Hoops

Game Day: Sixers Vs Breakers

You are probably both right.
Oscar is a 15min bench player who needs others to create so that he can get open. He had a year left on his contract, Phil (similar player to Penney and Oscar) was a victim of the Points system and being only an average defender.
Either Abercrombie or Boucher have to be on court at SF spot for entire game. Boucher can hurt us at the offensive end but he is a smart player who can pass. Abercrombie is still a little young and settles too much for the 3 rather than putting on floor and attacking opponent.
Lemanis has misplaced faith in Oscar's ability.
We only have outside fire power which relies on the defence co operating and getting hot ourselves. It is low %. We need a more balanced attack ie an inside game.

That's okay Bill, don't want you Kiwis getting too cocky with all this title favourites stuff going around! :-P

Why Boucher didn't play much against the Sixers is a good question. I wish I knew, since I foolishly put him in my starting fantasy lineup this week thinking with two games he'd have to put up some decent numbers!

Interesting that Trueman and Pledger are similar players and Trueman is on the bench while Pledger has yet to suit up. I'm guessing that bodes poorly for me too since Pledger is my backup centre on the same fantasy team! D'oh!

What do you think of the possibility of bringing Oscar off the bench for some teams and using either Abercrombie or Boucher as a defensive stopper against the quicker SF's? Or does that happen already anyway? Seems like the obvious move, since you're not exactly short of firepower with Penney, CJ and Rickert on the court!

Thanks Beantown, I feel better already.
We have some good defensive players, Henare, Abercrombie, Boucher, Awvee (defending PF), and CJ (defending SG) would be a decent 5 but of course we suffer at the offensive end.
Why did Boucher play so little against Sixers?

Pledger is a development player or non travelling reserve.
Did not make the bench G1 either.
Doesn't seem to figure in Lemanis's plans at this stage and possibly, understandably so. Plays facing basket, very good 15-20' set shot. Not real strong but rebounds OK. Probably needs bringing along slowly, but definitely should be playing.
There is also Jeremiah Trueman 6'10" (played College ball) who has yet to hit court.
Another face the basket type, long arms.

Bill, you're absolutely right, but just wondering if you think you have the players to stop dribble penetration consistently? As you point out, Oscar and Rondaldson get burned that way, but I would add CJ to that list and neither Penney nor Storey seem that adept at it either. Maybe Abercrombie needs to be thrown in a lot more, but is he ready and does he pose the same threat from long range? I definitely feel your pain at seeing your team give up dribble penetration all the time, because that has basically been the Sixers for the past few years!

On the inside game, Rickert always seems pretty effective to me, so the Breakers should be able to get a more balanced scoring attack through him. The other inside presence you could utilise is Pledger, who showed he can do some damage against the Boomers. Just wondering why he is not with the team at the moment and if you think he will play a bigger role later in the season?

Loco, I emailed her last week - got it from the Sixers site I think - and she got back to me pretty fast. You're right about our offence stagnating too. I felt we were too slow at times to go back to what should be our bread and butter - Ballinger for a post up shot.

Paul, agree about the high screen, but you can add Hill in there too. He might even be a better option than Groves in that scenario! Was really impressed with him on Saturday. He absolutely jumped out of the gym on a few plays, including a turn around jumpshot where he elevated over the defender and put it in from just outside the key.

That is an absolute coaching faux pas, Oscar trying to stop Hill or Croves on the drive.
Its either to the line or dish for an easy open look.
We cannot afford to play Oscar in the 4th quarter because each possesion is magnified.
The same applies to Ronaldson who can only mark slow opposition Centres down the stretch, but can at least score in the low block.
Combined with an unhealthy obsession with the three (almost 40% of our shots), giving up dribble penetration as a team, make us vulnerable to being upset by anyone.
Lemanis needs to focus on an inside game plan and getting players to deny dribble drives.

Offtopic... but does anyone know when is a good time to get hold of Marie re: Apollo pre-game dining bookings? Getting message bank.

Cheers for the feedback.

So you're saying a Ricky Grace-era Wildacts type offence? The penetrate and dish style?

