Cleveland says home crowd key to success

Adelaide 36ers import guard/forward Antonius Cleveland said home court advantage will play a huge role in this weekend’s double header at the Entertainment Centre.

The 196cm swingman said the side is pumped to be back on their home floor after the New Year’s Eve loss to the Taipans in Cairns.

“We want to take care of home court, we want to keep protecting this place and make it hard to play here and giving our fans a good outing so they keep supporting us,” Cleveland said.

“These two games this weekend are going to be huge.

“We are ready to get out there and get a W, get that taste out of our mouth from last game.

“It’s one day at a time but we are ready to get out there and play again.”

Adelaide, who sit in seventh with a 10-9 record, could make a major move up the NBL23 ladder this weekend, hosting Illawarra Hawks on Friday night and New Zealand Breakers on Sunday afternoon.

“Every game is important, it’s so close, the race is so tight,” Cleveland said.

“You want to take care of business and not have any slip ups.

 “We just don’t want to run out of time trying to get that top two spot, we want to take care of what we can take care of and let the chips fall where they land after that.”

With the recent addition of import combo guard Ian Clark, Cleveland said his side now has “no excuses” moving forward.

“Everything we need is here, we got that third import, we got a healthy team, we always seem to have excuses, now, it’s no more excuses, just to get clicking at the right time,” Cleveland said.

“He (Clark) is very important, he puts us up there with all the great teams and makes our team complete.

“Not only just his play, but his winning mentality, he is very important with what we are trying to do.”