Sixers continue hot home form in night to savour

The Adelaide 36ers continued their hot form at home at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Saturday night with so much to like from the group who delivered a 101-79 victory against the Brisbane Bullets. 

The 36ers had found the going a little tougher away from home winning just one of the last four matches but they quickly found their groove in front of the Adelaide faithful once again on Saturday night.

The Sixers had won their last two games at the Entertainment Centre against the Illawarra Hawks and Perth Wildcats by double-figures back in early April, and they wasted no time rediscovering that type of exciting form once again on Saturday night.

It was a challenging opponent too with the Bullets coming off a big win over the South East Melbourne Phoenix, and remaining in the top four race themselves, but it was 350-gamer Daniel Johnson that set the tone for Adelaide with 20 points.

From there the Sixers never looked back and would go on to record the impressive 22-point victory and not only was Johnson brilliant on his milestone night, but Josh Giddey made history with his second straight triple-double, Keanu Pinder had the best night of his NBL career and there was plenty more to like.

There was so much to like from a 36ers perspective as well starting with the way captain Johnson stood up and set up the win with 20 points in the second half in his 350th NBL appearance. He finished with a game-high 26 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Pinder then caught fire in the second half unlike he's ever done in the NBL before to finish with 19 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists. 

It was the composure of the performance that was as encouraging as anything from the first-year NBL player. He took the open jumpers that were there, then fought for rebounds with great energy and his three blocked shots at the defensive were all statement knockbacks on Brisbane shooters.

Then there was Giddey who made history by becoming the first ever Australian to record a triple-double in consecutive games, and this time he was setting up a big win with 15 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds.

It was only fitting his drive to the hoop and three-point play was set up with a beautiful bounce pass from Johnson with the 18-year-old finishing at the rim having been set by his milestone celebrating captain.

Adelaide had other key performers too with Sunday Dech finishing with 13 points, two rebounds and two assists, Isaac Humphries 13 points, four rebounds and three blocks on his return to the starting five, and Brandon Paul 11 points, five assists, three boards and three steals.

Jack McVeigh also scored two points for Adelaide in limited minutes while Alex Mudronja and Owen Hulland made the most of same late court time with Mudronja finding Hulland inside for his first two points of #NBL21.

Sixers coach Conner Henry was most delighted with the way that ultimately his team knew the game plan, followed it and ended up executing well for the game.

"I think this week we came with a really good approach collectively from staff to team on the way we want to play, and that's really a simple way," Henry said.

"Tonight we played simple basketball, made simple reads and it really does show that we had 29 assists. We really passed the ball and shared it so that was the key. 

"We played simple ball, guys were communicating on the defensive end at a pretty high level, and we knew the scouted and executed it."

The 36ers put up 101 points in quite the impressive offensive display where they shot 38/72 from the field at 52 per cent to go with 11/26 at 42 per cent from three-point territory and a perfect 14/14 from the foul line.

They also won the rebound count and had 29 assists on the 38 field goals while holding Brisbane to shooting 31/78 at 39 per cent from the field and 6/30 at 20 per cent from three-point range.

The Sixers remain at home to now host the Cairns Taipans back at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Tuesday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

ADELAIDE 36ERS 101 (Johnson 26, Pinder 19, Giddey 15)

BRISBANE BULLETS 79 (Sobey 20, Hodgson 19, Drmic 9, Froling 9) 

BOX SCORE