Game day Sunday sees two hungry teams fighting for the fourth and final playoff spot as the NBL regular season dies down. A loss for either team, but especially Sydney, will likely mean the end of their season as the chase to leapfrog fourth placed Melbourne intensifies.

Adelaide in the box seat for this one IMO. Should win by 7.

Preview: Kings and 36ers battle to keep season alive

My heart says Adelaide but my head says Sydney.

Adelaide's defence has to get after the Kings guards and the 36ers need to be relentless on the glass. This game will likely be decided by which team gets the most run from their defence.

Sydney by 8

Adelaide are too strong upfront and should win by 7

Sydney will certainly fancy their chances today after they smashed NZ on the road.

I was unable to watch that game but see today's game as a very close contest with little margin for error.

Hopefully the umpires are in good form and don't influence the outcome with inconsistencies.

To win we will need Joey to keep Wilson playing the team game and not slip backwards to his old ways and he will need to be spot on with match ups and rotations. Schencher to have a few more minutes of Crawford's time.

For me Sixers to win in a great game.

(blowout would be great)

Sixers will be too strong but the NBL haven't done any favours to Adelaide, playing in Perth Friday, then back home Sunday, then in Woolongong Friday and Sydney on Sunday. Tough run, so need to get off too a good start as we may get tired.

Sixers playing some of the best defence I've seen all season. Moving their feet and rotating beautifully.

Perth fans now shaking in their boots. 2 games behind Perth and Perth have a tough run including nz away loss Adelaide away loss. Cairns home loss nz home loss may scrape with wins over Townsville and Sydney giving them 14 wins.

Sixers played Friday and showed no sign of fatigue with 2 games in 3 days. Perth blame travel and playing game in Townsville as collapse.

Face it, wildcats not good enough and don't deserve a finals spot.

Mitch Creek must have been working hard on his shooting. Before this year his jump shot and free throws were very hit and miss, but this year he's been a lot better.....3 point shots aside.

Adelaide with a 28 point lead with at 3/4 time. I think NZ, Cairns and Perth will be hoping like hell that Melbourne keep the 36ers out of the playoffs.

DJ seems to have come back a better defensive player than he left.

@Sixers147 - I think you will find it was 3 Games in 4 days . Wed, Fri, Sat. Fatigue was always going to play a factor in!the 3rd game.

Perth will make it, they just had a very tough run in the past week. And they should get Matt Knight back at some point which will make them a better team.

Realistically, after Adelaide's big win today its out of Melbourne and Adelaide for 4th spot because you can forget any slim chance Sydney had. I just hope Townsville can pull off an upset over Melbourne tonight.

Never said Knight would come back 100% fit and match ready. But having him in the lineup, be it starting or from the bench, will make Perth a better team. Knight plays well above his height at centre and the Cats do miss his efforts in the paint when he's out injured.

Sixers147, any team that loses 7 in a row doesn't deserve a finals spot.

Wilson sting, 27-6 in the last quarter, how can a team seriously be in contention with a quarter like that. Sixers deserve finals even though they lost 7 in a row and remember, Mitch creek was injured, wilson too was injured and Brock motum only just joined the team.

@sixers147 - now who's making excuses

Well you'd have to think that's season dead and buried for Sydney, whilst Adelaide maintains their late run. What's that, FIVE in a row now?
Keeping the season interesting!

5 away wins at that!!! Atleast the championship isn't a 2 horse race this year.

It was a one-horse race last year.

Pleased for Kevin White who must be praying for a 9th/10th spot in 15/16. Confidence has been shot. Career high 14 points.

Madgen padding the stats with his last quarter.
A regular occurrence. Still not an NBL leader,
never will be. Not sure if Garlepp has what they need either. Together it doesn't work. The team never put first. Not much choice in that group.

Joey outcoached the Kings. A clean cut job, both teams second game in 3 days, no advantage.

The right teams are battling it out for the 3rd and 4th spots. Finals should be sensational stuff.

