Adelaide 36ers won’t back down to Perth Wildcats in NBL semi

Adelaide coach Joey Wright warned his 36ers won’t back down against Perth Wildcats.

Adelaide 36ers coach Joey Wright. Picture: Matt Turner

Coach Joey Wright said his Adelaide 36ers won’t start any rough stuff when their fierce rivalry with the Perth Wildcats continues in tonight’s NBL semi-final.

But Wright said his players are willing to retaliate should the series-opener in Adelaide become yet another heated affair between the arch foes.

“We’re just not the type of guys that are overly aggressive, mentality-wise,” Wright said yesterday. “We’re not going to throw any punches or elbows or anything like that.

“But if someone throws an elbow or a punch ... then we’ll throw ’em back. We’re not backing down by any means.”

Adelaide and Perth meet in the opening of the best-of-three semi-final series with a long history of animosity. The latest chapter unfolded a month ago, when their clash in Perth ended in a melee, resulting in suspensions for Adelaide captain Brendan Teys and Wildcat Dexter Kernich-Drew.

But Wright said his players’ focus would be on ending Perth’s bid for a third consecutive championship. The 36ers stumbled at the semi-final stage last season when beaten in three games by Illawarra, but Wright said times had changed.

“Last year at this time we had five guys with colds, we had three guys with pretty major injuries and we kind of limped into the finals,” he said. “This year we’re a stronger team throughout. I think we have more insurance than we had last year.”

The Breakers have anointed themselves favourites for their three-match series against top dogs Melbourne United .

Rather than remain guarded, Breakers boss Paul Henare came out swinging yesterday, saying he expected his team to triumph.

“We favour ourselves and don’t really care what anyone else thinks,” Henare said. “In a three-game series, you can’t give away too many opportunities, so we will do all we can to close it out at home in two.”

AAP