Sixers put it together to snap 'Cats winning run

The Adelaide 36ers delivered their best performance of the NBL season to snap the Perth Wildcats' winning run with the 83-68 triumph at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Saturday night.

It was the type of performance against their old foes that the Sixers threatened to deliver back at the NBL Cup when they were up by 26 points just before half-time, but in typical Perth fashion they fired back and broke their hearts.

But this time on their home floor and having had a week's preparation since beating the Illawarra Hawks last Saturday night, the 36ers were determined to make a statement across four quarters this Saturday night and they did that.

The Sixers shot out of the blocks on fire racing to a 22-11 lead and they never did surrender the advantage but just as impressive as the offensive output, was the defensive effort.

The 36ers held the Wildcats to just 68 points on 26/71 shooting from the field and 8/34 from deep while Sunday Dech was instrumental in holding Bryce Cotton to just the 10 points on 3/15 shooting. That made it less painful when Dech himself missed his first 10 field goals of the game.

But Dech had plenty of teammates firing and it was the evergreen captain Daniel Johnson at his unstoppable best delivering 28 points and eight rebounds on 11/14 shooting from the field and 4/6 from beyond the arc.

His teenage point guard Josh Giddey was brilliant too with 13 points, 12 assists and six rebounds while going 3/6 from downtown with import Brandon Paul building in confidence with 20 points including going 5/12 from deep.

Keanu Pinder might have been the most exciting sign with 12 points, four rebounds and four blocks. His night was summed up in one play midway through the fourth term. He firstly flew from nowhere to secure an offensive rebound. 

He then backed down his opponent and then finished unconventionally with his left hand. And then up the other end he swatted away a Bryce Cotton floater. It was what he's been promising all season.

Adelaide coach Conner Henry tasted his first victory against the Perth team he coached in the 2008/09 season, and he was especially delighted with the performance of Pinder.

"Since Ice (Humphries) has been out Keanu has really played much better. He's a lot more disciplined and you saw defensively he did a really nice job even though Mooney still had a nice game," Henry said.

"There was numerous possessions that he physically showed he can cover a lot of group because of his athleticism. He makes a stand in the paint versus the bigs and he's also able to slide his feet to guard a small on a switch. 

"His presence is huge and he's playing well right now and he is healthy. He's giving us some rim protection that we've been lacking since Isaac went out. He had a very nice game. I'm proud of him."

It wasn’t the Wildcats' night but they came in on a nine-game winning streak so it's hardly panic stations. John Mooney still had 18 points and 14 rebounds, Todd Blanchfield 15 points and Jesse Wagstaff 11.

Perth coach Trevor Gleeson was disappointed with his team's performance but was making no excuses.

"It was disappointing," Gleeson said. 

"I'm not going to sit here and make excuses or blame anybody, Adelaide were by far the better team. They were playing harder, executing better, coached better and wanted it more than we did. 

"We seemed to be going through the motions and it's very disappointing on our part."

It was a scintillating start from the 36ers who had waited a week at home to play again after beating the Hawks last Saturday. 

In the opening six minutes alone they piled on 22 points with Josh Giddey dishing out six assists while Daniel Johnson drained two three-pointers with Brandon Paul hitting another, Giddey hitting one himself and Keanu Pinder dropping two of them himself.

That saw the Sixers lead 22-11 but Perth finished the quarter with a 6-1 run to be back within four by quarter-time.

But the 36ers were feeling it and Paul and Jack McVeigh hit second quarter three balls to make the lead again eight, and then another 6-0 run saw their advantage expand to 11, and remain eight by half-time against the league-leaders.

It was right back to a two-point game in a flash to start the second half thanks to John Mooney and Todd Blanchfield soring Perth's six points, but Adelaide steadied and held the 'Cats to just five points the rest of the quarter.

They did enough themselves with triples to Giddey, Paul and Johnson to head into three quarter-time leading 56-46.

The Wildcats briefly threatened a comeback a couple of times in the fourth quarter but ultimately never got closer than eight points with Adelaide having all the answers in their best all-round performance of #NBL21 to win by 15.

The Sixers now return to the road to play the Taipans in Cairns on Wednesday night while the Wildcats head down to Tasmania to play the New Zealand Breakers on Tuesday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 13

ADELAIDE 36ERS 83 (Johnson 28, Paul 20, Giddey 13)

PERTH WILDCATS 68 (Mooney 18, Blanchfield 15, Wagstaff 11) 

BOX SCORE