Expecting nothing less than a sell-out game in Adelaide.

If Big Red can stay out of foul trouble, his recent form suggests that he and DJ can and will create a lot of headaches for Chris Anstey in the next week.

Looking forward to having Gibbo and Mitch back. I understand Gibbo will suit up on Thursday night (he said as much when guest commentating on One on Sunday). Any word on when Creek will be back?

Can we get a full house?

Fun Fact: The first 36ers game I attended was 20 years ago, the first game of the 1994 Semi's against the Melbourne Tigers. Andrew Gaze fouled out, Mike Dunlap jumped for joy, and Mark Davis had his shoulder dislocated. Adelaide won the game and went on to win the series.

Big Red will be a massive headache if he gets the minutes he deserves in this series and the refs dont over do controlling the game. His touch has been very good lately around the rim, and Joey finally seems to be confident playing him more than 15 minutes a game!

36ers deserve a sell out, should be a 6ers clean sweep and I dont see this series being all that close at all really.

Morrison went crazy early on in the game, but the Tigers REALLY struggled with Luke. They had to resort to pulling him around and so many times her got the board and it was like a Year 7 holding up a ball in front of some year 1's all trying to get it.

Can't see sixers losing this one...

Sixers at home are going to be too much for melb and while I think they will win in 3 games I wouldn't be surprised if they swept them 2-0.

Trainings could impact numbers a little but would be surprised if less than 7000

Any reputable club would give their player the night off of training if they have tickets

You forget a large margin of youth play Thursday nights

Semi-finals are generally amongst the lower drawing games of the NBL season, particularly on a weeknight. While the games on the weekend should draw reasonably well, next Tuesday will be mighty tough for Perth and Adelaide to get their usual crowds in.

The high ticket price for the finals doesn't help crowd numbers. Do these games cost the club more than regular games?

IMO it's all about supply and demand. They have the product that we want as fans, FINALS!! Pay a premium, they're hot tickets in the States so I can't see why they're not here too!!

Ninenews at 36ers training yesterday reckon sixers are confident Creek and Gibson are playing.
I think they should be enough to improve us from the last game and Goulding unlikely yo make fifty.
Refs will call every reach in early , then let it go later...frustrating...

@RG http://www.adelaide36ers.com/article/id/d2y83g5859bm1kp1l1pbqn7ue

I blame ONE and 10 for the game being played on a week night, NBL has to bend to the will of the broadcaster just to get a game or two live on TV.

Ticket prices are all relative. Considering it's been a dry spell, worth every cent.

Should be Sixers. Reckon this series will go the distance. Melbourne have been in fine fettle lately, so they should get Game 2. But I can see the series going down to if the Sixers guards can keep Goulding from having a berko game.

Not sure which of you or Adelaide I'd be less nervous about playing; wish Sydney had taken third, they've been our bunnies for years!

Re: low ticket sales. Maybe some Sixers fans just forgot playoffs were still a thing?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cmAwrn8g30

36ers Press Conference - Semi Finals 26/03/14

Head Coach, Joey Wright and Captain, Adam Gibson speak to the press before Game 1 of the NBL Semi-Finals for season 2013/14.

The scenarios for the Sixers:

1. WW
2. WLW
3. LWW
4. LWL
5. LL

My probability of each scenario:

1. 60%
2. 18%
3. 12%
4. 5%
5. 5%

Looking forward to this series but the result won't really matter, as the winner of the other series will take the GF anyway.

I'll pick option 2 Jack.
What are your odds for Perth series?

From a Perth viewpoint:

1. WW
2. WLW
3. LWW
4. LWL
5. LL

My probability of each scenario:

1. 67%
2. 17%
3. 9%
4. 4%
5. 3%

Adelaide 2-1
perth 2-0

grand final perth 2-1
Bert.

Go Tigers
A team that plays well on the road
Hopefully Tigers 2-0

Oh dear, I think we finally have a Tigers supporter on the forum. Welcome!

From whence did you come?

Will be a tight series. The key is to keep Goulding quiet and hopefully Gibbo can be in the same form he was in before his injury.

Wortho loves the big games and playing in Adelaide so I hope he hasa quiet one tonight!

