In all honesty I don't think we can get up in this one. Unfortunate as it is. Barlow IMO will do well against our lack of anything at the 3 while we await the arrival of Hodge.

While the Slingers could never really have won on Saturday, I think we were let off the hook a bit by Grizzard who for the majority of the game wasn't selfish enough to take advantage of our weakness at the 3.

I think Motts and Coops can probably help to contain but no stop Anstey, who will we have matched up on Lampley? Balls?

I think we have the edge at the guards with D-Mac and Crosswell vs Maher and Davidson - as much has Crosswell has been playing out of his skin - Maher and Davo have too much class.

Will Jordy get another run tonight? I'd like to think so but somehow I can't see it happening.

Jordy still has to convice me that he is up to NBL standard. He took 2 charges on Saturday V Singapore but he always looks pretty awkward. Could just be nerves I spose.

Sellout crowd of 850?

My head says Tigers by 15, my heart says the Sixers could pinch it, but Ballinger needs another HUGE game, and Maher prob needs 20 plus as well. Bench really needs to step up, as Melbourne has one of the deepest squads going around.
Hopefully Motts can do a job on Anstey, and I think Davidson can cancel out Crosswell. Lampley will be one of the key match ups, as I cannot see anyone on our squad staying with him, same as Barlow.




Bizzy, how did your boys go last night??

Tigers by 18, barlow to tear another shred from the carcas.

Tigers by 18, just too strong over the whole court. We have no one that can go with Barlow who will be the difference between the two teams.

Anstey to put up a 25-15 game, Ballinger to put up a 20-10 game. Barlow to get 22, Maher and Davidson to get 14 each.

i think sixers by 5, maher to have a his best game back since his injury , and Ballinger, Mottram, Cooper to have solid contributions to cancel out Anstey and Lampley? anyway Barlow will be the key in this game, if we can minimise his impact and hopefulyl he isnt to assertve as was Gizard the other night than I can see us snatching this one. We must have a good start however as i cannot see us fighting back into the game like we did against Sydney at home. After all we most likely one of the worst away records over the past 2 years in the NBL so a solid start is vital if we are to have any chance in the 2nd half.

Mottram to foul out by 1:23 left in 2nd qtr! 5 of them on Anstey..........

Tigers by 4 (I hope not!)

The tigers by lots, Barlow will do the damage due to lack of a 36ers 3 man.

The closest Jordie will get to being on the court is if goes and beats up one of the Tigers floor wipers.

"Sellout crowd of 850?"


DB5, I was joking about the tiny shed the Tigers play in.

DB5 - We won by about 20, we were up 22 before they scored.

But you're right, Lampley is the key IMO.

My recollection from the last time we played the Tigers was that they had a lot of success running Barlow at the point position, so it would not surprise me if they did that tonight, with Sean Lampley playing in the small forward spot.

Both players are likely to hurt us anyways whatever positions they play.

Was just playing Nick, I liked the joke.

Bizz, nice, we won by 20, but the other team did not show...wtf in a GF?



Who do you guys think the matchups will be?

Anstey Motts
Hoare/Lampley Ballinger
Barlow Copes? (last game will be pumped)
Corletto Maher
Crosswell Davidson

Don't know if they would start Cooper at the 3 again...

I suspect it will be zone all around, with a starting lineup the same as Saturday. However, unlike the woeful zone decision against Sydney, it may play out successfully against a DT-less Tigers.

The Tiges are not the most dangerous side from outside (if anything a zone may have the advantage of keeping Chris "28%" Anstey out there). The Tigers are also missing some penetration this year without DT and with D-Mac on his last legs.

I say we are in with a chance. Not a big one, but a chance nonetheless. Tigers are still a class act, but they are not unbeatable this year and are in shaky overall form.

I'm also looking for Ballinger to provide some more serious offensive punch

DICKO, you've misunderstood. I mean I'm looking for him to continue with his scoring puch. "More" as in playing well again, not as in playing of a higher standard.

I'm not betting this game cos I only back underdogs and I cant line on this one. Tigers by 15 (line is 10.5).

However - I don't see how the Hawks are 11.5 points worse than the Breakers.

Sixers by 4.

Balls to be solid, Copeland to go off for hes special night.

is this game live on any radio station?

not acording to NBL website. Nbl.com.au says the radio feed for Tigers home games is down.

Sixers leading 16 - 10 early. Looks like Copeland started and has 4 early points. CMON COPES!. CMON SIXERS!.

Can we not play Ench ever again? Terrible.

