Long weekend aswell =D

Oh Yeah Long Weekend...Brett Maher's singlet retirement, its all happening in A-Town!

Did I hear someone say RADELAIDE! cos thats what it is this weekend! Mahers jersey retirement is bigger than the game for me personally. There will never be another on his level and to play and captain titles all in the same city, that kind of thing wont happen again soon, what with the business side of the game moving players every several years or so.

Sixers Make No Extra Money = No Sixers! :-(

Will this be $5 per game or $5 and you will get streaming all year?

yeah a demo trial would be nice or a portion of a game or something so you know what you are paying for. This is just home games i assume.

How much download would the stream use? I'm not paying for something that might slow halfway through.

Yeah anon I saw the ad too. Balls throwing down one of his trademark free-throw line tomahawks ;) hahhaha

Hey does anyone know if they have an ATM at the dome again? i know they had one last year but im hoping its back, i don't remember seeing one at the pre season games!

u guys are hilarious. people have been on here and TOF bagging the NBL for not having livestreaming video, which Adelaide are doing tonight (against their own gate probably) and then you all howl about it because you have to pay a measly $5.00!

Thats as stupid as the post suggesting that it would be good to have leech sites showing nbl games and that the end result of that would be better promotion for the league.

Lets just think through the logic:

- we want a league
+ we want it free (legally or illegally)
= a league that will survive and be prosperous and which will have stable/financially secure clubs...

as I said, hilarious.

Couldnt agree more HO, bunch of tight asses! Not sure where people get the nerve, its $5, its like less than the cost of a freakin pint of beer. And yet for fans abroad, the feature the organisation is offering is pricless!

Well done SOS

If you don't want to pay $5 and want to be sure of no buffering and high-definition and quality audio, pay more and go to the game. ;)

This is a fantastic initiative, congratulation Adelaide 36ers. At least one club has started it, and hopefully more will follow, and then you can buy a package or something.

$5- Come on, that is so cheap, and Im not sure how much the ticket prices are, but it is a damn lot less than that, and the club would need to make it worth there while, with atleast two people having to be dedicated to the job or filming it, and then putting in on the net.

Over my usage otherwise I would have had a look, it really is a fantastic initiative, congrats Adelaide.

i think this is the same group that did the four nations trial with BA with melbourne earlier this year - if it is the same then it was watchable.

Commentators or techs audible? Commentator is on debut - go Nino!

Skip is still playing music as normal. New big screen is good.

Hey HO - why don't they charge people for the live stats feed? If, as you argue, pay-per-view is the only way one could provide the video streaming service, it seems like they should be running a subscription service for the live stats feeds.

Does the video come from the cameras being used to film the game by the club, as the stats feeds presumably come from the stats benches they operate at the game? From traffic on this and other fora in the past, interest and use of the live stats feeds are high, so it should make a tidy revenue stream. Is there another, technical reason why they haven't done it yet? Or is there a different business model in place for that?

Listening to the game on 891. Commentator is AWFUL!!!! for a man commentating a bball game he sure doesnt know what he's on about!!

That said still enjoying the fact that the sixers are still in it!!! :D

cmon boys get up!!

peter, i don't know why they don't charge for the stats feed. it was not my point. my point is that people have been asking for livestreaming, and when it is provided, at what seems a very reasonable price, then people whinge about having to pay for it!

I have stated here before that providing video streaming in terms of data would be very expensive in Australia, where bandwidth comes at one of the most expensive costs anywhere in the world.

I am sure providing the stats feed (html?) vs livestreamed video content, would be vastly different in terms of costs. Plus from what i know, a league sponsor, sportingpulse, provide the stats feed - hence the advertising to cover its costs.

Fantastic effort boys....it was worth every cent of the $5.00...nice to hear real supporters of the game commentating...i know people will find something to complain about, but for a first up effort...it was great to be able to see a game i couldnt get to..Good to see SOS are thinking outside the square....Keep up the great work...and to everyone who has a whinge about paying $5.00....GET A LIFE!

4500 there I'd say (a few more would have made it better. A good game by the closeness of the score.
Burston a bit quieter than I thought he was gonna be.
Maybe Gilchrist Ballinger Groves 3-2-1.

Get the fans of away games aware of this and they should get a heap more viewers. I'd pay it for when the Tigers come to town. $5 seems very reasonable to me.

Sorry, meant "fans of the away *team*".

