Sixers quickly turn focus to trip to Tasmania

Melbourne United entered #NBL21 as championship favourites and there's little reason for them to still not be, but the Adelaide 36ers will take positives out of Saturday night's loss in Melbourne and refocus on taking on the New Zealand Breakers on Monday night.

It's an impressive Melbourne team that the Sixers did battle against at John Cain Arena on Saturday evening and while the 92-78 final scoreline wasn’t what anyone was after, it's something that can now be built on with the quick turnaround to Monday.

The result meant that Melbourne consolidated top spot on the NBL ladder and won a ninth straight match and while it does leave the Sixers licking their wounds coming out of it, they have the chance to respond quickly.

The 36ers will now focus on a trip to Tasmania on Monday night to take on the New Zealand Breakers at the Silverdome in Launceston. And given the way the season is shaping up, a positive performance there for Adelaide will well and truly keep them in the finals race.

Despite losing to Melbourne on Saturday night, Adelaide hasn’t really lost much in the race for a top four finish. While the top three teams of Melbourne United (19-5), Perth Wildcats (18-6) and Sydney Kings (14-12) are starting to slip out of reach, little separates the rest of the teams.

The South East Melbourne Phoenix (13-12) are fourth having lost three straight and then the Illawarra Hawks (12-14) and Brisbane Bullets (10-13) are only just ahead of the now 10-15 36ers but are both on their own losing slides as well.

So there's no reason the 36ers can't still be shooting for that fourth position with 11 matches remaining especially with the great positive out of Saturday night's game in Melbourne being the returns from injury of Isaac Humphries and Tony Crocker.

That is the positive approach that Sixers coach Conner Henry is taking and Monday night's game in Launceston against the Breakers presents a real opportunity for them to get that playoff push started with some momentum.

"After two and a half months finally have our full squad," Henry said.

"We are not out of this thing yet. We have something like 11 games left, we don’t have a whole lot of home games but sometimes you play your best basketball on the road.

"It’s not over. We can string some wins together and see who comes back to the pack and make some noise at the end of the season. There is a lot of basketball left to play."

It was an exciting sight for all Sixers fans to see Humphries return to the court on Saturday night having missed the previous 11 matches with a foot injury suffered at the start of the NBL Cup. 

He was well and truly a league MVP contender before the injury and he showed signs of what a difference-maker he can be again in the 15 minutes of court time he was allowed to play, and ended up playing. He had two points, five rebounds and two huge blocks in those minutes.

Adelaide also welcomed back Crocker for the game too and while he too didn’t set the world alight with five points and two rebounds on 2/8 shooting, he'll only be better for the run too.

Daniel Johnson became just the third player in the remarkable history of the Adelaide 36ers to play 300 games for the club as well on Saturday night. He battled hard once again on the occasion too for 16 points and nine rebounds.

Brandon Paul is showing that he wouldn’t be out of place as a long-term import for the Sixers to build around as he produced 20 points, five rebounds and two steals on 8/15 shooting from the floor and 4/7 from three-point territory.

Sunday Dech fought valiantly once again too to finish with 12 points and four rebounds while Josh Giddey continues to flirt with that elusive triple-double with another 14 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

Keanu Pinder also contributed five points, seven rebounds and two steals, and Jack McVeigh four points and three rebounds.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 15

ADELAIDE 36ERS 78 (Paul 20, Johnson 16, Giddey 14) 

MELBOURNE UNITED 92 (McCarron 21, Landale 19, Lual-Acuil 13, Goulding 13)

BOX SCORE