Harrell happy to be back on court

Adelaide 36ers power forward Montrezl Harrell has said he loves being back on the basketball court.

Harrell joined the 36ers as a Nominated Replacement Player for Jarell Martin but agreed to stay for the remainder of the NBL25 season last month.

After missing most of the last NBA season due to a knee injury, the 2020 NBA Sixth Man of the Year is getting back to his best, averaging 20.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest.

“It gives me life, it gives me energy, it gives the love and the passion I have for this game when I first started playing with my grandmother, God rest her soul,” Harrell said post-game after Sunday’s 93-79 win against Illawarra.

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“It’s a safe place away from all the negativity in the outside world.

“You come in and do something you love and I’m just blessed to call it my job.”

Harrell, who scored a game-high 25 points to go with seven rebounds against the Hawks, including several big dunks in the second half, said the side is slowly making strides.

“It’s constantly building, we got to keep gelling together and put in the work,” Harrell said.

“It all starts at the defensive end, I think we can compete with anybody in this league.

“You can see our defence turns into offense, if we hold teams under 80, 85 points, we will win the game.”

Harrell combined with captain DJ Vasiljevic (23 points) and point guard Kendric Davis (16 points, 10 assists) to score 64 of the 36ers’ 93 points in a three-man offensive onslaught.

“We got a lot of guys on this team who can score the basketball, and a lot of guys who can get hot,” Harrell said.

“It’s hard to stop that, you can’t just stop one guy, we can all get double figures.”

Davis said Harrell is a great leader not just for him, but the whole roster.

“The energy he brings, it uplifts the whole team,” Davis said.

“For me, being only a second-year pro, I need that, I’m still learning, I think I’m the second or third youngest on the team.

“His leadership is what we really, really need.”