Crucial Christmas Period Excites Bruton

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Adelaide 36ers coach CJ Bruton is excited to have the crowd get behind them during the crucial Christmas period where the club will play a string of home games.

Bruton says the 36ers are willing to put in the work for the ‘make or break’ December/January part of the season, after turning around a slow start to jump to sixth on the ladder with a 5-5 record.

Gaining confidence on the road recently, Adelaide is prepared to deliver in front of their home crowd, with six out of nine games in December at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

“It’s a pivotal time in December/January for every team in the competition to either make that strike on forward, or you’re hovering in the middle, and you’re trying to find out where you sit for the back end of the season,” Bruton said.

“Being at home during that month is very good, and it’s crucial for us in getting that home support around Christmas. I feel like our crowds will be great.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Robert Franks talks Adelaide's current links with former Sydney Kings star Ian Clark, why he thinks the power forward/centre position is the best in the NBL and his aspirations to return to the NBA.<br><br>Catch the full episode on the NBL website ? <a href="https://t.co/19aGliSsPq">pic.twitter.com/19aGliSsPq</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1597830666388840448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

With a busy schedule on the road for Adelaide, the time spent together has brought the 36ers’ relationship to new heights, and their wins mirrored that.

“I guess from the time that we’ve been on the road, it’s us coming together and being able to just get away from our surroundings right now and learn what we are capable of doing,” Bruton said.

A happy Bruton says their recent confidence and momentum has excelled, but warned against getting ahead of themselves, mentioning the unpredictable nature of the NBL.

“The attention to detail definitely picked up over the last month or so,” Bruton said.

“Our strength is still keeping everybody happy. The competition doesn’t get any easier…so everyone has a different style, a different brand, different strings.”

The 36ers will challenge the third-placed Cairns Taipans on Friday night at 7:30pm AEDT.