Re above Possible to have 4 teams with 11 wins each if Cairns beat Perth tomorrow
And 4 teams on 8 wins each if Adelaide win today

The question is can Sixers beat a good side, on top end talent this should be Sixers win, even bench depth it should be Sixers. JJs really know how to compete though I thought they went a bit iso in their last start loss. Should be a good game, I won't tip as I don’t want to kill either sides chances of winning. :::))))

Adelaide can beat a good side, they've beaten Sydney and Cairns, but you'd never back them with any certainty, whereas you know what you're going to get from the JJs 9 nights out of 10.

Personally I don't see that Adelaide's top-end talent (Franks, Cleveland, Johnson, McCarron) is better than Tasmania's (McVeigh, Doyle, Magnay, Magette, Kelly), while the JJ's depth is better when fully fit. That's why adding Clarke is so important.

Have to back the all conquering Jackie's, they’re absolute consumate professionals that get it done when it counts (mostly).

36ers need to win this and Phoenix to get their season back on track. Drop either or both, and it’ll be one hell of a hole that they won’t get out of IMO.

Biggest two games of the season coming up pre-christmas

Looking for a close game with a little easing up on all the fouls. Let the players play. It's getting a bit too touchy foul for me. JJ’s for me

Watched all the games in recent weeks, all of them way over officiated. Too many foul calls. There doesn't have to be a foul called on every possesion. Let them play.

Can't for the life of me see what Bruton sees in Harris to give him any meaningful minutes

Rashard Kelly started the season hot but he's starting to look like prime Mikyle McIntosh out there

Good game, nice to see the Sixers playing with a bit toughness. Sotto doing very well.

It's physical out there. Lots of contact being let go

It's a physical game, call hand checks, let the body on body go. That foul call on Sotto where he bumped Weeks was rubbish.

Watched NBL from day one. Coached juniors for many years. JJ's box out as a team better than any other I have seen. No chasing individual stats. Just locate your man and put a body on them.

Excellent game and overall well refed, Sixers played hard and CJ got some hard heads on to play physical. High scoring tough game. JJs missing there defence weapon, Kenyon big time. As I said sixer got class and it comes through if you complete and just don't expect it. Johnson at minus 10 in 11 minutes could now see his time reduced a lot, he should get on board and you never know could get a premiership.

"It's a physical game, call hand checks, let the body on body go."

This! The NBL has it backwards, has forever and a day. Players are better off putting their hands all over the ball-handler than trying to slide their feet and stay in front of them. No understanding of the game from Scott Butler's crew.

Huge credit to the 36ers, the reffing in the 3rd quarter was atrocious, Tassie committing foul after foul after foul and getting away with it.

But Adelaide kept their focus, played through it, started pushing Tassie around at the other end and then Cleveland did the rest. He was amazing with good support from Harris, Dech, Sotto and Drmic, key role player performances.

That's the first game where the 36ers genuinely looked like a playoff team, winning when the game wasn't on their terms.

Adelaide's record when Kai Sotto is a starter is 2-0.

When sixers play together and bench used well they are quite good.

Sotto was very good, has smarts, he has to work on his core strength, he's got get stronger.

36ers looked like a real basketball team tonight for the first time since Joey was there.

Casey bated Cleveland into acknowledging Ian Clarke to be announced tomorrow.

DJ only 11 minutes, Sotto and Harris playing most of the minutes at 5, they need an extra guy there, Cam Bairstow would be nice right about now...

Adelaide's offense structure is atrocious. Way too much reliance on iso play.

Great call about Bairstow, he would be very handy.

That was a real team performance tonight and obviously the best win at home so far this year. Everyone seemed not the same page, they were excited for each other and guys like Sotto and Harris bring a lot of energy.

Cleveland stepped up too and had one of his better games. Even McCarron who I have been critical of when we've struggled has looked really good the past couple weeks.

