"Grit and Resilience": Wells on Bullets win

Adelaide 36ers Head Coach Mike Wells has praised his side’s grit and resilience as it overcame fatigue and a dogged Brisbane side on the road on Sunday,

The Sixers defied a short turnaround and a spirited Bullets outfit to win 96-87 at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

Wells’ side claimed its first win in Brisbane since February 2021, ending a run of seven straight losses to the Bullets at the venue and keeping hold of the Hungry Jack’s NBL’s top spot.

It means the Sixers have won 19 games in a season for the first time since 2005/06.

“We keep showing a lot of resilience,” Wells said after the game.

“I think that this team has showing grit, grit, grit.

“We kind of get into that halftime, and we kind of regather ourselves a little bit. I want to give Brisbane a ton of props for how they played and DMac getting those guys ready to compete. They really came after us.

“And I want to give our guys props, you know, to come out and start the third on a 10-0 run, that was exactly the response that we needed.

“We won the second half by 18, we won the rebounds game, we won the three game. We had 25 assists on 29 made field goals.

“And I'll be honest with you, we're a little fatigued after a hell of a game against the Sydney Kings but I thought our guys kept regathering themselves and competing and competing.”

The undermanned Brisbane outfit welcomed new import Hunter Maldonado for his first game since his shift from South East Melbourne and it seemed to lift them.

While they were missing some key personnel, the Bullets started full of energy and with the Sixers going at just 33 per-cent from the field, took the early lead and went to the first break with a five point advantage.

Flynn Cameron picked up where he left off on Friday night’s career-best game with eight first quarter points, while star Bryce Cotton went 0/4 from the field to have a scoreless opening.

He was kept to just two points at the main change but others did the scoring around him including Isaac Humphries and Isaac White.

With 3:41 on the clock in the second period the Sixers hit the lead for the first time, thanks for a nice triple from former Bullet White, but with their field goal percentage remaining at 35 per-cent, the Sixers fell further behind at half time with Alex Ducas hitting a buzzer beating three to make it a seven-point game.

But with Sam McDaniel going off with a calf injury, Cotton was not going to be held much longer and he threw down 13 third-quarter points including three triples to push the Sixers back into the lead.

Had it not been for a couple of sloppy late possessions the visitors may have led by more than three at the final break, but Wells would have been happier with what he saw following the half time break.

It got even better in the final period with Zylan Cheatham going to work. He added 12 points to his tally to make it 17 points for the game to go with eight rebounds and 10 assists, falling just short of a triple double.

“He’s 6'8 or whatever he is,” Wells said. “He's a really big physical athlete, you know, and he's a presence at the rim.

“I thought that his ability to connect our team with his passing and his rebounding is just invaluable, you know, he helps us with the ball handling.

“His role is sort of that Swiss Army knife, and he does a lot of different things for us.

“But yeah, you kind of are sure he's going to get to 10 rebounds, pretty much. (But) I'm super proud of the group. Z and Flynn lead us in the grit department and everybody else follows in that area.”

The Sixers will next return home to host Tasmania on Friday night.