Ninnis: 'The game was there to be won'

Adelaide 36ers head coach Scott Ninnis was thrilled with the fight his side showed in the second half but was still disappointed in what might have been in Melbourne on Saturday night.

Trailing by just four points early in the final quarter at John Cain Arena, Adelaide kept the NBL24 ladder leaders scoreless for almost four minutes but couldn’t convert on the offensive end.

“I thought there were a couple of moments in that game, we missed four little chippy layups, Isaac had a couple and Sunday when the game was really there to be won,” Ninnis said post-game after United’s 107-96 victory.

“There was one defensive sequence where we spoke about not giving up offensive boards against this team, and we did a great job, but we gave up two in one play and they hit a three and I thought that was a real dagger for us.

“I felt those little layups, the pressure was on them, we had the chance of getting right back in there and we were pushing them hard, but we will learn from that.

“But, I loved the fight, that’s what we have been looking for, what we have been talking about for the last week.”

Ninnis said his side showed vast improvement over the past seven days and had the 36ers primed for arguably the toughest assignment in NBL24.

“We had a game plan, I expected to come in here and win, we understood the challenge, they are the best team in the competition, and we were on their home court, but I always had that belief of expecting to win,” Ninnis said.

“I hope that is something we start to convey to the playing group now and hopefully those results will start to turn around.”

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Despite only shooting 14 three-pointers for the night, Adelaide connected on nine of them, but it was at the other end where Ninnis said his side needs to improve.

“Our inability to defend the three-point line in the first half was a problem. (Tanner) Krebs, those three threes he hit were huge and we had some mix-up on a couple of Goulding’s shots and I remember Cameron having a wide open one,” Ninnis said.

“That set the tone for them and we ended up falling behind and if we are going to be a team that we expect to be and want to be, we are going to have to be better consistently defensively.”

Adelaide now have a seven-day break before hosting Brisbane Bullets at the Entertainment Centre on Christmas Eve from 1.30pm ACDT.