It was a good game, the difference in the game was ng's 5 points and Grabau's 11 for the taipans, ng scored his early in the game when there was no advantage to be made while grabs got his in an uplifting second half performance which i felt was the difference in the game and showed in the result with the taipans winning by 12.

the difference was our inability to hit a free throw, that was the difference. We hit half the shots we missed the game was ours.

I agree with the foul shot issue, it was terrible, but can someone please tell me what offence we actually play? I really do get tired seeing other teams score so easily, whereby we seem to play some of the ugliest offence one would ever wish to see.
Nice tech foul on our coach as well at a crucial stage of the last quarter, a great example!

Yeah, looking at the box score the thing that stands out is our shooting. FG: 35%, FT: 62 %.

nick...good point made there.

last weekends game against the tigers, we shot at 51% and something like 42% from the 3 point line.

yeah the tech was at a real bad stage, so was our lack of D when grabau(sp?) was able to hit the 3 on like 2 or 3 plays in a row.

Anyone know what Smyth said/did this time (other than stand up) to get the tech from everyone's favourite ref in the NBL, David Weeks?

Cooper the Sixer with the most court time, never thought that would happen!!

Yep foul shots were bad.............
we shot 53 of them and only hit 33!
What i thought turned the game was when Maher got fouled by Grabau on a loose ball get and it didnt get called, then Cattalini took it to the hole for a basket and the foul.
Phil had every right to be angry about the no call on Maher, But he should have more brains (swearing at the ref) for a tech foul, giving the Taipans 3 foul shot and posession. Cat hit the bonus shot and both free throws, making a 4 point game a 9 point game in seconds. Im just devo cause if that foul was called on Grabau, Sixers have posession down by 4 with 4 mins to play and we would've taken that sh!t

ohh yeah cal's bruton that matchup was the difference alrite (sarcastic) i thought the ninja had some great hustle plays and did a lot more than his 5pts suggests. and i thought matt smith was great (yes it was crap D, i know) but i think he was probably there most important player.

AND DID WE NOT LEARN OUR LESSON FROM THE LAST TIME WE PLAYED ANTHONY STEWART?!?

yep credit to ng got some big offensive rebounds.

Ng needs to go, Hes there to score 3's when the team needs them and just doesnt. The efforts he puts in are only highlighted because he is so small.
What did Smyth say for the tech foul??? I did alot of talk from the Taipans coach that was allowed so how come Smyth stood up and was pinged instantly, AGAIN.

Umpiring was shit again, theres absolutely no consistancy in their calls and most of them are just BAD.

The game was doomed the minute Geoff Weekes showed his ugly face on court. Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't this his first game back after the Abney/Hill disaster? I think he had revenge on his mind for the Adelaide side that wouldn't relent to his blatantly mistaken call. The free throw shooting killed us, but good refereeing could have negated that. With the score difference, the task was not insurmountable.

On a positive note, it was great to see the number of hard drives to the basket by several players. I have no idea of the actual stats but it seemed to me that we drew a foul on the vast majority - although it was a pity we couldn't make the charity shots!!

Coops was the Sixers most consistent player tonight in what was the best performance I have seen from him. And that was with him missing any sort of help side defence without Nash around.

Seeing Coops drive to the basket so often spoke of a hidden potential that we have yet to see from the big guy, and yes, he got to the line as well almost every time. Too bad a few of the layups didnt drop and he cant hit a freethrow to save himself.

Smith for them was good too, but essentially they were playing two types of offence:

1. Camp two guys under the basket for the bullet pass inside; and

2. Drive past the non existent perimiter presences of Maher, Farley and to a lesser extent Ng for a layup or dish to the corner.

Other than Coops, not too much defence being played out there, and (hate to admit it) we missed Nash to hold it together.

lol

Slow start, but did OK. They looked to be trying to get Owens and Thornton going inside, but we held them out. Then in the second half as others have said, we got beaten by open threes or easy plays for Smith inside - he had two or three dunks in one part.

Then, though they were down, the crowd were still believers until the T, and then the gap was simply too much to bring back.

Maher well held early. Cooper probably team best, just could've had a superb game by converting a couple more layups and hitting from the stripe a little better. Good to see Majstro and Timmons penetrating, event if it didn't pay off every time.

