Bruton pleased with bounce back win

Adelaide 36ers coach CJ Bruton was happy with how his side responded in Saturday night’s 90-80 success against Illawarra Hawks at the Entertainment Centre.

Bruton said post match he had ‘yelled at the boys’ following the club’s home opening 97-72 loss to Tasmania JackJumpers 48 hours earlier.

“I said I wasn’t going to and then I got a little deep in my feelings,” Bruton said.

“I told them it was not acceptable, I know we went on a long trip, I told them we were going to practice (on Friday).

“The response was good, we re-watched the first quarter, there wasn’t much more to watch, you just had to watch how we imploded on each other.”

From the opening tip against the Hawks, it was evident the 36ers had a better focus on the defensive end, which pleased Bruton.

“The defence helped from the start, it was a great bounce back from us as a team and how we were able to respond from our first game at home,” Bruton said.

“Our starters came out with better energy a delivered in that area.”

Bruton said his side still has a lot to work on, including turnovers and his rotation, going into this Friday night’s clash with defending champions Sydney Kings at Qudos Bank Arena.

“We had our lapses, we turned the ball over a little bit, but we managed to keep strong,” Bruton said.

“I have so much talent on my bench, you haven’t seen Kyrin Galloway yet, you haven’t seen much of Kai, or Hyrum Harris and Sunday (Dech) didn’t play much tonight either.

“But being able to have the depth allows teams to win championships and you are going to need it throughout the season.”