Never under estimate the Taipans at home. Do so at your own peril. If you've been to a home game for them you will understand what I am talking about. They play off the energy of the crowd down the straight. I personally am hoping for them to beat the Breakers. Sorry 36ers supporters for this, but I have picked 36ers to beat the Hawks tonight in my tipping comp. I think they can do it for you guys. Go Crocs

6ers got to win and play "D".
And i dont think we will have good umpires- we dont get good umpires

Yeah: http://nbl.com.au/index.php?id=15&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=15356&tx_ttnews[backPid]=4&cHash=7b4f24a7b1

http://linky.com.au/0yi9i

Great form by foxsports/fueltv for showing this live!

For those of you watching on Foxtel... How is Tez playing?

He just fouled out in OT. Hasn't been too bad really. He jacked up a terrible 3 point shot near the end of normal time. Gave the hawks a chance of winning the game

Andrew Filmer was best for the Hawks.....only just ahead of Haines!!!!!

We blew a chance at the end of regulation we still had a timeout to use. It was kinda fitting how they game ended given the year. One thing that bugged me is how they did not wait for gilly to get in at the end, he was part of the year as well! they all blew past him at the end as well.

Tez had his best game for a while and was really productive as was ballinger when he had a chance. Finishing at the rim cost us dearly though.

Well that year is behind us and will be interesting to see what happens as time passes. On to NBA trade weeks and All-Star game.

For crying out loud, don't blame the refs tonight whatever you do.
Seriously there are only perhaps 4 players you may keep for next season. And I can tell you Brad Hill is not one of them. He would have to be the dumbest player I have ever seen. The lad has not progressed at all over the past couple of seasons, bit like our so called coaching staff.
There is no way this gold ticket holder is going to renew unless there are some extensive changes in personnel. It has been an embarrassing year.
Great effort tonight Balls, you did everything you could to get us over the line.
Thanks Coops for some real effort this season in what is surely going to be your last.
Not much positive to say about the rest, bit like Ground Hog Day really.

Seriously what was Groves thinking with that 3 pointer in regulation. Pathetic.

That dude shooting baskets at 3 quarter time was hilarious!

Glad that season is over - pretty much agreed that there should only be 4 players locked in for next season. Ballinger, Herbert, Ng and Burston. You might retain Holmes depending on his salary and what else is out there.

Agree with Squid that Brad Hill is quite possibly one of the most stupid basketball players I've ever seen.

Ballinger was a beast tonight, hitting an enourmous three down the stretch, connecting on an awesome three point play earlier and consistently hitting his J.

Herbert was playing some of the finest defence you have seen for someone of his size. The other Sixer players should take notes. He was horribly outmatched by Saville in terms of height but still managed to cause him trouble and then when matched up on the smaller, quicker Luke Martin was able to stick with him and stop him penetrating. A must keep for next season.

Sorry but if you think Cortez was productive or played well we watched a different games. No point going on about it as I don't expect to see him in a Sixers uniform again but at least Hill got Ballinger the ball at the end. The foul by Hill when down 2 in penalty situation with at least a 5 second differential between the time and shot clock was unbelievable, I really hope he wasn't instructed to do that.

well.....

Groves played rather well tonight but geezus what was he thinking in some of those plays..that last 3 point attempt wasnt needed and was about as stupid as you get. Would have score more with a bit more thinking

Herbert absolutely stellar defensive performance, good couple of steals and hustle. Hard for him to play on Saville for the game just doesnt have the height.

Balls, wish you'd shot the ball more, played really well pity about that last three pointer would have been a great end to a dismal season.

Ng..shots werent falling tonight but he didnt take to many after his first few missed.

Hill, well you dont have a bball brain and you managed to miss 3 or 4 open easy layups. Sit down and save my voice.

Burston really didnt look into it today, was he ill. Few times he had the ball under the ring and passed it out, just not his usual self????

Cooper didnt seem like his usual self wither, he might not be the best player but normal tries 100%..didnt seem to tonight.

Holmes performed as he needs to, good solid defence and a few shots. Should have been on court instead of Hill in the last few minutes

"Sorry but if you think Cortez was productive or played well we watched a different games."

He did score 18 points, so despite some stupidity you cant say he was a bad player..second highest scorer. Could have been better yes, but not a bad game.

Only caught the second half due to family stuff so can only comment on what I saw. Burston, Ballinger and Herbert all did ok. Ng is a deadset liability in defence and from what I heard from the commentary 1/4 in offence. Hill was consistent with other games I have seen this year, hopeless in offence and misses too many easy shots, no basketball brain, gives up silly fouls as well. Holmes is seriously undersized for his role and limited ability. Too small for a power forward and too limited an outside game as a three man. Groves scored some points, gave off some great assists, but far too many turnovers and poor shot selection.

