Crocker fires but 36ers fall to United

The Adelaide 36ers didn’t quite close out the #NBL21 season how they hoped against Melbourne United at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Sunday but Tony Crocker caught fire in spectacular fashion.

Adelaide was playing its last game of the 2021 NBL season and it was an unexpected bonus to have it played at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre with United unable to host the game as scheduled in Melbourne due to Victoria's COVID-19 lockdown.

It was always going to be a significant challenge, though, against a Melbourne team who has secured the regular season championship after beating the Wildcats in Perth on Friday night.

That's how it panned out too with United scoring the opening eight points of game and unfortunately the Sixers could never close that gap and really give themselves a genuine chance of avoiding finishing the season on a seven-game losing streak.

Tony Crocker came up huge, though, for the 36ers with his best game of his first season in the NBL. He finished with 27 points and five rebounds while catching fire shooting from three-point territory with 6/8 from beyond the arc.

Daniel Johnson capped off yet another remarkably consistent and outstanding season for Adelaide with a trademark performance made up of 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Brandon Paul finished up with 14 points, three rebounds and two assists while Daniel Dillon contributed eight points and six assists, Jack McVeigh six points and five rebounds, Keanu Pinder five points and four boards, and Sunday Dech two points and two assists.

Adelaide coach Conner Henry was disappointed the Sixers didn’t take the opportunity to finish their season on a more positive note.

"We started slow and I had to burn an early timeout. That lifted our energy a little bit and then we did get some lift off the bench with a couple of guys who bought in," Henry said.

"We could never close the gap, though, and it's disappointing. You look at the stats and there's a lot of things that are glaring there mainly being that we couldn’t stop them in the paints whether their guards were getting in there or their bigs were finishing. 

"It's a disappointing way to end it and I think we have a lot of work to do in the future and I'm excited about the future. We'll see how it plays out."

Sixers captain Daniel Johnson was disappointed in the finish to the season as well but is optimistic about the club's prospects looking forward.

"It was disappointing obviously and the last few weeks have been disappointing to be honest. It's always hard when you can't make playoffs to still come out there and compete, and play the same way with the same intensity," Johnson said.

"Unfortunately we didn’t really do that on the back end of the season, but we've got a great group of guys and I've enjoyed playing with them as people this year. They are great people and great teammates, and I wish them all the best but as a group we've just got to get better. 

"We have to compete and going into next year I'm sure we'll get some guys in and a lot of help, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of getting the club back into the playoffs next year."

It was the worst possible start for Adelaide with Melbourne using their second unit as their starting five, and still scoring the first eight points. Conner Henry was forced to burn an early timeout and the 36ers did work back into starting with six quick points from Brandon Paul.

Crocker then hit the floor and put up 10 points for the rest of the quarter including a couple of three-pointers, but Melbourne had all the answers and still led 28-20 by quarter-time.

Keanu Pinder and Jack McVeigh scored first for Adelaide in the second term to bring the margin back to four but United just couldn’t miss and nailed five consecutive three-pointers to suddenly open up a 17-point lead.

Daniel Johnson was able to stop the run and battled hard to end up with 14 points and nine rebounds for the half, but still United were in control at half-time leading 53-40.

Adelaide did come out better in the second half and when Keanu Pinder completed an and-one and Crocker hit another three, it was just an eight-point ball game once again.

That would be as close as the 36ers could get, though, with Melbourne up 16 at three quarter-time. Crocker still couldn’t miss for Adelaide and he hit three more triples in the final term but United still cruised to the 22-point win in the finish. 

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 21

ADELAIDE 36ERS 80 (Crocker 27, Johnson 18, Paul 14) 

MELBOURNE UNITED 102 (Hopson 19, Landale 19, Lual-Acuil 16)

BOX SCORE