60 for jersey etc should I shut my mouth and just watch in anger all year long?

Either the new management listens to the fans and tells Smyth he has the rest of the season to show some signs of life in his coaching, or the fans will vote with their wallets. Judging by last night's crowd, many already have.

Very well said.

Go DC!

extremely well said DC - right on the money

You know something's wrong when you got a free ticket and still felt ripped off.

what are the sixers going to do about our defensive game. i mean even in an overtime, a team shouldnt be gettin 120 a game thats ridiculous. Individually most of our team has the capacity to play defense, smyths failure to emphasise a strong defence is costing us games. can smyth please bring some defensive urgency to the team.

When Maher retires I can forsee Smyth leaving.

I'm a kings fan and was at the game, when Luke hit the 3 I said Smyth needs a time out and he didn't take it, then EJ tied it away with 9 seconds left and still no time out, a big smile came over my face we are going to OT and the Kings have just come back from 5 down 39 seconds to go I'm on a winner.

BIG coaching error, thanks Phil.

i think this just cements that fact that phil can't coach and never has been able to. sure he has won championships but anybody could have coached those teams to championships because they didn't really need coaching.

sure he was a great player but as they say in the classics, ducks fly together...oops wrong quote, they say great players don't always make great coaches.

Gorjian 1 Smyth 0

DC - Smyth may not have been there, but from memory wasnt he in the States some of that time?? I know Breheney and KB were both at thr Nationals - wouldnt that be part of the assistant coaches jobs - to do the scouting??

I have never been a coach, and dont purport to know much about it at all, but I would have thought that maybe (from managerial training), that you send your deputies to do the initial work, and then if it requires it, you then inspect for final approval. To paraphrase into basketball, the assistants do the initial scouting with a brief on what they are looking for, and then if they identify any potential talent, the coach then comes out to see when those kids play next. Just my thoughts.

Having said that I think the 36ers missed a great oppurtunity to market themselves while they were there, however it was also in the middle of the turmoil of the sale, so who really knows????

bahahahaha D Brent.
Ducks fly together.. loved it

"It's the team that matters. Where would The Beatles be without Ringo. If John got Yoko to play drums the history of music would be completely different."

Speaking of teams...

There's no 'I' in 'team'. But then there's no 'I' in 'flashy smug player', either. And there's four in 'platitude-quoting idiot'. Go figure.

DC that is the best post I have ever read on here.

Mott, didn't you find it a bit depressing to think about the squalor and tuna that DC must endure to support his addiction? ;)

I probably should have waited for the movie to come out.

You guys are a joke dont know the rules dont know the facts we have a budget team on the floor i guess that is Smyths fault no money blame him gee not sure who you guys are but Smyth told the players if you get in trouble call a timeout Marst slipped twice so couldnt do it Smyth cant call a timeout in that situation how many current Australian players do we have how many they got gee i guess Sydney are under the salary cap must be Smyths fault lots of teams are over the cap gee i guess Oscar and Jacob left for less money wrong Dusty said openly his offer was way better from Brisbane but i suppose thats Smyths fault gee now they dont practice right guess 3 championships in 9 seasons was someone elses fault the last 3 seasons management of BASA was a disgrace everyone knows that the team was dismantled to nothing by a CEO no longer there i guess that was Smyths fault as well he didnt do ant contracts in that time the CEO did but lets blame Smyth

gee and your spelling and language is top shelf so we now know how big a dill you are

madgame you read like a badly drafted lease, only without the intellect behind it

LS you read like a badly educated lawyer , only without the law behind it .