Just got back from the Game. Good win. The boys defense for the most part tonight was pretty good. Gillys effort on CJ was exceptional and he was a big contributor on the scoring end. He never gave up and had a couple of good blocks for a small guy.
Cortez looked pretty good also and hit a couple of big shots down the home stretch.
FINALLY the boys found Balls for some shots. The man is a points magnet and needs the ball in his hand.
Hill did some good stuff but needs to sometimes be less of a showboat and take the easier layup option.
Ng was deadly from the three point line.
Cooper for the short period of time he was on looked a bit lost at sea and didnt really know his place in the team.
Burston still doesnt look fit but will no doubt improve with games.
Holmes grabbed some big boards and hit a huge three at the end of the third which really got the crowd buzzing

GOOD WIN BOYS

Anyone who should thing it is free should really learn to think a bit more before typing. Bandwidth and web hosting in Australia is expensive alone, let alone dedicated servers to broadcast video!

Not only that, but you are getting EVERY home game and you dont need to have foxtel (which people complain about also). I'll be willing to bet that if it works for the sixers other clubs will start to provide it.

GREAT WORK SIXERS.

Needed Holmes to get that free throw in for thw win by 5 on that memorable nite.
Seemed to be plenty of travels called- probably called differently - might've teched NZ coach once or twice.
Anyways - we should win all or most at home.

Needed Holmes to get that free throw in for thw win by 5 on that memorable nite.
Seemed to be plenty of travels called- probably called differently - might've teched NZ coach once or twice.
Anyways - we should win all or most at home.

Thought Gilly's was the standout with Balls, Grooves good & Ng, Hill, Holmes solid. Groves impressed me (only because I heard that he'd lost his game after leaving the Hawks & his stats from the road loss were average). From what I saw tonight he'll be good if he can continue that sort of play.

Burston was a little quiet but his pre seaon has been limited but Holmes stepped up with some big boards. I agree Cooper just looked out of place on offence & got burned on D. Hopefully as Burston gets some more conditioning his minutes will increase & we can leave Coops out of the rotation.

They didn't call anything out - but I reckon it will be 4500..

I know that pre-game between members and pre-sale tickets 4550 had been sold.

I would have thought around the 5000 - 5200 mark.

It was 46##. Cant remember the last two numbers.

Top Game

Breakers were dirty IMO, Ronaldson just grabbed all night like a bloke on double time.

Laughed at the end when #4 fouled on purpose - no call.

Holmes and Groves Excellent in D. Gilly and Balls in O.

Felt sorry for Coops - how many TOs have you have in a minute

Were there any Cornettos Jack Toft?

Burston apparently played with an injection in his hand, and therefore couldn't really get a feel for the ball.

Team has a lot of promise. Defence was greatly improved from last year, with Herbert and Gilchrist regularly getting over the screens and getting a hand in the face. Penney is just a freak of nature though, it really is justabout trying to limit the damage.

Also love the uptempo game that Gilchrist, Hill and Darren were playing, put a lot of scoreboard pressure on in the first half. Groves played a valuable game. Herbert is like a terrior in defence. Didn't quite get his way in offence tonight as the open looks didn't drop. Ng will cause some difficulty for tams off the bench this year. Knocked down 3 sweet threes tonight. Hill also had a great contribution.

But the stars if this team are Ballinger and Gilchrist. Gilchrist is a real find. Ballinger efficient and deadly as always.

Mahersy's doing the post game interviews this year. Not a bad start, but I must say as much as I like Brett, I will miss Sapper's interview tachnique! Also, the players need to be sent up to the post game interviews a bit quicker. Was about 40 minutes beforethe speaches started tonight.

Everyone around me enjoyed it Skip.
And, when NZ got 4 or 5 offensive rebounds in a row with 2 mins to go had us going ( and Ninnis also by the look of him).

Aw- almost forgot about Holmes getting one from half way or maybe even longer..gotta sanding ovation.

Really bummed I couldn't get to the game. Sounds like it was a great performance by the boys on D which is a big of a foreign idea for a sixers game. None the less great news.

From the radio broadcast I gathered that:

Jacob played good D all night and hustled in typical fashion. Also his buzzer beater sounded epic (although the 891 commentators lack of mentioning where on the court, the time left, the player with the ball and the general lack of knowledge of the sport was annoying)

Tez played well. Better at the 2 than the 1, was dragged for selfish play at times but his shot was dropping in bunches.

