Defence key to Flowers blossoming against Hawks

NBL Next Star sensation Trentyn Flowers has said his defensive pressure sparked his final quarter heroics against Illawarra Hawks on Saturday night in the PINK SLAM game at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Flowers scored 18 of his 23 points in the final 10 minutes as the 36ers ran over the Hawks for an 89-80 success, the club’s first win for the NBL24 season.

“It was the defensive energy I brought, sliding my feet, being able to cut dudes off, almost switching one through five,” Flowers said in the post-match press conference.

“That was the energy that brought me into all of this.”

The five-star recruit spent time on Hawks point guard Justin Robinson, while also using his length and athleticism on Illawarra’s import power forward Gary Clark and sharpshooter Tyler Harvey.

Flowers pinpointed the moment his offensive game clicked, which resulted in the 204cm rookie to finish the game a perfect 5/5 from the three-point line.

“Jase (Jason Cadee) came off a pick ’n’ roll and I lifted and he shaped to kick out to the three and I hit it and I thought ‘OK, I got it going’,” Flowers said.

“It was amazing, it was basketball, whenever you’re going, you’re going, so for us as a group everybody did a great job of just keeping us up on those spurts.”

Flowers, who has had a rough start to his pro career in the NBL, has been persistent and his reward was the breakout performance against the Hawks and he knows he has to keep progressing.

“My teammates were behind me the whole time, the whole game, having that total faith and trust in me so I’m grateful,” Flowers said.

“It’s a lot different from where I am from, but I’m most definitely coming into what I need to do.”

Flowers will be back in action on Thursday night when the 36ers host South East Melbourne Phoenix at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre from 7pm.