Ninnis revels in winning feeling

For the second time in his career, Scott Ninnis has earned his first win as head coach of the Adelaide 36ers.

The interim boss was brought in to steady to ship after the departure of CJ Bruton earlier this season, and after leading the club for two seasons from 2010-2012, Ninnis’ 36ers defeated Brisbane on Christmas Eve to win their first game in over a month.

20-point performances from Jacob Wiley and DJ Vasiljevic led the side to a seven-point win over the Bullets, who were toothless in offence aside from a 36-point masterclass from Nathan Sobey.

Despite being involved with the 36ers organisation for 30 years, Ninnis said he felt the emotion of such a big win following the final buzzer.

“It was really important to me, I said to Grant (club owner Grant Kelley) and Nic (CEO Nic Barbato) after the game that I don’t get emotional after basketball games because I’ve been involved in that many over the years,” Ninnis said post-game.

“I feel blessed to be in this position now and that was an emotional one.

“Looking up in the stands and seeing my family as we walked off the court and knowing how important this win was for us as a club, as an organisation, I held it together, but only just.

“I look forward to getting home tonight, having a quiet glass of red and I might even shed a tear or two, but then it’ll be straight onto Perth after that.

“That was such an important game for everyone involved in the club from players, to support staff, to management, to ownership, and to our fans who were incredible tonight.”

The 88 points allowed by Adelaide was the lowest conceded during Ninnis’ current reign as interim head coach.

Adelaide had conceded over 100 points in each of Ninnis’ games in charge to date, and it marked the first they've allowed less than 90 points since a loss to Tasmania on November 11.

The 36ers surged to a strong half-time lead before slowly being pegged back by the Bullets at multiple points in the second half, but Ninnis praised his side’s ability to continue to score in the face of adversity.

“We’ve shown in the past when things haven’t gone well, we tend to dry up a little bit and our ball movement hasn’t been where it needs to be,” he said.

“It was more about being positive, continuing to push the ball, getting easy, cheap baskets, get stuff in transition, and I think that’s an area we’ve really shown improvement in these last three games, the ability to get out and run and create easy baskets.

“That’s especially pleasing, because that might have been a game that in the past we may not have got away with.”

Adelaide’s next challenge will come in the form of the Perth Wildcats on December 28.