Hoops

Sixers @ Crocs Dec 6

I thought it was unusual that he hadn't, thanks for clearing that up Muzz

Agree with that. Need to get more than 2,909 to the Townsville games.

I had a gut feeling this was going to fall the wrong way for the Sixers. Townsville just a bit desperate and had a few things going their way.

That is an incredible stat that DJ had not been fouled out in an NBL game before. Perhaps the NBL do need to have a standby ref. Or a least get the stadium announcer to put out a call to the crowd for someone to have a crack! (the mascot and/or a cheerleader to be used to select the emergency replacement of course)

Gee Townsville really needs to get to the games or they will lose their team for good. Can't understand why they don't want to. Apparently the stadium of Townsville won't be getting the upgrade it was promised.

Another observation. Norton gets to the line well.

The Crocs are a solid team offensively and defensively. I like Pace and Markovic is getting better. Would like to see a legit C on their team next year.

A 'solid centre in their prime' for $80-90k? Is that realistic? Well done TSV team, shame about the TSV people who couldn't be bothered getting behind their team. Even when Cairns is at their lowest they still pull 3500.

great win for the Crocs

Great game overall. Credit to the Crocs, who hustled hard to makeup for their lack of size and made a lot of savvy plays when it mattered. Josh Pace made some huge blocks at critical times late and then followed that up with key baskets under pressure. Markovic MVP of this game by a mile. He's improved a lot from his showings early this season. Crocs have a nice core with Markovic, Pace, Blanchfield and Conklin. Get these guys a legit centre and they would be top 3 for sure.

Sixers played a decent game, but the Crocs showed them that they need a plan to counter quick double teams. I thought the Crocs turned the game when they stopped DJ and Petrie from posting up. Up to that point, the Sixers were scoring at will, but after that they were forced to try other methods of attack and they weren't nearly as effective.

I know it is called far more regularly than it should be, but by calling that, you are encouraging the defender to flop every single time a player posts up. There was probably less contact on that play than many of the other normal post up plays throughout the game where the defender didn't flop. Does the NBL need to go down the NBA route and fine players for acting like that if the refs are unable to tell?

C'mon DJ moved his hips 4 inches to the left. That was easily enough contact to knock a 100kg defender down.

It was not a charge, there was virtually no contact at all.

The crocs were warned for flopping earlier in the game

Other than the flop, pretty good d by the crocs in the 4th.

Worst charge call on DJ with 3 points in it ever. Bank the easy two, and this was a real game.

Refs stuffed us over in that one. That charge on Johnson at the end was a huge flop, at this level the ref should be able to discern that, terrible call that gave us little chance towards the end.

Clever change from the Crocs to double team our post players. Sixers haven't seen much of that this season. Hopefully Joey gets the Sixers to adjust again.

Some nice younger players on the Crocs team. Norton has done well so far and I have seen Blanchfield and Djeric do well before. Dennis has them playing really well too. They're just lacking too much size and talent up front IMO.

Only 7 TOs for the Sixers to half time. I'm surprised about that, considering how many travels they had! They need to cut down on those and continue to run Markovic and Crawford off the three in the second half. Other than that, I think the Sixers should win this if they continue to attack in transition and get the ball in the paint.

Just saw your comment Stats. No offence taken.

I thought I was eminently qualified to comment from my position on the couch, beer in hand Stats! ;-)

In any case, the Sixers certainly seemed to follow Joey's plan to prevent Markovic getting easy looks at three from the top of the key. They also got their transition game going as he wanted and attacked the Crocs zone the way he suggested.

Massive coaching improvement over what the Sixers have been used to for sometime!

Where's the "like" button

Big loss for the Crocs if Hinder can take no further part. They have so little height out there.

Good game so far. Markovic on fire early, but you'd think he will regress to his average over the course of the game. Pace is a worry from mid-range on the smaller Gibson. Might need to keep Creek/ Frye on him.

Townsville playing well, but I'm happy with the Sixers only being down 4 after the first quarter, considering how well the Crocs have shot it so far.

Stats, was a lot of info at the qtr time break, but I followed most of it apart from the play calls, which I obviously don't know. Probably okay, given the players should be more familiar with what Joey wants than I am.