Farley and Maher were great from the line (both are top ten in the league), but the rest need to work on their free throws or they'll have even less chance in Perth where the Wildcats have fouled Sydney out of a game in the past by making them earn every point from the stripe.

I thought the referees were decent last night, for whatever that's worth.

Why would a ref have "revenge" on his mind? I mean, seriously. Because a team was saying that a foul should've been unsportsmanlike weeks ago? That's laughable.

The game was doomed the second he stepped on court, EC - so you had no faith in the ability of the team to beat Cairns? It was all the fault of one referee?

As others have already outlined, it's pretty hard to put this one down to the refs when we got to the line 53 times, and the foul count was against the opposition.

35% from the field. 20 missed free throws. There's all you need to know, right there.

Anyone know how many went? There seemed to be quite a few people there.

5,475

5,475. Aided a bit by kids from local basketball camps being run. Solid crowd.

And the best thing is that the club still has room to move (next season especially) if results improve, etc.

Move geographically? ;)

No, crowd numbers. Where's the club going to move geographically?!

Our shooting was definitely poor, but you have to give it to the intensity of Cairns' perimiter defence. Our offence appeared to be completely unable to manufacture an open look from beyond the three point line.

Anyone else think that Mee has got Maher's measure? Mee appears to be the only guy in the league that can consistently rattle and shut down Maher, and particularly his favoured free throw line jumpshot. I cant remember the last time Maher came out best in that match up.

To a brand spanking new stadium in the CBD.

You put it in Victoria Square, thereby solving the problem of what to do with that as well.

Or, you get rid of a stretch of that pesky parkland surrounding the CBD that's been hanging around for ever and put a new stadium there.

You then create a new suburb to surround this new stadium, it's called 36ertown. All the streets are named after former players, and they also run the shops/businesses: ie Mick Corkeron is the postie, Chris Blakemore runs the deli, and so forth.

I suppose you're going to ask me how all this will be financed?

First game of the season for me and it ended up as a lose. I'm banning myself for attending other games (bar the Sydney game in Sydney).

Two things that stood out for me was the terrible rotation on defence in covering the Cairns shooters. How many times to Stewart, Grabau and Boodnikoff spot up and hit?? I think it was in the 2nd, Stewart had a corner three and the closest defender was Cooper inside the key... Rubbish rotation. Drive and kick killed us all night long.

Another problem, can some please teach our guys how to defend the high post pick and roll. Smith (who the *#& is he) killed us with the pick and roll. From memory he got three dunks in the last quarter all of picks and rolls.

Highlight of the night was that absolute nasty block where I think it was Darnell took to strong to the rack and Coopz blocked it at the rim. It was either going to be a nasty dunk or a nasty block, lucky for us it was the block.

I won't mention Farleys shot selection....

Some glaring short comings.
Free throws, but not all players.
Ball hogging and very poor shot selection in the crunch.
Noticed one player cannot do layups, he missed 5 pt blank shots.
We don't have enough meat in the locker against the top clubs. They all have 7 footers, we don't think they are necessary. Our team must be outweighed by 50-100kg.
Some players have off nights with their shooting, but still have a licence to continue shooting even at cruch time.
Offence appears non existent,when the team is under pressure.
Played a great first half, with sharp passes, and everyone shooting, had the Taipans scratching at times. Could not sustain it when it counted.

The thing that really get up everyones crack is there are to different Sixers. The ones that shoot the ball well, play tough D and can beat nearly anybody and the hopeless, heartless Sixers. If only the good sixers could show up every night (not just 10% of the time) then have a real team on our hands.

How are they going to finance it Bo?

A Jerry Dennard nude calender

I think people just like to bag the team. They come on here just to complain, its an increasing problem on the internet and one of the reasons theres no longer a forum on the Adelaide site.

Why bag coopers missed layups when for everyone of them he had 3 defenders on him, I think its great hes playing how he is.

Mee probaly does know Mahers game, remember when they played together....

Smyth called a timeout when they were 6 points down in the 4th, the team came out and did the same thing as before the timeout

Farley shoots because he knows he can make the shot and like copeland he shoots better under pressure, thats his game so get over it.

ditto to that skudpud

Isaac, I covered the fact that the foul shooting killed us, but the refs could have done a better job. It may have made the difference in spite of the poor shooting. I don't know where all you posters sit, but I sit amongst a huge group of people who have a good knowledge of the game and Weekes is thoroughly abused for his calls. I also notice the crowd booing his calls consistently. Also tell me where I went wrong in saying the game was doomed the minute Weekes walked on the court? That's exactly what happened.

