Hoops

36ers vs Hawks, October 28

Is DJ still going to be MVP?

Just a couple of points from todays effort.

When it comes to 3 point shooting we are really hurtiNg.

Weigh played 33 minutes and only shot 3/5. Only 2 three point attempts. One shot attempt every 6.6 minutes makes him a waste of space offensively, at least in todays game. (Barely better than one shot attemt per quarter.)

I think Weigh is a great potential talent! But. He doesnt seem to have the balls to take on a defender too often. He only seems to attempt lollies. Why hasn't he shown significant and consistant improvement offensivly in the last three years. Why hasn't he been PUSHED to take the ball to the ring more often? He has shown he can do it occasionally. And. Today only 2 three point attempts in 33 minutes. Would a few less minutes help whet his appetite? He seems to be given undeserved court time. I think he should be coming off the bench until he finds a consistant offensive game. Creek or Petrie would be better at this stage in the starting line up!

Mitch Creek. It seems from my limited observation at home games almost like he's being held back deliberately, without enough minutes and today on court with the wrong combinations. It seems rare for a structured play to include him as a shooter. It also appears that if he shows any individuality on the court he is back to the bench fairly quickly. Does he play offensively with more confidence off season I wonder, as I have only seen him in a sixers shirt?

Once again so dissapointing today to see so much talent just doing the mechanical basics and running the routines with such poor outcomes. I cut work to be there and we gave the game away about six minutes in!!!

I've been reading & listening to you all vent now for nearly 3 yrs. It's the coach people!! No cash to do anything & he's a nice guy - HARDEN THE F'' UP! Smyth or even better, Gleeson, could turn this round instantly given the chance with this roster.

Make a move now......

Wow, figured there'd be some activity after that game today.

Some thoughts on individual comments..........

fstos/Jack Toft- that Big O/DJ match up was a fizzer. DJ continues to struggle against physical bigs while Big O has another forgettable game back in Radelaide.

Jack Toft/Orbit- agree, Gordie is a top coach. Adjusted so well and ensured his guys still believed despite Adelaide's crazy start.

King James- hearing you on the small ball stuff. Marty is making a meal of his guard use. Cadee and Crosswell should never both be on at the same time as both want the ball in their hands. Cadee should have the ball handling duties with Gibbo playing shooting guard. Too often Gibbo runs the point with Cadee or Crossy playing the 2 where they are far less effective. The Cadee/Crosswell/Massingale and Cadee/Massingale/Gibson lineups made no sense.

Anonymous #384992- The numbers back you up that Gibson is poor under pressure. Shooting 29% in the 4th quarters and has now been torched by 2 top imports who have swung games (Ced Jax, 2Hard2Guard). Gibson was ok on offense in last week's 4th qtr. Today's 4th qtr line- 0/4 FG, 1 ast, 1stl in 7:34min.

Some other thoughts.............

Can't decide on Crosswell this year. He's largely been used as a 2 guard which is ridiculous as he's not an outside shooter and plays best with the ball in his hands. He's third on the team for +/- at 8 and features in our best +/- lineup (Crosswell/Gibson/Creek/Petrie/Johnson).

That's 2 games now we've been destroyed by point guards at the end of games. Better work on that at practice this week. Perhaps Creek should get some 4th qtr minutes and get a crack at some of these guys.

Steve Weigh continues to cop criticism. Last year a lot of it seemed fair but this year he's far more controlled and has less responsibility on offense. Hit both 4th qtr shots today and only took 5 overall. Hardly the key to why we're losing.

Our offensive execution in 4th quarters is a worry. The main 4th quarter lineup used is Cadee/Gibson/Weigh/Petrie/Johnson. I'd like to see Creek play more down the stretch and get some of Cadee's and Weigh's 4th qtr minutes.


A full game review up on my blog (36reasons.net) and all stats referenced can be seen on the stats page (www.36reasons.net/p/36ers-stats.html)

Give Wollongong credit they hit some bloody hard shots. And in the end thoroughly deserved the win.

Petrie impressed me as was the first time I saw him play in person, he has range and tried all day.

Definitely wrong matchups by Clarke, its not hard to clog the paint with dj or schench, how many uncontested layups did they get in the 2nd, someone should be contesting or knocking them on their butt at least.

Fundamental basketball is all we want to see, they went away from that and then game over. Dj's missed dunk and it all went sour from then.

If creek could shoot the 3 then he would be useful as they fall off him so much on d when he is outside the 3 he becomes a liability. He should just shoot it once or twice.

