Wells: “a lot of good things” in win over Taipans

Adelaide 36ers Head Coach Mike Wells has praised his side’s defensive focus and desperation in its dominant win over the Taipans in Cairns on Thursday night.

The Sixers burst out of the blocks and were in control for more of the game, winning 110-79 to snap a run of four losses in Cairns after home wins.

The win means for the first time since 2008-09 the Sixers are unbeaten after two games, heading home next for three straight games at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Bryce Cotton again starred with 28 points, three rebounds, seven assists and five steals but there was a much more even spread than in his side’s first game. Against the Bullets on Sunday Cotton had 39 of the side’s 87 points – 45 per-cent of the total score, while he had 25 per-cent on Thursday night.

It was just one of the positives for coach Wells.

“Obviously we had a focus on the defensive end of the floor,” he said after the game.

“I thought the group really played together and one of the big differences for me was it looked like – I’ll have to go back and look at the film – but it looked like 50-50 balls we won those.

“Guys were on the floor, we made the extra pass, we had 25 assists on 39 made field goals, low turnovers, tight on the boards, we got more three-point attempts up than the opponent, so there were a lot of good things.”

After being well held at the weekend against Brisbane, DJ Vasiljevic was straight into the action with an early three-pointer reminding everyone watching how dangerous he can be from range.

Then Cotton got going. He had a third of the Sixers’ 36 first-quarter points to help establish a solid early advantage and tick over 6000 NBL career points.

A 13-point lead became 20 by the main break with the Taipans restricted to just 15 points in the second period.

Isaac Humphries (13 points, six rebounds to half time) and Flynn Cameron (12 points, two rebounds, three assists) were providing the main support acts for Cotton as he continued with his scoring despite copping a nasty corked thigh.

Cameron dropped two threes and Cotton could not be stopped, doing the defensive work with five steals as well as finding the basket to have 28 points at the final break.

And when Vasiljevic nailed a long-range bucket right on three-quarter time, the Sixers were up by 25.

The margin extended beyond 30 and the Sixers ticked over the century as it ticked towards full time with some valuable contributions off the bench by Isaac White, Michael Harris and Matt Kenyon in particular.

And despite being in the country for just a little over 24 hours, new 6’10” import signing Nick Rakocevic showed why he was recruited, providing valuable back-up to Humphries and racking up eight points and eight rebounds in 15 minutes of court time.

It was a bonus for coach Wells who wasn’t sure what to expect from the big man after a long trip from the United States.

“For him to get in there and end up with eight and eight,” Wells beamed of Rakocevic’s efforts.

“He’s a very talented player. We haven’t had a practice with him (but) he will give us a different type of dynamic on our offensive end than Z (Cheatham) or Ice (Humphries) as bigs.

“He’s got a lot of different things and I’m just excited about the potential of what he can do to influence our group.”

Wells was also pleased with the way his side defended, especially on star Taipan Jack McVeigh, restricting the gun Cairns recruit to just nine points – well below his 20.3 point average in three games prior to Thursday night.

“He’s a terrific player,” Wells said.

“We just tried to influence him into some areas. He’s going to score points, he’s going to make shots - you just want to make him work for it.

“I thought that our attention to detail to that… Zylan (Cheatham) did a fantastic job on him, Matt Kenyon came in and there was no drop off in our intensity, even Flynn (Cameron) and some of the other guys had cracks in there, took their turns and it was just a team effort all the way around.”

The Sixers will host Tasmania at home next Thursday before following home games against Sydney and South East Melbourne.