Wells lauds 36ers fight during ‘tough stretch’

Adelaide 36ers head coach Mike Wells has lauded his side’s professional approach to Sunday’s 94-78 win against New Zealand Breakers at the Entertainment Centre.

The 36ers were outstanding in a dominant first half display, going into the main interval with a 22-point lead, but Wells said some fatigue kicked in during the second half.

“This has been one of the toughest stretches that anybody has had to play,” Wells said post-match.

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“Perth, Cairns, come home, go back to Sydney, then come home, to me, that’s (essentially) four road games.

“Even though we were at home, it felt like a road game.

“We won’t have our first real home game until we play Brisbane on Friday night.”

Wells said his side’s effort at the defensive end was the catalyst to the fantastic opening half, limiting the Breakers to just 35 points in the opening 20 minutes.

“Our level of communication, like organisation and attention to detail on the defensive end is night and day different,” Wells said.

“The guys are talking, they’re communicating, they’re saying the right things.

“We were tired, but we were connected, and we dug in, at one point it was a 68-40 game.”

Coming back home after Friday night’s 105-96 win against the Kings in Sydney, Adelaide again came out strong on the second game of a back-to-back weekend.

“I thought we had a really professional approach to the game tonight,” Wells said.

“This team is in a completely different place since the Sydney game (on December 30).

“We were 7-11 heading into that Sydney game, now we have got it to 13-13.”

Adelaide is now back in the top six and will battle Brisbane Bullets next Friday night at the Entertainment Centre from 7pm ACDT.