Oh God, how on earth is Matt Sutton playing NBL?! Cop the shot on the guy, absolutely no rotation and about 30 feet of air.
And Dench's first 2 shots, wide open too, were simply embarrassing.

Copes is my guess.

brett of to great start

I thought id never ever say this but BRING BACK JOHN CASEY. Gaze is unbearable.

IMO we are lucky the Tigers aren't hitting the open shots the Sixers are giving them.

We are in a 2-3 zone and it's really not looking too flash. If Tigers start finding their straps we are in trouble.

is there a radio feed or are u watching fox?

i assume they are watching fox

Watching Fox. And it is a terrible game, both sides shooting below 30%.

Watching it on Fox.

Good to be down by only 4 but we are just lucky.

Maher - played an excellent first half, was taking everyone of the dribble and hitting pull-ups. Missed a few 3's but nothing major.

Davo - Running the team very well, hit a 3 and got into the lane for a nice tear drop.

Balls - Started well, but Sixers seemed to have stopped looking inside for him.

Dench - Sucks.

Motts - As usual working his ass off, missed a few shots under the rim but with Anstey in his ass is doing very well.

Copes - Started the game with ANOTHER 4 point play, his a couple of 3's, playing quite well and not forcing it too much.

Coops - Doing well, attacking the rim. Nice 2 hand jam over (well more like floating past) Anstey.

Sutts - Just seems to be lacking confidence, put up some shots, a couple have rimmed out also air-balled one.

Ninja - At one stage they were running a 1-4 for Ninja on offence, not something I like to see, had to settle for a tough shot. Has had very little impact so far.

Sutton is becoming a liability. Simply should do no more than run the offence, when he sadly gets minutes, and NOT shoot! Hodeg cant get here soon enough to take his minutes.

I understand its not his fault, and if your given the court time you have to play, but he is simply not up to the standard required offensively.

If you havent realised Squid, Sutton's defensive pressure is of higher quality than anyone else in the side. The passing and handling skills he also offers the side is quality, and Phil clearly realises this. He is a proven scorer in the local league, however at the moment he lacks confidence in the NBL.

Don't make claims that he shouldnt be playing NBL based without looking at his entire game!

K-N-O-B

Totally agree Squid Knob - Sutts provides defensive pressure that I wish the rest of the squad offered.

Does Sutts really need to be a scorer on this team?

Bizzy YES.

Why? We have Maher, Davidson, Ballinger, Copes, Ninja, Motts - what do you expect Sutts to be doing hitting 10ppg?

Give Ballinger the ball seriously!

Here come's DODMAN!!

JESUS NOT DODMAN. WE ACCUALLY NEED TO WIN THIS GAME!. FOR FUCKING SAKE!

GUYS ON FOX WAT JUST HAPPENED ITS BAK TO 3 POINTS. HUH.

Kobe - Dodman came on and brought some hustle and we pulled it back.

Then we gave up some open 3's to the Tigers.

Come on Jordy!!!

Damn and i was getting excited that i thought we were back in the game. :( my mistake.

are they using dodman in denchs place in the rotation? like the above post at least he will provide energy.

So do you guys reckon that Sutton would make the Tigers' side? Seriously? You got it very right when you said that he is a proven scorer in the ABA, but that is where his ability lies. But I am always happy to receive other comments either way.

Biggest worry coming up for us, will be the home calls.

Game over. Sixers have lost the plot offensively.

Who would have thought that phil is actually dveloping dodman after having him for two years. About time

Not scoring for 4:30 hasn't helped our cause.
Strange really, considering the line-up we had on the floor.

Tigers by 18, reposting for great justice;

"I'm not betting this game cos I only back underdogs and I cant line on this one. Tigers by 15 (line is 10.5)."

Squid-Knob, obviously Phil thought Sutton was doing a great job, that's why he was benched for the last 20 minutes of the game!

David Cooper can once again hold his head high after another tremendous effort.
Davo really struggled tonight, which did not help our cause.

Our final quarter scoring slump, was it tiredness, or Tig defence?

Squid: "David Cooper can once again hold his head high after another tremendous effort."

Couldn't agree more, the guy's all heart. Played huge minutes too, doing the hard stuff & dished out 4 assists.

Is the shooting stats from the game correct?

Tigers 45-146 FG, 11-52 3s (Corletto 4-15, Anstey 3-11, Barlow 2-22)

Sixers 31-108,11-41 (Maher 4-12, Davidson 3-9, Copeland 2-9)

Cant remember the last time i saw shooting stats like that. 146 shot attempts in a game, 52 3s!

