- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Adelaide 36ers held off a strong comeback effort from the Perth Wildcats to win by six points on Saturday night.
Final score
Adelaide 36ers 92
Perth Wildcats 86
The Perth Wildcats enter the toughest stretch of their season in horrendous form as they head to South Australia on Saturday night for a match against the Adelaide 36ers who picked up a couple of important wins last weekend in the NBL.
This match carries with it a tale of contrasting storylines, and for the visitors it’s not only highly unexpected, but one that that must improve sooner rather than later – something that will be easier said than done.
With the Hopman Cup once again coming to Perth, the Wildcats so-called fortress at home will be out of action through to the middle of January, with the club only playing one out of their next seven at the venue.
Essentially for the Wildcats, it’s a nearly month long road trip and if they can’t get it right at home then it’s difficult to see things turning around while spending so much time away from home.
Perth always have to come out of the first part of the season in good shape, but this time it’s anything but with Damian Martin already on the sidelines, and now likely to be joined by power forward Matty Knight who injured his hip on Thursday night.
Adding insult to that massive injury for the club the Wildcats went down at home to the Brisbane Bullets by 15 points, their biggest ever loss at the arena. It’s also the first time the Wildcats have lost three straight matches since 2005, which is a mark to their consistency but also tells you exactly how much the club are struggling.
They have gone from challenging for the top of the table, to sitting in fifth position in the course of a fortnight and with nothing on the offensive end bar some Casey Prather magic in the last few matches they need to find other ways to score points.
Prather of course does happen to be leading the league in points per game, but it’s simply not enough for the Wildcats, especially when you consider the explosiveness of Jerome Randle on the other side for this clash.
Many, including myself were just about ready to write the 36ers off before Round 8 – instead they came out and beat both Brisbane and Sydney in convincing fashion.
Neither of those teams are easy-beats, especially on the road and it seemed to be a return to form for the 36ers who were struggling badly and glued to the bottom of the table.
While they have only leap-frogged Melbourne United at this point, sitting in seventh they are much closer to the top and their form looks a lot stronger.
It was a completely different team who turned up in Round 8 with Randle leading the way and getting good support from the likes of Nathan Sobey, Terrance Ferguson and Daniel Johnson.
If they can keep their offence clicking, which hasn’t been a problem all season and continue this new found energy on defence which shut down the Kings so well then they are going to be hard to beat moving forward.
With Mitch Creek not far away from a return either, this shapes as an important game against their Western rivals to keep momentum going into the Christmas period.
Prediction
At the start of the week I was happy to give this game to the Wildcats. After their appalling performance against Brisbane though, and that Jerome Randle is likely to rip their defence in half I doubt I’m the only one who has had a change of heart.
36ers by 8.
Key Information
Tip-off: 7:30pm (AEDT) – 7pm (local)
Venue: Titanium Security Arena, Adelaide
TV: Live, Fox Sports 503
Online: NBL.TV
Betting: 36ers $1.56, Wildcats $2.44
Last meeting: 5/11/16 – Wildcats 106 defeat 36ers 103 at Perth ArenaAdelaide 36ers (expected)
Point guard: Jerome Randle
Shooting guard: Nathan Sobey
Small forward: Terrance Ferguson
Power forward: Daniel Johnson
Centre: Matt Hodgson
Bench: Brendan Teys, Eric Jacobsen, Majok Deng, Adam Doyle, Anthony Drmic, Nick LarkinsPerth Wildcats (expected)
Point guard: Jarrod Kenny
Shooting guard: Jaron Johnson
Small forward: Casey Prather
Power forward: Matty Knight
Centre: Jameel McKay
Bench: Mason Bragg, Angus Brandt, Greg Hire, Dexter Kernrich-Drew, Jesse Wagtaff, Shawn Redhage, Corban Wroe
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde