High-flying, free-falling: A tale of self-destruction

With the Adelaide 36ers season finishing in astonishing fashion on Sunday, Damon Lowery believes it was the perfect summation of their entire year.

“The word that comes to mind is front-runner ... that’s who they’ve always been,” Lowery said on NBL Overtime.

“When everything is good, they’re world beaters. But as soon as things get tight, that’s when you find out about a team’s character.”

At half-time the 36ers were in the box seat to book a place in the Playoffs, holding a 19-point lead over the Phoenix at John Cain Arena, before the team self-destructed in the second half.

“All they did was go back to who they were, so I was not surprised at all,” Lowery added.

In many ways that game was the perfect summation of their season, which saw the very best of what they were capable of and then the flip side of that, which put them in the media spotlight.

“You can’t be too upset if you’re an Adelaide fan, because this is what they dished up all season,” Pete Hooley said.

“At their very best, they’re a 20-point lead on any team. But at their very worst, it’s what they dished up after that.”

The 36ers limped into the Play-In Tournament, finishing in sixth spot after losing their last three regular season games. A strong win in Sydney gave fans hope that this team was capable of a deep finals run before their poor showing in Melbourne two days later.

“It wasn’t just missed shots and bad passes; it was a lack of effort as well,” Lowery said about the way it ended.

“They stand on individual brilliance and that only gets you so far.”