Second half defence was the key: Bruton

Adelaide 36ers head coach CJ Bruton has applauded his sides second half defensive effort in the 87-84 win against Brisbane Bullets at the Entertainment Centre on Thursday night.

Despite leading at the main break by three points, Adelaide had given up 51 points and Bruton said the key to the victory, a fourth straight for the 36ers, was stopping the Brisbane attack.

“We were able to get some really good offensive looks, but we weren’t able to slow them down in the first half,” Bruton said.

“In the second half we did a really good job defensively while our offense got a little stagnate from time to time.”

Adelaide held the Bullets to just 33 points in the second half and Brisbane scored only 20 in the final 15 minutes of the contest.

Bruton too pleased to see new recruit Ian Clark show the 36ers fans just some of the tricks the NBA and NBL champion has up his sleeve.

“I’m super proud and happy for him. He’s only going to get better as he gets comfortable and gets his conditioning up,” Bruton said.

Clark showed glimpses in his nine points, including two big three-pointers in a crucial part of the second quarter as the 36ers kept their winning streak going despite missing Mitch McCarron (gastro).

“Without Macca (McCarron), a guy who plays his heart out every single night, to be able to find that and I thought Sunday did a very good job of running our team as well,” Bruton said.

Adelaide travel to Cairns on Friday for a New Year’s Eve battle against the Taipans in Far North Queensland.