Balls was Balls. (In a good way ;) )

Gilchrist is most definitaly a keeper as I think Jack Toft put it so well.

Cooper was shite.

Hill still hogged the ball at times and threw up some stupid attempts but seemed to have a positive effect.

The Ninja was deadly from long range.

Matty B was still recovering

Molitor was glued to the bench

I gotta say again I didnt see any of the game (damn my lack of credit card :( ) but would my summary be about right?

Cant wait for the next home game!!!!!!

go you sixers!!!

Sadly Skip, I don't think so!

Gilchrist is an excellent floor leader. Had a go at his running mate Cortez for not passing quick enough at times. Also put it on himself to guard Penney for a few minutes.....and held him scoreless. He gave CJ nothing.

Cortez played some good defense also and seems to get to the basket very easily.

I thought we were very good. Herbert is a tough bugger isn't he ?

Yeah great game by the boys, really thought hill was good tonight and got to the line when needed with his drives. Also though Tez played great D on Penny in the last qtr and stayed with him after he got off to a good start. As mentioned above it was annoying they did not get the ball into ballinger more, especially when we needed a score but we got the win regardless.

Though the umpires let a lot of contact go early and fouls on the shot were hard to come by, yet they called some really soft fouls as well. Does anyone know if they are going to get the other screen going? I sit in that portion of the stadium so i have two screens near me that are both kinda hard to see, it would be nice if they moved the old one to the other side so everyone has a screen they can look at.

Storey was a let down, he seemed to be either slaking on the court or smiling, Has a big body and crashes the boards but just did not seem that into it. Look forward to the crocs game and the PG battle which will be worth the admission alone.

B-Easy .. pretty good. ( although I didn't notice Groves getting for selfish play.. anyways I thought he was very good at 2 and pretty good back Gilchrist for a while also. )

Penney is a freak. Get some money on him now for MVP while the odds are still reasonable.

Some of the shots he got off tonight were amazing. He was well guarded and only needed a fraction of a second to get the ball off.

there was one three he drained from the corner on the east side with herbert right in his face that was just insane.

what was the deal at half time, when we missed that free throw we should have got another for a violation no? Henere was basically in the players race, and their coach was on the other side of the court.

Couldn't watch the online coverage since I was at the game, but I am really impressed that someone has decided to get it happening. Will happily pay $5 to give it a go when I can't make it to the games. Is also a great service for people who live interstate or regionally and can't make the trip to Adelaide for games very often too - could open up a whole new market if done right!

Had a great night out tonight, making my first visit to the Apollo for tea before the game. Good food and more professional than I thought it would be with staff greeting you on the way in and a maitre'd to direct you to your table. Never realised what a great view you get of the court from up there. Had fun watching the nail-biter between PAC and Saints through the window!

Great seeing Mahersy's singlet unfurled up there next to my other favourite Sixer Mark Davis pre-game. A well-earned accolade if I ever saw one.

Onto the game and I was really happy with the look of our team. For the first time in years we actually have athletes capable of pressuring our opponent defensively. What's more, it looks like Ninnis has been drilling few things into them, with some good trapping early in the game, well organised full court defence at times and players that generally did an excellent job of fighting through the Breakers myriad of screens to contest their shooters. Great stuff Scotty and team.

Gilchrist was excellent and I think equal top scored with Balls in the end, without ever having to force much at all. At the same time, it was also great to see an import who knows when a game is on the line and step up accordingly. That three he drained to really capitalise on our momentum was a good example and you could just see his intensity go up at key times. Nice block on CJ at one stage too!

Balls bounced back like we all knew he would. Get him the ball 15' and in and he will score all night long unless our opponent doubles him.

Outside those two, Groves was nice and aggressive early to get us off to a good start and then finished strongly as well. He looks solid to me - don't see why he can't have a good season - and I fully expect him to have at least a couple of 30 point nights too!

Hill looks like he is getting back into the swing of things after his injury lay off and will likely win the starting SF slot pretty soon if he keeps performing like he did tonight. Great to see him growing in confidence. With a bit more experience, I think he can become a top notch scorer in the NBL before too long.

Holmes didn't score a lot as usual, but he was in there fighting for everything and made some good defensive plays late in the game that put off some critical Breakers shots. A valuable contribution tonight.