I did notice when the dribble drive offence broke down, we began setting screens for the cut through baseline / flair to the 45 style motion.

Great win from the Sixers - was loving it.

Did anyone else feel our offence stagnated though? Seemed to be a lot of cases down the stretch where we were flat footed / no movement. Resulted in some one on one / create for yourself plays.

Still, early days for the team.

And I LOVE Gilly's attitude - guy walks on the court like a Pitbull then backs it up.

John that looks like awesome quality video for streaming. I will be extremely chuffed if I can watch a game with that much quality for $5 this season!

I liked the huddle too. Very Detroit Pistons with Gilly playing the role of Sheed. Hope they keep it and add to it, because it is something a lot of the crowd won't have seen before and really conveys a strong team spirit.

From memory starters were:

Sixers
Burston
Balls
Herbie
Super Grover
Gilly

Breakers
Rickert
Forman
Storey
Penney
CJ

According to livestats starting fives

Breakers 36ers

Rickert Burston
Storey Ballinger
Forman Herbert
Penney Groves
CJ Gilchrist

props on the win, it seems the Breakers were well out played

that's a pimp set up you got there John! The best way to watch the game at home...

Thanks for that Paul, Will def be giving it a crack through to the LCD next home game ;)
Used to run NBA Broadband through no probs..

Nice stats screen too, just use my laptop for that.

DJ, don't know about a PC screen, but it was good enough to be shown on a 50 inch plasma, with stats alongside on a 46 inch LCD, thus:



Streaming Example

Great win by the guys!
Thre a fiver on them at $2.33 without alot of confidence but I'll take it for sure!

Awesome job with the live streaming, couldn't get on myself cause I was at a bucks party but will make every effort to tune in to all home games from here on in. $5 is nothing for the beauty to see the guys in action!!!

Can anyone who did tune in give us a bit of a review of the quality v size etc. Ie worth going full screen on pc, than thus running through TV or just small window stuff.

Hopefully the Dome can become a force!

Greatw in by the 6ers. I admit I picked it wrong.

A very good performance and the team did Maher proud.

NBL review: http://linky.com.au/hleqt

Ahh this humble pie tastes good!
Well done 36ers, 44 points in paint to our 25, is that true??
Breakers perimeter offence will only get us so far. Once again, affirms we need an inside game. Rickert 18 points but only 10 shots in the game, what is Andrei doing?
Awvee comments interesting.....
Great result for Adelaide and the League.

Couldn't watch the online coverage since I was at the game, but I am really impressed that someone has decided to get it happening. Will happily pay $5 to give it a go when I can't make it to the games. Is also a great service for people who live interstate or regionally and can't make the trip to Adelaide for games very often too - could open up a whole new market if done right!

Had a great night out tonight, making my first visit to the Apollo for tea before the game. Good food and more professional than I thought it would be with staff greeting you on the way in and a maitre'd to direct you to your table. Never realised what a great view you get of the court from up there. Had fun watching the nail-biter between PAC and Saints through the window!

Great seeing Mahersy's singlet unfurled up there next to my other favourite Sixer Mark Davis pre-game. A well-earned accolade if I ever saw one.

Onto the game and I was really happy with the look of our team. For the first time in years we actually have athletes capable of pressuring our opponent defensively. What's more, it looks like Ninnis has been drilling few things into them, with some good trapping early in the game, well organised full court defence at times and players that generally did an excellent job of fighting through the Breakers myriad of screens to contest their shooters. Great stuff Scotty and team.

Gilchrist was excellent and I think equal top scored with Balls in the end, without ever having to force much at all. At the same time, it was also great to see an import who knows when a game is on the line and step up accordingly. That three he drained to really capitalise on our momentum was a good example and you could just see his intensity go up at key times. Nice block on CJ at one stage too!

Balls bounced back like we all knew he would. Get him the ball 15' and in and he will score all night long unless our opponent doubles him.

Outside those two, Groves was nice and aggressive early to get us off to a good start and then finished strongly as well. He looks solid to me - don't see why he can't have a good season - and I fully expect him to have at least a couple of 30 point nights too!