I've never coached more than my brothers primary team when I was 16 but I recon I could do just as good if not better with understanding the momentum of the game. Get him an earpiece and a decent coach in the stands to tell him what to do



I said scench was overrated and soft before we signed him and nothing has changed there.

Grubbed was a man among boys on the boards and with the ruff stuff.

PeterJohn, Gibson was great in the 1st quarter when he was pentetrating at will against the Hawks lazy D. After that, Gordie obviously got his team focussed and Gibson found it difficult to create much.

Offensively, that is where the Sixers are struggling right now. Once Gibbo's penetration off high picks is shut down, we look bereft of ideas. That's where I think there needs to be some good sets to get DJ the ball in the high post where he can face up and shoot over the D, or drive to the basket. In time, one would hope he improves his passing to find Luke, other cutters, kick outs for three, or hand offs for Gibbo or Creek.

I was surprised to see in the boxscore that Luke only had four shots. He saw quite a bit of the ball, but didn't really catch it in threatening positions often enough. Probably got to credit the Hawks D for that. I thought Luke was okay today, but as I keep saying, he is a limited offensive player who can be shut down by good opponents.

Skud, I don't think either are great. Creek has the athletic ability to be much better than Weigh, but he is not there yet - still makes a lot of mistakes due to inexperience/ lack of focus.

What I was focussing on was that, because the offensive strength of this team is inside the paint, Weigh's ability to make the three is critical to team balance, hence he spends a lot of time on the floor.

Believe me, as soon as Creek shows he can shoot from range, I'll be the first to say he should be starting and playing more minutes than Weigh!

KingJames, good points about the Sixers going small late in the 2nd and about Massingale, Crosswell and DJ. Was thinking the same thing!

I did get the feeling Marty felt we were in control in the 2nd quarter and decided to experiment with going small and trying to give Crosswell some minutes to get himself going. I remember thinking that we lost our intensity in that stretch and allowed the Hawks to work their way into the game.

The only thing I disagree with you about is Weigh. The past two seasons have convinced me that Weigh is a role player who is there to play defence, rebound and knock down the open three. I thought he basically did that today, not forcing shots and playing solid D. IMO, until Creek learns to shoot from range, we are stuck with Weigh playing big minutes, because we need to spread the floor for our true offensive threats DJ, Luke and Petrie.

Once again we have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Wonder ifGordie lectures in cunning?

Very dissapointing.

After the best opening start we have had in years Marty decided to play with our B team and I began saying whats Marty doing?!!

Nothing really changed from then on through the next three quarters we had weird and unbalanced combinations of players and choked at crunch time!!!!!

Disappointing 4th quarter from the Sixers, but credit where its due, the Hawks played pretty good D after the first quarter and then Deleon closed it out with some great play.

That's twice now that the opposing PG has run riot against us in the 4th though. That says to me the Sixers need to work on their help defence as a priority.

The Sixers lack of outside shooting is being exposed a bit too. We really need Massingale to work his way into the rotation and start being a credible threat from deep. That will spread the floor and open up the lane a bit more for Luke and DJ, who are being swarmed near the basket right now.

DJ isn't getting enough of his sort of shots either. Its all very well to establish Luke inside, but DJ is a far better scorer and should be getting the most shots on the team.

Marty has a bit of work to do to get the best out of his team!

Who knew that talent alone doesn't win games? I thought the refs were the most stupid people out there until the 36ers took the court in the 4th.

Then again, 3mins to go, hawks are on a 10-0 run (or thereabouts), Marty doesn't call a timeout. Tries to call one after another empty 36ers possession, so 36ers rebound a miss turn it over in a 2 on 4 "fast-break".

Weak.

I got $200 on the Hawks @ $2.60

Any reason for 11 points exactly?

Hawks by 15. Tell him he's dreamin

Sixers by 11 points @ $21
That's worth a $5 punt on centre bet

Tip: tight, high scoring game. Hopefully the Hawks get up.

You're right orbit, Marty needs to call those timeouts when he needs to and matchups (or mis-matchups) are the key.

If the game is turning, call a timeout or make a change. You can't catch a falling knife! (or falling chainsaw)

I agree Jack toft. Gongers by 5. Gordie will embarass Marty!!

CJ massivefail would have to be the worst import the NBL has seen, would he not?

Sixers, just.....

The DJ-BigO tussle will be a clash of the titans. Controlling the game is the key. Gordie is more cunning than a fox who is the professor of cunning at cunning university. He has an ability to make the most of a situation to his advantage.

Sixers to get over the line if they play like they did last week win by 5,need to shut down Deleon

Sixers by 10 if they are allowed to play a free flowing running offense.
Hawks by 5 if we get over structured again come crunch time.