Adelaide 36er Anthony Drmic says visit from sports psychologist played part in ending team’s losing streak
It was getting dire for the Adelaide 36ers after three losses in a row. Forward Anthony Drmic reveals how the team snapped its unwanted streak.
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Anthony Drmic believes the Adelaide 36ers can keep up its new lease on the NBL season, thanks in part to a visit from a sports psychologist, despite a daunting task against the competition’s pacesetter.
The Sixers snapped a three-match winless streak - which threatened to derail what looked like a promising campaign - with a tense win against fierce rivals Perth Wildcats on New Year’s Day.
It came after a sports psychologist made a scheduled visit to the club, which Drmic - who put up 18 points and six rebounds - said made a big difference for the Sixers.
“It’s something we do every year so it isn’t new,” he said.
“(But) it’s good to have the sport pysch to come in and refresh the team and make sure we are a unit and we saw that against Perth.”
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After the defeat of the reigning premiers, the Sixers now face the toughest test in the NBL - the Kings in Sydney tonight.
And with the Sixers two points off a ladder position as high as third, and conversely as low as equal second last, Drmic said it could almost be counted as a must win for Adelaide.
“It’s huge, when you look at the ladder there’s teams one win away from fourth, third all the way down to eighth,” he said.
“We drop this one we probably drop back all the way to that last spot but if we win we can climb all the way to third so it’s huge.”
But arguably there has been no better time to play the Kings this season.
They have three starting players - Kevin Lisch, Craig Moller and Did Louzada - under injury clouds and went down to the last-placed Illawarra Hawks in their last game.
However, Drmic said he didn’t buy into the hype.
“You say that (but) we played Illawarra and they had three starters out and we lost that,” he said.
“So we have to come in with the same focus and same mindset (as if the Kings had all their starters) so we can come out with a win.”
Part of this is because the Kings still have stars such as Andrew Bogut and Casper Ware.
Drmic said the Sixers would have to try and limit Ware from getting too many easy looks outside the arch, while he hoped Eric Griffin - who led the way against the Wildcats by scoring 24 points - could give Bogut some trouble.
“It’s tough he (Ware) is one of the best point guards in the league for sure, you can’t really stop him from everything,” Drmic said.
“We will be definitely looking to shut him down on the three-point line and make him drive and make those tough finishes.
“That will definitely be a good match-up hopefully Griff can go and dunk it on him, Bogut is a great player and a great rim protector so we will have to play around that.”