panther lover
Years ago

Sixers vs Taipans--- Peoples thoughts

Overall i thought it was a great game of basketball. Sixers lost the game in the third quarter in my eyes when we just wasted some of our offensive oppertunities due to Taipans great D. Mee and Grabau were the g ame breakers in the last and i thought Farley did well to keep us in it in the last. Not happy at all with the result for the sixers and i think now is the time to really sit down and take a long hard look at the squad we have got at the moment. Some changes have to be made if the thirty sixers are going to win a championship. Maher, Farley,Rychart,Hill and Forman should all stay in my eyes. And i don't care what people say about Cooper being a role player and all that other shit. The reality is hat he is our starting centre and did absolutely nothing for us tonight except get the fisrt two pts of the match and 3 fouls in th first, but I am sure he is contracted for next year which should definatel benfit our big man department.....Bullshit..Better luck next year boys

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Anthony  
Years ago

Overall great game to watch you could see our offence starting to breakdown late in the 3rd quarter as the clamp was put on Maher once more. Well done to Cairns for their endeavour throughout exposed our lack of quality inside defence all game sad to see Rees leave the game but 1/2 a season too long really, unfortunately we need him to put his heart into Cooper as he has absolutely no heart if that is an example of someone who should do better with the opportunities presented. Core of our squad remains strong for next season. Must say congratulation to Oscar and Jacob whose development this year has been a real positive for the team. Still numb from the loss but we can take some positives from the season.

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Jasmine  
Years ago

I'm not being harsh for the sake of it, but while Oscar clearly developed this year, just how much did Holmes give this season compared to the last 2?

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bballer  
Years ago

Dusty really stepped up and took control in the front court which showed all his class...everyone, even Maher missed a lot of shots in the 3rd quarter in particular which prob cost us the match. But no undermining the boys, fantastic game to watch and i think a few nails were bitten along the home stretch of the match..

As for Formans developement u only have to look at the clutch basket he made...tells the story

Holmes is underrated, gets a lot of solid rebounders because other than him and Dusty, our rebounding is pretty dismal...he gets hisjob done, steadies the play, defends his player well...

Better luck next year i hope!!

Reply #69623 | Report this post


EC  
Years ago

Our starting centre - 2 points and not a single rebound. Is this a quality centre? I am being harsh I know but we have to expect more. Considering the tightness of tonight's game, a little more effort from him would have been the difference. A great game played by Dusty top scoring tonight and also Farley. Bring both of these back next season. I am not certain about Cooper contracted for another year but many say he is. If this is the case, I ask the question - why? We ended this season the same way as last season and the same arguments were going around then that we were deficient in the centre department. What has changed this season?

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twenty four  
Years ago

Exactly, nothing has been done to improve the team.
The only difference will be that we won't have quality centres saying their first preference is to play in Adelaide.

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panther lover  
Years ago

If we had a quality big man this year we would have been a championship contender for sure. We desperately nbeed a good centre who is going to get 12-14 rbs a game and score . It will give our team another dimension in offence and defence.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Maybe it is not fair to say that nothing has been done to improve the team.

Oscar, Nash and Hill all had a much better season this year than last year .

Maybe the issue is that something more significant has to change.

Today the bulk of the money is spend on the 3 big stars and as long as they all stay then it is not likely that there will be sufficient spare money to attract a quality centre.

As Farley has a contract and hence is staying next year , maybe we have to get used to saying " Goodbye " to Dusty .

It is not enough to just say " Goodbye " to Reece, Cooper, Nash though they should all go before Dusty.

Personally I wish Dusty could stay and Farley was the star player without a contract.

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jimmy de bas  
Years ago

Probably the best and most entertaining basketball game I have ever seen. Well worth the price of admission. Anyone else think that Thomas could have been called for a foul when Forman made his buzzer beater??

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EC  
Years ago

Dusty is a solid scorer & rebounder. The team can't afford to lose someone who contributes so much. A quality centre is desperately needed but not at the expense of the contribution made by Dusty. When you look at what is required from a quality centre, you would say someone who can get their 10 or more rebounds and score as well. Dusty already does this wo what are you achieving from saying goodbye to him.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

EC,

where do you find the money for the quality centre if not from saying " Goodbye" to one of the star players ?