Sixer147 for the record it was a 31-6 last quarter :)

I just live in this fantasy world where I think the best teams over the course of the entire season deserve the playoff spots.

Sure Perth are having a bad run but they've still got a great lineup and IF Knight gets back in and they have a bit of a rest they'll finish the season strong (that's a big IF Knight gets back in, with his history I have my doubts).

Pretty awesome display by Adelaide, all the pieces clicking, a scary proposition if they make finals.

I loved how Wright went from the Schenscher, Johnson, Motum,Creek, Wilson line-up to Motum, Creek, Teys, Gibson, Daly. It's one hell of a versatile team.

Sydney won the last period 30-21, though I think by that time Adelaide had definitely taken the foot off the accelerator. If we had kept up the same defensive intensity we saw in the 3rd I think the Kings would have struggled to score 70 for the game, let alone the 86 they did score.

There didn't look much in the Childress injury, but it doesn't have to look bad for it to be bad.

Madgen scored 10 of his 24 points in the last 3:42 of the game when the Kings had nothing to play for but pride on their home court.

Adelaide easily won the rebounds 40-25. 14 of our rebounds came from the bench, Schenscher had a game high 10 while DJ had 4. Sydney's starters combined for a grand total of 14 rebounds.....

You would have to think that Mitch Creek a candidate for the NBL's Most Improved Player award this year. Isn't it good to see what he can do when he's given minutes and is relatively injury free.

MELBOURNE LOST TO TOWNSVILLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adelaide came into Sydney tonight, ready to play and cement their status as the only other team competing for that 4th spot in the playoffs. The Kings on the other hand, looked like a team that lacked motivation, despite there still being plenty to play for. The final score of 105-86 and Adelaide adding another win to their tally doesn't show just how one-sided this game really was.

Undersized Kings Struggled Against 36ers Bigs

Another bonus for Adelaide was Johnson getting a run against a seriously sub-par frontcourt to get some confidence back.

Hi. Surprised no one has noted the unbelievable disparity in the two team lineups. Apart from Childress, there isn't one current Kings player who would get in the Adelaide team. The Adelaide bench is at least as good as the Kings first five. Not a good look for the NBL when you have two such seriously mismatched teams. If the Kings want to be serious contenders they need to recruit some decent Aussie talent and not over rely on an (admittedly great)ex NBA player in Childress. Very disappointing game to watch, unless you are a diehard 36er fan.

Ben Madgen would make the 36ers team and so would Jason Cadee, ahead of PC and Daly. But yes, Adelaide have one of the most talented line-ups in NBL history and the Kings are building for the future.

Boomers bosses obviously wouldn't agree with you. Picked PC above Madgen and others for a spot at the London Olympics.
How can anyone seriously criticise Cotter's coaching given the team that he has. to my mind he is doing a good job as a rookie coach with a sub-standard team.

That selection was in 2012, that's a long time ago now.

Sportsbet had this nearly split, so I don't think Sydney are THAT bad SO. Remember they beat the league leading Breakers a few days earlier. The 36ers were great yesterday it all clicked, but to say the Kings don't have a good team is a bit off. Remember they are missing a big too.

Kings only beat the Breakers as latter were absolute rubbish plus decided to go to war with the referees. No guide to anything.
If Childress doesn't come back next season they have almost nothing left. So much for building for the future. As I said very worrying for NBL. Feel sorry for the coach.

Sydney have beaten NZ twice, one of only two teams to do so. They have also beaten Cairns and Perth, and every other team except Melbourne, who they played without Childress and then in his first game back from injury.

Really, they are one solid Aussie and a good replacement for Perry off being a very good team as Brandt, Ellis and Cadee will keep getting better. Just as an example:

Brandt/Duinker
Garlepp/Ellis
Childress/White
Madgen/Steindl
McKee/Cadee

Kings are bringing in an new import for the rest of the season. Stay tuned...

