Remember When... Adelaide shocked NBA powerhouse

Alexandre Sarr’s status as the near consensus number one pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, plus the Draft Combine performances of AJ Johnson, Trentyn Flowers and Bobi Klintman has the NBL in the forefront of the mind of the basketball world – but not for the first time.

While the competition is currently earning worldwide praise as a genuine pathway to the NBA, the Adelaide 36ers put the league on the global stage in late 2022 with their incredible pre-season win over the Phoenix Suns.

Only Sunday Dech and Nick Marshall look set to remain at the club from that historic victory over two years ago heading into NBL25, when Adelaide embarked on an NBLxNBA tour that hammered home Australia’s status as a genuine basketball destination on a world stage.

The Suns came out of the gates swinging with a starting five of Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Deandre Ayton, but while some of his younger teammates initially struggled to adapt to the pace and size of the NBA game, veteran forward Daniel Johnson kept his team within touching distance of its NBA opposition early.

Johnson’s contributions to the NBL – and performance in the game – were lauded by the commentary team and guest Andrew Gaze, before Adelaide’s import trio started to take control.

While Robert Franks and Antonius Cleveland were known quantities in the league having arrived at the club from Brisbane and Illawarra respectively ahead of the new campaign, guard Craig Randall II announced himself to the NBL audience with an immense shooting performance to guide the Sixers to victory.

Randall caught fire in the second quarter, and the 36ers entered half-time on the right side of a 12-point margin. Adelaide’s lead had been built off the back of some incredible three-point shooting from Randall, with the likes of Dech and Johnson chipping in with important buckets.

“We couldn’t have put a better half together, especially in this arena with their team,” Franks said ahead of the third quarter. “It just shows how good we can be and now we have to put another 24 minutes together.

"We’re moving the ball, we’re sharing it, we’re confident, and it’s like a party right now. Everybody is seeing the ball go in and in the environment we’re in, we’re just having fun.”

Where Randall exploded in the first half, it was Franks’ turn to come out swinging in the second. Then, down the stretch, the pair managed to hold their nerve, alongside Cleveland, to lead the 36ers to their historic win.

Randall ended the clash with a game-high 35 points and was lethal when shooting off the dribble from range. Franks had 32 and was immense both from beyond the arc and in the paint, while Cleveland had 22 points through his role as the team’s guiding hand.

Adelaide’s scoring outburst was all strategised by local guard Mitch McCarron. He may have only scored four points, but he incredibly not only led his team with nine rebounds, but led the game with a remarkable 16 assists – more than the rest of his teammates combined.

As a team, Adelaide shot 55.4 per cent from the field, but were untroubled by the longer NBA three-point arc, and as a team connected on 24-43 threes at 55.8 per cent.

Suns head coach Monty Williams was full of praise for the 36ers following the surprise result.

“Australian players are tough and they played physical basketball,” Williams said.

“They played in point five and were the aggressors. A lot of the time they just beat us off the dribble, they made some tough shots off the dribble and from three and they took the win.

“It wasn’t anything we gave them, they took it.”

Hyrum Harris played a bit-part in the victory, and only took to the floor for eight minutes to register one solitary assist, but the current Perth Wildcats starter was his typical aggressive, bullish self against the star-studded opposition.

In an interview with NBL Media in the aftermath of the win, he says everything became business as usual as soon as Adelaide stepped onto the floor.

“Before the Phoenix game there was a little bit of ‘wow, we’re about to play and NBA team, Hall-of-Famers’, that sort of stuff. After we got those pre-game jitters out the way, especially for me, when I got into the game it was just like ‘ok cool, who cares’,” Harris said.

“They have to try and put the ball in the hoop the same number of times as we do, so you have to treat it as just another game. After the game you look back and think ‘what the heck did we just do?’, but you can’t play into it too much during the game because you’ve already lost if you think about it too much.

“From one through five, whoever stepped on the court was ready. Obviously, Craig (Randall II) and ‘Robo’ (Robert Franks) are just different talents and sitting on the bench we were just stoked. Every shot that went in we’d just stand up, wave our towels and just be stoked for the guys, because what better stage to do it on than the NBA stage.”

That victory would prove to be the high point of Adelaide’s season. Randall played just six games with the club before they parted ways due to chemistry issues, and the 36ers slumped to an eight-place finish in the regular season.

Franks and Cleveland both departed for Israel at season’s end, while Johnson left the club after 14 years of service.

In fact, only McCarron, Dech, Marshall and Kyrin Galloway returned for the NBL24 campaign from the history-making side, with McCarron and Galloway since departing for New Zealand and Cairns respectively for NBL25.

Despite the disappointment of the NBL23 campaign which Franks had earlier labelled “championship or bust”, Adelaide’s victory over Phoenix played a crucial role in further establishing the NBL as a genuine player on the global basketball scene, and helped pave the way for the added NBA eyes on the competition in the years since.