"I sit amongst a huge group of people who have a good knowledge of the game ..."

Yet you can't get the name right of a referee who's been involved in the game at the highest level for longer then you've probably known the sport even existed.

If you're going to make comments such as blaming the refs for a loss then please back it up with some specifics as to what they did.

Smyth is notorious for riding referees all game and doing it in a very disrespectful manner. He may not pace the sideline or yell at the refs in a way that the crowd would be aware of it but trust me he says plenty.

Clark & everyone else who I need to tell for a 3rd time, I mentioned the poor foul shooting in my first post. As for specifics to back my claim, how many 3 seconds in the keyway rule were called? How many travels were called on the opposition, I personally witnessed and counted 6. One instance of the ball in the hands of the opposition and stepping outside the boundary line, not called. Jumping up over our players from behind resulting in a push, several instances not called. The number of warnings to the Cairns bench yet no Tech called. Is this enough or shall I go on? Believe it not I actually go to the games to watch the games. I observe what happens on court. I also shout out exactly the same complaints that many nearby do. I think we must see a different game from the angle we are watching, but I can assure you we are not all blind to the same things at the same time.

EC glad you don't referee me, I can tell you for sure (knowing various people along the benches score table etc) that whilst Black was riding the refs all game he didn't step over the line (as opposed to Phil who does most games and is lucky he doesn't get for techs called on him) - he was mostly asking questions and doing it in a much better way than Phil ever does. Granted they were warned when they all jumped up to remonstrate a call Black was told to make them sit and I don't believe they got up again to remonstrate a call.

If I happen to sit near you in the south stand half way up - most of the people who are there shouting out know stuff all because, and if you happen to sit where I was sitting last year top of the northern stand in the NW end - they know almost as much.

Sadly most people shouting things know are biased towards their teams. There weren't lots of 3 second calls missed, its 3 seconds then the call so it is closer to 4 seconds anyway - it isn't the 2 seconds that the crowd want it called as. Travels, hmm the main travel that I can now remember was the AJ one in front of the team bench, that was definitely travel from where I was - can you give me any times when these so called travels occurred.

I go to the basketball as an umpire (so yes you can shoot me down as a ref apologist) and like to look critically at the umpires so that I can improve my game. Having said that I have been a 36ers fan for longer than I have been an umpire and definitely like to enjoy my basketball.

I cant believe no one has mentioned what I thought was the biggest problem of the night with the umpiring the hanging on the runners/cutters and shirt grabbing. Is it the new defensive tactic - most teams do it these days - maybe the 36ers should do to body suits (no thanks!!!) because that is the only way it is going to stop. And the other thing was Horvath and his elbows - has he been watching Dee Ranford play - because he needs to tuck his wings in - I think he is lucky that Cat controlled himself last night - if Cat had really lashed out and hit him decently with that frustration elbow to the back of the head we could have had another long term injury.

It may have made the difference in spite of the poor shooting.

I also notice the crowd booing his calls consistently.

Also tell me where I went wrong in saying the game was doomed the minute Weekes walked on the court? That's exactly what happened.

IF the 36ers spend next month watching the NBL play-offs on television they will have no-one to blame but themselves and their dismal free throw shooting.

Maybe we could get the 36ers to buy one of Ed Palubinskas's videos?
http://freethrowmaster.com/Freethrow/About/about.html

Isaac, I have a right to how I feel. Call it women's intuition or whatever. I will have you know that I walked into the stadium last night full of confidence. I was going to watch a team that just beat Melbourne in Melbourne, a team who beat
Sydney in Sydney, a team who beat 3 out of the top four teams with the fouth to come at home in 2 weeks time. I had confidence they could have taken that game as well. The minute Weekes walked into the stadium, it all changed. It was not retrospective at all. I could have told you we were to lose the game last night before tip off. Whatever you call it (ESP if you like), I can't help my intuition coming to fruition. Now if I attributed that to the choice of refs, then something in my mind told me that it was correct. Apart from my mindset, I witnessed many fouls not being called. The extra possession of the ball could have easily made up the 12 point difference. That is all I am saying, I haven't for a minute forgotten about the damage the foul shooting did. I also sense huge frustration from the team and coach at the quality of umpiring. That alone gets your mind off track and concentration on the game lost. It happens to all of us when under pressure. Things just don't go right when under pressure because your mind is to pre occupied and not free to concentrate on the task at hand. There is also so much inconsistency in the way the game is called. Even professional basketballers would get confused over what goes and what doesn't with the particular refs they are dealing with at the time. If the refs want to call a pushing foul, then do it at both ends. All I ask for is consistency.

