Sixers Cruise by Taipans After Slow Start

The Adelaide 36ers posted a new team low in the first quarter, but found their feet from then on to notch a strongly team-oriented 82-71 win at home over the Cairns Taipans. 

It is rare that an NBL team makes history for the wrong reasons in a game they win, but that was the case for the 36ers in this match. 

Their opening quarter (with Cairns leading 23-9) ranks as the home team’s lowest ever at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, which is a 34-game sample size dating back to 2019. 

At that point, the Taipans were licking their lips. The 36ers looked devoid of hope. How things changed. The Sixers marched all the way back starting with the opening 15 points of the second quarter on the way to the season-boosting 11-point win.

The 36ers trio of Aussie veterans (Daniel Johnson, Mitch McCarron and Cam Bairstow) put their heads down and forced their way back into the game, buoyed by an Adelaide crowd that didn’t slump in their seats. 

The 25-11 second quarter ensured the two teams remarkably went into half-time locked at 34-all. 

With the encounter on a knife-edge, the 36ers ability to reel off the first seven points of the third quarter made sure that CJ Bruton’s team had arrested the momentum. 

Adelaide import Todd Withers had a quiet match on the whole (six points, two rebounds), but it was this three-minute stretch where he had the most impact.

A greater factor for Adelaide’s win was Johnson, the proud six-time club MVP produced a vintage display. Whether it was grit on the defensive end or a knockdown three on the other, Johnson was a force throughout on his way to 18 points, nine rebounds and two imposing blocks.

Johnson was partnered by a steady hand in Mitch McCarron, the #NBL21 champion whose composure in the second quarter was superb. 

The Adelaide captain had 14 points on only six shots, and his active hands brought about five steals. At times, McCarron was providing for the 36ers’ spark plug Dusty Hannahs, who had 10 points in 16 minutes off the bench. 

Sixers coach CJ Bruton was happy with his team's response to last Friday's loss and the slow start to this game.

"It was a little ugly, slow start. Knowing how they blew us out up in Cairns. Knowing that they have a lot of guys who can get out on the track and run lanes," Bruton said.

"I think they just responded. It is more that they boys responded. It shouldn’t have to take that, but we haven’t played in a while. 

"We didn’t want this one to slip now that they’re playing at home. Playing four games in eight days, I feel for Forde at this point. What you have to do is regroup and bounce back, and we did that."

Once the 36ers wrestled the game from the Taipans, coach Adam Forde would be disappointed by his team’s lack of resistance. 

Taipans big Stephen Zimmerman was a key part of his team’s early dominance. He scored seven of his 21 points in the opener and was dominant on the boards throughout the game, claiming 14 rebounds.

Put simply, the support wasn’t there for him. While it is a welcome sight for the Taipans fans to see Scott Machado back in the line-up, he appears proppy and cautious on the court. 

Machado had only seven points against the Illawarra Hawks in his last game and six in this one, well down on his NBL MVL-level output of previous seasons. 

Machado’s back-court partner Tahjere McCall, who has stepped up as a leader this season, also failed to have the impact he would have desired. 

With six minutes left of play, McCall fouled out in the fourth quarter with six points, five rebounds and five assists. McCall missed all three of his shots from beyond the arc, which contributed to the Taipans’ dismal outside shooting (3/19). 

After the game, this performance was enough to prompt a 'players only' meeting in the Cairns locker room. They’ve got a lot to resolve before their next encounter, but one positive is their first quarter showed how damaging they can be when they’re focused and intent. 

Coach Adam Forde fronted the media on his own post-match with the Taipans looking to find away to get back on track.

"They’ve got a closed locker room meeting right now. There’s some conversation there that I want to let take place organically. There’s some frustrations," Forde said.

"There’s a part that I play with that. We were doing it so effectively earlier in the season. Now we start to bring our squad back, whether there is an uncomfortable dynamic with our back court… the best way to describe it is awkward. 

"The communications is off. It just snowballs and becomes worse and worse. We’re in a position right now that’s not fun. It is really frustrating. Frustrating for me; frustrating for the playing group."

It was smiles all-round in the 36ers camp, who avoided being the bottom-of-the-ladder team with this win.

The Taipans are now first up in Round 13 on Thursday night at home to the Brisbane Bullets while the Adelaide 36ers head to Wollongong to take on the Illawarra Hawks on Friday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 12

ADELAIDE 36ERS 82 (Johnson 18, McCarron 14, Dech 13)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 71 (Zimmerman 21, Deng 12, Kuol 8, McCall 8) 

BOX SCORE