Darren Ng came out smoking hot and nailed three long bombs in the first half. He can be an excellent weapon for us off the bench if we set some screens to get him open and give him a license to shoot. Like Hill I think just needs to have confidence in what it is he does well (catch and shoot) and back himself to do that every game, whether the shots go in or not.

Burston a bit quiet, but understandable given his interrupted pre-season and the fact that Rickert is a real handful with his aggression and hustle - wish we had him on our team!

Anyone else see that pass by CJ near the end to get Ronaldson an open shot from the FT line? That was top drawer under all sorts of pressure from Gilchrist. You could really see CJ step it up there in the last couple of minutes and I can see why he has been the Boomers starting point for a few years now. Fortunately, Gilly challenged him and made him earn his shots, a couple of open looks the Breakers got didn't go down and the Sixers were able to walk away with an excellent win to get their season rolling.

Looking forward to seeing this team develop throughout the season. On tonights performance though, I think they are definitely capable of a top four finish and could do better depending on how well Perth gels and how Melbourne goes without Anstey.

At the end of the game did anybody else notice Storey walk off the court, leaving the rest of his team shaking hands with the Sixers? Pretty poor effort from him, didn't look like he was much of a sportsman. I guess that went with the rest of his poor performance all night - never saw so many moving screens!!

Storey's body language all night was shocking.

Thought the 36ers defended well, particularly impressed with the perimeter defenders. Our backcourt got something like 4 blocks which is insane at that level. Also liked the way the pressure defence switched from zone to man during the Breakers possesions.

Big downside was the rebounding by the perimeter defenders. The Breakers managed to collect a lot of missed threes, and our two small forwards Nathan and Brad managed only 3 rebounds between them while our big guards Tez and Darren only got 7 between them, and considering the Breakers missed 19 3pointers those perimeter defenders should be grabbing more misses.

Mind you Balls and Burston only got 4 rebounds between them so it was an average rebounding night all round by the 36ers.
Rebounding could be their weakness this year.

YEAHHHH!!! Huge win!

Why the hell did NZ go with a full court press when 2pts down with 40 seconds left leaving Balls by himself in the paint??? Thanks Lemanis. He acted like a true Goorjian all night by the way.

Great to have a big screen but really it's main function is replays, and there weren't enough of them.

Skip, great job, the sheep noise was gold.

That game convinced me that either Hill or Holmes should be starting over Herbert, especially coming up against Forman/Storey.

Burston: Still getting over those injuries it seems, didn't do much but his D on Storey a few times was very good.

Balls: Brilliant offensively. Didn't do much on the boards but it is tough when Ruckert and Ronaldson use their free arm to push you away for every rebound, which went unnoticed all night by the refs.

Herbert: Poor. Obviously had an off shooting night and that hurt his confidence. As I said, shouldn't be starting over Hill IMO.

Tez: Great to see him come good, it wasn't a huge game statistically but he looked to penetrate on Oscar at every oppurtunity and was successful most of the time. That crossover early in the game was amazing. Nice to see him staying ahead of the pack with the two-sleeve look and his D was pretty good by his standard as well.

Gilchrist: My new favourite player! He's like Judas Hodge without being a wanker. Loved his game and loved the way he fires up the crowd. Only criticism would be getting the ball up a bit too slow, most possesions he took about 10 seconds to make the first pass. His ballhandling was clean (zero turnovers!!!), passing was good, and you can't fault his shot-choice, except for that one on the fast break which he ended up making, so forget that. His D on CJ was brilliant. Gun.

Cooper: KJ would've loved that. He was terrible! Couldn't catch the ball, gave away silly fouls, and came off pretty quick.

Holmes: His rebounding was excellent in the pre-season and he continued that form tonight, played really solid D and hit probably the most important shot of the game.

Hill: I've always loved the way he penetrates and gets himself to the line. There were a few occasions when he didn't finish his work as well as you'd like but other than that I can't fault his game.

Ninja: Picked his spots well. 9pts and 3rbs in 16mins with only 1 miss. I'll take that.

Wondering why the 6ers didn't have any DPs. I've seen Burdman hanging around with the team, why didn't he suit up?

Breakers: Penney's a star, uses the pick better than anyone in the league, luckily he started missing at the end there, I know, Penney, he actually missed a few, crazy! Ronaldson needs to stop eating, Rickert needs to stop being an unco crybaby and Lemanis needs to sit down, I'm amazed at how much the refs let go without giving him a tech, his words must have been polite because his body language was pretty aggressive. Storey's game impressed me but he seems like a bit of a douche and we're lucky CJ had a quiet one.

