The Coach Reflects – Round 1

It was quite the eventful opening round of the 2020/21 Hungry Jack's NBL Season for the Adelaide 36ers but by the end of it coach Conner Henry was happy with the way things were starting to come together with Josh Giddey leading the backcourt, and Daniel Johnson up front.

Having not played an official NBL game since February 15 last year, the 36ers opened the 2021 NBL season back on Friday night against Melbourne United at Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Things started off well enough too with the Sixers leading at half-time and still being in front early in the third quarter, but United finished the game scoring 46 of the game's last 66 points to end up winning 89-65.

That meant there was plenty of soul searching done on Saturday by the 36ers group knowing they needed to find a way to bounce back on Sunday back on their home floor against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

It turned out to be quite the dramatic afternoon full of twists and turns with the near capacity allowable crowd inside the Entertainment Centre going through a whole wave of emotions from elation thinking they were going to see their team win big to desolation about a second loss.

In the end, it took two overtime periods but with 18-year-old rising superstar Josh Giddey stealing the show in overtime after Daniel Johnson had put up 33 points before fouling out in regulation, but the 36ers got home and ended up beating the Phoenix 116-108.

It brought to an end an eventful first two games in charge of the 36ers for new coach Conner Henry as well and he would have breathed as big a sigh of relief as anybody that the Sixers came away 1-1 from the opening round of the 2021 NBL season.

All the talk since Sunday's win has surrounded Giddey's performance and it's not hard to understand why. 

He was playing the second game of his professional career, he is the youngest player in the NBL and he showed nerves of steel to make all the big plays with the game on the line and with the knowledge that Johnson's game was over once it got to overtime.

Giddey opened up overtime with a steal and breakaway slam before then falling hard to the floor face first.

Ultimately he has now been ruled out of this Wednesday's game also at home to the Phoenix because of the effects of that fall, but he was able to play the rest of the game and had a big say in the eventual win for the 36ers in double overtime.

Giddey's numbers of 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in 35 minutes in his second NBL game were remarkable, but it was the heart he showed that he was even better. 

He shook off that hard fall, he shrugged off throwing away the ball on half-time and giving up a half-court three ball, and he even didn’t let shooting a three-point air ball shake him. 

It was all of that which impressed Henry on top of the improvement he showed in his defence which allowed him to play him with the game up for grabs.

"I wanted to get Josh back in because right now he is probably as good a rebounder as our bigs, and in these type of close games I knew he would go and get the ball off the glass let alone his ability off the bounce to find guys," Henry said. 

"And his offence is coming. But I think the most impressive thing about Josh was that you could look at how he almost had a triple-double, but he was a lot more locked in at the defensive end, he was a lot more physical and tagging guys off deep rolls. That part of the game is starting to come for him and that's what was impressive for me."

While the backcourt led by Giddey with help from Donald Sloan, Sunday Dech, Brendan Teys and Daniel Dillon remains a work in progress, what was clearly evident coming out of Friday night's loss to Melbourne was that Johnson needed more help in the frontcourt.

He produced 29 points in the loss on Friday in a lone hand and he backed up with 33 points on 11/14 shooting on Sunday, but he did receive more support especially from Isaac Humphries.

Henry was delighted that on limited preparation Humphries was able to stand tall to play 37 and-a-half minutes for 14 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots to have a big say in the final result.

"The system is designed around our bigs and this is the first time that we've had Isaac play extended minutes and the big guy played a total of 37 minutes," Henry said.

"I had to call a timeout at one point because he was cramping up. It was really nice to see him battle through that and he hasn’t trained all but a handful of times in the last month and-a-half so for him to grind through it and be a presence on the boards, and getting his hand on a lot of balls including some tips and put backs, that's the presence we want. 

"We went out and got him to pair with DJ so he could play inside and out, and we put Isaac in the position down low and he still has a long ways to go, and he'll admit that in terms of getting into shape and understanding the system. But it sure is nice to have him back and healthy, and hope he pulls up well ahead of Wednesday."

Johnson ended up combining for 62 points, 10 rebounds and four assists on 19/28 shooting from the field, 5/8 from downtown and 19/21 from the charity stripe.

That's quite the emphatic weekend performance but for Henry, he wasn’t surprised because he has seen Johnson perform at a similarly high level for much of his 325-game NBL career.

"He has been great for a long time, he's great every day in practice and he can just score the ball," Henry said. 

"He's also a very good passer and he has bought in defensively, he's working hard, he's using his body and he's more physical. 

"It's nice to know that we can run plays through him because I think he has an elite basketball mind and we are going to use him that way. Scoring 29 and 33 is a pretty good way to start the season."