Well given the Sixers had a 15 point lead early in the first quarter against Brisbane and still managed to lose by 15 points, I think Perth could give us a 30 point head start and still run us down. Perth did just beat the Sixers at the Blitz by 32 points too.

Perth by 30

First two games have shown Perth cant defend or rebound. If they are on an off night for Cotton / Webster etc... Adelaide could very well get the upset.

Rillie still a rookie coach.

10 points, will know by mid first qtr if rebounding was discussed at cats training this week. If not could go either way unfortunately, though cats should belt them.

Cotton at home coming off a 7 point game

Watch out. 30+ points incoming and a big Perth win

CJ wouldn't be dumb enough to put Cadee on him. Surely Dech and McCarron get the gig, but still

Sixers who significantly big man depth against Perth who have surplus of it now.

Could spell danger.

Perth will take their frustrations out on Adelaide. Double digits L for the Sixers.

25pt Perth win would be about par.

Anything under 15 would be a great 36ers effort.

You would think Perth after the disgraceful, pitiful second half last week against Phoenix will come out breathing fire

If we get the best version of Perth, this will be a blood bath.

36ers are 0-2 against two oppositions that were far from their best. (Brisbane gifting us a qrt head start, Melbourne shooting 34% from the field).

Hopefully the 36ers can keep it competitive, but its hard to see Perth losing by less than 10pts.

Tough weekend for the Sixers having to play Sydney on the road this weekend too. Should be a 0-3 start, anything else would be overachieving.

Keanu to miss this game due to ankle injury

Bummer re Keanu hopefully a minor setback and not re-injuring something from last season. I'd like to see some offensive plays run for Doolittle this week I reckon he's got some tricks up his sleeve for sure

Perth's lack of rebounding could mean this becomes a shitfest from both sides.

No Pinder? Who's rebounding for Perth? Notwithstanding a Cotton explosion, I think the Sixers could get this one. Humphries could dominate the paint and hopefully Kell will find a little more room to operate than he did v Melbourne.

Some incorrect assumptions being made about which Keanu is out injured.

Rillie in the press conference today only mentioned Zunic & T Webster as injuries maybe Pinder is cushty?

Some incorrect assumptions being made about which Keanu is out injured.

Oh I see Adelaide has a dev player with the same first name...

John Rillie press conferences are always an adventure...

"What was the most disappointing aspect of Sunday's game against the Phoenix?"

"The first quarter"

... how...

"We lost our rhythm in the third quarter because of foul trouble"

Maybe he's confused its a dance competition

Well, if he's been watching The Last Dance .... LOL

Humphries vs Webster grudge match

Why did Kell have to take his sweat shirt off.

After having Hooley all last week and Lowery the game before we get the pallet cleanser with Damo and Gleeson.

I think Kell's white sweat shirt was OK, it was the black sports tracker 'bra' between the sweat shirt and the jersey that was the problem

Decals man.

Is CJ on borrowed time? Watching a team who don't have passion or fight and just seen to be going through the motions

Would love to hear thoughts of Sixers fans

Sixers are just bad, Wiley trying hard, not winning you games though. Good commentary at last, it's nice to hear talk on the game instead off there college days and crap on. Lebron can’t make this Sixers team winners. Cats looking so much better at both ends.

It feels like Perth aren't even out of first gear - it’s just too easy for them at both ends.

How many rounds will ownership give CJ without a win?

Oh boy CJ - I almost feel bad complaining about Rillie. Poor Sixers fans.

I have t

its?

I have to agree, some of the subbing is ridiculous, Mccaron just doesn't look fit, it’s a training run for Perth.

Get Smith-Milner Off!

A bit OT but anyone else like me truly believe that Perth & Melbourne can compete with any of the top teams in Europe. When you consider the budget differences it's truly a credit to the NBL.

Perth 0/13 from 3 and up by 16!

Would these 36ers starters beat the 1988 Geelong Supercats bench?

We couldn't beat an egg atm

I'm just waiting for 36er fans to do a Ken Hinkley rant on CJ. Rumor is a couple of 36ers boasting how good they were going to be and crush the competition. Maybe their egos are just too big for CJ to get them aligned. 31 points in a half.... That’s a joke!

Perth 0/13 from 3 and up by 16!

Watched the JJs earlier and the gap between their offence and the Sixers is enormous. JJs have great spacing and the ball rarely sticks for more than a split second. Only exceptions are Doyle or Crawford, whose speed and ball-handling allow them to beat their man and create a threat.