Lost by 18 yet missing 31 points from
Ballinger after the last home game. Inconsistency kills. Flashes of brilliance will not get the job done in the long run.

ur not blaming ballinger are u EC?

Thought all in all the boys gave it a crack tonight .
Davidson was a little below par and forced the issue too much also our defense was gambling a fair bit which lead to easy buckets . We need to switch tempos more instead of going hammer and thong all game .
We have played alot worse this season .

Hammer and Thong? wtf.

Is that when all the players run around yelling 'Banzai' wearing nothing but a Mankini........

Ballinger cannot be blamed. They scored more because they had 24 more shots than us. They managed to do that because they outrebounded us by 12 and stole the ball from us 10 times causing us to have 7 more turnovers than them.

Easy to score more when you have that many more shots. Ballinger needs help on the boards. He got his 10 but then it dropped off a bit. Lampley got 11 boards for them, Anstey 9, Barlow got 8...

Not Ballys fault by far.

Well done Coops on the career high. Brett was also good.

We would've been thumped by more if they were hitting from outside. I think that was a record for 3PA under Westover. Just gave up so many open looks.

Maybe there defence had something to do with Ballinger not being able to get the ball in his " sweet" spots. Anyway we deserve to lose if we give up that many open shots, just un-acceptable , ad to lose the rebound count once again, i mean i know they have Anstey but come on, rebounding is not only about executing the fundamentals of blocking out, it is about how much 'want' and 'desire' a player has for ripping the ball off of the rim.

Sometimes we seem to rebound ferociously and at other times we seem helpless and retreat.

Inconsistency is a major problem the team has.

Word from OzHoops says Lampley shut Adam down.
Not a bad night getting 15/10, when you're shut down.
Balls is not inconsistent, it's more a matter of how the other team plays him, & who's on the floor to help him out.
Sure I haven't seen the game, but I'd be most surprised if he wasn't giving it everything he had & bang'n hard.
I thought the final score didn't give a real indication of the closeness of the game. We were right in it for 3 1/2 quarters.
I'm glad we didn't go for the 3 minute foulathon to end the game, or it could have been a lot worse.

Have to agree with Squid re Sutton. He may not be relied upon to be a consistent scorer, but surely at NBL level, if you are a guard you have to be able to knock down the open shot, or bring something else significant to the table. His shot doesn't even look close to going in - he doesn't get the right rotation on the ball and his technique is terrible. He's not even a threat.

His defence is solid but not brilliant - he's not going to steal the ball or block anyone's shot. And what is annoying is that he doesn't know when to back off on defence either, picking up stupid fouls when the other team is in the bonus.

At 22 he's not ultra-young either and I just can't see enough improvement in his game to warrant a position in an NBL side, except for the Slingers.

Great game by Coops - here's a guy that's worked on his jumpshot in the off-season and it paid dividends for him in this game.

What is concerning is the Sixer's lack of rebounding power - everytime they played some reasonable defence and the Tigers missed they'd simply clean up the boards. The same thing happened against the Kings at crucial stages in the game. This is where we miss a guy like Jacob Holmes. Hopefully Julius provides some help in this area as well.

Good effort to get it as close as we did I guess and maybe it looked like that zone was starving their offense. However, if the tigers didn't miss so many OPEN 3's then that game would have been more like 30-40 points. Next game will probably determine if we make the playoffs or not I think as we have a tough schedule ahead of us!

LOL sturty , glad i threw in the inappropriate h to get a laugh . Hammer and Tong mate you know to go at full speed .

Against top teams like Sydney and Melbourne we need to give them different looks defensively . If we charge around like headless chooks they will clinically pick us apart creating open looks for all . We need more containment and less gambling , more hedging with appropriate double downs . And some awareness of who it is when closing out on wings . We need to get inside their heads create some disruption to the offensive flow and mindset .

We seem to go flat out pressure which is a mistake even if you have the cattle and that mistake is magnified with our boys .

I think the gameplan for this squad needs some major reworking but that has been a problem for 3 years now .

The Pigs winning last night and moving to 8-11 (we're 7-10) doesn't help.

Most of the team were decent last night, though not fantastic, save for Maher and Cooper (who were great) and perhaps Copeland (started well then had some poor turnovers later), Sutton and Dench (no luck from the field for either).

The difference was perimeter defense and then a shocking run in the fourth quarter where we seemed to consistently throw the ball almost directly to the opposition.

At one point it was 85-81. They closed it out 25-11.

Unless Hodge is very, very good and we can trouble the Wildcats at the Dome and steal a game off Cairns, the next two games will likely dictate our post-season chances. Very few easy games after that (Hawks and Slingers).

