Wells: Combination of turnovers and rebounds prove costly

Adelaide 36ers Head Coach Mike Wells says his side gave up too many turnovers and rebounds in Saturday evening’s loss to South East Melbourne.

The Sixers turned the ball over 16 times and lost the rebound count 54-37 as they gave up a promising start to lose 97-77 on their home court at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Wells’ side gave the Phoenix too many chances to score, with the visitors claiming 21 offensive rebounds in the first half alone, and 23 for the game, as they closed to within one win of the top-of-the-table Sixers with four games to play in the regular season.

The Sixers had to do without the suspended Nick Rakocevic and were forced to go small for much of the game with fellow big Isaac Humphries managing a sore knee, and after having played four straight road games including three in six days, the energetic Phoenix proved too strong.

A disappointed Wells said the travel and short turnarounds were not an excuse.

“I give the Phoenix a lot of credit, right,” he said after the game.

“To kind of impose their style on the game, even in a game that was probably less scoring than they're used to.

“I mean, the numbers are in the range that you want to play them at, but when you do the combination of offensive rebounds plus turnovers, that's going to be a hard combination to beat.”

It was a relatively low-scoring opening with both sides locked in a nervy arm wrestle with 10 turnovers between them.

They were also struggling from beyond the arc with 11 failed triple attempts before Malique Lewis finally got one to drop on the quarter time buzzer to bring the Phoenix level at 18-all at the first break.

The Phoenix flew out of the blocks in an at times spiteful second period, racing to a 10-point advantage before Flynn Cameron threatened to reel them back in from long range. He raced to 16 points but much of his work was being undone at the other end of the court with the Phoenix dominating on the boards with 35 rebounds to 20 including 21 at the offensive end as the sides headed to the locker rooms.

An eight-point deficit at half time was up to 18 within four third-period minutes as the Sixers tallied their twelfth turnover for the game. Zylan Cheatham was doing his bit to rectify the discrepancy on the boards, tallying 12 by three quarter time and finishing with 14 to go with 13 points, three assists and a steal.

For all their effort, the Sixers could not cut the margin below 15, with three-point attempts just not dropping and scoring avenues drying up.

The 36ers closed to within nine points in the final quarter, but that was as close as they came.

The result was the Sixers’ fourth loss in the past six games, but Wells was confident the side would regain its form approaching the finals.

“100%,” he said. “You know, this group continues to evolve and it's not always going to be as smooth and easy as we had in the middle section of the year and this is part of it.

“You need to see your team kind of respond to adversity, and it's an opportunity for us to really circle the wagons and come together is what you want to see the group do, and, when we've done that, we've found ways to win games…

“It's an important time of year for everybody. We know that, and we'll be focussed on what we have here over these last four games and the challenges that are presented.

“Trying to still move the group forward and be the best version of ourselves at the end, you know, that's the goal.”

The Sixers will be quickly back on the road, jetting off to Wollongong to face reigning NBL champions Illawarra on Thursday night.