Hate to say it, Heals Dragons by 7. Crowd 3000 3500 4000 4228.

5000 is a big call Nick. I'll go with 4533.
Sixers by 19.

4783 sixers by 6

Crowd 4,740. Adelaide to fall over the line due to the extra rest.

Wonder how many Chappell will get tonite...30?
Copeland .. 20?.. anyways I expect Davidson to be best and Ballinger to top score .
Sixers by 15, crowd 4567.

As in "win a close one". Yes, they'll be tired, but they probably won't play as badly as last night.

Got another engagement tonight so can't make the game - means I've missed both home games against the Dragons! Grrr.

Hold them to 53 in 3 qtrs then give up 40 in the last.

To be fair Ingles and Heal got hot. The important thing was is that we still scored which got us the win in the end.

If we had lost that I think that would have killed off any confidence the guys had.

On a side note the refereeing in the final qtr was a disgrace. Sutton was dragged when the Dragons were actually tring to foul. There was no call and the Dragons drained another 3 to cut it back to 1. Credit to Ballinger to ice the free throws in the end, he was huge tonight.

Refereeing in general was a disgrace....

How bad is Ng's injury ?

They were saying that NG just had bad cramp all game.. maybe there is more to it though..

That's what Smythe said to Bradkte post-game anyway. They tried to put him back on a couple of times and cramped up again.

to me it looked like a dislocated knee cap. It was right near me and it did not look good. Also really bad response from the staff, the players were waving for a long time for help to come and no one came to him. Also took a long time to get him back to the rooms after. Really should not have come back the 3nd time at the end as his did not last long the 1st time and he would have cooled off.

Fox mentioned something about largest crowd to attend an NBL games this season. Do we have an official figure?

in front of me to and i would say knee dislocation as well it locked up and knee cap looked depressed

Ballinger 42&15 massive game almost half the team score.

Quality game from both teams, however it was spoiled by inconsistent and controversial umpiring which negatively effected both teams at key times. I got there about two mins into the 2nd quarter, and I really tought Adelaide would win by 30+, by full credit to the Dragons, especially Heal (as much as I think he's a tool, he is a fierce competitor and I can't knock that in any player) as he single handedly put them back in with pull up jumper after pull up jumper and ran the plays and D to get them back in. Although their trap was fairy weak (umps helped here), Jingles was also huge with his late threes. Sixers were unlucky on that play where we got the offensive rebound and had like three ut backs by the bigs that rimmed out.

Ballinger was an absolute gun and was the man. I love how determined he is to make the smart play - he's not afraid to just play like some of our guys can be at times. I think we need to start a Neil Mottram appreciation club for his amazing hustle, key rebounds and smarts to get open for power dunks - just love the guy. Chappell was unlucky on a couple of calls, but only has himself to blame for his two stupid fouls in the first min of the 4th - dumb!! Ng was playing solid, hit some bug jumpers at critical times when Souths were making their run. Davidson worked his A off on groves and held him to 16 points with tireless running and channeling and it was rare to not see him have a hand right up in his face. He made him work for absolutely everything and had good help from the bigs when he was beat on a screen and roll. Seriously, Dench needs to find a game as he doesn't have one. Too slow and tries to play a game that is not suited to his size and speed, or lack thereof. If he just focused on the basics like footwork and boxing out, he could be a very handy contributer like Paul Rees was in his later years. However, from what I've seen so far, that looks too much out of the equation. Thought Sutts had a rough night, some poor decision making with the ball. Just needs to shoot the open J or swing the ball a touch quicker if he receives on the wing. Was screwed on that play breaking the trap in the last 20 secs, however, Copeland was wide open and could of passed to him before the turnover, so again, probably wasn't the smartest of plays trying to draw the fould considering it was pot luck all night with the refs.

Crowd was much louder than previous weeks although didn't seem anymoe than 5000. Great night, still kind of lef with a bit if sour taste although we were fortunate enought to hang on for the win.

Crowd was 4379.