I was impressed with Garlepp. He's improved and has a lot of upside. They don't have a lot of frontcourt depth though and were exposed by what it a big Adelaide frontline.

A pretty complete game by the Sixers though. 17 is getting a bit high as far as turnovers go, but that'd be nitpicking.

If Gibson went to brissy then give his money to Madgen for this

1. Wilson
2. Madgen
3. Creek
4. Motum
5. DJ

What paul said. So your over reacting to one blow out loss.

Hi. Not over-reacting. Kings were almost as bad in previous home loss to Crocs. Kings have:
- No depth, terrible bench. As soon as they lose a key player like Brandt, they are stuffed. White and Joyce wouldn't get a gig in any other NBL team. Duinker not good enough.
- Second import who doesn't belong in the SEBL.
- Over-reliance on flaky shooter in Madgen. Will shoot great in one game and then miss every shot in the next.
- Recruitment staff who have no idea (apart getting Childress who probably fell into their lap)
- Can't hold onto their good Aussie players.
However do agree that Garlepp is big improver and a keeper (+ maybe Cody Ellis and Cadee).
Also this is on top of their biggest problem. Nowhere to play next year when the Ent Centre is knocked down.

When fit there team is pretty darn good. But like in all sports teams, if you lose key players it will effect your win loss ratio. Having Childress out for any games has been huge for them, and same with Brandt to a degree. Its just bad luck with injuries. NZ without Cedirc Jackson would struggle, its sport...

As for the stadium situation etc I have no idea, was just commenting on the initial the stuff abouyt the Kings being bad because they lost to the 36ers. Most team would take a win in NZ this time of year, so not all doom and gloom.

Spot on. Consistency is their biggest issue, has been for the Kings since their first season back, when at least they were consistently bad for most of it.

Everyone is sort of making some good points...

When the Kings are focused and on point like they were in both their NZ wins (I know the Breakers weren't entirely focused in the last one, but still credit to the Kings for putting their foot on their necks to do it by such a margin and not coast) they're very competitive. The main difference between the Kings and other teams is that they need a larger amount of players to be firing... Childress needs to be on song, Brandt/Garlepp/Duinker combo needs to be tearing down boards and taking it to opposing bigs... Madgen has been inconsistent but that can be traced back to him being able to get open from getting enough protection and other players being able to draw defenders away... If we're not scoring inside, there's no reason to collapse on someone to free him up...

Consistency will come when they get a playing group that is both good enough to keep together and happy enough to stick around multiple seasons... Imagine if Khazzouh and Bose were both happy enough to stay multiple seasons under a decent coach? Adding in the players we have now that are worth keeping, it would be a great team to watch...

Import PG / Cadee
Madgen / White
Childress / Bose
Garlepp / Ellis
Khazzouh / Brandt

But a combination of nutbag management, poor coaches, drunk owners abusing the coach during the game, really doesn't help the situation...

So that's left us with an incredibly weak bench, at least one, maybe two starters that should be coming off the bench in a stronger team (Brandt and Cadee), two, maybe three players that shouldn't really be on a team with competitive depth (White, Joyce and possibly Duinker) and an import PG who is ok defensively at times, but you'd think not as good as we need him and given too many chances to be competitive and help the team with little success...

If other teams hadn't improved so much this off-season or by being able to bring back their past team MVP as an injury replacement, this might have been a more competitive team, but other teams HAVE improved more, and gotten a lot bigger, so the better, bigger, more cohesive team won on the night...

I don't think the rest of the league has improved as much as the hype might suggest. NZ and Cairns have improved, Melbourne and Adelaide (in the second half) are about the same, while Perth, Wollongong and Townsville have declined.

@Paul - I guess it's a matter of on paper vs reality, as really, I think Melbourne have improved, but would be much better if Barlow lived up to expectations, even Townsville should have a better result than they should have, adding/re-signing more valuable pieces, and now at least Adelaide are much improved, unfortunately...

