McCarron says 'no moral victories' after comeback

Captain Mitch McCarron said “there are no moral victories” after a second half fightback fell short in Friday night’s 82-75 loss to Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena.

Adelaide was 17 points down during the second quarter but fought back with a tremendous third quarter to take the lead, before the Wildcats, led by Alex Sarr, came up big in the clutch.

“There are no moral victories, we are 0-3 and we desperately need to get one,” McCarron said.

“We had some patches there where we looked really, really good, the ball was popping, found the short roll, we get great looks at the rim, kick out threes.”

Besides the 15-0 start against the Bullets in Brisbane, McCarron said his side need to come with an improved focus in the opening half.

“It’s on us players to get in our huddles, the Brisbane start was great, but the other two were a little shaky,” McCarron said.

“We are disappointed, we want the result more than anybody, but at the same time we have seen some improvement, on both ends of the floor.”

Head coach CJ Bruton said his side again had patches of great play but need to work on being more consistent throughout the entire match.

“We do some things at the right time, then we have some brain freezes, but I thought our effort and our attention to go and get it done in the second half was so much greater than where it has been,” Bruton said.

“Our third quarter starts, which was hurting us, the offensive boards have been killing us, but I think we did a great job, we wanted to keep them to six threes or under, they didn’t have a three in the first half.

“We only gave up 10 offensive boards, that’s usually been 22 or 23, there’s little wins, but there’s not enough for us to get a W right now.”

Adelaide now face the reigning champion Sydney Kings at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday and Bruton said his side will relish the challenge.

“You have got to stay the course, when you have been in the game long enough you have to understand there’s an urgency to win and an urgency to play well,” Bruton said.

“When you be assertive in this game, good things come.”