NBL Cup Preview v Cairns Taipans

Learning to play without Isaac Humphries will take some time for the Adelaide 36ers but the signs were encouraging on Thursday and now the chance presents to return to the winner's list on Saturday against the Cairns Taipans.

Last Saturday turned out about as bad as it could get for the 36ers with the 44-point loss to the New Zealand Breakers combined with the foot injury suffered by imposing centre Humphries, but it's time to focus on moving forward and the signs were positive on Thursday.

The end result might have been a nine-point defeat at the hands of the Illawarra Hawks for the 36ers, but there was a lot to like at the same time including the NBL best 23 points from Tony Crocker.

Jack McVeigh saw his role increased and made the most of it with 16 points and seven rebounds while Daniel Johnson fought hard for 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Josh Giddey had 14 points and nine assists, and Sunday Dech 14 points and four assists.

Now less than 48 hours later and the 36ers are back in action at the NBL Cup to play the Cairns Taipans at Melbourne's John Cain Arena with the chance to snap the unwanted three-game losing streak and to record a second victory at the tournament within a season.

PLENTY OF SIXERS STEP UP IN IMPROVED SHOWING AT NBL CUP 

Saturday's game will be the first time that the 36ers have played the Taipans this season even though the two teams did take on one another in two games in Cairns on the eve of the #NBL21 campaign getting underway two months ago.

The teams played four times last season and Cairns won the last three of those clashes on the way to a playoff run while Adelaide did win the first meeting 101-97 back on October 25, 2019.

The 36ers have now lost three games in-a-row for the first time this season and five of their past six to currently hold a 6-8 record over in #NBL21 and 1-4 in the NBL Cup with 10.5 points to their credit from the 35 that have been on offer across their five matches.

The 36ers did deliver an improved performance on Thursday despite the eventual loss and that was on the back of winning the opening quarter 27-21. That was the first time the Sixers have been in front at quarter-time in their last nine matches.

Daniel Johnson moves to equal third on the all-time games played list on Saturday in his 290th appearance which sees him join Mike McKay on that number. He enjoyed playing the Taipans last season with a career-best 38 points along the way while three of his four highest-scoring career games have been against the Snakes.

Adelaide coach Conner Henry was happier with what he saw from his team against Illawarra on Thursday night despite never being satisfied with a loss, and he hopes to now see further improvement against Cairns on Saturday.

"We tried to play a little faster and tried to get a few more wide pin downs, a lot more action going at the basket and a little bit more rim pressure. We had two really good training days about what we wanted to do offensively and I thought as a result we were a lot better at that end," Henry said.

"I thought there was a good effort on the defensive end and there was probably 10 possessions or so on the offensive end where we didn’t get the job done, and that was the game. We took care of the ball but look, we're down there's no making excuses though. 

"We've lost our starting centre so we have to play a certain way and I thought we addressed that these last few days. We got some rest and some really good training sessions. We put in a good effort out there but offensive we just didn’t get it done."

Sixers rookie and NBL Next Star Josh Giddey is the youngest player in the NBL on a full contract at age 18, but continues to fight hard and show exciting signs, and he felt like the 36ers took a step forward on Thursday as well despite the loss in the end.

"It's tough obviously because Isaac is such a key piece for us inside both defensively and offensively. We had guys step up and Jack McVeigh was awesome at the four spot giving us some big plays on both ends," Giddey said. 

"It is tough without Isaac but he's out so that's the reality we have to deal with and learn to play through it. I think we were good for 85 or 90 per cent of that match but we let them break it open early in the fourth quarter. I think if we can clean up in that area that we'll be good."

HUNGRY JACK'S 2021 NBL SEASON – ROUND 8
NBL CUP WEEK 3

ADELAIDE 36ERS v CAIRNS TAIPANS
John Cain Arena, Saturday 2.30pm ACDT

Broadcast – SBS Viceland, SBS on Demand, NBL TV, Twitch