Author: Tristan Prentice

Adelaide 36ers vs. Perth Wildcats
When: 7:00pm (AEDT), Friday 15th November
Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
Broadcast: NBL TV, SBS On Demand/Viceland, Twitch TV

Last times they’ve met:

Rd 24 2019/2020: Perth Wildcats 93 (Cotton 29, White 20) defeated Adelaide 36ers 85 (D Johnson 23) at Perth Arena (The Jungle)

In Adelaide- 17 Jan 2019: Adelaide 36ers 97 (Conger 18, D Johnson 17) lost to Perth Wildcats 84 (White 24) at Titanium Security Arena (The Fortress)

SIXERS SHOT BACK INTO HISTORY

Game 1 Grand Final Series 2014/2015: Brendan who?

Not only was game one a classic NBL Grand Final match but it also completed the rise of Brendan Teys from 10^th man to Joey Wright’s equivalent of the Wildcats number one percent man Damian Martin. Whilst Teys’s story is not quite the gradual rise of the Damian Martin career there are certainly similarities. Martin started at college as a relative no name in Australian basketball suiting up for many team’s benches including the West Sydney Razorbacks and the Sydney Spirit before eventually landing his spot at the Wildcats in 2009/10. Martin then went on to forge his reputation of “Mr One Percenter” in the Wildcats finals campaigns throughout the 2010-2014 finals campaigns.

Teys as Wright described has always been a hard worker and it showed in his commitment. “He had a lot of reason to quit, he lived in Brisbane he used to drive down to the Gold Coast to train with us which was a huge drive each way, he’s worked hard and knows exactly what we want out there on the court and he’s now one of the leaders on this team.” In this classic match, Joey threw Teys into the starting line-up when many thought Jason Cadee or Mitch Creek would start the match, Joey knew he could rely on Teys in such a crucial situation. Teys contributed with a career high 14pts in a game that had it all, physicality, big shots and big plays.

Make sure you go back through the NBL TV archives and watch this one…

Key Match-Ups:

Ramone Moore vs. Terrico White

Terrico has been white hot against the Sixers in recent matches and along with consistent form one of the most dangerous road side duos in the NBL. White scored 20 and 24 points against Adelaide on the road last season and thats the kind of offensive performance that can put the Sixers to the sword. The absence of Moore’s contribution from Adelaide’s loss to United last Sunday puts into perspective how crucial his contribution is both defensively and offensively to the Sixers stopping White from putting on a shooting clinic in the Ken Cole-sseum.

Eric Griffin vs Dario Hunt

Both imports have had some time to adjust to the “NBL” style of officiating and will both play crucial roles in how long they can stay on the floor out of foul trouble as the rebound count is generally an indicator as to how many of the guards get multiple field goal attempts particularly between these two sides. The Wildcats rely heavily on a half court game and dominating the offensive glass to create multiple opportunities for White and Cotton, Hunt has averaged 6 rebounds per game including 2.6 offensive boards which the Sixers will need to stop. On the other side, Griffin has averaged 5 rebounds per game but the longer he’s on the floor, the better the Sixers defence and rim protection is out there with Griffin holding an average of 2.1 rejections per match.

Obi Kyei vs. Majok Majok

If foul trouble is to play a part for the big import post men, the back-up post players and defenders may have a significant say in this one and this is where the Sixers can get an advantage. Kyei is going to have up and down games in his first season but similar to Majok Deng against the Wildcats the last couple of seasons, the athletic big-man is a match-up the Wildcats don’t have an easy answer for. Their best direct match-up is a reinvented Majok Majok but even he’s fairly “straight up and down” as a defender so open court and Obi Kyei will be what the Sixers will be looking for.

The Last Play

It’s really hard to place the Sixers where they are in the title race at this point of the season. Having played less games and taken care of home bar one thrilling loss to the Kings, this Friday is a test of how solid the Sixers are and whether they can take care of their home court. The key to this season is keeping the squad healthy, together, bench depth as when injuries or form hit other teams to make sure they at least take care of their home court as a first priority. I sensed we’d have a flat patch against United last Sunday but getting the Wildcats on the back of a double away road trip right now, we simply can’t afford to drop these games. I do not for one minute underestimate the power or ability of the Wildcats anymore after making that mistake numerous times, I have come to the conclusion there is never an easy game against the Wildcats. If the Sixers take that mentality into this game, they’ll come away with a solid win but if they look at that bench with not much depth and think we stop a couple of guys, those guys will play bigger roles in the Sixers downfall than the Wildcats supporting cast in High School Musical.

The Sixers have to be all in this together…

36ers by 9pts

*This article is a duplicate of an article written for publishing for And The Foul.net and may appear before or after publishing

The usual post-Halloween nightmare of Casper Ware scored 11 of his 14 points in the final 10 minutes when it mattered most - Photo by Getty Images

THE WRAP Q BY Q

The Sixers stunned the Kings with a 6-0 run to open the game with Eric Griffin putting on a glass display early before DJ turned Bogut inside out for a turnaround J. Jack McVeigh responded to his substitution in with a triple right in front of his team-mates bench before a mini-comeback led by Andrew Bogut started to shorten the margin. An unsportsmanlike foul on Obi Kyei tangling with Bogut was fairly adjudicated before Jerome Randle took the Sixers back out again with some buckets rewarding the Sixers defensive end of the floor as they led 24-12 at quarter time.