Largest crowd? They must be talking about a different game to the one I was at. Looked like the smallest crowd to me (just checked NBL.com: 4379 - not quite the smallest, but not the biggest either).

Coaching was down to the level of the refs. Up by 20 to start the last quarter, looked like we were milking the clock right from the 12:00 mark. We looked like we were happy to get across the timeline against their press. We got out of our normal offence and started settling for jumpshots. Credit to South for making some tough shots, but if we'd played more aggressively (like we had for three quarters) we could have been so far up that it wouldn't have mattered of they never missed.

Bottom line, Smyth looked like his mindset was that he wasn't trying to win, he was trying not to lose, even with a 20-point buffer. Before anyone asks, yes, there is a difference, it's all about attitude and having confidence in yourself and your team. I fear for the damage this game has done to the team's psyche, in spite of the final result.

Special mention to Mottram, he was very effective in the third quarter. I reckon he got at least two blocks that were negated by a team-mate's foul.

Anon #158261, the umpires were very consistent, they were consistently bad, but more so in the last quarter. So many times during the game, what appeared exactly the same situation, always was called as a charge if we had the ball and a block if the opposition had the ball. It was so infuriating. The errors in those calls alone contributed to the Dragon's 40 points in the last quarter.

Considering how much pushing off the ball the refs allowed Hendrix to get away with, the 36er bigs did very well tonight. Ballinger, Mottram, Coops, even Dench got some boards with his shocking ankle. Its been a log time since an Adelaide team has lead dunks, blocks and rebounds.

Considering Sutton was being guarded by a Heal with little lateral movement, he really did not contribute much tonight. Ng needs to sort out his legs, he reportedly had cramps on both sides of his legs, and while it definitely looked dislocated, he did do a squat on his knees afterwards, so who really knows what was going on this those skinny legs of his.

Hard to work out why INgles got so many calls from the refs, he certainly knows all about that elbowing stuff but his movement off the ball is not what it used to be. He certainly managed to come into the game afer Chappell fouled out. Jacob grabbing 20 boards, awesome worker still.
Great game marred by confusing reffing in the last.

The news is that Darren had very severe cramp .

well that is better than what i thought. I was thinking it could have been crap the first time as he was on the bike and seem to walk off ok when he came of the 1st time. I just don't think it was smart to bring him back on, at a crucial when he is under a cloud although i understand them wanting another scoring option.

Also its scary that we let team back into the game after getting good leads tonight it was 20, couple of weeks ago it was like 16 or something and we lost. The good thing is that we are showing heart when the odds were starting to stack up against us. Good entertaining game to watch though bar a few exceptions.

"Coaching was down to the level of the refs"

On the contrary, Smyth did a great job of drawing up the out of bounds base-line play that was executed to perfection with a Ballinger dunk, when Ng was subbed out injured late in the fourth.

Ingles seems to a touch flop-happy for my liking - some of the charges he drew were legit but he certainly knows how to hit the floor even when he doesn't have defensive position and fool the refs into calling the charge.

How was it not an 'over and back' call on Ingles in the final frantic 20 seconds of the game?

Worst. Refereeing. Ever.

I hope Boti absolutely crucifies them.

Didn't get to this one, do we still want Chappell sent packing? Stat line doesn't look to nice...

I got a lot of faith in Sutts, but if he aint gona shoot the ball, wats da point being on the court, give Ng his court time.

C'mon Sutto!

Is it only an Adelaide call when we bring the ball up the floor, get hipped all the way, & be called for out of bounds?

Umpiring confused the hell out of me. The inconsistency was phenomenonal and I don't think I've ever seen that many charges called on one team in a match! The trap was weak but I guess when you're allowed to ride the ball carrier out of court on a constant basis, that tactic works well. Also I think Mottram is possibly the player most picked on by the refs - he defends straight up, guys run into him and he still wears the foul almost every time. Should be a no call on the majority of situations. Some of the muggings that the 6ers copped around mid court were a disgrace. Anyone else notice the two younger refs sprint off court at the end and Geoff Weeks follow them looking at the ground so not to make eye contact with the crowd?