I cannot see Perth being troubled by the Hawks and see this ending in a sweep.

Tips on what the crowd numbers will be? I'll be very disappointed if it's not 6,300+

Semi-Finals are always a bit of a downer crowds-wise.

Who buys a season ticket then doesnt buy a playoff pass! Its like courting the beauty queen all night long getting her home...... and tucking her into bed before going out and sleeping on the your own couch! Get to the game, itll be a cracker, Marty and Radford wont be there so never fear itll be a big 6ers win!

don't drive along findon rd kidman pk - night roadworks are agonizingly slow

+ 1 mate - findon is good value and supports local bball (worriers sponsor?)

Im assuming the lowerish expected turnout tonight might have something to do with the AFL Showdown in Adelaide on Saturday night consuming all the attention in the news?

That would be about right. Another reinforcement that the NBL cannot go up against the AFL. I feel for Adelaide people that either don't like footy or hate both the Crows and Power, it must be unbearable right now ;)

Nathan and Paul are right though - Semi Final games are typically a hard sell. Maybe due to the uncertainty as to when the game will be played, a weeknight game, increased prices, live TV, and that members need to purchase their tickets along with the general public make it more challenging than a regular game.

Footy season is back. Less interest in NBL.

I have chosen to take my family to showdown this week instead of the 36ers.

Plus we should win so there will be more home games in the coming weeks.

Shortening the season by a month ( it drags on ) and not having such a long break in Dec is one way of avoiding clash with AFL.
Of course that is too logical so it won't happen.

Really looking forward to tonight! Been a loooooong time since the Sixers played a playoff game and even longer since they looked like winning one! Lets go Sixers!

Plus we should win so there will be more home games in the coming weeks.

Jack, you do realize there are six possibilities in a best-of-3 finals series?

WW
WLW
WLL
LWW
LWL
LL

No win is guaranteed. Need to support the boys and get loud. Wind up those Tiggers then send them packing with their tails between their legs.

Even if the Sixers get the win, Tigers play poorly in the afternoon slot and may not have their head in the game after tonight. There are a lot of over-emotional players in that team likely to crack under pressure. There's a high chance that the Sixers will seal this series 2-0. If that happens, the next game will be G2 of the GF series and a long way away.

It's a Thursday night "any coach who who drops a player for not turning up to mid-week training this week is a bum"

Playmaker Mo,

Yeah,

but WLL was rating so low. The probability was about as low as Ricey getting a triple double in his return game of ABL. Could happen.....

it was 8 years since we last saw a home final , 12 years since our last home final win. Never count your chickens people we dont know how rare tonight may be

Lets go SIXERRRRRSS


MAKE SOME NOOOOOOOOOOOIISE

Rets ro Rixers ret ro

I was an avid Dragons fan and long for the day, meh, right now Jack you have inspired me to watch this first final on the TV with greater enthusiasm than expected, well done in pumping it up ol' chap!

Is this "ret row" business a South Australian inside joke or something?

..hope we not too nervous..frye bruton be handy

Yep it will be pretty disappointing if its not a good crowd. The time and day is shit but given our lean run in recent years and good entertaining season, you would think people would be jumping at finals.

I'm predicting an alley to creek in the 2nd on Goulding which will demoralise him so much he subs him self out and the game is ours. He will then also claim to be injured for game 2 as to not be put through it all again

I suspect the first semi would have sold out five times over if it had been hosted at Adelaide Oval tonight. Apparently it is the new nirvana. Methinks too many people worship false gods these days.

We might be a small brethern but those there tonight will be loyal and loud.

RETS ROW RIXERS!!!!!

That is Liddy's only line........he must think he is funny

Good opening first period.....from both teams. Can they keep up the pace?

From what I can see on One, the crowd is around the 5-6,000. Not bad for a Thursday night. Vocal too, as usual :)

Standard crowd for a SF, always close to lowest of season.

Amazing missed goaltending call, after a good year for the officials tonight has been a step back.Luckily Adelaide have been far too good so it hasnt had an impact.

Rhys Carter turning it on!

Replays clearly showed he hit the rim, that's a goal tend!

Rebounds Tigers - Rebounds
Tomlinson was the Tigers top rebounder??

