Giddey Shines as 36ers Roll in Preseason Opener

Saturday, November 14, 2020

NBL Next Star Josh Giddey showed why many are talking about him as an NBA prospect with an impressive debut for the Adelaide 36ers as they defeated the Brisbane Bullets 93-75.

NBL Next Star Josh Giddey showed why many are talking about him as an NBA prospect with an impressive debut for the Adelaide 36ers as they defeated the Brisbane Bullets 93-75 on Friday night.

A crowd of 3556 fans were at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre for the opening game of the Hungry Jack’s NBL preseason ahead of the regular season due to commence in mid-January.

The highly rated Giddey stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists in a performance that’s sure to heighten excitement amongst 36ers fans.

“He has been really good in practice and he showed great composure tonight in a practice game against grown men,” Adelaide coach Conner Henry said.

“First night out, he loves it, he wants more every day, he wants to get better and it was a really good start for him.”

Daniel Johnson top scored for Adelaide with 20 points while Jack McVeigh added 14 points.

Anthony Drmic (17 points, six rebounds), Tanner Krebs (12 points) and Harry Froling (10 points, seven rebounds) all impressed in their Bullets preseason debuts.

Adelaide and Brisbane will clash in another preseason game on Sunday at 2:00pm AEDT at Titanium Security Arena. The game will be streamed live and free on NBL TV and the Hungry Jack’s NBL Twitter, Facebook, Twitch and YouTube channels.

Henry was pleased with how the 36ers played on defence and believes the offence looked good when the ball was being passed multiple times.

“Without watching the tape, I thought the defence showed some pretty good things at times,” he said.

“There were some areas we need to clean up and we talked about that at half time and the communication needs to be a little bit better.

“There were some moments offensively where we got the ball through hands and that’s a key. Getting easy shots after two or three passes is a huge part of our offence.”

Drmic said it felt “amazing” to be back on the court in front of fans but acknowledged the Bullets have areas to improve on before Sunday’s game.

“I think in the second half we kind of fell apart on the defensive end and then you throw in the 25 turnovers…we will clean that up and keep working at it,” Drmic said.