Adelaide 'upsetting the apple cart'

The Adelaide 36ers are in their worst stretch of the Hungry Jack’s NBL26 season, having dropped three of their past four contests.

Despite this, the 36ers still sit in first with a 20-7 record and are a strong chance to qualify for the inaugural Ignite Cup Final.

To guarantee the latter, Mike Wells’ side needs to defeat Brisbane on the Gold Coast on Wednesday, while also winning three of the four quarters.

By doing so and claiming six points, they will create an insurmountable lead over challengers Perth and South East Melbourne, who also play on Wednesday evening at RAC Arena.

One that backed an Adelaide return to form, and echoed the thoughts of Derek Rucker and Peter Hooley dismissing the talk of ‘panic stations’ for the Sixers, is NBL champion Mark Worthington.

“Introducing a new player [John Jenkins] into the mix that's going to play a major role in their title aspirations has had a bit of a ripple effect,” Worthington said on Wednesday’s episode of NBL Now.

“It might've just upset the apple cart just slightly, but not to the point where I'm at panic stations.

“It's not unusual for a team that has been riding on really high for such a long period of time to have a bit of a dip right now, while they're figuring out their pieces.

“There's a lot of different pieces within this Adelaide puzzle that will come to fruition on the back end of the season.

“Are they in a bit of a lull? Yes. Is it panic stations? Far from it. They're still a very good team, and any team that has Bryce Cotton in it, has a chance at winning a championship.”

In fact, dual Olympian Worthington believes the addition of Jenkins will help the 36ers’ championship chances.

“We saw his shot-making ability against Sydney the other day. When he gets his feet set, he’s one of the purest shooters in our league, along with Chris Goulding,” Worthington said.

“[Not only that], but his ability to put the ball on the floor and make plays at the rim and then distribute back out to other shooters is also going to be tough to guard come Finals time.

“Adelaide is littered with great shooting guards, whether it is Bryce [Cotton], whether it is Jenkins, whether it's DJ [Vasiljevic], whether it's Isaac White.

“Troy Brown, Jr. wasn't the guy that we all thought he would be. He was very different to what Adelaide [has in Jenkins].

“There’s obviously a little bit of discomfort working in a new guy like Jenkins, but they still have plenty of time to figure it out.”

The 36ers’ clash with Brisbane at 7.30pm AEDT tips off a Wednesday night Ignite Cup double header, with Perth versus South East Melbourne to follow at RAC Arena.

Both fixtures will be broadcast live on ESPN.