Reply #69638 | Report this post


Hoop Addict  
Years ago

Reesy & Cooper combined for 6 points & 0 (yep, 0) boards in just under 20 minutes of play. Clearly we have a deficiency at the 5 spot, and that production isn't going to win you many games.

Grabau really hurt us tonight. 20 points on 8/12 shooting (4/7 3s) is unbelievable. Sure, he's not the most dangerous shooter on the team, but after he hits a couple it'd be wise to pay him some respect.

I actually thought Willie did a good job on Darnell tonight. Seemed to frustrate him in the 1st half , and Darnell had some slack turnovers. Of course, when it mattered most, Darnell came up big & hit some very tough, clutch shots. He finished with a more-than-respectable stat line of 16 points, 7 boards & 7 assists, but was held in check until the final quarter came around.

I think in the 2nd half we did quite a good job on Boodnikoff, forcing him to put the ball on the floor, rather than be a stand still jumper shooter. The only problem was, twice we allowed him to follow his misses with putbacks. Giving up 17 offensive boards is partly the result of not having a 5 man capable of rebounding.

Crosswell was able to get into the key and make tough shots all night. Finished with 13 points on 6/9 shooting in 29 minutes. I think in the entire game, he dribbled the ball about 3 times with his right hand.

I thought our offense looked really good towards the end of the 1st quarter, and in parts of the 2nd, when we were creating stops & getting rebounds on D, and running in offense. We were trigger-happy & free-flowing. Unfortunately when we ceased getting stops & boards, our half course offense was stagnant, and quite messy. Too often we get bogged down, dribbling without going anywhere.

The production from Oscar (12 points, 6 boards in 33 minutes), Jacob (10 & 10 in just under 40) and Nash (9 & 12) was very solid. It's good to see these guys performing well, and I thought they were all quite good on D. Oh, and Jimmy - yes, I think it was a close call, though it was probably a marginal foul at worst. Probably a good no-call that let the players decide the game in extra time.

Cairns did a good job of not falling for Brett's shot fakes, and forced him into 6/18 shooting. He still controlled the game well though, and had 10 of the 6ers 16 assists.

Dusty was at his crafty best around the basket, and I thought he did especially well considering he was against bigger opponents. He also played some reasonable D on Catt. In fact, I think Willie & Dusty's defensive deficiencies were far less glaring tonight than they have been in the past.

In 51 minutes on court, Willie only had 13 FG attempts. He managed to hit 8, and score 24 points, and to me this was one of those rare times he probably needed MORE shots. He was in one of those crazy frames of mind where he was knocking shots no matter who was guarding him. While he did occasionally over-dribble, I think he was generally pretty good, and we probably needed to do a better job of getting him open & isolating him after he'd hit a few. I really think we needed to ride his hot hand more tonight.

I think Phil rotated his players quite well tonight. He essentially played with 6 players, plus just under 10 minutes each for Cooper & Rees. To me, his biggest mistake was not calling a time out at the 34 second mark in the 4th Q. He had 2 up his sleeve & I question the wisdom in not calling a time out in the 3rd Q (where we managed just 15 points) then not using his 'stored' timeouts in the crucial last couple of minutes.

The stats for the whole game were pretty close. Cairns shot 44% FGs, 36% 3s, 75% FTs to our 45%, 38% & 73%. Rebounds were 51-49 Cairns. Points off bench were 25-25 until Stewart's 3 in the last 2 seconds. 2nd chance points were 18-16 Cairns, points off turnovers 13-12 Cairns. Pretty tight the whole way. Probably the most glaring difference was in blocked shots (Cairns 8-1).

While I don't particularly think the refs had much of an effect on the outcome, I do think Tom Mills is a very, very ordinary ref. Why is he reffing NBL finals? Why is he reffing NBL games at all? I thought Butler & Thieisz were alright.

The attendance was quite disappointing, in my opinion. 4726 for a do-or-die final is below-par. Having said that, they sure made some noise and everyone was into the game.

