then after the singapore game wait 4-6 weeks to see if we gel without brett maher then judge

... and did you not also notice that New Zealand played very, very badly ?! Penney and Jones were getting open - their shots just weren't dropping - Rickert was glued to the bench in the second half (when he was the only major big they had that was troubling us) ..

Lets be happy for the win. But there is still a long way to go!!! If we are going to improve, we have to win on the road

Another good sign for the team is the fact that they held NZ to just 11 points for the last quarter when Maher missed most of it. That is definitely something to take confidence from when entering the next weeks of games without him.

correction - should read ... next 6 weeks of games..... I should learn to proof read a bit better.

Might be good for Maher to be out, force someone else to stand up maybe??

Oh shit i think i just said good for maher to be out....Never, anyone firgure out how to stop him retiring yet?

I just re-read this thread, WHAT. The last games we lost on the road were considered not good enough, travelling isnt an excuse, everyone blamed it on Phil. Now here I read that the only reaosn we won is because New Zealand had to travel...Are you FREAKING kidding me.
One thing for us another for another team. Get your heads straight people, we beat New Zealand, regardless of whether they played badly it doesnt matter, we beat them. .Jjust like we lost on the road, it didnt matter if we played badly, we lost and everyone bagged the team for it. but when we win, ohh we still suck it was the other team that won it for us.

Maher, at his age should not be playing the minutes he does. The unfortunate thing is he is relied upon too much. This leads to an increased risk in injury and then when he is out, he is missed too much. His playing years may have been prolonged if everyone in the team pulled their weight.

He said (on Ch.9) signed for 2 years, so would play that, then see.

NZ. a bit tired at the end of that game.
Anyways, I expected 36ers to win with Davidson,Maher and Ballinger firing.
And, would have expected them to win the next three games and to have won those 3 close games that we lost also with them fit.
Now hopefull, but not confident.

Skud, relax - one person mentioned NZ's successive road games.

EC, some of that last quarter was NZ running a full press and trying last gasp efforts to win - it was risky and it gave Adelaide easy baskets (remember Ballinger getting that easy, easy lay-up, for example). Their defensive efforts were more significant earlier in the game.

well put skud... i agree. The forum has been full of "no excuses" about travelling and shots not dropping (chappell anyone) but as soon as we win we get told it was cos the other team were unlucky, travelling etc.

cant have it both ways people.

me, quote post IDs of people doing that. I found one in this thread.

Not disagreeing with that. What I'm saying is that blaming the schedule (or making any or many excuses for that matter) doesn't resonate well with fans, hence the popular complaint on here from vocal critics often concerning that.

Pick up one person for hypocrisy (anonymous earlier in this thread), fair enough, but I don't think it's been a popular claim that their backing up after the Bullets had a significant impact.

I have read every thread on this forum about and since that game against the Breakers, and can recall maybe two clear examples where their schedule was mentioned by fans. I listened to Lemanis' audio from that post-game to see if he made any excuses actually: didn't notice any.

Lets wait until after the grand Final to judge... hey?

(Use a heavy dose of sarcasim when reading this)