The Coach Reflects – Round 3

Adelaide 36ers coach Conner Henry is happy that his team is on a three-game winning streak but after six games in three weeks he's glad to have had a full week now to prepare for a rematch with the Sydney Kings this Saturday night.

It was a shaky start to the 2021 NBL season for the 36ers with a first up 24-point loss to Melbourne United before a double overtime win over the South East Melbourne Phoenix two days later.

But then a loss three days later at home to the Phoenix meant the Sixers were 1-2 and needing to respond with a couple more home games to come against the New Zealand Breakers.

The Sixers then won a second game in overtime in that Friday night game against New Zealand and three days later that turned into a winning streak with the most complete performance of the season on Wednesday night against the Breakers.

Then three days later the 36ers made it a three-game winning streak with a five-point win against the Sydney Kings in front of a right on capacity Adelaide Entertainment Centre crowd of 7087 in the current environment.

Having played six games inside 16 days even without having to factor in travel has been a taxing start to the season for the 36ers so that means Henry is relieved to be able to take a deep breath with a full week from last Saturday's win against the Kings to this Saturday's rematch.

Going into this week on a three-game winning streak and a 4-2 record meant that morale is high for the 36ers and Henry is glad to have the opportunity to both freshen up and recharge, but to also implement some things within the group that short turnarounds don’t allow for.

"That's six games in three weeks and we've won four of them so it's a good start. But that's six games in a pretty short period of time and that is after a long layoff, a long pre-season and a long training camp of grinding and sticking together," Henry said. 

"We took a couple of days off and then bounced back to have a good workout on Tuesday and then will get ourselves ready for Sydney. There will be some adjustments that we need to make and this week will also just allow us to review where we're at. 

"There's a number of things we've discussed about implementing and getting the guys to understand certain situations, but we've held back because we didn’t want to confuse them or put too much in without time to practice it. We're happy we won this game and now have a week to work on some things."

Looking back on last Saturday's win over the Kings, there was a lot to like from the 36ers performance including a dominant performance on the glass and with points in the paint.

The Kings still put up a good fight to make for a tight finish and Henry saw things for the Sixers to improve on, but he's glad to have plenty of time to do so.

"Other than the fourth quarter, defensively we played a pretty solid game and we gave a bunch of points back in that fourth quarter when we had six turnovers after having six the whole game up until then," he said. 

"We didn’t handle the pressure, they got up into us and we got a little tired. We withstood that run when we had to and it's good to have a week off now. We're going to rest up and heal some things that we have some issues with and get ready for next Saturday."

Isaac Humphries had another two monster games in Round 3 starting with 21 points, five rebounds and four blocks against New Zealand, and then 27 points, nine boards and two blocked shots against Sydney.

That has put Humphries right in the MVP calculations for most pundits, but Henry isn’t worried about that, he just wants to keep seeing him doing what he's doing.

"Isaac is a great teammate and he's focused on playing the best basketball of his life right now with his teammates," he said. 

"He's getting all the production because he works hard every single day and we'll leave all the other accolades to the media for him to get."

Then there is Sunday Dech. He might not be getting the headlines, but quietly he is making himself a fan favourite in Adelaide and an irreplaceable member of the 36ers team.

That's why Henry wants him on the court as much as possible except when he needs a rest and just going back to Round 3, he was tremendous defensively on Lamar Patterson and Casper Ware while also still being an offensive threat with 24 points.

"He's our best defender. He can guard smalls, he can guard bigs at a pinch down low and I have to have my best defender on the floor as much as I can. He really only comes out of the game if he raises his hand and he rarely does that," Henry said.

"Sometimes I have to press him on it. He needs two or three days this week to freshen up because he plays so hard, but he did another great job again on Casper and the others he guarded. He's our lead dog out there guarding everybody."