Refs: Inconsistent, they called a few travels that weren't quite there and just ignored the dirty work of Ronaldson and Rickert. What's the deal with intentional fouls these days?!? A few weeks ago I was fouled hard intentionally and they didn't call the foul, I almost lost the ball because of it but still no foul. I talked to the ref and he said "we're not supposed to call that anymore, because he was fouling you intentionally". Same thing happened to Storey/Ballinger tonight. Seems pretty stupid to me, It is still a foul, what if Balls lost the ball because of it? Seems to me theonly ting it will do is encourage players to foul harder.

That guy behind the bench who shouted out "YOU SUCK BOUCHER" at the perfect moment, you are a legend.

No free Iced Coffee left makes me a sad panda.

That is all. Sorry about the length lol.

Ahh this humble pie tastes good!
Well done 36ers, 44 points in paint to our 25, is that true??
Breakers perimeter offence will only get us so far. Once again, affirms we need an inside game. Rickert 18 points but only 10 shots in the game, what is Andrei doing?
Awvee comments interesting.....
Great result for Adelaide and the League.

Greatw in by the 6ers. I admit I picked it wrong.

A very good performance and the team did Maher proud.

NBL review: http://linky.com.au/hleqt

Great win by the guys!
Thre a fiver on them at $2.33 without alot of confidence but I'll take it for sure!

Awesome job with the live streaming, couldn't get on myself cause I was at a bucks party but will make every effort to tune in to all home games from here on in. $5 is nothing for the beauty to see the guys in action!!!

Can anyone who did tune in give us a bit of a review of the quality v size etc. Ie worth going full screen on pc, than thus running through TV or just small window stuff.

Hopefully the Dome can become a force!

Oh man i hated the huddle, i was think do they think there the pistons and sheed. If brett was still there could you see him doing that? I'm think the same thing with ray allen at the C's this year.

DJ, don't know about a PC screen, but it was good enough to be shown on a 50 inch plasma, with stats alongside on a 46 inch LCD, thus:



Streaming Example

Just want to say sorry to anyone who had to read my previous post, the grammar errors were crazy. I will now blame my keyboard in an attempt to save some face.

I agree that the huddle was gold - keep it going & add to it. How can you not get pumped up after watching the Pistons intro? IMO the huddle just adds to the pre game entertainment.

I guess its a personal thing, i hate the cavs whole deal as well. I just think its stupid, they are grown men making big dollars and they do something like that. Anyway it was different to see in little Adelaide.

Great game by the guys. Gilchrist is a great find, really solid, great defence, great ballhandler that doesn't need to hog it to be productive. Burston will get better thank goodness because some of his defence on Rickert was shocking! Particularly once when Rickert drove on the baseline for a layup through the massive gap that even Ronaldson could have fit through if he'd had the ball! As well as the offensive rebounds that Rickert was allowed to pull down. Holmes' defence was awesome, pity about a couple of soft foul calls on both him and Herbert. The 36ers season is totally dependent on how Gilchrist and Ballinger play throughout the season though. Some of the others are good role players, but if those two don't fire or get injured, we're in big trouble! Great start on the home court though.

Oh forgot to add that Cooper should not be playing in the NBL. He was shocking!

Thanks for that Paul, Will def be giving it a crack through to the LCD next home game ;)
Used to run NBA Broadband through no probs..

Nice stats screen too, just use my laptop for that.

that's a pimp set up you got there John! The best way to watch the game at home...

-'The huddle is embarrassing - I hope we don't have to see that all season.'

Get a life!

-'but it was good enough to be shown on a 50 inch plasma, with stats alongside on a 46 inch LCD'

Nice work John!

props on the win, it seems the Breakers were well out played

On the huddle - Maher turned to Davis in the players race and said 'what the hell is that!'

Best call all night!

Can anyone tell me what the starting lineups were for both teams?

According to livestats starting fives

Breakers 36ers

Rickert Burston
Storey Ballinger
Forman Herbert
Penney Groves
CJ Gilchrist

John that looks like awesome quality video for streaming. I will be extremely chuffed if I can watch a game with that much quality for $5 this season!

I liked the huddle too. Very Detroit Pistons with Gilly playing the role of Sheed. Hope they keep it and add to it, because it is something a lot of the crowd won't have seen before and really conveys a strong team spirit.

