Wells says 36ers keen to keep improving

Adelaide 36ers head coach Mike Wells says his side must continue their new found defensive structure going into another double header round this weekend.

The 36ers will battle Brisbane Bullets at home on Friday night before a Sunday afternoon showdown against South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena.

It’s the third consecutive weekend Adelaide has played on the Friday night then again on Sunday afternoon and Wells said the defensive end will be paramount.

In the past eight games the 36ers are only conceding 91.0 points while in the previous eight they were giving up 104.3, so that shows how significant the transformation has been.

But, more important for Wells is the communication he's now seeing amongst the playing group both in the locker room, during timeouts and then to make sure they are executing out on the floor.

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

“Those guys are talking, they're communicating, they're saying the right things and everything that we've done has been on the defensive end.

“We've gotten to a point where all of a sudden, it's different and from a coaching standpoint, when I come into the timeout huddle and guys are talking about defense, that's it, I'm done and I'm good.

“Literally they can figure out the offence. I still think there's a different level for this team to go to, several levels to be honest with you, but it's exciting to be able to put ourselves in a position to play meaningful games.”

Adelaide has come up with some big-time moments in both games last round, none more so than Montrezl Harrell diving on a loose ball during a frantic final quarter in Sydney which led to a DJ Vasiljevic three-pointer.

Wells said the team has not spoken about those moments, but everyone understands the impact they have on the results.

“Trez has been making them, so to as DJ and I saw Isaac Humphries run 94 feet with under two minutes to go and tip the ball out of bounds in a game that was still 16 or 18 points (against New Zealand),” Wells said.

“Those are just unselfish, unwavering winning type of plays, and what you've got is a bunch of guys willing to do that right now for the team.

“This team is forming our identity. Those unselfish plays on the floor, they are winning type plays.”