36ers woes no dramas for Joey
ADELAIDE coach Joey Wright is not too fussed.
His 36ers have dropped their last three games of the season with one to play before the post-season, but the 2007 NBL championship coach is adamant his squad is perfectly placed.
The 36ers stars hardly played on Thursday night against Cairns with the reserve group almost stealing the win.
But Wright has a theory about his team’s form.
“The loss does not mean you are out of form, that is what a lot of people think, just because you lose,” Wright said after the loss on Thursday night.
“You can play a hell of a game and still lose.
“Just because you win a game, it does not mean you are in form.
“I have won a lot of games over the years and you go into the locker room and think how the heck did we win that.
“We are not out of form, we are playing good basketball right now.”
Adelaide still can’t finish anywhere but first despite looking down the barrel of four consecutive defeats to finish the regular season.
League MVP favourite Jerome Randle just played the 11 minutes on Thursday but will star big man Daniel Johnson, the NBA-bound Terrance Ferguson and former Taipan Nathan Sobey all having their minutes reduced.
They are all expected to be play more tonight as they ramp up their preparations for the finals.
“We wanted to test some guys that we know will get minutes come the playoffs,” Wright said.
“I thought our young guys played well under the pressure.
“Their confidence should be riding high and they have had some great trainings of late as well.
“Jerome will play on Saturday, still not the minutes he’s been playing but hopefully he can play some more.”
Wright, who coached Mark Worthington on the Gold Coast, paid tribute to the retiring Taipan, declaring him one of the hardest workers he has seen in his time in the NBL.
“I enjoyed every single day I coached Wortho, he is a fiery guy,” Wright said.
“A lot of people said I might have issues with him because of that but he was great.
“He is going to be a great coach one day and he is a great dad too.” Jordan Gerrans takes a look at the NBL week in next Tuesday’s Cairns Post.