From memory starters were:

Sixers
Burston
Balls
Herbie
Super Grover
Gilly

Breakers
Rickert
Forman
Storey
Penney
CJ

May have already been asked, but can you watch a replay of the game for $5?

Crooked that is so right. That is all i could think about when they did the huddle, could you see Brett do that? as i said above can you see Ray Allen doing it on the C's this year, i don't think so.

The huddle is cool,

but it only lasted barely a minute if that,
why so much talk about something that the players obviously wanted to do?!?

there is very little else to mark the start of the game {correctly so - i hated the last minute anthem and last minute intros} so maybe the players/coaching staff might feel they need to do something to fire themselves up in however a small way it might be.

It appeared to work anyways,
Gilchrist had a great debut.

didnt like the huddle, although I love Gilchrist already. Was happy to see a first and last quarter where Groves took it to the basket, he looked terrible in the 2nd and 3rd when he settled for 3's. If he goes back to his fadeaway 3's ill boo him out of the dome myself if I have to.

It's about cutting costs. Every team has to videotape their home games it's NBL policy plus they come in handy for future scouting. I still think charging peeps $5 per game ($70 a season) for something they have to do anyway is a bit rich.

I liked the huddle. Who cares if Brett would have done it or not? It is great for the game to show passion! If this fires up the players to get off to a great start then thats all that matters.

Yes, Xztatik I cringed watching Cooper play those 5 minutes. Also him trying to post up what the hell was that! :P Funny enough im sure he had two turnovers but the NBL stats have him down as none. Hopefully he can actually provide some value in those 5 or so minutes or there is no point him coming on.

You can tell Herbert is a great hard nosed player and has the ability to start. HOWEVER, if he provides only 1 point in 17 minutes there is no point him being on. Sure his role was to contain Penney and even that he was doing a great job on him, Penney was still scoring. He had 2 open 3's which he missed and made 1 out of 2 foul shots. The team looked alot better when Hill or Ng were on.

This Sixers team has 3 unbelievably good drivers (Groves, Gilchrist and Hill). This advantage needs to be used to the max (has there ever been such good drives in the one sixers team before?)! If it is then we will be very hard to beat. These players will draw the best defenders so to utilise their driving abilities we need to set screens to get mismatches on these players then they wont be able to be guarded! Hill was awesome at driving but then Abercrombie was guarding him and neutralised him. The same thing was happening with Groves when Oscar was guarding him but then Abercrombie was put on him and stopped his drives. All what was needed was to set screens and then get mismatches! Hopefully the team starts doing this and taking advantage of this as it will be very handy!

I think we have a much better balanced team then last year. Also having Gilchrist as the floor leader will help lots. We are set for a very good year I think!

Great win from the Sixers - was loving it.

Did anyone else feel our offence stagnated though? Seemed to be a lot of cases down the stretch where we were flat footed / no movement. Resulted in some one on one / create for yourself plays.

Still, early days for the team.

And I LOVE Gilly's attitude - guy walks on the court like a Pitbull then backs it up.

Nice analysis KingJames.

Loco, we set a high standard for motion on offence here. Most leagues around the world (Europe and North America especially) go to a one on one match up and wait for the defence to react, along with a little bit of subtle off ball movement.

Our players dont seem as comfortable in that situation though, and are much better at taking advantage of the half chances for shots or penetration that motion creates.

Our motion is more of a dribble drive motion (a la Memphis 2008) because we have so many good penetrators. The emphasis is on movement AFTER creating a driving lane rather than before, unlike more cutting and screening motions that are more common here. It may look stagnant but that is just the way dribble drive works. It's a different style to anything we have seen too much in the NBL and very European. If it isn't working, you will find we will come out of it and go to the more structured offense we used for the majority of the game which provides way more player movement without the ball. Dribble drive was great for us down the stretch and is a great offense for Gilchrist in particular.

Cheers for the feedback.

So you're saying a Ricky Grace-era Wildacts type offence? The penetrate and dish style?

I did notice when the dribble drive offence broke down, we began setting screens for the cut through baseline / flair to the 45 style motion.

I think the high ball screen will be a great weapon for the Sixers with either Groves or Gilchrist coming off it and making the defence react. With Ballinger setting the screen he can then make his man pay from the perimeter if he helps on the guard.

