Gleeson: Sixers showed fight but not for long enough

Head Coach Trevor Gleeson has questioned whether his Adelaide 36ers side was afraid of losing despite fighting back from a 20-point deficit to go down by five points to Melbourne United on Wednesday night.

Things were looking ugly when United skipped out to a 20-point advantage with half a game to go, but the Sixers showed aggression and energy to outscore their rival 53-40 in the second half and nearly pull off a miraculous win.

Nick Rakocevic continued his rich run of form with 33 points, 14 rebounds and two assists while Captain Bryce Cotton nearly helped drag his side back from the brink with 33 points, three rebounds and nine assists, bringing a lively Adelaide Entertainment Centre crowd into the game in the last quarter.

For all the fight shown in the second half, Gleeson lamented a poor start, and thought some fear crept in.

“We got down 10 early, and then we didn't get into rhythm,” Gleeson said after the game.

“I didn't see the guys aggressive at all.

“You can't be scared of losing. And I thought we were scared in the first half of making a mistake.

“You’ve got to go at them. You don't achieve anything in life if you're worried about the result.

“Second half, we weren't worried about the result. We were just getting out there and playing so the result will take care of itself if your work ethic is up. Our work ethic wasn't good for four quarters.”

After being cited but fined for striking during Sunday night’s game, Rakocevic was making the most of his reprieve by the Game Review Panel, racking up eight points in a little over five minutes, before a controversial second foul saw him go to the bench.

As it had over the last two games, three point shooting deserted the Sixers, going at just 2/7 from deep as they trailed by 10 points at the first break. Gleeson tried numerous options off the bench, including new signing Corey Webster who only landed in Adelaide less than 24 hours earlier.

The deficit grew as the Sixers found it hard to score, repeatedly turning the ball over and being scored against too easily in transition.

Rakocevic was up to 17 of his side’s 38 points to the half, but if it wasn’t him or Cotton, who had 13 by the break, it wasn’t anyone else with only Keanu Rasmussen and John Jenkins troubling the scorer’s bench to that point as the side trailed by 18.

An early run brought the margin down to 13 and momentum seemed to be with Adelaide, but even with Rakocevic and Cotton continuing to find the bucket, it was the three point shooting that was again hurting the home side.

They would outscore United 21-20 in the third period to pick up an Ignite Cup point but for all their effort they still trailed by 17 at the final change.

The Sixers again kept United to 20 points in the final quarter while piling on 32 themselves. Zylan Cheatham brought the crowd into it with a huge dunk – his first points of the game.

He would finish with eight for the quarter as the Sixers got to within one possession, only to leave some chances out there and see Cole Anthony sink a big three to all but end the chances of a miracle win.

Gleeson was proud of the fight his side showed, and challenged the group to show that fight for the full four quarters.

“The second half was outstanding,” he said.

“Just the intensity on defence. We didn't have that in the first half and they're scoring at will.

“I don't know if that's, has the penny dropped? I don't know, but if we don't work hard enough, we haven't got a shot here.

“Second half, I'm really proud of the team. (The game) could have easy gone in a different direction.

“(We) fought back from 20 down, got it to a one possession game. Cole hit a big three to get that up, we kept on fighting and fighting.

“I love that fighting spirit but it wasn't long enough.”

The result means United claims five Ignite Cup points, while the Sixers get two.

The Sixers are next on the road for four straight matches, starting with a Grand Final rematch in Sydney on Sunday afternoon.

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