If Adelaide keep shooting the ball like that they'll be hard for anyone to beat. What an impressive display. Rhys Carter in for Jarrid Frye seems like a pretty good move right now!

It looked like there was closer to 4,500 than the 3865. So that's very disappointing. I guess that's essentially the number of "passionate" 36ers fans then.

Having it on a Thursday is not great, particularly at 7 instead of 7:30, and particularly when the hottest ticket in town is the showdown at the new Adelaide Oval.

The noise of the crowd and atmosphere really was amazing though, imagining a 7,000 crowd, the noise would make people deaf... Really did make for an awesome game.

The shooting was terrific, 53% for Adelaide, Melbourne shot very well too. The 3 point shooting was a stand out, Carter had game-winning type match, I love the guy. Great defence, great shooting, always makes a difference. Goulding with that scorching start, thought he would be on his way to 50, was freakish.

Refs were pretty average, close to bad. Missed Schenscher put his hand through the rim to tip the ball out (lol). Made some other pretty bad calls and omission of calls.

Does anyone know what set Gibson off? He abruptly punches (it looked like it) the Melbourne guy in the stomach, something must have happened.

I hope Melbourne get the same home court calls on Sunday, the better team on the night won tho

I wouldn't call the refeering tonight to have been 'home court calls'.

Apart from the Shensch interfering with the basket non-call, I think quite a few of the boo's by the Adelaide crowd against Melbourne was legit.

I'm predicting a sub 10k crowd for Perth tonight. I have look at ticket sales and it is looking that way. Also a crowd around 3000 for Wollongong on Sunday.

Let's face it, Melbourne were very ordinary and failed across the board. You can't rely on one play to score all your points. I hope Anstey doesn't realise that until this time next week.

Didn't like the elbows on the screens or the nasty little jabs. The only thing missing was a sharpened toothbrush in the toilet block.

Vintage Ballinger last two games. Looks like the only Tiger with a heart wanting to play the game as it should be played.

Hard to see the Tigers turn it around, doesn't really matter if they get game 2, they can't win at the Arena.

The Tigers' issues was with D and tempo control. Once Adelaide got hot they got almost no scoring from their defence. Will be interesting to see what adjustments they make.

@Jack Toft - totally agree about the elbows. Goulding was a disgrace both coming round screens as well as on the drive. No idea how he got away with it all night! Wouldn't be surprised to see a broken nose next game with those elbows flying around....

There were two key calls that went against the Tigers in the first quarter that completely changed the momentum of the game. One being the offensive foul on Wortho when he bumped a player who was in the circle, the second when I think Creek ran into Goulding and got 2 shots for the Goulding blocking foul which should have been an offensive foul or at worst a no call. At that point Tigers were up by close to 10(?) and looked like making it 20, from which Adelaide would not have come back.

The crowd numbers did seem disappointing at first, but it was first game back since I couldn't even remember (at least a couple of years) and my goodness, I don't think the crowd ever got enough of it. Absolute fantastic atmosphere throughout the whole game. Hope to go at least one more time :)

Also thought it was a bit rich DJ and GE flexing their muscles in the last quarter after Teys and Carter did the hard yards to get them in that position.

Great game by the real MVP of the game Carter.

Seriously Adelaide, population of 1.2million and you can't get 5000 to a playoff game?

Wilson Sting, we might not be able to get 5,000, but the 5,000 who were there were loud and they were best looking 5,000 supporters. Actually sorry, 4,996 - I spotted 4 Tigers fans

@Quasi - spot on with the potential for a broken nose. The Tigers were very frustrated and angry. Too many screeners moved their arms in the old push off move.

Is the only way Goulding can score a catch and shoot fade away on the 45 coming off a moving screen?

Wilson: Thursday night,and early meaning many can't make it in time from work, or have a big day next day. Plus a lot of bballers have training, and the big showdown on the weekend which a lot of people decided to spend their money on instead. Yes, it's still very disappointing the crowd, but the atmosphere was amazing. Loved every bit of it.

Wilson, you're dreaming if you think the Sixers would've laid down and died if the Tigers extended the lead a little more in the first quarter.

