Round 20 Preview v Sydney Kings

The Adelaide 36ers already ended Melbourne United's winning streak earlier this season, are fresh off a big win in Perth on Thursday and hold no fears taking on the Sydney Kings on a 13-match winning run now on Sunday.

Adelaide might be out of the race for finals but they began their run of four consecutive road matches to close the season on the best possible note on Thursday night with the 82-70 victory against the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena.

Coming off their last two home matches last weekend firstly in a tight loss to the Kings on Saturday and then the Brisbane Bullets on Monday, the 36ers headed to Perth a determined and motivated outfit, and they turned on an outstanding performance.

With Daniel Johnson and Sunday Dech setting the tone early, and then Dusty Hannahs making his return with 11 points in the last four minutes of the opening term, the Sixers put up 30 points in the first period and opened up a 20-point lead in the second on the way to the eventual 12-point victory.

Dech could very well have played the best game of his NBL career not only with 23 points but playing brilliant defence on Bryce Cotton while Johnson put up 23 points and six rebounds, Hannahs 23 points on 3/5 shooting from downtown, and captain Mitch McCarron six points, nine rebounds, six assists and five steals.

It was a morale boosting performance from the 36ers showing just what they are capable of when switched on and motivated, and now there's no bigger challenge in the league for them than trying to stop Sydney's winning streak on their home floor on Sunday at 13.

It has been a rocky start to the head coaching career of CJ Bruton with the 36ers, but they are finding some greater consistency late in the season as they figure out the way he wants them to play, and everyone is settling into their roles a bit better.

The result was Thursday night's impressive win in Perth against the Wildcats and Bruton believes the key was both having more players available, but more importantly they way they followed their task and went out there and delivered at a high level.

"Clearly having more bodies available helps and Dusty coming back he made a big impact for our group it's fair to say. He was a major contributor and having more bodies was important to be able to go at them in waves, and I think it was more about spacing the floor," Bruton said.

"I think we did a pretty good job of using the clock well when we needed to, not rushing ourselves and then we attacked when the opportunities were there. We had the good look and the open looks. Sometimes they don’t go in and sometimes they do, and in this game we hit a few of them early which got us a lead. 

"We weren’t playing catch up which we have been for most of the season, and were able to stay under control, call a couple of timeouts at certain points when I felt they were about to make a good run and put that to bed. I let everyone know we were OK and I thought we did well scoring coming out of timeouts which I was very happy with again."

Last time the two teams met, the Kings had won their past 10 and this win was more of a grind, but a lot of the credit for that can be given to the energy the 36ers played with and the focus they had to playing solid defence to at least make life difficult for Sydney.

The Sixers battled hard but just didn’t shoot well in the end going 26/74 from the field at 35 per cent and 9/35 from deep at 25 per cent.

Against Perth on Thursday, McCarron was instrumental in helping Dusty Hannahs, Daniel Johnson and Sunday Dech combine for 69 of the team's 82 points in the win while doing a bit of everything, and doing it all at a high level. 

He finished with six points, nine rebounds, six assists and five steals and it was exactly the type of performance as a leader Adelaide wants from him, and will need again against the Kings on Sunday.

Dech could very well have played the best game of his 97-match NBL career in Perth on Thursday night. 

What he delivered at both ends of the floor was simply remarkable and instrumental in a terrific win for the 36ers in The Jungle. 

He finished the evening back in his old hometown with 23 points, nine rebounds, two assists and a steal on the back of shooting 8/13 from the field and a perfect 6/6 at the foul line. That only tells half the story. 

His hounding defence on Bryce Cotton was also instrumental in limiting the three-time MVP from Perth to just seven points on 3/16 shooting for the night. 

Dech also did a good job eight days ago limiting the influence of Jaylen Adams in Adelaide when the teams last met and he will be tasked with that job once again on Sunday.

He also paid tribute to his teammates for being focused on doing plenty to help him out.

"I've played against Bryce now for a number of years and when I was here as his teammate as well and I think I know some of his moves. It's really about just following the game plan and in this game myself and the rest of the team just executed that to a tee," Dech said. 

"He's a great scorer and it's hard to keep him down, but when you're on and everyone is on the same page it makes everything a lot easier. Credit to my teammates and the bigs in particular who did a really good job of being locked in on when we were switching onto him as well."

HUNGRY JACK'S 2021/22 NBL SEASON – ROUND 20

ADELAIDE 36ERS v SYDNEY KINGS
Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney, Sunday 2.30pm ACDT

Broadcast – ESPN; 10 Peach; 10 Play; Kayo; Sky Sport NZ