I think there are some decisions to be made regarding next seasons lineup. If we return with the same group, I think we'll likely achieve a similar result. It's pretty obvious that something needs to be done about the 5 spot, so it will be interesting to see if/who we target to fill that gap. Do we look at the Aussie talent, or make a tough decision to go for an American & not re-sign Dusty? If they were to go with the latter option, I'm sure Forman is ready to step into a starting role.

Finally, I think the NBL really needs to evaluate its finals format. In the semi's we now have the #1, #2, #5 & #7 ranked sides. While Cairns & Perth deserve credit for winning when it matters most, I think that the #3 & #4 ranked sides have earned the right to more than 1 finals match.

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EC  
Years ago

Anon #69638 - I agree a quality centre is required but what are you really getting for Dusty's money? You won't get anyone in the league whether he be a centre or not that will contibute so much in scoring and rebounding. It has to be someone else's money that needs to be spent. Rees has retired but we may need to wait until after the next season for a quality centre when Cooper is out of contract. With the saving of Rees' salary and Cooper's plus the fact that you would expect the salary cap to rise, that's where a quality centre can be paid for.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

I think Adelaide was great and i loved the entire game but the very last shot.

Maher missed his shots more than he usually would, and that made a big difference. We obviously got to tired in OT and i knew that Mee would do really well sometime in the second half after a 2pt, 2 fouls first half. Sixers got out rebounded and you saw Rychart and Maher getting most.

Nash was massive with about 4 times or more, that we shot it and missed easy shots and cairns wasn't there and Nash got the easy 2.

Adelaide's longshots were great in the first half but dropped off a little bit at the end of the game.

Adelaide's defensive rebounding was terrible at most times. Cairns sometimes getting up to 3 or 4 rebounds without us been ble to run our offence.

Cairns always had better offensive talent, or i should say MORE offensive talent.

Crosswell and Boodnikoff killed us as they have the talent to do.

Mee finally in the 4Q got fired up and destroyed us.

Cattalini starred as he usually does.

Stewart was okay and Burgess was good.

Farley and Rychart starred with some great Forman jumpers and Nash worth keepng!

Hill hardly got any time at all, so it was only 8 players that had time on. The ninth was Hill that got about 2 minutes.

Sixers did well, but Cairns did better and made a 'Rychart' or 'Maher' play and sank a buzzerbeater.

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Joe M  
Years ago

The Sixers should say 'goodbye' to Dusty Rychart and sign Neil Mottram from the Melbourne Tigers. His partner is Deanna Smith from the Adelaide lighting (Fellas) so if an opportunity to play constant mins as well as to have a bigger influence on a team he could potentially be swayed to stay in Adelaide.

Start with

C: Mottram
PF: Holmes
SF: Forman
SG: Farley
PG: Maher

Bench: Cullen Nash, Hill, Nambour, Ingles

Dusty and Coppers income could get both Geordie Cullen and Neil Mottram, if that what they are after.

Or simply sign Luke S with the same sort of money Dusty is getting but what everyone has said is correct that the Sixers need a quality centre that can produce in all 3 statistical categories (Points, Rebounds and block shots) and currently David Cooper isn't producing effective numbers to be a starting centre.

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Kent Brockman  
Years ago

Joe M, Mottram is not going out with Deanna.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Copper is signed for next season

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Joe M, Neil is with Jenny Screen

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Isaac  
Years ago

Mottram is with Screen AFAIK. I wouldn't make him our starting C. I think he can be a bit patchy, as well as injury prone.

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EC  
Years ago

Motteram is definitely with Screen and I would not have him in our team. Would you remove 20 points and 10 rebounds consistently from our game and also coming from someone who has a very negligible record for injury and replace the salary for someone who you may only play for 2 months of the season? You need to look at what expectations you would have from a quality centre. If his production is going to be less than what you are giving up to accommodate him, what have you achieved? Based on stats alone, Dusty is too valuable to the team.

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crudeboy  
Years ago


Agreed with the Cullen part - I think he would a great 6th player for the sixers --

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