Hoops

Post Melb - Sixers Fan

If you can get stops though it gives you the opportunity to run and the game takes on a different dimension.
Its hard pyschologically starting from under your hoop and puts some much more pressure on your half court game.
To me you zone as a change up and not for long OR you are trying to contain bigger opponents OR the opposition can't shoot from perimeter.

Can't believe you guys zone to the degree Big Marty says.
It's easy pickings for spot up shooters. There is no accountability in defense and to top it off it is hard to get any semblance of energy out on court.
And against Melbourne it's what they want because they can pick there moment and where to attack.

Pity Gilchrist hasn't quite made the mark hoped for. He seems fragile goods at this stage and teams are backing off him and challenging his ability to hit from deep.
It looks like you've got two imports trying to do the same thing and neither doing it very well. If he can handle ball why aren't Sixers running on balls?
From what little I have seen of your offence and reading all of your posts, it looks like 5 out watching some guy with ball trying to penetrate and create.

At least if Hood Sweeney pull out now, we're a lock in for Hoover as a major sponsor given the degree of sucktitude.

I agree with Bretts the man, Jacob was our only player playing with heart last night, although i love Ballinger, and he IS our best player, but im not entirely convinced he should be our captain! If you look at every little huddle we have it's Jacob Holmes who's doing all the talking. Anyway a disappointing loss lets hope we bounce back sooner rather than later...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_defense#Advantages_of_playing_a_zone_defense

"Zones tend to be weak on the perimeter, so they are not very effective against teams with good outside shooters."

"Therefore, teams wanting to slow down the tempo of a game will often choose to play zone."

Which is exactly what baffled me last night. We're down by 12, because of the opposition hitting shots, and there's 4 minutes left.

So....we slow the game down and continue to give the opposition perimeter shots?

Sixers need to stop playing Zone Defence; and need to man up more. For the past 5 years that i've been going to home games, it seems to be the ONLY defensive play the team knows. What happened to the Breakers game, where basic man-to-man defence shut down the Breakers interior game. Why can't we play like that EVERY game; what made that game so special?

It was also evident last night that while Groves can play point, he can't run the game for the side. There was no floor leader last night and it showed with a multitude of double-teams, and players blocking one anothers passing lanes. While Gilchrist does the job when he has his mind on it, there is no proper backup point for the team.

The only good thing to come from last night was Holmes. He's proved again that he is the core of the team. The man just has a sixth sense for Rebounding and should be applauded for his efforts last night. If the team looked at getting him more jump shots, he would be a double-double man every night of the week.

P.S Fess, that made total sense now that the beers have worn off.

So venting of frustrations aside - where does the side go from here? What has to happen to turn it around?

Personally, I want to see Ng play more of a role... but I've been biased in that regard for about 3 years.

I think 'Tez started to come good.

How much can be attributed to Burston's absence?

In Ballinger's case, life was much easier with Luke on the other side fo the key and Brett spotting up - mroe threats for the defence to focus on.

"Once upon a time, melodrama aside, pulling on a Sixers uniform meant you'd have your shoulder smashed out of it's socket on an inbound pass and you'd STILL wanna fight the Tigers. You didn't get intimidated or pushed around or bullied.

Tonight?

We laid down and died."

+1 to that.

I didn't mind the huddle previously (I kinda looked the other way) but it seemed so out of place after the Perth demolition.

P.S Never post after angry loss beers.

Lol... the glory days of Sapwell! He'd be loving that quote.

I wasn't at the game, mercifully. I know what you mean though, Loco. Harden up, Sixers!

Agreew ith the lack of desperation, hunger and fight. It seems like the team is lacking an on-court leader - someone that pulls the team together and leads by example.

Why keep talking about Burston and getting rid of the guy when the Tigers come without Anstey & Knight and still handed the sixers their ass!

This goes way deeper than lack of players.

As for penetration skull, in the first half I had to wonder who was on Hill Gilly and Groves coz they got in the pain without any hassle...

No fight comes from within...if it doesnt start with a player it comes from the sideline..

While the coaches may be able to coach, there is a shitload more to coaching than pulling plays...

Al has both, i'm still not convinced Ninnis has even one of the two!

... no offence man, but i missed the point of the above entirely.

Gilly was buried mentally before tip off. He's better than that.

And for anyone that argues he should have been on? Check the stats and formulate an argument. Please.

They need to forge an identity.

^^^ word for word my sentiments.

Ng is the only pure shooter we have. With Burston sat down, no matter Ballinger's range, we just can't have him pulling up from outside; we simply don't box out well enough.

Ugh. So very frustrating.

You're right Loco, there wasn't enough fight tonight. I think the bigger problem for this team is their inept offence though. Down 10 in the last quarter, even with 6 mins left, I never really felt we were going to bridge the gap, because we just don't have guys who knock down threes, we don't force enough TO's and we look like we have no clue how to read the defence and manipulate it to our advantage.

I think some of it is the team balance - too many drive and dish guys and too few shooters. Its also critical injury problems with Burston and Hill. We can't afford to have those guys unfit. But it starts with Ninnis getting the guys some effective offensive plays and the players executing them properly. I really hope we see something different in Cairns but I'm not holding my breath for a quick turnaround.

I guess we have more questions than answers at this point. I'm not a 'knee-jerk fire the coach / tear the players a new @ss' type guy. But tonight really frustrated me.

I guess the post-Maher era / searching for a team identity was always going to sting.

It's just... wearing a Sixers singlet comes with an expectation for mine. I dunno. go down with a fight, you know?

Im not overly sure at this point in time, even with wins Loco, the guys are doing what they do naturally. I think guys like Herbert have a game style and are being told to do something other than natural in their games.

Agree, the years of going the hard yards to make a fight in a close game have faded away. We get a few close ones but things go our way. The refs changed their style tonight after half time so what we should have done was change our style and fight for it. Shame it didnt happen.

Cant wait for the press conference

Has Darren Ng most definitely signed to play for Sturt next year?