Bairstow was one of the first players CJ asked to play again this season,
but Cam said his body could not go another season.
I would have Galloway ahead of Harris as a big, and Marshall ahead of Dench... as a wing or guard.
DJ still ill from the gastro by the looks… Kai is putting in a lot of effort so ya gotta acknowledge that.
Keen to see a new import come in and help out the guards who tonight apart from Mitch just have the poorest entry passes. Offensive structure is ok, but some players take forever to react to the setup for certain sets, and some players just cannot get that first pass going..that does come back to the structures [maybe more off ball work required] but also just basic passing skills.

JJs so good at that borderline holding/leading/blocking/grabbing defence.. I am still amazed how little they get called, especially Magnays holds tonight on those brush off screens.. they act like choir boys.. but so much contact.. they do it so well as a group.

That was a real nice win. Also like that I saw CJ really fire up a couple of times. Was a bit miffed that we never really posted Franks on McVeigh on a consistent basis though.

Sixers starting to look legit now, as predicted Drmic was going to be a very handy player for us this season. Hopefully DJ off the bench will continue after these wins. Tonight DJ's +/- was -10 in just 11 mins.

This is probably the first "legit" win and good basketball game I've seen this team play. The Jackies give you nothing and make you earn every possession and tonight, Aldelaide was up to the task. Theyre looking like theyre turning a corner. Defensively they've improved. Kai Sotto actually is holding the forte down at starting center. When this team runs, theyre a tough beat. They just need to keep refining what they're doing because... lord behold... it is starting to look like it is coming together. I don't want to get too excited but these have been two encouraging wins in a row. With Ian Clarke to come the situation may get even better. If he can lead this team to run, it will help mitigate our weakness inside and give this team new hope moving forward.

Kai had a good impact tonight and looks to be building some confidence with extra minutes on the floor. Hope it continues, because his defensive progress is probably the biggest factor that will decide if the Sixers can be a contender, or just scrape into the 6.

Lots of good performances tonight, we got back to playing with the spirit we did in the first three games after Randall left and lo and behold we got back in the winners column!

Cleveland gets the game ball, but I thought Harris deserves credit for his defense on Kelly, helping to cause that late steal and just his hustle all game.
Good to see Marshall make some big plays to get the scoreboard moving when our offence stalled as well.

Great to see CJ fire up a couple of times too! Sometimes the coach needs to send a message and he did that with a bit of passion. Loved it!

"DJ's +/- was -10 in just 11 mins"

Sure but he was actually equal first in +/- at half time. In the 3rd he plays 3 minutes and JJ's go on a run. DJ misses a few 3's he normally would make. It is just another example of +/- stat meaning not much when players play little minutes. Having said that he was playing a team that was playing small ball and so it was right move for the Sixers to go small ball and play him and Sotto limited minutes. Mccarron also played during those 3 minutes but his +/- got bailed out by Clevelands brilliance in the first and last quarter.


Sixers are obviously playing with better energy the last two games (After getting pansed by Phoenix 8 days ago) due to probably signing Clarke. However, I am still not convinced.

1. Brisbane were an absolute rubbish team.

2. JJ's whilst still fighting hard are struggling at the moment being in 7th spot at 8W-9L. They don't look like the same team since Magnay and Steindl are back.

3. If Cleveland doesn't score 12 points including 3 3's in the 4th then we probably lose that game.

There were glimpses of some really good defense however there was still more poor defense throughout. Offensively there was still a lot of Iso ball (12 assist).

Regardless, it is good to get both wins and hopefully the confidence and Clarke can help steer things in the right direction.

"I thought Harris deserves credit for his defense on Kelly, helping to cause that late steal and just his hustle all game.
Good to see Marshall make some big plays to get the scoreboard moving when our offence stalled as well."

Agreed! They both did well and played a big part in getting us back in the game (and Harris helping to get us across the line in the 4th). I thought when we had no DJ/Sotto or Mccarron we looked great late in the 3rd to get the momentum back (down 7 to get it tied going into the last).

Marshall finished with -8 +/- stat making him the second worst player in the game according to that stat when he was far from it.

