Crocodiles vs Adelaide 36ers Report After a disappointing season opener in Adelaide on Friday night, a copybook 36ers have taught the Townsville Crocodiles a lesson in execution, splitting results in Round 1, while leaving the Crocs winless after a 97-83 win in Townsville Sunday afternoon. Jamar Wilson top scored for the visitors in a workmanlike 17 points and five rebounds to go with another solid outing from Mitch Creek with 17 points and four boards. For the home side, Brian Conklin did all he could on his way to 23 points and seven rebounds, while Todd Blanchfield scored 16 of his own, rounding it with five rebounds and five assists. It was evident from the outset that the campaign was still in its infancy – both sides still waiting to shake off pre-season rust, with a cumulative nine turnovers in the quarter and a general lack of direction which would quickly be remedied by Sixers captain Adam Gibson. “We were supposed to walk the ball up the first five possessions and threw it away the first two possessions trying to push it up the court,” Sixers coach Joey Wright said postgame. “We were thinking that they were going to try run over the top of us and we wanted to slow the pace down. Once we got that under control (we had the better of the contest). I think we were the first ones to control tempo.” Looking to atone for his passive outing on Friday night Gibson dominated the ball early, combining tempo control with four shot attempts in just the first three minutes. Meanwhile Crocs wing Todd Blanchfield showed some consistent signs of development, bringing the same intent from Wollongong – draining an early triple and looking to push the break at any opportunity. “I think Todd should (take it upon himself to become a better player). This is Todd’s sixth year in the league and if he is going to become a great player in the league, it’s time. Even though he’s only 22 years old...it’s time to shred the ‘potential’ tag, and he knows that,” Crocs mentor Shawn Dennis said. “(Increased responsibility) is a directive from me. The kid’s a potential superstar and he’s showed glimpses of it last year and I remember when he had a game against the New Zealand Breakers and scored 27 and I said ‘that’s great, but if he doesn’t come out in the same mindset next week, it doesn’t mean anything’. That’s something he’s trying to get on top of.” Mickell Gladness showed just why the league is so excited to have him here with some silky touch on a baseline fade away over Anthony Petrie to even up at 7-7. But that was when Gibson took proceedings upon himself, sparking a 9-0 run highlighted by aggressive forays to the rim and deft touch, while Adelaide’s active hands forced six turnovers in the first quarter from a Crocs outfit lagging heavily compared with their first quarter in Wollongong. Adelaide’s new import Daequon Montreal struggled to find his stroke, missing two wide open jumpshots but picked up the pieces from a top-of-the-square rejection from Gladness to record his first NBL road bucket. In an even scrappier second quarter where multiple minutes would go by without teams scoring points, a lack of defensive discipline was even more evident as both teams found themselves in the bonus halfway through the quarter. Rising star Mirko Djeric capped a 7-0 scoring run with a three pointer at the shot clock buzzer, while Creek would respond with a 6-0 run of his own – laying it in off a stolen inbounds pass before draining a three of his own at the end of the shot clock over the outstretched arm of Leon Henry. Creek had nine points in the second quarter without a play being run for him, yet Montreal continued his struggles to finish 1-5 from the field at the half. The level-headed Markovic put his side ahead 43-42 at the break with a three-point play, but the Sixers immediately went on the attack coming out the more aggressive side and sharing the load, with all five players each getting a field goal for their first 10 points of the quarter, much to the displeasure of Crocs coach Shawn Dennis. “We’re playing a good brand of basketball but unfortunately we just have a period of time – it happened on Friday at the start of the fourth quarter. Today it was more in the third quarter and towards the back end of the third quarter and you just can’t do that. We’ve got to go away and look at what we do when we’re doing things well and what’s the apparent reason to lose our way. One is fouling, over the weekend we gave up 63 free throws all up in both games and it’s very difficult to win when you’re putting teams to the line that many times,” Dennis said. “I just think the intensity of our play, whether we think it’s just going to happen or not, I don’t know. But certainly after this weekend I don’t think you will see us playing in that manner ever again.” After a seven-point first half Conklin put the team on his back, starting to work down low on his way to eight in the quarter, but it was opposite American Montreal who quieted his critics with nine in the quarter. The New Yorker put all of his skills on display, using quickness to get the better of Gladness while going to work on Blanchfield with superior size and strength. “(Montreal) can play. He has skill sets that translate to this league. He can shoot it from deep, he can post up, he’s quick, he’s athletic. He’s just got to believe it; he doesn’t believe it and I think tonight he did. He started cramping up on Friday night so we just got nothing out of him but tonight he played 24 minutes, he played hard and I think he did a good job,” Wright said. “Once he gets hot, he’s the type of guy who can run off 20 quick points, he can get hot and get going... When he gets going, just give him the ball.” A 13-3 scoring run ensued on the back of good halfcourt execution, and the gap had opened to 10. Crocs backup point guard Mitch Norton would halt the run with a three-pointer at the end of the third term, but it was all the visitors who had extended to 77-62 with just six minutes left in the contest. Some inspired work down low from Conklin and Gladness tried to pull Townsville out of the fire, but neither side was able to stop each other, going bucket-for-bucket through the middle of the term. Montreal looked in his element more as the game wore on, continuing to work on Blanchfield. Gladness splashed a midrange jumper, and an emphatic weak-side block from Conklin on the next possession had the small crowd – void of hope just a minute prior – all of a sudden back in the contest, but Wilson would isolate the 6’11” Gladness and break his ankles on the way to a bucket that would extinguish any genuine hope the home side had of coming back. With just nine seconds left, Conklin instigated a spat between Wilson and Djeric and received an unsportsmanlike foul on the play, while the other two were dealt technicals. As the game became more of a halfcourt affair in the fourth quarter, it was simply better execution from the visiting side that got them home.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 06:06:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015