A 6-26 run from the Kings stunned the Sixers in the second led by import Jae’Sean Tate and Bogut with a Shaun Bruce triple having the Sixers tumble from their early seat on the throne. The Sixers then jumped onto a 7-0 run before the Kings levelled things up through the hot shooting Brazilian tearing strips of the Sixers in next stars Didi Louzada. The Sixers just behind the Kings after conceding 33 points for the quarter 43-45 at the half.

Anthony Drmic lifted the energy early in the third but Bogut’s influence including rejecting Kyei was telling in the match. A nervous moment came for Bogut with then what looked like Bogut’s second unsportsmanlike foul but the video review system found Tate had stolen it off him seconds before which saved Bogut from his second unsportsmanlike foul. Randle went to work to keep the edge on the Kings with the Sixers still trailing at the final change 60-69.

DJ came to life finally as he dropped 8 points in consecutive possesions but even the crowd was raised from their seats as a crazy crossover from Louzada to Tate for the alley-oop jam was warmly appreciated despite the Sixers need for a comeback. Ramone Moore was rolling mid-rangers like shelling peas and DJ was becoming the man that was starting to give the Kings sagging defence headaches. Tate got one on the offensive boards then found a mostly quiet Casper Ware battling a sore ankle open for a massive triple to tie the scores with 45.8 seconds to go. Pick and roll with DJ was the play with Randle slashing through but Tate denied him with the rim protection before Ware gave up an offensive foul at the other end. The last play was drawn up with Randle firing up a contested triple, then DJ had the reverse contested layup with Drmic getting the third board of the play and nearly getting the tip in as the game went to extra bang for your buck 86-86 into overtime.

Bogut dropped the hammer to open the period before a long stretch of almost scores with Randle pushing the Sixers out 91-90.  Louzada brilliance, Ware with a trademark “I’m sinking Adelaide in Adelaide again” iso bucket and Brad Newley from  the free throw line iced the game before Moore got a late long triple. The Sixers were left to rue their chances they had oh so close with the Kings remaining undefeated 98-96.

COACH SPEAK

Sixers Coach Joey Wright rued the chances his team had to topple the undefeated Kings but was overall proud of the effort, “They were too good in overtime and the difference was that they made their shots and we missed shots that we would normally make. There’s a reason why they are undefeated and the top team in the competition,” Wright said. “We had our chances to win in regulation time and Drmic and Johnson had a chance to win it for us but we couldn’t do it in the end. I told the boys to keep their head up, we played as hard as we could and hopefully we can turn things against Melbourne.”

Kings Coach Will Weaver was warmly receptive of his team’s effort defensively when they were challenged in the fourth and overtime period, “This what I love about our team so much they show great composure,” Weaver said. “Defensively we were really good in overtime and Casper Ware might not have had the best shooting night but he did some great things for us tonight.”

DO THE STATS LIE?

Daniel Johnson normally the thorn in the side of Bogut was contained for majority of the game held to just 4 points at three quarter time. In the final quarter he exploded for 13 points in a huge momentum shift for the Sixers. The rhythm the Sixers normally find from the free throw line was disrupted as they were limited to 19 attempts and shot only 68.4 percent from the charity stripe. The Sixers were also limited to 11 fast break points and although they had the “Sixers spread” going its one of the rare games they have lost despite having six scorers in double figures but only had 7 more points from the bench on-top of those scorers.

The Kings stuck to their gameplan keeping the Sixers off the glass with a whopping 71 rebounds to 61. They also despite a match percentage of 25.6 from the perimeter hit just under 45 percent from there in the fourth quarter and overtime when it mattered with Ware and Louzada finding money from the land of plenty. Lucas Walker had an interesting night racking up more fouls than minutes with four, at least he got a bucket to go with it.

WHATS NEXT FOR THE SIXERS

The Sixers missed a golden opportunity to dethrone the Kings but it is fair to say the team has got the right chemistry and personnel this years after watching them for five rounds. The improvements came where they exactly needed to from Anthony Drmic consistently averaging 9.2 ppg and 6.7 rpg, Ramone Moore being a more offensive threat his average up by 6 points per game to 13.8 ppg and the step-up of Jack McVeigh to 9.2 ppg and extended minutes. So we have a team that is competing but the real test with a run of United in Melbourne next week, Wildcats at home then Phoenix again in Melbourne will see if the Sixers are competing in the top four or fighting for a spot in the four.