At that point in the game, Ballinger went for a 2-handed dunk which rattled around the rim and fell out, Tigers get the rebound and nail a 3 to take it back out to a 7 point lead. During the time-out Ballinger was seen sitting there shaking his head knowing that we had a big chance to close the gap to a single basket.

There was also 2 Tigers offences in a row where they made a shot as the shot-clock expired in the background, the first was a turn-around jumper from Anstey that rolled around the rim and dropped.

Things like that certainly don't help.

Keefy - true, but neither does letting them get open look after open look and then not boxing out.

There were a few times when a Tiger was wide open in the corner and no 36er was even outside the key on that side. Pretty rare that we get chances quite like that. Maher and Ballinger are nearly always shooting while under pressure and do pretty well considering.

Maybe there defence had something to do with Ballinger not being able to get the ball in his " sweet" spots

Or maybe it's the absolute lack of sets to get one of our primary scorers looks at his "sweet" spots...

Look from the outside it seems the team doens't even listen to Phil any more.

Time out on fox Quote from Phil " Set an early screen up court and , I want you (pointing at Balls) to set the next high screen and flair and you'll be free, you all got that! early screen and youll be free" That was said at the time out after Balls had hit 2 3pt'ers in a row.( devestating shooter when given the ball on the elbow or 3 pt line)

What happened for the next 3-5 minutes, early screen set, flair , balls absolutely free and the guards kept driving and tuning the ball over.

Fox flashed back to Phil and Co on the bench , just a pained couple of looks and a shakes of the head.

Seriosly have to ask what were Ng, Davidson and Maher etc thinking about in the time out?

I would be replacing Sutton with Burdon, at least Burdon can shoot

Sweet ass block bt Ballinger on Anstey as well!

Unlucky the dunk rimmed out, commentators then had a go at him for not laying it up!

Big momentum swing there though.

Brock, I got criticised last night for suggesting Sutton was not up to the job, good to see someone agrees with me. And I also guarantee that Sutton would not be picked up by any other franchise!

Sutton plays D with intent and seems a good team man but I am with you Squid unless he can gain some aggression a quicker first step and a consistently deadly outside shot in the off season .

I'll say it again

Matt Sutton = Jason Williams

Atleast Jason was a better ABL player. At NBL they are the same. Both play good but not great defense. Both get silly fouls by not backing off. Jason had a bit more height. Both were inconsistent shooters. Jason was a bit better shooting later in his career. Are they going to persist with sutton as long as they did Jason.

I think some of that decision might come down to alternatives in that position. What are the options in the NBL that aren't already signed, or in the ABL?

Obviously, like Joe Ingles would've been an easy solution for the struggles at SF of the last two years, Ryan Kersten would've been an easy fit this year. Hits some threes, runs the point and is entertaining to watch.

Thats just it, if you are looking at ABA level you will only ever get ABA level players.

What about Pat Mills? Why didn't the 36ers bother looking into him. After losing out on Newley and Inges, and how well they did first year, you would think that they would have been over at the AIS all the time.

What about college guys?

I only caught the last quarter and that was enough to make me cringe. The offensive sets in the last were horrendous. I was with two friends who have no idea about basketball and even they said it looked like school kids playing against a real team.

Ballingers missed dunk was the game. He missed the dunk and then they turned it around and in transition Crosswell nails the three. Ballinger makes it, 2 point game and Tigers ball on the baseline, no transition three.

IMO Sutton is worse than Williams. At least Williams would attempt to chuck the ball towards the rim, Sutton doesn't even do that. I like with defensive effort, but other teams know it's 4 on 5 when we have the ball on offense.

Mills was always going to College after his AIS stint. He's been a star over here in the Eastern states for about 4 years. I played against him when he was 14 or so and he was schooling us then.

Looking at Mills would of meant recruiting. The 36ers can't recruit in their own backyard let alone look aboard in other states for young talent. Also would of meant looking at lesser leagues than the NBL and Adelaide don't do that very well either.

I think the Dragons tried hard to get Mills, flying him and his family in to meet with them, etc. I don't think that any NBL club were really a chance after those Boomers games, but prior to that it might've been worth pestering him a bit.

Ben Madgen would be a nice fit, if he were to come back from College, speaking with his dad he is tearing up over there

Yeah, they did. They tried to get the Jawai/Mills combo from memory..

Now that would of been an interesting and very good combination.

Now here's an interesting question.... Who is the Boomers centre of the future??? Bogut or Jawai and you could chuck Ogilvy in the mix. That is a big man camp I'd love to see when you include Andersen and Anstey (if he ever goes some balls and plays for his country instead of punking out) into the group.

