Tough home opener for Sixers against Hawks

Conceding a 27-5 run either side of half-time ended up costing the Adelaide 36ers dearly at home on Sunday against the Illawarra Hawks but there were positives to take for the Sixers as they now head back to Tasmania.

The 36ers opened the 2021/22 NBL season on Friday night in Perth with an eventual 12-point defeat, but the Sixers were coming off winning the NBL Blitz in Tasmania and were excited to return home for the first time in more than three weeks.

The Sixers were greeted at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre by a crowd of almost 5000 people desperate to see their club in action again, and things started well against a Hawks team with big things expected of in #NBL22.

Despite Adelaide falling down 9-2 early, they would go on a 13-point run to take the lead and to be up by six early in the second quarter, and still by four midway through the period.

However, from that point on Illawarra was able to score 27 of the game's next 32 points either side of the half-time break to end up securing their 81-71 victory inside Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

It was a tough loss to take for the 36ers to open up the season with the two defeats inside three days, but there's certainly enough for new coach CJ Bruton and his new-look squad to build upon.

While the shooting of 41 per cent from the field and 31 per cent from three, and even the 53 per cent from the foul line, can improve and the 21 turnovers can hopefully be ironed out, winning the rebound battle with 47 boards to 37 was a positive.

Cam Bairstow was a shining light again for Adelaide against the team he played last season with. The former NBA and Boomers power forward put up 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists in under 24 minutes.

Isaac Humphries showed some good signs with 13 points and four rebounds with captain Mitch McCarron producing another 12 points, five rebounds and four assists while Daniel Johnson had 12 points, four boards and two assists.

Todd Withers finished with nine points and 12 rebounds for Adelaide, Mojave King five points and four rebounds, and Dusty Hannahs five points.

Sixers coach CJ Bruton didn’t quite see the same positives as he did in the loss in Perth on Friday, but has no hesitation that things will begin to come together particularly when Sunday Dech, Kai Sotto and Manny Malou are available.

"On Friday night I thought we played with a lot of energy at the start and everyone was excited to play an actual NBL game in front of a big crowd," Bruton said. 

"Perth is a unique place to play as we all know and then to come here, I think the boys were excited but then as the game went on I think we got in our own way.

"The spacing, everyone was getting a little bogged down and second guessing what we were doing, that was a problem. We had a few turnovers and our body language shifted, and the wheels started unravelling. 

"We gave up a lot of points in transition just off our turnovers. If you look at the stat line across the board, that was the only one that really sticks out."

It was a slow start again for Adelaide and for the second straight game to open this season they fell down 6-2 early. That ended up being 9-2 when Duop Reath hit a three for Illawarra, but Adelaide then warmed to the task with another Isaac Humphries bucket.

That led into a run of 12 straight points for the Sixers starting with buckets to Cam Bairstow and Daniel Johnson prior to three-point bombs from Mitch McCarron and Todd Withers, and then topped off with another Humphries basket.

That helped Adelaide lead 16-13 by the end of one and then a three-point play from Humphries saw the lead for the 36ers grow to six.

The Sixers still led by three midway through the second period when Withers hit a three. Humphries then connected from deep too to make it a four-point lead.

However, Illawarra finished the half with a 14-5 run to take a 40-35 advantage into the half-time break.

The second half then got off to the worst possible start for the 36ers with the Hawks scoring the opening 13 points as their lead grew to 18 before Mojave King stemmed the tide with a three for Adelaide.

The 36ers tried to work their way back into the contest from there but were still down by 16 at three quarter-time. While the Sixers tried to work back into the game in the final quarter, they could only eventually cut the final margin to 10.

There's little time again for the Sixers to stew over the rest as they head back to Hobart to take on the Tasmania JackJumpers on Thursday before another home match next Sunday against the New Zealand Breakers.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 1

ADELAIDE 36ERS 71 (Bairstow 15, Humphries 13, McCarron 12, Johnson 12)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 81 (Reath 18, Jessup 17, Rathan-Mayes 15, Harvey 15) 

BOX SCORE