They all at least made moves that should have turned out well, signing ex-sub-Boomers like Barlow and Kickert, Townsville Steindl and Gladness, resigning Conklin...

The benefit the top teams have is little turnover, as they recruited well in previous seasons, adding only one or two players... Whereas we got White, Joyce and Duinker...

"They all at least made moves that should have turned out well, signing ex-sub-Boomers like Barlow and Kickert"

People who followed European ball knew those guys would be solid players but not stars in the NBL.

On paper Melbourne are a little better but they haven't replaced what Morrison gave them nor what Walker gave them last season, hence their rebounding is terrible and their defence susceptible inside.

yeah, fair point, but who was the better signing... Barlow / Kickert or Duinker?

I just hope the latters second year contract is a team option like White and Ellis last season...

I imagine Duinker was on a different payscale (I hope so!), but he has definitely got better as the year has gone on. Mind you, he couldn't have gotten much worse than early on!

Cairns has been lucky to remain injury free, as opposed to last year when Tragardh missed so much time. Other teams have all had issues with injuries this year.
The Cairns roster is a bit better balanced thank last year, but I still think there are question marks on the coaching.

lol... yeah, I agree that Duinker has improved, getting a couple of shots down low and fighting for rebounds, but at the moment, even though he's the one that is contracted, there's one spot for a back up big other than Brandt, and it's between Duinker and Ellis and right now, if we can get a proper big, I'd go with Ellis... A much more rounded game, still gets after everything, CAN nail it from outside (even though needs some work on it) and has just been 100% hustle for most of this season... even when the game is on the line, he's up and down the court, getting his hands in passing lanes for steals, more blocks than he gets credit for, and I think is definitely a better long term bet...

I know Duinker would have come cheap, but for just one big man, you can't skimp on the price...

All good points. I agree wholeheartedly about Ellis, he and Garlepp are a good PF combo. Perhaps a key here is Brandt making strides in the off-season.

The Kings have shown they can beat good teams with that frontcourt, so I'm actually inclined to say spend the money on improving PG, bringing in a good back-up 2/3 and, of course, bringing Childress back or a quality replacement.

Had this year's team had Ty McKee (as an example) instead of Kendrick Perry they'd be right in the playoff race.

Yeah, Brandt's growth is definitely key to success down the track... I think part of what can help with that would be to get him a bit more solid and not be able to pushed around a lot (would be great to get someone like Crossy in, I think he could learn a lot from him) but also to take the pressure off a bit, and have him come off the bench behind a top quality Aussie big...

To properly compete, you need multiple options and someone to be able to deliver to those options... I like you're example of McKee, but really, I think Sanders would have been an upgrade on Perry too... Opposition laid off him so often, but he took that and turned it into an advantage, either taking it further inside himself and/or dropping if off to another option... He was all hustle, a proper facilitating PG and was familiar with the team...

I'm still a big fan, if he stays healthy, of getting Markovic back in town... That is, unless all that unrest out West will inspire Damo to ask to leave, perhaps to join the new Kings coach Bevo^ in Sydney, which will free up that import spot which is so often a miss with imports, to get a proper big like we've seen added this season to other teams...

^Not really, just wishful thinking!

I think it was more the style of player McKee was, more than him in particular...

Clarke would have been perfect, how much he did for that Hawks team was basically how much we relied on JChill lol...

I think he signed in Belgium fairly quickly though, before the Kings were organised...

He also said, prior to the end of last season, that he'd never play for Sydney.

Since when have the Kings been organised?

HOME TEAM
B. Madgen: -15
K. Perry: -11
J. Childress: -28
J. Duinker: -23
T. Garlepp: -12
J. Cadee: -6
C. Ellis: -1
D. Joyce: -3
K. White: 4

ROAD TEAM
A. Gibson: 13
J. Wilson: 21
B. Motum: 19
A. Petrie: 3
M. Creek: 26
L. Schenscher: 14
B. Teys: 12
D. Johnson: 12
T. Daly: -13
P. Crawford: -12