Hill looks like he is getting back into the swing of things after his injury lay off and will likely win the starting SF slot pretty soon if he keeps performing like he did tonight. Great to see him growing in confidence. With a bit more experience, I think he can become a top notch scorer in the NBL before too long.

Holmes didn't score a lot as usual, but he was in there fighting for everything and made some good defensive plays late in the game that put off some critical Breakers shots. A valuable contribution tonight.

Darren Ng came out smoking hot and nailed three long bombs in the first half. He can be an excellent weapon for us off the bench if we set some screens to get him open and give him a license to shoot. Like Hill I think just needs to have confidence in what it is he does well (catch and shoot) and back himself to do that every game, whether the shots go in or not.

Burston a bit quiet, but understandable given his interrupted pre-season and the fact that Rickert is a real handful with his aggression and hustle - wish we had him on our team!

Anyone else see that pass by CJ near the end to get Ronaldson an open shot from the FT line? That was top drawer under all sorts of pressure from Gilchrist. You could really see CJ step it up there in the last couple of minutes and I can see why he has been the Boomers starting point for a few years now. Fortunately, Gilly challenged him and made him earn his shots, a couple of open looks the Breakers got didn't go down and the Sixers were able to walk away with an excellent win to get their season rolling.

Looking forward to seeing this team develop throughout the season. On tonights performance though, I think they are definitely capable of a top four finish and could do better depending on how well Perth gels and how Melbourne goes without Anstey.

Penney is a freak. Get some money on him now for MVP while the odds are still reasonable.

Some of the shots he got off tonight were amazing. He was well guarded and only needed a fraction of a second to get the ball off.

B-Easy .. pretty good. ( although I didn't notice Groves getting for selfish play.. anyways I thought he was very good at 2 and pretty good back Gilchrist for a while also. )

Sadly Skip, I don't think so!

Everyone around me enjoyed it Skip.
And, when NZ got 4 or 5 offensive rebounds in a row with 2 mins to go had us going ( and Ninnis also by the look of him).

Aw- almost forgot about Holmes getting one from half way or maybe even longer..gotta sanding ovation.

Burston apparently played with an injection in his hand, and therefore couldn't really get a feel for the ball.

Team has a lot of promise. Defence was greatly improved from last year, with Herbert and Gilchrist regularly getting over the screens and getting a hand in the face. Penney is just a freak of nature though, it really is justabout trying to limit the damage.

Also love the uptempo game that Gilchrist, Hill and Darren were playing, put a lot of scoreboard pressure on in the first half. Groves played a valuable game. Herbert is like a terrior in defence. Didn't quite get his way in offence tonight as the open looks didn't drop. Ng will cause some difficulty for tams off the bench this year. Knocked down 3 sweet threes tonight. Hill also had a great contribution.

But the stars if this team are Ballinger and Gilchrist. Gilchrist is a real find. Ballinger efficient and deadly as always.

Mahersy's doing the post game interviews this year. Not a bad start, but I must say as much as I like Brett, I will miss Sapper's interview tachnique! Also, the players need to be sent up to the post game interviews a bit quicker. Was about 40 minutes beforethe speaches started tonight.

Were there any Cornettos Jack Toft?

Top Game

Breakers were dirty IMO, Ronaldson just grabbed all night like a bloke on double time.

Laughed at the end when #4 fouled on purpose - no call.

Holmes and Groves Excellent in D. Gilly and Balls in O.

Felt sorry for Coops - how many TOs have you have in a minute

It was 46##. Cant remember the last two numbers.

They didn't call anything out - but I reckon it will be 4500..

4500 there I'd say (a few more would have made it better. A good game by the closeness of the score.
Burston a bit quieter than I thought he was gonna be.
Maybe Gilchrist Ballinger Groves 3-2-1.

Hey does anyone know if they have an ATM at the dome again? i know they had one last year but im hoping its back, i don't remember seeing one at the pre season games!

Will this be $5 per game or $5 and you will get streaming all year?

Sixers Make No Extra Money = No Sixers! :-(

In your opinion who do u think won the dance off between the cheerleaders and the navy seals?

Oh Yeah Long Weekend...Brett Maher's singlet retirement, its all happening in A-Town!

Long weekend aswell =D