Every now and again, 36ers ran an offence that worked and every time they did, they scored. Too much rotation and doubling in defence gave the hawks too many easy shots. Same problem with the later Smyth years so perhaps not all down to Ninnis.

How professional basketbalers can shoot foulshots at less than 80% is beyond comprehension. Surely with a head coach and two assistants, one of them could identify the technique problem and work with the players to improve that %. If Marino can hit 50 3 pointers in a row at practise, surely a 36er could hit 2 free throws in a row in a game.

Been a long summer, 36ers worst ever season, Adelaide United not much better, Lightning look like they will miss the play offs for the first time and the Crows got caned by Power today. At least the Thunderbirds in the Netball have appeared to recruited well for the forthcoming season. otherwise it is finding a Rugby league team to follow. Sigh!!!!!

Respectively Skud I disagree regardless of how many points he scored. IMO 8/19 from the field with 1/7 from 3 point range is inefficient. Poor decision making including my pet peeve of over dribbling and shot selection. BAD defence. Sure he had some nice moments but its been the same story all season. Show a few glimpses here and there but very rarely could be put it together for a consistent game.

Groves was very undisciplined, game high in t/overs, failed to score with that dunk attempt in the first half, and then played the last offence like it was the last shot of the game.
Agree with Rat10 re. Balls ,Herbert, Ng, Burston . Would be happy to keep Holmes.
Questions must be asked about the coaching panel.
The lack of discipline, lack of positive crunch plays,& the inability to feed the good shooters are all coaches problems IMO

oh yeah re switching on D, that was just dumb. How many times did they switch and land up just lobbing a pass over to davidson or traegher(sp?) for an easy 2.

Oh well no point getting too upset. Just look forward.

Impressed that the team eventually got the right play {thumbs down signal} going with that down/cross screen for Ballinger, worked every time. I think Ninny tweaked it really well, Hawks certainly had no answer for it.

But not sure why those last minute plays always seem to be {thumbs up} high pick for guards, Tez in regulation and Hill in OT, why change what has working ?!? Pretty gutsy by the player if he made that call himself but i guess we will never know.

What makes it stand out so much worse with Tez crap 3pt attempt nearing end of regulation was his first play of OT was a strong aggressive drive to the hoop that resulted in a foul and FT's - why the hell wasn't that are play for regulation? nothing to lose go in hard.

Hill STILL doesn't know when to pull out of a dribble or pass the ball which is disappointing because offensively he has some weapons.

We went 3-14 to finish the season, hopefully we have a good off-season.

Am I the only person who left the stadium without a free hat or mini-ball? It's amazing watching grown men turn into ferals as soon as a guy dressed up as a magpie starts throwing free merch at them...

agree totally squid,

sack hill dumbest player yet to don a sixers uniform,

When will Ninnis realise that your point guard dribbling thr ball through his legs until 5 seconds to go on the shot clock is NOT an offence?

Andrew Filmer has got ot go, he is inept, inconsistent, incompetent and a blight on the league.

I waited until this morning to allow me time to cool down.

Skud. I also disagree that Cortez had a good game despite his 18 points. How many points does he actually give up by his poor inefficient shooting? Wollongong outscored Adelaide's rebound count by 10. Potentially, he could have given up as much as he gained which would negate any positive affect he had on the game.

I agree with all above posters that suggest that Groves was ordinary despite his scoreline. I hate it when stats seem to bail out players that have had less than brilliant games! The fact that he went 1/7 from 3 point land is a disgrace! I cannot believe that he doesn't seem to recognise that he is NOT a good 3 point shooter. Not to mention that more than half the shots he takes are not even open. Turnovers were disgraceful as well.

Also totally agree with other re Hill's season. One 32 point clinic last season seems to have blinded some to the fact that he is consistentally below average! I was shocked when he came on after Groves fouled out and actually managed to get Ballinger the ball a couple of times down the court. Of course that was all undone by his final play of 'brilliance' when he put on a ridiculous contested drive, then fouled early and missed a free throw. Plus very ordinary D all season. DO NOT RESIGN HIM!

watched on foxtel and was happy with balls game. Herbert played great defence maybe he can be defensive coach. |

next year keep Balls, herbert, ng, burston and if can keep holmes.

Also was wondering if richard hill does anything when ever watching on tv he is sitting back in his chair, timeoust he seems to just nod his head. Dont know wheather its looks that way live but it seems that way on TV.