Offtopic... but does anyone know when is a good time to get hold of Marie re: Apollo pre-game dining bookings? Getting message bank.

Did you try email?

That is an absolute coaching faux pas, Oscar trying to stop Hill or Croves on the drive.
Its either to the line or dish for an easy open look.
We cannot afford to play Oscar in the 4th quarter because each possesion is magnified.
The same applies to Ronaldson who can only mark slow opposition Centres down the stretch, but can at least score in the low block.
Combined with an unhealthy obsession with the three (almost 40% of our shots), giving up dribble penetration as a team, make us vulnerable to being upset by anyone.
Lemanis needs to focus on an inside game plan and getting players to deny dribble drives.

Loco, I emailed her last week - got it from the Sixers site I think - and she got back to me pretty fast. You're right about our offence stagnating too. I felt we were too slow at times to go back to what should be our bread and butter - Ballinger for a post up shot.

Paul, agree about the high screen, but you can add Hill in there too. He might even be a better option than Groves in that scenario! Was really impressed with him on Saturday. He absolutely jumped out of the gym on a few plays, including a turn around jumpshot where he elevated over the defender and put it in from just outside the key.

Bill, you're absolutely right, but just wondering if you think you have the players to stop dribble penetration consistently? As you point out, Oscar and Rondaldson get burned that way, but I would add CJ to that list and neither Penney nor Storey seem that adept at it either. Maybe Abercrombie needs to be thrown in a lot more, but is he ready and does he pose the same threat from long range? I definitely feel your pain at seeing your team give up dribble penetration all the time, because that has basically been the Sixers for the past few years!

On the inside game, Rickert always seems pretty effective to me, so the Breakers should be able to get a more balanced scoring attack through him. The other inside presence you could utilise is Pledger, who showed he can do some damage against the Boomers. Just wondering why he is not with the team at the moment and if you think he will play a bigger role later in the season?

Thanks Beantown, I feel better already.
We have some good defensive players, Henare, Abercrombie, Boucher, Awvee (defending PF), and CJ (defending SG) would be a decent 5 but of course we suffer at the offensive end.
Why did Boucher play so little against Sixers?

Pledger is a development player or non travelling reserve.
Did not make the bench G1 either.
Doesn't seem to figure in Lemanis's plans at this stage and possibly, understandably so. Plays facing basket, very good 15-20' set shot. Not real strong but rebounds OK. Probably needs bringing along slowly, but definitely should be playing.
There is also Jeremiah Trueman 6'10" (played College ball) who has yet to hit court.
Another face the basket type, long arms.

Breakers will find it tough defensively until Bruton gets fit, as someone else said he is a solid enough defender fully fit, but in current shape is unable to fight over screens or close out and then slide.

I think the Breakers need to just focus on their offensive execution and theyll be fine, and once Bruton hits full fitness, prob Nov, they will be able to put the foot down then - possibly with a new import.

That's okay Bill, don't want you Kiwis getting too cocky with all this title favourites stuff going around! :-P

Why Boucher didn't play much against the Sixers is a good question. I wish I knew, since I foolishly put him in my starting fantasy lineup this week thinking with two games he'd have to put up some decent numbers!

Interesting that Trueman and Pledger are similar players and Trueman is on the bench while Pledger has yet to suit up. I'm guessing that bodes poorly for me too since Pledger is my backup centre on the same fantasy team! D'oh!

What do you think of the possibility of bringing Oscar off the bench for some teams and using either Abercrombie or Boucher as a defensive stopper against the quicker SF's? Or does that happen already anyway? Seems like the obvious move, since you're not exactly short of firepower with Penney, CJ and Rickert on the court!

Beantown, I think the Breakers firepower is a little overrated this year. They have lost a world class scorer in Jones and rep[laced him with two guys who are role players offensively.

You are probably both right.
Oscar is a 15min bench player who needs others to create so that he can get open. He had a year left on his contract, Phil (similar player to Penney and Oscar) was a victim of the Points system and being only an average defender.
Either Abercrombie or Boucher have to be on court at SF spot for entire game. Boucher can hurt us at the offensive end but he is a smart player who can pass. Abercrombie is still a little young and settles too much for the 3 rather than putting on floor and attacking opponent.
Lemanis has misplaced faith in Oscar's ability.
We only have outside fire power which relies on the defence co operating and getting hot ourselves. It is low %. We need a more balanced attack ie an inside game.