Do you think you might've mostly noticed the supposed "wrong calls" that went against the 36ers?

Many, many fans at the Dome will boo a call against the 36ers even if it's the correct call. Haven't noticed any boo a call that incorrectly favours their team!

I think it would be interesting if you sat down with a game tape (especially this one just been) and watched it with a referee evaluator.

At a Sturt game last season, I remarked upon a play that I thought was definitely incorrectly called. Trevor Baker, who obviously knows the rules better than I do and better than you do, was sitting next to me and explained why the call from the referee was correct. Made me realise how often my judgement of a call's accuracy would probably be wrong.

No coach, no player, no journalist and no fans on here seemed to have endorsed your theories on the referee with revenge on his mind, or that the referees were a significant factor for this game.

I'm surprised you haven't reconsidered your assertion in light of the views by people with a greater knowledge of the game.

Overwhelmingly, the collective assessment seems to be that the poor accuracy from the line, poor defense on perimeter shooters and poor defense on Smith in the latter stages of the game cost us the win. A sprinkling of blame on poor shot selection in the crunch and maybe the technical foul, but not a whole lot about the vengeful ref IMO.

yeah boti hasn't even mentioned the refs so there couldn't possibly have been a problem

(well I haven't seen it mentioned)

EC,

When I walked into the stadium and saw that there were kids playing in the pregame I thought DAMN 36ers have no hope now if this is the the entertainment they're putting on pre-game!!

And I was right!

IMO they lost because of the kids playing in the pre game, completely threw their mind set off.

What a genius I am; and I'm not even female!

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

EC - My ESP/female intuition told me that when we lost Oscar and Jacob and signed Copeland our season was doomed - looks like my intuition has come to fruition too!

Also I might suggest that you look at the refereeing schedule in future before you go to games to ensure you dont waste your time going to games that we have zero chance of winning!

That is the funniest post since someone said they helped there team to championships as the court announcer.

For what it is worth, I believe every game does actualy get evaluated and the three umpires watch all the questionable calls/no calls on tape straight after the game.

EC, could you please let me know what the lotto numbers will be for Saturday night?

EC will win; unless Weekes does the draw in which case we've all got no hope of winning it!

I don't know if I'm guilty of getting off track earlier, but can everyone play the ball, not the man here. Last time I think some of these needling-type jokes at Dana's expense may have been interpreted as bullying rather than people simply registering their disagreement with her POV.

I often think EC makes some outrageous one-eyed observations, but she is a strong fan otherwise I don't think I would respond to her comments as extensively.

Firstly, let me say EC I do not at all agree with your views. However they are you views and you are entitled to them.

Secondly, whilst I'm sure Isaac you did not intend to "open the door", history tends to indicate whenever you have a go at someone......the dickheads seem to think it's then open season for them to follow suit.

Like life itself, the world tends to have only two sorts of people, leaders and followers.

Fiji

I think I've made my opinions of EC's posts quite clear before Isaac said anything.

Please don't refer to me as a dickhead in future.

We're both dickheads in our own right, thank you very much! ;)

Stick to the facts everyone. At least I backed up my arguments with geniune observations of the game. Not one person said they witnessed a certain number of violations committed by the Sixers which were not called to justify consistency. You don't have to agree with me, just state the facts to back up your disagreement. School yard bullying is not going to support your claim. You're lucky I have responded in this way, normally I wouldn't waste my time on such nonsence. I welcome anyone to give specifics about the game that is contrary to what I said.

EC, if the calls you mentioned had gone in favour of the Sixers, the only difference in the outcome of the game is that we would have missed 30 foul shots instead of 20!

Lightning show how to hit foul shots.

they hit 18/21

Lindsay 2/2
Gahan 11/12
Woosnam 5/7

Sixers hit anywhere near that % and they would have won easy.