Contrast that with McCarron, who dribbles the ball 30 times on offence and never gets close to beating his man! Cadee and Kell are the only guys on the Sixers who should dribble the ball more than 3 times.

At least CJ realises the team needs a point guard. Is management going to wake up and give him one, or are they going to sign a 3/4 who will stand around, unable to get the ball where he needs it, just like everyone else on the team?

Humphries is killing it, Sixers playing fantastic.

21-9 third quarter to Sixers. Ummm, okay.

NBL - where random happens.

Sixers third quarter scoring could be higher than their first half.

36ers getting ahead for a second there was so unexpected it broke the scoreboard graphic.

Good fightback in the third! Much better with the ball not sticking and players cutting. Question is, can they sustain it as soon as Kell and Cadee go to the bench?

Fair play to the 36s but Perth can't hit the side of a barn

Humphries was the key, can he and Wiley play the whole last quarter.

Amazing what a difference playing offence with some purpose will do! Wildcats look pretty average when you're not dribbling into turnovers and handing them fast break points all the time!

Gleeson earlier talking about how much more he still has to give coaching. Rillie better be scared.

The difference right there: Dech bricks a wide open three. Either side of that, Cotton and Webster create for themselves and nail big threes.

I'm not a fan of the new courtside announcer. Seems to think screaming everything into the microphone works well. Not sure how many games I'll attend if MC Yellsalot is in charge

Humphries has shown that he's ready for boomers, to big for Pinder

Keep leaving him open please, 6ers
Cheers

Damn. That's some big hits for an 18yr old. He won't be here long.

Doolittle living up to his name. Not really sure what he adds to the Cats?

Well played Cotton and Sarr didn't let him down. No way Humphries can guard that. CJ needs to find a different defensive plan to defend that better and keep Humphries on the floor.

Sarr is amazing for an 18 year old. Not sure why he shoots the 3 at a better clip than he does free throws, though.

Perth fall over the line. If they shoot like that against any other team they'll get pants.
Got lucky it was 36rs tonight.

Worst Flowers showing so far, which is saying something (counting the Blitz). Bad shots in the 2nd and completely missing a wide open Humphries at the basket to chuck up a brick, 5 mins played, I don't see him sticking around long.

Sixers made a good game of it, Sarr and Cotton fantastic for cats. Humphries and Wiley very good for Sixers, they need help though, an elite defensive wing and rebounder.

Happy to see the Sixers playing with some heart. Management needs to get this team a talented point guard who can also close out games. What's Barry Brown Jr doing atm? If not him, then someone similar.

Brown Jr playing in Italy I believe

It's been talked about a lot, but Adelaide have two gaping gaps in the line-up. A decent back-up centre and a high-level playmaking guard. Fill those two and they're right in the pack.

TSM just isn't the answer, but I think they need to back he, Galloway and Starling to give frontcourt depth, pray Humphries doesn't get injured and get a high-level guard.

It's the same as last year, when Randall was firing early they could beat anyone, but they never really replaced him with a playmaker. Now that was meant to be Franklin (as optimistic as that was) and they need to fill that gap.

"Management needs to get this team a talented point guard who can also close out games. What's Barry Brown Jr doing atm? If not him, then someone similar."

Yep. While Barry Brown definitely isn't a PG, he is the type of player this team needs to create something out of nothing!

Doolittle does a lot for Perth. He's as close to the perfect complimentary piece they can get.
He’s a sensational switch defender and makes great extra passes to the open shooters.

Yeah he couldn’t be more aggressive offensively at times, but even Gleeson noticed and spoke about how good he is for Perth.

Came here to drop a Doolittle pun and see Just has beaten me to it.

Yeah, Brown isn't a pure point guard, but he’s got handles, will beat his man, create shots and hit big buckets. He also plays good defence. So yes, I’d be happy with a combo guard too, so long as he can create offence and we don’t have to watch McCarron struggle to create offence anymore!

The only thing worse then the Sixers offense in the first half was the officiating for the entire game. The worst I have seen in many years. The Dolittle massive moving screen to let Webster hit the 3 and some how Mccarron knocks the ball out was the icing on the cake.

Sixers needed to close out the last few minutes of the 3rd quarter well putting the pressure on Perth. Instead CJ decided to go with a random team bringing in Marshall (who continues his crap form to start the season), Starling (who had seen about 1 minute up to that point) and TSM (who was leading the team with the worst +/-).

