Round 2 Preview v NZ Breakers

The Adelaide 36ers will be looking to pick up the pace offensively and will be hoping to welcome back NBL Next Star Josh Giddey for another home game on Friday night against the New Zealand Breakers.

It might be only Round 2 of the 2021 NBL season, but Friday night already marks the fourth game for the 36ers while the New Zealand Breakers will be making their first appearance having not been featured as part of the opening round action.

It's been a rollercoaster ride already for the Sixers under new coach Conner Henry. The first three games were highlighted by the dramatic double overtime victory on Sunday against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

But either side of that was a loss to Melbourne United last Friday night and then just this Wednesday, a loss at the hands of the Phoenix meaning the 36ers will be hungry to bounce back on Friday again back at Adelaide Entertainment Centre against the Breakers.

The great positive from those first three games has been the fantastic support from the South Australian public. 

Near capacity crowds of just under 7000 people have been averaged those first three games.

The players will be hoping for more strong support come this Friday night as they attempt to improve their early season record to 2-2 to set up what would be a much more relaxing weekend watching the rest of the league's action with games every day.

FRONTCOURT FIRES BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR 36ERS V PHOENIX 

THE COACH REFLECTS – ROUND 1 

JOHNSON SETS IT UP, GIDDEY INSPIRES 36ERS OPENING WIN 

He might be the youngest player in the league, but 18-year-old Josh Giddey became the talk of the league after his dynamic performance on Sunday in the double overtime win over the Phoenix.

Along the way part of his dramatic performance was a heavy fall on his face after a breakaway dunk, and ultimately the after effects of that meant he had to miss Wednesday's return encounter with South East Melbourne.

That turned into a disappointing loss for the Sixers and there's no question Giddey's all-round talents were missed out on the floor, but he has now been cleared to return to play on Friday night against the Breakers at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

It has been a fascinating opening three games for the 36ers but what has emerged is that they have quite the impressive frontcourt pairing which could turn into the best of its kind in the league with Daniel Johnson and Isaac Humphries.

They both did all they could to lift the team on Wednesday against the Phoenix combining for 39 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks, and they will look to continue that momentum on Friday with some support from Keanu Pinder if he can stay out of foul trouble.

The 36ers will be looking to continue to blend in imports Tony Crocker and Donald Sloan as well. 

While the rest of the team had a near six-month build up to the season in the longest off-season imaginable, Sloan and Crocker had a short preparation with the team having had to sit through two weeks of quarantine on arrival on Australia.

They then had just a couple of practice sessions before travelling to and from Cairns leading into Round 1. 

That isn’t meant to be an excuse, it's just the reality of the situation and what has stood out to coach Henry over the opening three games, is they just aren’t following the playbook on offence. 

It's meant to a much more quickfire offence with a focus on moving the ball and pushing the pace without a lot of individual dribbling or isolations. 

Henry is hoping they can get closer to playing the way they want to on Friday night and as a result he is hoping that helps bring out more production from Sloan in particular who is a player with NBA career highs of 31 points and 14 assists.

"We'll go back and watch the film and pick some things out offensively that we can get better at, and bounce back with that on Friday," Henry said.

"We are still searching for some consistency overall really from our top eight players. It's clear that we've got to get our imports producing more on both ends, but I'm not particularly worried about that because the system is designed around everybody sharing the basketball. 

"When we move the ball we got really good looks and we just have to play with more pace. We've got to push it in transition, we need to get more transition baskets and we just need to get our pace up, and get the ball through hands to put some pressure on the defence so they can't switch us, and cause us additional problems."

As for the opponents on Friday night, there's a lot of unknowns about this New Zealand team making their first appearance of the 2021 season, but what is known is that they aren’t short on talent, and that if it all clicks for them, they are going to be a real force to be reckoned with.

The Breakers are still made up of their impressive core group with Tom Abercrombie, Corey Webster, Rob Loe, Finn Delany and Jarrad Weeks but there are some impressive new arrivals for 2021 as well.

Tai Webster returns home to team up in the backcourt with older brother Corey while they have also signed MVP candidate of the last two years in Brisbane, Lamar Patterson along with import centre Colton Iverson.

With the 36ers so determined to bounce back from Wednesday and the Breakers making their first appearance of the new season having already been away from home for more than six weeks, there's plenty about Friday night at Adelaide Entertainment Centre to get excited for.

HUNGRY JACK'S 2021 NBL SEASON – ROUND 2

ADELAIDE 36ERS v NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS
Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Friday 7.00pm ACDT

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

Tickets available by clicking here 

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