DJ says 36ers must rebound in home opener

Adelaide 36ers captain DJ Vasiljevic said his side must turn around quickly after going down 101-97 to Cairns Taipans on Saturday night in Far North Queensland.

Vasiljevic, who scored a team-high 24 points, including 12 in a dominant opening stanza, lamented on what might have been against the Taipans.

“I’m disappointed, when you give up an 11-point lead in that second quarter, the way we finished that second quarter,” Vasiljevic said post-match.

“The way they started the fourth quarter, on that 17-2 run, that ain’t it, so we got to look ourselves in the mirror and get better.”

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Adelaide had a 44-33 advantage after Montrezl Harrell took over the contest in the second quarter, throwing down four big dunks and swishing a three-pointer.

But the Taipans ended the second quarter with a 25-10 run, and connected on 10 three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.

“We are 0-2 now, can’t play catch up in this league, everyone is really good,” Vasiljevic said.

“We were giving up too many threes, and we got to know our personnel going into Thursday’s game.”

Head coach Mike Wells said defence was the biggest issue for the 36ers, who have now given up more than 100 points in the opening two matches.

“It’s really disappointing, there were a lot of things that went on during the game,” Wells said.

“We had a lot of good, positive momentum in the first half, but it unfortunately ended on a bit of a down note there, the way we finished the quarter.

“We never really got our rhythm back in the second half.

“It’s two games in-a-row that defensively somebody shot over 50 per cent on us, over 50 (per cent) from three.”

Wells was happy how his side responded on the glass and looking after the ball after the opening round loss to the Kings at HoopsFest, but knows the defensive end is where the improvement must come from.

“Defensively, the effort, the intensity, the detail has got to be a different level,” Wells said.

“Once we got a few stops in a row, or offence was just at a higher level, but it took us to get down by 15 for our guys to pull together and raise our energy.

Adelaide will be back in action when the 36ers play at home for the first time in NBL25 against South East Melbourne Phoenix this Thursday night from 7pm.