Sixers will win if we can step up our outside game and improve our shooting from range. As long as we are barely average from range we will continue to have to work incredibly hard to bring in very close wins and inevitably we may have some close losses. Full credit for our current ability to never give up in crunch time and thus far to close out some super close games. We dont just need to improve our 3 point % but the number of attemts which must be about the lowest in the nbl. Someone might have stats on that. Hope we get up tonight.

Go sixers!

Lucky he signed the new contract.



http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/54184/20080827/monta_out_3_to_4_months_with_ankle_injury/

Also, dear people of Townsville, please attend.

Soon.

Alright, place has been too quiet today, time for some arbitrary feather ruffling ;)



Out of curiosity, although Adelaide has a 5-0 home form, tied for best in the NBL with Perth, the 36ers have a 3-2 road record. Losses to Perth and to Melbourne, with two wins against NZ (one a miracle fluke, the other at their less-fortress-like North Shore) and the third against Cairns by 3pts. This latter victory was actually the start of Cairns' loss streak (and no doubt they would love to see it end against the team that started it).

Is this a good away record or is it a potential stumbling point?

Of course, by road win %, they're the 2nd best record (60%), behind Perth (83%) and ahead of Sydney (40%), the only other team with multiple away wins.

Looking on the Team Metrics of LPtA, for all the talk of how will Townsville do on the glass, they have the best dReb% in the comp (and correspondingly, allow the lowest percentage of offensive rebounds to their opponents). Their statistical indicators are all very good.

At TSV, J.Pace looks pretty good
In CNS, S.Weigh - the player to beat all players
and should be a full hose in ADL next week
when he returns, but he is unconcerned
He's got plans of his own, to set up his throne
whena he returns

I'll concede that point about zone guys. Outside shooting is not the Sixers strong point. What's the Crocs transition D like though? They'll need to get their reversing boots on if the Sixers run it like they did against Perth! I'm still confident the Sixers will win this one.

^ Kerron Johnson wasn't nursing a back injury, Ervin is at the moment. Could make that a much dicier proposition.

Mick and Stats, I'm going by what I saw of the Crocs early in the season. Kerron Johnson blew by Markovic at will so Ervin should do the same. Conklin may have improved, but he seemed inconsistent to me when I watched him. He'll certainly have to have a big game to offset the Sixers front court. Sixers could lose if they play badly (see Hawks last week) but if they run Crocs off the three, I don't see how they put up enough points to win.

Some good stats there Jack, but I reckon the Sixers pose some serious matchup probs for the Crocs. Ervin and Cadee will be too quick for their guards and I don't see who's stopping DJ. On the other hand, Petrie should be able to handle Conklin and Creek / Frye should have enuff size and quickness to counter Blanchfield/ Pace. Only thing stopping a Sixers win is complacency/ too many injuries IMO.

yeah, maybe not epic, just talking it up!

I think "epic failure" is gilding the lily, but I'd consider it to be setback for Dennis' boys if they fail to defend home court here.

Speaking of which, I hope they can get a crowd out for this one and send them home happy, they could surely do with some momentum to keep the franchise afloat.

I would love to see the Sixers go 2-0 on the weekend, but I think the Crocs game might be a tough one. The Sixers love a fast transition and the Crocs will be looking to slow it all down, so I'm expecting a bit of a grabby game by them. The Sixers will be wanting to get the win, but not tire themselves out.

The other Ace for the Crocs is the niggles of the Sixers, back, ankle etc.

I think the pressure is on the Crocs to get the win. Anything less than a win by them would be an epic failure by them.

Crocs paying 2.75 and Taipans 2.45

Ah, no offence to the 36ers, but get on that. These are both teams that thrive on home court, very different beasts. Crocs are getting things together and Cairns will be so desperate you could smell it from the other side of the country. Big danger games for an Adelaide that is carrying some injuries that will be exacerbated by the two games in two days deal.

Adelaide have been looking great, but reckon this trip could be tricky. A 2-0 would be magnificent, a 1-1 would be par, an 0-2 would be unfortunate.