DJ's Corner – Player Column Volume 4

Hey 36ers fans and welcome to the fourth edition of DJ's Corner. It feels great to be back in the swing of things again and four games into our season. 

Game 1 saw us play Melbourne United. They have assembled an impressive roster and look to be in great form at the start of the season. Heading into the game with such a big break between seasons created a few nerves but mostly excitement amongst the group. To see a large crowd come out to support us got the adrenaline flowing and we responded well in the first half of the game controlling the tempo and executing well. Unfortunately we ran out of steam in the second half. We shot the ball poorly as a group at 34 per cent and 60 per cent from the free-throw line, lost the rebounding battle by 16 and had 18 turnovers. All areas we agreed need to improve if we want to give ourselves a chance to win games. 

The beauty of the NBL schedule being so condensed this year meant we had a chance to redeem ourselves two days later against the South East Melbourne Phoenix. It turned out to be a thrilling double overtime win that saw young gun Josh Giddey take over in the crunch time to secure our first win of the 2021 season. We had massive contributions across the group and were able to utilise our deep bench. This resulted in winning the bench points 48 to 19. Matched with winning the rebound count and our improved field goal percentage of 55 per cent it put us in a great position to be successful. 

Game 3 saw us play South East Melbourne again at home. Unfortunately due to a fall in Game 2 Josh Giddey had to miss due to concussion protocols. Josh is massive to us in terms of controlling the pace of the game and we missed his impact. Our offence didn’t quite flow the way we wanted and our on ball coverages were a little off and that ended up being the difference in the six-point loss. South Easts import PG was clutch down the stretch hitting timely threes whenever we made a run. 

Game 4 versus the New Zealand Breakers concluded our stretch of four games in a week. We came out strong and controlled the pace early leading by 14 in the first quarter. However New Zealand shook off the rust and hit back in periods two and three. It was a real up and down game and again we needed an extra period to settle the result eventually coming away with our second win of the season. 

The group is seeing improvements as everyone settles into their roles and gets their legs underneath them. It’s a really positive sign to see us coming away with overtime wins and says a lot about the identity of the group. 

After such a tiring schedule it was appreciated to have the weekend off to recharge and rest. Recovery is an extremely important part of being a professional athlete especially when you get to my age and are playing some of the minutes we are at the moment. 

With the schedule the way it is this year and playing back to back games against the same team the slight adjustments that can be made between games become extremely important. It’s a playoff like feeling and whoever can be more locked into the scout and details of the game plan will go a long way towards being successful. We’ve been working hard this week and I’m looking forward to another hit out Wednesday night. 

I know I speak for all the team when I say we appreciate the support and the great crowds we’ve had at the Entertainment Centre this year. Please continue to come out and support us and hopefully we can secure another win for the club on Wednesday night.