Jacob's day has come and gone. Still cannot fathom how someone who has played the game so long and has one of the worst shooting styles of all time.
The whole coaching crew have to be removed, this team needs a brand new beginning.
The thing that got me about Hill when we were 3 points down was him driving to the basket, when the Hawks would have been very happy to foul him and get the next possesssion - the only option was to get the ball to a 3 point shooter surely, but alas Hill had the ball so any form of common sense went out the door.
Really hated the year, it was mostly embarrassing and so often we looked brittle (don't really like the word soft), which probably is a reflection of the way the team is coached. By the way, well done Hawks, to achieve what they have after losing one of the best imports in the league, is simply outstanding. Well done too to Gordie, you can have a job here any time you like (but then again, I am not the one bankrolling our team!).

Tez has to the either the most selfish or dumbest player (or both) I've seen in a Sixer's uniform. The only upside is he'll never wear one again.

He was 1 from 6 and ignored virtually every open look to Ballinger and Ng for 3/4 of the game. Then he's missing lay-ups, calling clear out plays to drive at 3 bigs and getting blocked literally off the court.

Ugh.

Start planning next season today. Sign Balls, Burston, Ng and Herbert immediately.

*has to be.

Having re-read the thread though, it's a close race with Hill.

Why do most think NG is a must for next season? I do rate him but the guy plays one good game in every six or seven games.

And I heard Ninnis say on fox the other day he is 100% sure that he will be coaching the 36ers next season.

It's been two (2) months since a 36ers game has been on radio - and some people used to like to listen to the games on radio.
Hopefully , next Season - some coverage could be arranged, somehow.
While some like see/read a result/report in news adeliadenow. - That might be good, next season also.

Lol ok if you look at Groves season, this was a good game. Im NOT saying keep him. With groves you expect him to drive, and come out the other end without the ball several times a game, you also expect him to put up an incredibly stupid 3 point shot in the dying seconds when its clearly not needed. With those things in mind..this was actually a good game from him!

Holmes does have an incredibly ugly looking shot, but his percentages arent that bad, infact I wouldnt mind him taking a more active role in shooting. I still dont know how ppl can say get rid of him when his defense is among the best and he is the #1 rebounder DESPITE ppl saying he is soo undersized. How tall do you need to be to be the #1 rebounder.

Hill shows that size and athletism doesnt translate into a good player.

18/5/7 - last nite. 16/7/9 last game. But seems he's a very bad player. 3rd MVP.

Why aren't more of you blaming the coach? I recall pre Ninnis Coachibng people extolling his virtue as a 'developer of juniors'. Yeah right!? When did we see any of the juniors play this season other than for a couple of minutes? He leaves Hill on so he can make the stupid plays. He lets Cortez and (before him) Gilchrist use up all the time to set up their one and only offensive set. (After all the defensive players have had time to get in position.)
Why isn't he getting them to pass the ball to Balls or Ng when they are standing there waving their arms in the air and being ignored? Most frustrating to see a totally incompetent 'coaching' team manage to sabotage their players who look like they are trying their hardest without proper direction. He was a great player and is by all accounts a great bloke...but he's not a coach...how long will it take for SA to realise this? South Dragons at least were clear about realising his limitations.

Dumbest plays of the night - Groves trying to shoot the big 3 at the end ( like h has tried to do so often) instead of forcing it into Ballinger and then fouling out when the game was in the balance. I had a perfect angle on the foul and he could have easily avoided it ( and played out the game) as he was already beaten to the hoop.

.....and what has happened to the regular Dome staff? Huge crowd trying to get to our seats and bloody dangerous with spilt unmopped beer on the floor. Bring them back!!!

The trend has been to blame Cortez Groves - most of the time.

.....and what has happened to the regular Dome staff? Huge crowd trying to get to our seats and bloody dangerous with spilt unmopped beer on the floor. Bring them back!!!

Why aren't more of you blaming the coach?

Hill playing the point......





Kill me now.....

Gilchrist-Groves didn't take a lot of notice of him.
Maybe that's part of the thinking then, if he's locked in .

Dana, yeah the south dragons were really smart.... Shane Heal as player coach......

Originally - in the course of dichotomy - I'd have Groves - seeing some brilliance and some brittle and hoping the brilliance would out do the brittle, with better coaching.

Maybe being told that this was his last game, is why he chucked up the three to win the game, rather than try for two.

However - the brittle out did the brilliance.
In the foggy web of destiny - of the 2 - I'd take Ninnis.

Isaac

. I would be surprised if the coaches haven't had a frustrating time trying to keep the point guards on track

The company looks at its financial position and other staff to determine whether they can afford to sack and replace or sack and shuffle desks. If times are tough and they think riding out a tough year is worth a try considering the circumstances, maybe they try that.

It's been pretty clear that Groves has been under performing, there have been some wondering if Gilchrist has been a bit problematic too (despite good numbers) and in a season like this for Adelaide, it's been also clear that the club have just tried to weather the storm with a view to doubling efforts next season. It's frustrating to watch at times (mostly near the end of games) but it is what it is.