Adelaide 36ers vs South East Melbourne Phoenix NBL Blitz Game 1 Review 17/9/22

 Adelaide 36ers vs South East Melbourne Phoenix NBL Blitz Game 1 Review 17/9/22

 

Phoenix were missing 3 key peices in Mitch Creek, Ryan Broekhoff and one of the key imports. 

Adelaide full strength. 

1st Quarter: 

NBL preseason has been off to a very shaky start with the broadcast issues and this game was not different. No scoreboard or time was on the creek until half time which made it a tough game to follow. Made even more difficult was the lack of updated from the commentary team who knew their was no scoreboard for the viewers. Very frustrating. 

Kyle Adnam started the scoring for Phoenix with a quick layup and followed it by feeding Grant Anticevich for a 3 ball. 

On the other side Adelaide got the scoring started with some foul shots by Mitch Mccarron. 

Adelaide's imports got things started early with a steal from Robert Franks who pushed it up the court on the fast break to dish it to Craig Randall for the dunk. 

Adelaide look to have made some strong moves in the off season and now have a pretty stacked team.who also look quite good on defence with Mitch Mccacon and Antonius Cleveland shutting opposing back courts down.

Craig Randall also has a some smooth moves and completes a ridiculous up and under layup late in the first. which was closely followed from a drive on the previous play.

 

 

On the others side Melbourne look to struggle to put the ball in the whole at times. Missing 3 absolute bunnies at the basket. They sill manage to hold on and keep it close in the first quarter. Dane Pinot looks very tall out on the court and hopefully he can stay healthy and really see what he can bring to a team. 

Kai Sotto had a tough start to the preseason with a couple of tough plays and closed the quarter with a turnover in his first post play of the game. He turns it around later but it was a hard start. 

1st quarter closed closer then I thought Adelaide 21 - 20 Phoenix.

2nd Qtr: 

Mitch McCarron opens the quarter for Adelaide with a bomb 3 then followed it with a classy no look dish.

 

Gary Brown had a smooth move with the ball taking Daniel Johnson off the dribble and cooking him for a long 2. 

A lot of the Phoenix buckets were from individual play then good team basketball but missing three key pieces would be why they still don't look to flow well. 

 

The half closes Adelaide 39-33 Phoenix with still no scoreboard and is nearly unwatchable not really being able to follow the game without the score or time. I stopped watching but predicted Adelaide to blow out Phoenix in the third quarter which is was what occurred. going into the fourth with a nearly 20 point lead. 

Adelaide go onto win the game 76 - 84.

Phoenix at this stage still don't look like a team and are mostly playing pick up basketball. Missing key pieces and needing to increase intensity on defence. Kyle Adnam has been carrying the team well but he doesn't look like enough of an offensive threat or team building leader to be the primary point guard in my opinion. I'm not sure how their final roster is to look but he may really be a better bench point guard.

On the other side Mitch Mccarron looks like he is keystone piece for this Adelaide team. With all the offensive weapons on the team it will take a true point guard leader like Mccarron to find his teammates and get everyone involved for them to go the distance in the season ahead. 

Kai Sotto had some big play later in the game and if he gets the opportunity could be a big peice for Adelaide. His length and athleticism is elite and if he tighten up a few other areas of his game and defence his ceiling is very high!.
Franks, Cleveland and Randall look to be a very impressive import roster for Adelaide and complement each other well. 

Adelaide should be a lock for the post season from this early look.

Full Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK9sWNPnfrQ

Boscore:

https://nbl.com.au/games/2120048

 

ADELAIDE 36ERS 84 (Randall 16, McCarron 12, Cleveland 12)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 76 (Adnam 19, Williams 13, Madut 11)