Vasiljevic's newfound affection for Adelaide

Boom NBL24 recruit DJ Vasiljevic has settled into life in Adelaide, and has proclaimed his love for the City of Churches.

Vasiljevic was one of the main reasons the 36ers fought back from an 18-point half time deficit to defeat South East Melbourne Phoenix 96-93 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre last Friday night.

“It’s all about winning man, I love this city, I love the fans, but I love this team more,” Vasiljevic said.

“We gave everything, and we got the win.”

The 190cm guard scored a game-high 29 points in the win against the Phoenix, including 20 points in the second half, and said the half time speech from head coach CJ Bruton was telling.

“It’s all about staying together, basketball is 40 minutes,” Vasiljevic said.

“We had a great conversation (at half time), CJ came in and told us what we needed to get done.”

Bruton said the spark from Vasiljevic had nothing to do with his speech at the main interval, but was pleased how his side responded.

“I take no credit for that, that is DJ being DJ,” Bruton said.

“When you got a switch and you got a flame, you do what you do, you’re an elite player for a reason.

“He will continue to find his range and his rhythm, his range.

“Our guys need to find ways to get him open.”

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The two-time NBL champion said he had to find another way to attack the hoop in the second 20 minutes against the Phoenix.

“You just got to adjust and play physical, and I just wanted to win,” Vasiljevic said.

“We were down, but we were chipping away and we set a goal of winning the first five minutes, we did that, we won the other five minutes.

“Fourth quarter came, and we started to chip away.”

Vasiljevic said the 36ers will be using the two-week FIBA international break as an opportunity to build on the momentum gained from the second half avalanche against the Phoenix.

“It’s not about me, it’s about this team and we just got to continue to build in this FIBA break,” he said.

“Have great practices, get back in the weight room, condition our bodies well and we look forward to the next game.

“We don’t play for two weeks now, but we got to keep building that momentum, have good, hard practices, and just go from there.”

Adelaide face a tough road double next road, the team travels to New Zealand to play the Breakers on November 30, before heading to Tasmnaia to play the JackJumpers on December 2, and Vasiljevic said the 36ers now have a goal set.

“The play in, the top six, that’s what we got to make, that’s the goal,” he said.

“If we can run off some wins and make the top four, cool, but we just have to stick together and take it a game at a time.

“We are going to use this two-week FIBA break to get better every day and I look forward to it.

“It will take some time, but I think we have found some form.”