36ers ready to close out home stand

Adelaide will look for their fourth consecutive win when the 36ers host a rejuvenated Brisbane Bullets at the Entertainment Centre on Thursday night.

The 36ers, who have won their past three games at home, will unveil new import Ian Clark for the first time on court and the 190cm combo guard is excited to get started.

“Everything is going good, I’m finding my feet, getting acclimated to practice,” Clark said.

“It’s going good, yesterday (Tuesday) was my first full day.”

Clark is excited about his first impressions of his new side and what he can bring to the NBL23 campaign.

“Learning the schemes, learning the guys’ tendencies on the floor and what we want to do as a team,” Clark said.

Brisbane, who are now back to full strength, come to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre fresh from a 97-93 overtime win against Perth Wildcats at home on Tuesday night, Sunday Dech said the 36ers will keep the routine going after head coach CJ Bruton’s ‘mini training camp’ earlier this month.

“For us, it’s the same. We want to scout them the best we can,” Dech said.

“We are definitely happy about it, heading in the right direction.

“I think after losing three in-a-row we kind of had a reality check and change our processes a bit.

“We treated it as a pre-season and we have won three on the trot, which we are happy about.”

Bruton has been thrilled with the response from his playing group since the start of the ‘new’ season.

“I’ve been excited since we have started our new season. Going into training camp bringing that to the boys every single day, so they see that and understand that,” Bruton said.

“My passion and love for this game, I want to see them be successful and I want to see this club be successful.”

Adelaide has won their past three matches, all at home, to go 9-8 on the season and has moved Kai Sotto into the starting line-up.

“As the season has gone on, clearly I have made the adjustment and Kai has made the adjustments as well in all the areas I asked him to do,” Bruton said.

“We are where we are now and the players are playing well and the competition is healthy at practice.”

ADELAIDE 36ERS vs BRISBANE BULLETS
Adelaide Entertainment Centre, 7pm Thursday
LIKELY STARTERS
36ers: McCarron, Dech, Cleveland, Franks, Sotto
Bullets: Cadee, Sobey, Krebs, White III, Baynes
LAST TIME
ADELAIDE 36ERS 108 (Franks 25, Cleveland 20, Drmic 16) def BRISBANE BULLETS 77 (Cadee 15, Gak 13, White III 12) at Adelaide Entertainment Centre.