'Not panic stations' just yet for 36ers

Losers of three of their past four matches, the league-leading Adelaide 36ers are currently in their worst stretch of the Hungry Jack's NBL26 season.

That run could be even worse if not for the overtime heroics of five-time MVP Bryce Cotton against New Zealand on Friday night.

Despite this, NBL champion Peter Hooley said he’s not panicking just yet about the first-placed Sixers.

“I’m not panicking yet because there’s still a fair few games to go to figure it out, but if this continues over the next two weeks or if this happened in two weeks time, with Finals just around the corner, then I’d start to panic,” Hooley said on Monday’s episode of NBL Overtime.

“You want to be peaking in the coming weeks, because the Kings and Phoenix are on that trajectory.

“[Further to that] I’m not sure where their defensive identity has gone in the last four games as well. They’ve got to figure all this out on the fly.

“But when you’re on top of the ladder, these things get magnified.”

1990 NBL Derek Rucker agrees that it’s no ‘panic stations’ for Adelaide, but said they have to improve parts of their game quickly.

“They now have a chance to reset, with Brisbane Wednesday night in an Ignite Cup game, before hosting South East Melbourne,” Rucker said.

“If they get those two, all of a sudden that gap between first and second, it expands, and then they can take a deep breath. Kind of like what Melbourne United are experiencing right now.

“But their turnovers have been problematic lately, having 13 compared to Sydney’s six on Sunday, not to mention they weren’t great on the offensive glass. Meaning they were really behind on the possession game.”

The Sixers next play Brisbane in an Ignite Cup fixture a the Gold Coast, on Wednesday from 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.