DJ offense off the bench seems to work - not competing for the ball with the imports.

DJ only 11 minutes you say? Adelaide win you say?

"They don't look like the same team since Magnay and Steindl are back."


The reason they don't look quite the same at the moment is McDaniel and Kenyon, their two best perimeter defenders, are out.

But even then they were still 3-2 with Magnay and Steindl back coming into last night, including beating Sydney in Sydney. Their losses were to NZ and Cairns in close games. Outstanding win by Adelaide last night.

+/- is the most misleading stat ever created.

Cleveland was the difference. 20 and 10, player of the game, in only 25 minutes.

+/- is the most misleading stat ever created.

I'm actually starting to agree with this, it’s amazing though how coaches look and believe in this stat. It’s started from nba.

+/- is a good stat, but like any stat it can't be taken as gospel in isolation. Re Johnson last night, it was obvious Tassie simply went at him every possession he was on the floor, the +/- simply reflected that. If he's not making shots he's a liability, that's no secret.

Need to extend Cleveland's contract now. Is next year locked in or an option?

We can build team around him for years

Agreed, keep Cleveland for aslong as possible, he is a game changer at both ends of the floor.

It would be incredible to lock in a top import like Cleveland for multiple seasons and build the team around him in the same way that the Wildcats have built a team around Cotton.

I cannot remember the last decent import that the Sixers retained for multiple seasons.

+/- is to stats as what religion is to science (apologies to religious people). It's nice to look at but doesn't really prove anything. Maybe in a greater sample size it can indicate something, like a whole season, eg Cleveland was a +5 throughout year indicating the team was better with him on the floor. But as an single game stat it could show him as a minus despite working his butt off and playing hard whilst the other 4 are slacking off.
Kind of like if someone was guarding Cotton and he misses open 3s one game. Does that make his matchup a great defensive player? But relate it to a whole season series, or playoff series and it would typically show the true story.
As for Cleveland, apart from his on court play, he's a great culture guy. He handled the Randall situation well and with all the Sixers threads, I don't think there's been a time where he has been regarded as a negative. Just does his job, offensively doesn't seem to have an ego where if he hasn't shot it for a few possessions jacks up an ill advised shot. Would be great to keep him around long term and build around him. His numbers wouldn't suggest Europe see them on paper and be in a rush to sign him, but if a team sees how he fits in then that's another story. For example a team would look at Randall's numbers and be impressed compared to Clevelands, but doesn't reflect the true value.

"But as an single game stat it could show him as a minus despite working his butt off and playing hard whilst the other 4 are slacking off."

If that's the case the +/- will be roughly grouped around line-ups, which is what usually happens. Where you start to pay attention to it in a single game is where one or two players stand out one way or the other.

Then you can start to look at why to see what led to that anomaly.

Johnson is an embarrassment if you're at the game live. I don't really care if you've had gastro or not, if you're not right you don't play. His lack of effort (which isn't new by the way) is honestly disgraceful. Just thinks he's too good to even try and stop the opposition from scoring points - which last I checked goes a big way towards a team winning.
In addition to that his offensive input is minimal and selfish play. He stinks.

"Re Johnson last night, it was obvious Tassie simply went at him every possession he was on the floor, the +/- simply reflected that."

Actually it didn't reflect that at all. He was +1, equal best on the team at half time when McVeigh and Magnay scored on him whilst he scored 8 points.

3rd Quarter here are the scores

As soon as he subbed in Doyle was on the line and scores 2
Macdonald scores on a layup on DJ with him playing crap defense
Doyle scores with DJ on his man not near the play
Kelly scores with DJ on his man not near the play
White hits a 3 in transition. DJ was in the right position and couldn't have changed the outcome
White layup with DJ on his man not near the play

Only 2 points of the 13 points was DJ responsible

It is all on video so you can go back and watch it yourself

Two wins, a new Import and we get a bit more media.
CJ - "Many players have told me Clark is a great team mate. Cleveland doesn't belong in this league, but it's good to have him here."