Wileys defence is terrible. Twice on the perimeter he put no pressure on the ball allowing for easy passes Instead which ended up in scores. He also twice didn't put up a hand to 3 point shooters, both went in. 10 easy points given up. Closes out hard on Dolittle letting him drive past whilst not closing out on Cotton.Finally at least once a game he doesn't get back on transition defence.

Mccarron 35 minutes for 3 points. No other coach is giving him those minutes. The team is massively struggling on offense and CJ wants to play 4 vs 5 on offense for most of the game.

AngusH he is a next star. He isn't going anywhere

To be fair Sixersfan, I thought the reason CJ brought Starling in was because Usher had just torched every other defender we'd put on him. I thought Starling did well with those minutes and should get more.

Sure Beantown, I want Starling to have more minutes also but I don't think bringing him in cold as well as Marshall and TSM whom both had crap games up to that point, was a high percentage thing to do in an important time in the game. Bring Starling in by himself for defensive purposes is fine. Bring those other two in with him is just poor coaching IMO.

Scrappy win but yeh will take it. Sarr great, Usher effective despite foul trouble, Cotton ≥ Cotton. +1 For Doolittle's movement off the ball ok he didnt score much but he knows where to be and he will find his stroke it's early days.

As much as a lot of people have been heaping on Rillie and CJ Bruton this past week, I thought both of their press conferences were really classy tonight.

And I really rate Doolitte; just feels like he doesn't even look at the rim unless the shot clock is expiring. That assertiveness will develop as the season goes along.

Greg Hire posted a tweet yesterday, gushing with praise for him at the Wildcats training, saying he was guarding 1-5 at a high level and scoring easily.

How has Rillie not taken more heat in this thread. Why is Usher defending Cadee (poorly) and making Cotton defend Kell who is almost Ushers height? like that is a tactical decision. The amount of contact Cotton takes off ball is a joke, but have we set a screen to make his defender think twice about it? nope.

Run a play that has players actually move off ball, Usher cuts back door, gets a dunk from a dime from a teenager, like seriously!!!

I don't think Gleeson gets enough credit for how good a coach he was. Players jacking a 3 with all 4 on the perimeter never happen under Trev, always have an offence and structure that means there would be a rebounder. Seeing Tas dominate O boards vs Sydney just makes a cats fan crave having Trev back.

Frankly Scott Morrison was a far, far better coach than Rillie, maybe his problem was Matt Hodgson was his starting centre backed up by an ever more immobile Majok.

I think Kell's white sweat shirt was OK, it was the black sports tracker 'bra' between the sweat shirt and the jersey that was the problem

Sixers weren't bad on d but they need a go to guy first of all.

Whether that’s a 3/4 or pg or a 2 guard they need a guy who can get a bucket.

How has Rillie not taken more heat in this thread.

How has Rillie not taken more heat in this thread.

36ers look so much better with Humphries.

For the love of god, plz stay healthy! It's unfortunate they can’t be stupid and play him long minutes.

I’m fine with Wiley - the positivity and being active is something to be valued as is Cadee composure.

Is there a single import that can flip these issues on the head?

1. Rebounding
2. Defensive lapses - Perth missing just about every 3pt shot prior to the 4th Q probably masks how bad this can be.
3. A giant hole next to the basket defensively when Humphries is off
4. Offensive movement top of perimeter achieving nothing
5. Offensive tactic of driving into traffic followed by losing the ball or throw the ball away
6. Inability to shoot from the perimeter

One thing I will give Bruton real credit for is the team is executing very well offensively out of time-outs. They get lost at times in the general flow of play, although the second half last night was a lot better in terms of consistent execution.

They only turned it over twice in a half and were the better side, they need a lot more of that, but their lack of depth makes it hard to have that consistency. Desperately need a superstar import for all the role players to slot around.

Fantastic to have a genuine colour commentator in Gleeson.

Even though Humphries is our only player up to spec
And Wiley moans to the refs so much he misses most team huddles
And we only really played one half
We were still competitive ?

Clearly need a Robert Rose type of import if such a thing still exists out there somewhere

Robert Rose would be perfect. Get the time machine!

"AngusH he is a next star. He isn't going anywhere"

I meant on his own accord, rather than being sacked by Adelaide.

Saar is better then 90 percent of the current imports in the league. What a luxury for the Cats

The Sixers only look like a real team is when they start their offences through Humphries. Inside/outside

They look good when they hit the roller and then move the ball from there, especially big-to-big passing with Wiley and Humphries. I reckon you could count the number of times they hit the roller in R1 on one hand

Talking about below average coaches - Jacob Jackomas' rotations are terrible.