"Some of the best basketball we've played": Gleeson reflects on United win

Adelaide 36ers Head Coach Trevor Gleeson says his side’s first half against Melbourne Untied was one of its best all season.

The Sixers pushed out to a 34 point lead before United fought back in the second half to close to within four points in the dying minutes, only for the Sixers to hold out 101-93 in front of another sell-out crowd at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

A pragmatic Gleeson was pleased with the result after the game given the way the visiting side pushed hard late.

“I thought our first half was some of the best basketball we’ve played,” he said.

“Our defence was outstanding. We were up and in high energy, rotating, pressure on the ball, and then offensively we were moving the ball.

“And that's what happens. You get up, you know, it's human instinct - you get up, you kind of relax so now your cuts aren't hard, you're not setting screens.

“You take a couple of plays off and look, you know, Melbourne's got so much talent, they're gonna come.

“They sped the game up and really pushed the ball in the third quarter.”

After a solemn Remembrance Ceremony pre-game as the sides reflected on the service of ADF personnel, the energy switched quickly in the first period as the Sixers put in a defensive masterclass.

They rushed Melbourne into turnovers and poor shots and had 17 rebounds to six as they kept the visiting side to just 10 first quarter points while piling on 27 of their own.

Zylan Cheatham was the key protagonist with eight points for the period but with Bryce Cotton tallying three assists to make him the first player in the 40-minute NBL era to have 1500 career assists, and the introduction of Flynn Cameron off the bench after sitting out the last 11 games, the Adelaide Entertainment Centre was rocking.

It was more of the same as the second period got away in earnest and the Sixers had things all their own way. They pushed out to a 34 point advantage on the back of some exceptional three-point shooting, primarily from John Jenkins who hit four triples for the quarter.

But slowly United worked its way back into the contest, mainly off the hand of Cole Anthony. After their highest scoring opening half, the Sixers led at half time 59-35.

Anthony continued to cause problems for the home side, cutting the margin to within 18 points at the three quarter time break but he was becoming increasingly frustrated, repeatedly fouling Bryce Cotton and sitting on four fouls heading into the final period.

Still United came with Josh Oduro and Nick Rakocevic’s battle proving entertaining and decisive, as the former NBA man got on top to drag his side to within four points with three minutes remaining.

Within 40 seconds it was back out to 10 as Cotton found his range with back-to-back triples.

And with Anthony and Oduro each fouling out, the task proved too much for United and the Sixers capped back to back wins.

Gleeson was most pleased to see Cameron get through his first game back from a lengthy layoff.

“Flynn had a great preseason and then gets injured first game, so he's missed what, 12 games, 11 games, 12 games,” Gleeson explained.

“And it's going to take a while for him to get back into the swing of things.

“Flynn's a big part of our team. Obviously he can defend, he's got that toughness and shoots so it's going to be a process to get him back into fighting form.”

The Sixers are back on the road next week to take on the Illawarra Hawks in Wollongong on Thursday night.

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