Bruton Praises 36ers Response Despite OT Loss

Adelaide 36ers coach CJ Bruton has praised his team’s response despite suffering two losses in round five.

The 36ers lost an 103-98 overtime thriller to the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Sunday, but Bruton said they improved from their embarassing 99-70 loss against the New Zealand Breakers on Friday.

“I thought our guys responded from taking a butt-kicking at home, to playing this one all the way out to the end which sent us to overtime, and we had every chance to win that game. I thought it was a great response from us,” Bruton said.

“We know where we sit and we need to continue to get better and keep improving on certain situations, but it’s a team game.

“It’s not one individual it’s a team, and we have to plug up a few things as we keep moving forward.

“It’s early in the season and I like to think that where our guys are right now, what we’ve had to go through from our preseason to right now, that was a good response.”

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FHRUYwsk0Lo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Bruton also emphasised the season is a marathon, not a sprint, after Adelaide’s 2-3 start.

“It’s gonna be a battle all year, it’s what the league wants, it’s what the fans want, it’s what we want,” he said.

36ers captain Mitch McCarron supported Bruton’s comments, saying “it’s a wild league right now”.

“It’s a crazy league, so there’s no point losing our minds now. Things can change,” McCarron said.

“For us it’s about consistency, finding an identity offensively, finding an identity defensively, and we’ve had our struggles on defence, but it’s going to take time.”

Adelaide take on the Illawarra Hawks on Thursday night.