Mr Halliwell, your presence in no longer required (thank god). Makes it tough for Schenchser (spelling ??) to play for the Boomers.

I cant believe the Sixers stuck in the zone for pretty much the entire game. If the Tigers had've hit 10% more of their wide open 3's the game would've been a debacle of epic proportions.

In that last timeout why does it take the entire time to talk up one play?? What about the D discussion?(oh yeah 'play zone'}

Chalk & cheese between Smyth and Westover in time outs. Westover - now there's a real coach - he covered how many variables?, got stuck into them, made several points AND discussed Defense and Offense.

I swear Smyth might die of deep thigh thrombosis or whatever that disease is where you sit for too long...and die.
Do you think if Phil didn't cross his legs his hair would grow back?

Mills only turned down the Dragons and Kings because he had already made a commitment to St Mary's and he is the kind of kid not to say one thing and do another.

If the 36ers had some sort of plan, they would be forward scouting college and AIS athlete's as well as imports.

Again, is you are looking at ABA level to recruit, you are only goingto get ABA level players.

Hey Chesty which game were you at the zone messed the Tigers for the whole time they played it.Why come out of it if your making them shoot so bad.Listen to the time outs better next time both coaches were saying pretty much the same.Carfino is useless as a commentator the sooner they replace him the better.Lets swap coaches you think Westover would of done better get real check out the talent difference.Sixers were gutsy but the Tigers just to big to talented.If Hodge was here maybe a different story.

I think we are one quality player from being a contender. Hopefully that person is Hodge. However, we are more like 3 quality players from being Championship material. When it comes down to it, coaching can only get you so far.

last 2 posts r spot on, If we had a quality 3 man that could have defended Barlow and score 18 - 20 pts maybe we could of won, We lost by 18 pts, Barlow scored 18pts, and who was guarding him?

We have lacked in that posistion for so many years, hopefully Hodge is an athletic slashing type player, im not to fussed if he doesnt have a great 3 pt shot on him, as long as he can take it hard to the ring and finish with authority as they say.

No real surprise here, I didnt watch the game but credit an 18 point loss. Tigers are one of the top teams and we are down an import...put 1 more 20 point player in our team and suddenly they have another big player to defend, possibly opening up ballinger a bit more to do his 40 points!!

TR, you are right re Sutton. It was worse with Chappell here, we were playing 3 on 5. Sutton, like Williams, is apparently too stupid to realise that he can pretty much get to the rim anytime he feels like it. Williams was always good off the drive. Sutton is in a shocking shooting slump, he needs to put the ball on the floor and go to the basket.

Squid-knob, we all know Sutts is a good defender, but so is Eze, and he can flat out score.

What about Dench's game? His performance was an utter disgrace. He was so bad in the first quarter that Smyth used Dodman instead of him in the third.

I've gotta think that there must have been some Melbourne fans laughing their asses off at the games of former Tigers Dench and Mottram.

Great game from David Cooper. Some sweet shooting from Brett Maher, and a gritty effort from Darren Ng. We were actually competitive for 3.5 quarters. Melbourne didn't toy with us the way they did at the Dome earlier this season. They had to fight for this win.

The 36ers have 3 ex Tigers players. That in itself might suggest why the Tigers are a championship contender and the 36ers definitely are not. I don't know why people would suggest that the 36ers put up a decent effort and be happy with that. I would hope that we are not just in there to accommodate the championship contenders' passage up the ladder. I would expect that the team would always play as though they were trying to win a championship. If the team is made up of players that are not capable of doing that, then they haven't done the club, the team, the supporters or the fans any justice. It took far too long to do something about Chappell. The club has to get serious about its future direction. I've always said that I will continue to support the team but that does not mean that I am enjoying it at present. A game like last night where for 3 out 4 quarters they were in there with a good chance, only to blow it towards the end was frustrating. The frustration in the last few minutes overshadowed any satisfaction gained earlier in the game. Sorry, its all or nothing for me. I refuse to get excited about half a game played well.

All or nothing?
Harsh.

It must be said, the Sixers have not been good down the stretch this year. That is quite a few games where we have been right in it, only to be blown out in the last 6 minutes. That is one area on which you used to be able to rely on the Sixers keeping a steady head and holding on to the ball (not giving up multiple turnovers).

Anonymous, the Tigs fared far worse than we did, while down an import. They also had longer to adjust.
The next match-up'll be here at the Dome, with Hodgey more settled. I'd like to think we could take some peace about that, instead for being pre-emptively negative.