Sixers to move on from 'painful' loss

Finishing plays when it matters most will be the main Adelaide 36ers takeaway from a heartbreaking loss to Tasmania with coach Mike Wells quickly turning his attention to the Illawarra Hawks.

The 36ers arrived in Hobart on Friday night full of confidence after emphatic wins over the Sydney Kings and Melbourne United. Even after a rough first quarter, they took control from midway through the second against the JackJumpers.

The Sixers closed the first half on a 26-7 scoring run including the last eight points which all came at the foul line. That advantage grew to 14 in the third quarter and even still with just over a minute to play they were up seven.

That's where the frustrations crept in for Wells, with the Sixers unable to finish at the basket up one end, then allowing the JackJumpers to force overtime thanks to a Majok Deng game tying three.

Then in overtime Adelaide were up one with 4.4 seconds left but they couldn’t complete a defensive possession by grabbing the rebound.

The possession arrow was with the JackJumpers and then once more, Milton Doyle grabbed two offensive rebounds and eventually scored the winning bucket to give Adelaide a tough loss to stomach.

There were plenty of things the Sixers did right but ultimately it matters little when you lose to slip to a 9-12 record and further behind the top six.

"I think we have three of the best bigs in the league but they kinda took the size out of the game and it is played differently these days," Wells said.

"The three-point line is a difference maker and we were 9/30 and they were 14/37, and we're even across the board in a lot of the other things.

"Those 17 offensive rebounds, 10 of those were in the second half and two of them in that last possession in overtime. You have to close possessions and it's always going to come down to defence.

"You'll always make or miss shots, and unfortunately this is a painful one and all we can do is learn from it in the moment really quickly because we've got a quick turnaround to get home for a really big game against Illawarra."

Kendric Davis once again had a monster game for Adelaide with the JackJumpers sorely missing their starting point guard Sean Macdonald who would have had the task of guarding him.

Davis delivered a career-best 39 points, seven assists and five rebounds on 13/21 shooting from the field, 5/10 from three and 8/10 from the foul line to continue to ensure he's hot on the heels of Bryce Cotton in the MVP race.

What matters most to Wells is if the team won or lost, though, and they couldn’t complete the job.

"He's a shot maker, he's a warrior, he loves to compete and he loves the game of basketball," Wells said.

"He's a handful and he's hard to guard, and they start putting guys around him to try to put him in a crowd but he finds a way at times. We just have to keep complementing him and spacing the floor.

"We have a bunch of different weapons offensively with how the game rhythm goes, and obviously KD had his finger prints all over this one. But we needed to make a defensive play for the win."

The Sixers will need to move on quickly to prepare to host the league-leading Hawks on Monday night.

The 36ers have already beaten Illawarra twice this season and now after Friday night's loss, it's a game that takes on extra significance. Wells will be hoping they can make it eight wins from the 12th game at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre so far in NBL25.

"The quick turnaround I hope is a really big positive for us. We have a bunch of games coming here quickly and they're all important and should have our full attention," Wells said.

"You sort of have to refocus and this one hurts in the moment, but we'll get back home and look at some of those things, and do our prep and move forward to try and get ready to play a really good Illawarra team at home that we have had some success against.

"We know that we will get their full effort but we'll try to use our home crowd and try to take care of home court advantage to get that win, and then we'll worry about the next one."