On the positive side, Ballinger was beyond brilliant - all credit to him. Davidson worked his butt off all match as well. Unfortunately it looks like Chappell has gone back to normal - 10 points (5 from free throws) and six fouls!

Sorry to have missed this one - sounds like Ballinger was a real highlight. Told you they'd fall over the line! Still, got the W and record is looking healthier. Don't think that the schedule is going to get any easier though.

I felt sorry for chappell some of the fouls on him were a joke!!

I do not often criticise the refs but last night was a disgrace. In that last quarter in particular, our guys were being mauled and nothing happening. In fact there were examples where the Dragons were trying to foul, but still no calls.
Chappell's last foul really was about as dumb as one could get and had no regard for the position his own team was in.
Sutton really continues to be a non event, but full credit to Ng, some of his work last night was tremendous.
Ballinger was simply sensational, Mottram certainly had his moments, Copeland's second half had some highlights.
It would have been very wrong had we lost last night.

Is Chappell being hindered by the ref calls against him. Last night he was called for charging twice when the other player was side onto him. After these 2 usless calls he stopped shooting the ball...
Not the first time hes been in foul trouble by bullshit ref's not knowing what game they are watching.

Same seems to be with Mottram, just because he defends hard he gets called alot more for small infringments than any opposition player. Seems as though the ref's no he goes hard in defense and really watch out for ANYTHING to ping him on.

Ohh and Ingles needs to get away from Shane Heal, hes becomming an arrogant W$#ker like him, doesnt matter how good you are if your a dickhead on the court. Needs to move to another club before hes as bad as heal.

agreed skud.. ingles is turning into a "cheap shot" wanker..

"some of the most erratic and inconsistent officiating
perpertrated on a dome crowd..." - Boti.
And from reading above looks like worst EVER!

You know the officiating must have been bad because 42 posts into this thread and you don't have one ref lover trying to convince you they did a good job. I was sitting within distance of a bunch of guys I know are refs and I have never seen such a look of disgust. I support the NBL's policy of not allowing teams and players to critise refs, but in order to have any credibility severe fines and suspensions should be issued to each member of last night's crew. You don't get to be that bad and continue to keep your job.

Great job by Adam Ballinger to knock down those last two free throws and prevent what looked like being an incredibly unjust loss.

"Is Chappell being hindered by the ref calls against him. Last night he was called for charging twice when the other player was side onto him. After these 2 usless calls he stopped shooting the ball...
Not the first time hes been in foul trouble by bullshit ref's not knowing what game they are watching."

I agree that the refs were absolutely terrible, I was out of my seat yelling with disgust at them so many times including the two offensive fouls on Chappell. However, the problem is that Chappell's lateral movement is very poor so he can't stay in front of his man defensively leading to him picking up fouls. He also seems to have lost any quickness he had. While Ingles was flopping and those calls probably shouldn't have been charges, he gives the refs the chance to call it as he isn't quick enough to get past his man and therefore has to push off to create space for himself. This was another pretty poor game by him and unless he can start being a threat to beat his man off the dribble, I can't see him scoring enough to warrant his place in the side.

However it was a great game to watch. It's good to see a sixers team playing some good defense - is Davidson the main reason for this or is it adjustments made by Smyth? Whatever it is, its impressive and hopefully it can continue. In the last 3 games we've won, 3 high scoring guards - Penney, Helms and Groves have all been shutdown. Hopefully that trend continues and Homicide is held in check next week against Townsville.

I'm glad to see others thinking Ingle's arrogance is unimpressive.

Dana, I hinted at this over a year ago and nearly got my head blasted from people on this site claiming to know him as a great bloke. I don't know him at all so I could not compete with them, however my opinion was formed from what my eyes saw and my instincts told me. This opinion not only has not changed but has been strengthened over the course of time.