I am liking the Sixers after five rounds and if we can turn the Ken Cole-sseum or “The Nest” into a passionate environment that we can defend as fans, they are every chance to be amongst the best in the NBL come the latter part of the season…

ADELAIDE 36ERS 96 (RANDLE 23, MOORE 18, D JOHNSON 17, DRMIC 11, FROLING, GRIFFIN 10) LOST TO SYDNEY KINGS 98 (BOGUT 18, LOUZADA 17, TATE 16, NEWLEY 15, WARE 14) IN OVERTIME

*This article is a duplicate of an article written for publishing for And The Foul.net and may appear before or after publishing

Adelaide 36ers vs. Sydney Kings
When: 7:30pm (AEDT), Saturday 2nd November
Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
Broadcast: NBL TV, SBS On Demand/Viceland, Twitch TV

Last times they’ve met:

Rd 2 2019/2020: Sydney Kings 102 (Newley 18, Tate, Kickert 16, Moller 12, Ware 10) defeated Adelaide 36ers 80 (D Johnson 26, Randle 16, Drmic, Moore 10) at Qudos Bank Arena (The Kingdome)

In Adelaide- 10 Nov 2018: Adelaide 36ers 81 (Froling 23) lost to Sydney Kings 93 (Newley 26, Randle 23) at Titanium Security Arena (The Fortress)

SIXERS SHOT BACK INTO HISTORY

January 20 2016: Randle reigns over Kings in “new” Fortress

January 20 2016 remains one of the most iconic games in Sixers modern history, the stranglehold over the Kings was under threat and they were planning to steal the match in the newly refurbished “Fortress of Sixers.” Enter the game where most Sixers fans fell in love with the “Ant-Man” himself Jerome Randle…

He produced a season-best and NBL career-high 41 points at 76 per cent, with 5-of-7 threes running down the Kings in a blistering final term. For almost three quarters the Adelaide 36ers played not very Sixers basketball with the Kings ahead 65-55 with 2:42 left in the third period, Sydney took control of the contest through a first half in which Adelaide seemed to be riding as passengers maybe knowing they’d just get over their bunny team at home yet again.

The Sixers through the dazzling display of Randle blew the Kings lead of 17 points at the final change to kingdom come romping home to a 96-89 finish. The biggest highlight of the quarter was when Randle put ex-Sixer defender Jason Cadee in the spin cycle bringing the crowd and the players to be merely spectators in the “handles” Randle show.

Adelaide 36ers 96 (Randle 41, Ere 19, Creek 15) defeated Sydney Kings 89 (Childress 27, Garlepp 16, Cadee 14, Prewster 10)

Key Match-Ups:

Jerome Randle vs. Casper Ware Jnr

Lets be honest, Casper Ware Jnr has had the wood over the Sixers for many years and rarely has a bad game against them, he averages a career 16 ppg against the Sixers. He is by far in the top three best 2-way guards in the league and that spells trouble for the Sixers however the match-up the Kings always dread as the above shot back in history shows is the Randle one. He averages for the Sixers a staggering 24 ppg against the Kings in his last 6 games prior to this season for them so this ensures to be a compelling match-up of not only which teams aggressive point guard can score but also which team’s defensive men in Kevin White and Sydney’s newly signed replacement player former Sixers import Deshon Taylor can put the stocks on them.

Daniel Johnson vs Andrew Bogut

While the above match-up is a case of King v King, in the chess game between the Sixers this match-up is always an intriguing one and one worth watching. They both play distinctively different styles of offence and defence and in the past DJ has always checkmated Bogut however the last few match-ups including the recent one in Round 2 has seen the points either split even or go to the Bogey man. He is much more fit and has better help side defence to support him this season. Now that he’s adjusted to the “NBL” style of officiating after a few years back, DJ won’t find it so easy and simple as dragging Bogut out to the perimeter on pick and pops, rolls and weak side cuts as he used to.

Harry Froling vs. Daniel Kickert

Froling has been a bit of a thorn in the side of the Kings last season and generally has good games playing against a much smaller bench front court for the Kings. This season they have a bit of extra coverage in that area but the main one that will give Froling a few headaches is Kickert. His offence has the potential to spread the Sixers defence allowing back up forward Craig Moller to crash the O-glass for boards and scores.

The Last Play

Its seems just when we finally reached a breath from the “Revenge of the Ex-Sixers” series, the Kings spring the surprise yesterday of signing Deshon Taylor to the line-up so guess that story line is up again in what is proving to be one of the richest NBL seasons for back-stories in a decade. His signing is a big one for the Kings as they look to start a new reign over the Sixers in Adelaide. The undefeated Kings are going to be one of the toughest match-ups Adelaide face all season and with the basketball IQ driven mind of Will Weaver at the helm, the Kings have all the pieces in place to cause the Sixers their first loss at home. I think this is going to be a really tight contest fought all the way to the finish and after all is said and done, its the Randle vs Ware match-up that will decide this one. History says Ware is the man in Adelaide and I think his 2-way play may be just the slight difference but I hope for the Sixers sake a bit of Randle magic can hoist the Royal blue colours up in the Ken-Cole-sseum.

Kings by 3pts

*This article is a duplicate of an article written for publishing for And The Foul.net and may appear before or after publishing