The Tigers started hot, but a lot of that was due to a poor decision by Joey to start with that 3-2 zone (trying to counter the size advantage Wortho would've had on Teys in straight up man). As a result, Goulding got a couple of easy, wide open looks and he was off to the races for a bit there.

Once Joey made the adjustments, Goulding was largely shutdown. He had 13 at qtr time and then barely scored until the last quarter when he nailed some free throws.

Tigers are too dependent on Goulding and don't have enough depth to run with the Sixers all game. You could see Goulding, Walker and Tomlinson sucking it in during timeouts in the last quarter.

I agree Tigers are too Goulding-dimensional and Carter especially did a fantastic job on him.

Was it a calf strain or simple cramp for Tomlinson? Doubt he'd continue playing if it were serious.

Oh yeah and while I agree Carter helped turn the game for the Sixers, you're selling Ervin very short there Wilson. He had a big game tonight. Whenever the Sixers needed a basket, Gary was there knocking it down.

Tigers have a good nucleus now though. They probably need to cut Worthington adrift and spend the money on a better second import. Goulding is far and away the best Aussie shooting guard in the league and Tomlinson and Walker are solid players to build around. (Though someone needs to tell Walker that charging flat out for a 50-50 ball with a minute left in a 15 point game is really loveable - but dumb).

Really wanted to go but had my own game tonight at 7.30. Spoke to a few other at bball and quiet a few said they would have gone also but couldnt.

I guarantee if the game was on a weekend it would have been a much larger crowd.

Wilson... If you are just dropping your shoulder and charging through someone, the keyway semi-circle is irrelevant. speak to a referee or read the rules. The Key way semi-circle is for the man attacking the rim, after he has left the ground, to protect his space. Not just any excuse to drop a bloke in the key!

The above poster is correct, if you know your NBL rules then you'd find that was a very clear cut charging call. It was about as blatant and easy to call as it gets.

@ Jake, I think your remark about Gordon liddy was a bit unfair. Liddy for all we know could be a guy with special needs lets go easy on the kid.

Very entertaining game, pity it wasn't closer, could have been a classic. Many highlights and the shooting at times was out of control, were both teams at over 70% from the field at one stage late in the first quarter, wow...

Tigers I believe they said were 55% from the field and almost 50% from the 3 point line and losing!!

How does that happen.....?

Anyway, if the remainder of the NBL finals are as good as this I will be very happy watching.

Excellent games from Ervin, Carter - all of the Sixers. Hugely entertaining game and great finals atmosphere.

Fair enough re. the offensive call in the circle, I only saw it live on TV, didn't get a replay. Highlights how dumb Wortho was going for the foul instead of just trying to get the ball in the hole. Also nice block by Teys on Wortho breakaway which unfortunately was called a foul. Looked clean to me.

shit game by Wortho......no where to be seen at either end of the court.

Melbourne would have won that with a good coach.

Thoroughly enjoyed the game and even watched it ahead of the AFL.

Odigie's second three point attempt not so hot though :)

From the section on Goaltending and Interference:

Interference occurs when:
• After a shot for a field goal or the last or only free throw a player touches the basket or the backboard while the ball is in contact with the ring.
• After a free throw followed by an additional free throw(s), a player touches the ball, the basket or the backboard while there is still a possibility that the ball will enter the basket.
• A player reaches through the basket from below and touches the ball.
• A defensive player touches the ball or the basket while the ball is within the basket, thus preventing the ball from passing through the net.
• A player causes the basket to vibrate or grasps the basket in such a way that, in the judgement of an official, the ball has been prevented from entering the basket or has been caused to enter the basket.
• A player grasps the basket to play the ball.

Melbourne shot 14/23 from the free throw line, If you hit 61% of your attempts your not going to win many play off games, plus Melbournes best player was Tomlinson and he got smoked by GE. I would start Balls next game ahead of wortho(looked injured or on a different planet or something) and play walker at the 3. Tigers have to try something different now otherwise it will be all over on Sunday

Ima fairly nervous kinda guy, but Teys 17minutes was good and Carters 19minutes very good, as was Ervins 31minutes. I was even more nervous the way Goulding started, but things were pretty good out there.

While watching that goal tend by Schlensser (you know the guy), I couldn't believe the comentry, do they even know the rules those guys on the TV?