Cam "Cannon" Gliddon once again dropping triples against the Sixers in the Fortress in consecutive away games for his team. Photo by Zimbio
While Gliddon dropped the winning triple, it was the work and basketball IQ through the majority of the game through the ex’s in Jason Cadee, Adam Gibson but particularly the most recent departure of Matt Hodgson that did the majority of the infiltrate and destroy mission of the Bullets.
THE WRAP Q BY Q
The first quarter saw Jacob Wiley show of his energy and prowess early as he exposed the “bear” Cam Bairstow at different times but matching his was Hodgson on the O boards as well who came out with a fired up energy and renewed beast mode thriving under Coach Andre Lemanis’s system. Gliddon got himself going early with two triples with the two teams trading bucket for bucket. A string of Majok Deng points saw the Sixers leading this one early 31-24 however at quarter time.
The second quarter belonged early to Wiley Coyote as he ate up the O boards like a late night Hungry Jacks burger run (sponsors can thank me later on for the plug…) as he picked up a string of points in the process. The cameraman got an offensive foul from a desperate Brendan Teys with the Sixers determined to test new Bullets import Lamar Patterson as he sat down with four personal fouls in the first half and no “Kobe”. An 8-0 run launched through Daniel Johnson forced the timeout from Brisbane who then turned the game. The Bullets getting on an 11-4 run to close the quarter on the back of Cadee and Hodgson closing the gap to 55-50 at the half.
The Bullets launched a 7-0 run to start the third quarter with Gliddon and Te Rangi, with the Sixers not scoring 3 minutes into the third quarter ended through a patchy Adris Deleon. Gibson then hit a triple pushing the Bullets out to a 61-69 causing Coach Joey Wright to insert rookie Bijan Johnson into the game before Gibson dropped another triple. The Sixers trailing by 12 points then quick as a flash started their run through the big young giant Harry Froling, BJ, Doyle, Teys, DJ and Nathan Sobey. Bullets young centre Will Magnay missed a couple of free throws but not only did the crowd erupt in delight of free cheeseburgers but also slammed it down with a rim-shaking dunk from Sobey. The scores level amazingly at three quarter time on the back of another famous playing of the tune “Moskau”.
Gliddon opened the final quarter with a triple, Sobey followed with a deuce as the teams traded bucket for bucket through the quarter. Te Rangi tried to go around Wiley with some dance steps to which Wiley then denied his request to tango before Gliddon continued the rain making show hitting another triple and looking like the potential match winner. Hodgson slammed one down off a beautiful curling under bucket pass from Bairstow. Gliddon nailed another one but with 2 minutes to go the Sixers went on a 7-0 run through Deleon with a great dribble move and penetration. DJ then finished the and1 and Sobey with the head fake and drive finishing with the left over the two biggest defenders all after a Deleon charging foul at the other end from Cadee. With 0.6 seconds to go Gliddon drilled the dagger from the corner for a career high of 30 points as the Bullets won consecutive games against the Sixers for the first time since 2007 silencing the entire arena for a rare time in the finish.
COACH SPEAK
Sixers Coach Joey Wright lamented his teams lack of consistent defence which ultimately cost his team the victory in the final seconds but also was positive as he described what needs fixing. “The positive is we lost the same way, that’s a positive so if we stop doing that then we might win. Right now we haven’t stopped doing it. We have the capabilities but right now we haven’t hurt enough.”
Bullets Coach Andre Lemanis with no timeouts left, literally left it up to the players to draw up the “AIS” style play for the win. “That was purely discussed and players took up with that on their own. They took the advantage of the delay getting the ball in and discussed one and came up with another one (play).”
DO THE STATS LIE?
The Sixers had a rare match where they smashed the points in the paint 58-40 but also only hit 25 percent from the three point line. The Sixers had only four scorers in double figures but three other players were close with 6 points or more but the Sixers are clearly missing Ramone Moore and his double figure contributions in these key stats.
The Bullets Cam Gliddon has now won 11 of 12 games when scoring 20 points or more for his side while the team shot 38 percent from beyond the arc (from 34 attempts) and apart from one game have won all their games when they have shot 38 percent or more. This was also Matt Hodgson’s second game for double figures and is now averaging 4 points more than the championship runner-up season he had with the Sixers.
WHATS NEXT FOR THE SIXERS
The Sixers next up have the best possible scenario to get back on the horse in continuing their conquering run against the Kings, or is it? Right now the Sixers can’t afford to underestimate their next opponent and drop their intensity for the next game so I’m worried about playing a team we have a exceptional record against. A number of things could happen before Saturday that will determine how the Sixers approach the Kings. Will Ramone Moore come up and will Adris Deleon silence the critics? Can the Sixers get back to their style of up tempo defence and create more fast break baskets which they have seriously lacked in each of their losses? This is a good indicator of the Sixers defensive intensity in a reward for effort kind of way.
There is one threat that can snap this streak and no its not the Bogey man, or De-Lisch and Newls. It’s Randle, if the Sixers are remotely off Jerome like a shark will smell blood in the water and snap the Sixers single-handedly from his play and if there’s one thing about winning streaks, the more they stretch the closer they are to ending and an end this weekend coming will cause the Sixers fans and NBL media to start circling.
Du Duh … Du Duh … Du Duh Duh Duh …
ADELAIDE 36ERS 90 (D JOHNSON 19, SOBEY 18, DRMIC, WILEY 13) LOST TO BRISBANE BULLETS 93 (GLIDDON 30, HODGSON 15, TE RANGI 13)
CROSS OVER DRIBBLE 