Trentyn Flowers’ fourth quarter explosion against the Illawarra Hawks will likely go down as one of the most impressive single-term shooting streaks this season, but the 18-year-old is still facing a heavy minutes battle in the face of a loaded Adelaide guard rotation. 

Flowers has been utilised exclusively from the bench for CJ Bruton’s side, and his eight points in the defeat to Tasmania in Round 7 is his highest tally since those 23 points – 18 of which came in the fourth quarter – against Illawarra.

He played almost 14 minutes against the JackJumpers, and had a 90-second run where he registered four points, a steal and a rebound at the end of the first quarter, and he says he’ll continue to play his role in the attempt to earn more burn on court.

“Just being a basketball player you want more minutes, just wanting to benefit your team at all times,” Flowers said.

“Whether I do or don’t, you’re not going to see anything change on my part. I’m still going to work hard and I’m going to show up every day and do my job. If I do, it’s amazing, if not it is what it is.

“It hasn’t really been frustrating, if anything it’s been a positive for me to know that whenever my number is called I’m able to be ready, and just being able to do what I do in the minutes I have.

“Any time I get out there is a great feeling and I feel like I’m an impact player, so whenever I’m on the floor I’m going to make things happen.

“I wouldn’t say I’m underperforming or overperforming, it’s been consistent for me and I’m steadily going up. For me it’s just maintaining what I’m doing and finding a way to get more minutes.”

After Flowers helped power Adelaide to a three-game winning streak earlier in the season, the pressure is slowly starting to mount on the 36ers following a pair of double-digit losses to Perth and Tasmania in their last two games.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Into the game, into the buckets. Trentyn Flowers goes ?bang?<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/Spm8Vsd7a6">pic.twitter.com/Spm8Vsd7a6</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1720736843480621232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Trey Kell III was a late omission from the clash with Tasmania due to a knee complaint, while import forward Jacob Wiley has recently been struggling with a reported bout of gastro.

Those key absences have led to CJ Bruton relying more on his depth players in these past two games, and Flowers says both he and his teammates need to improve at staying ready and bringing the energy when they get their chance.

“One thing I would say is everybody needs to be ready. If your number’s called you need to be ready to step up and play your role and we just need to go out there and have fun,” he said.

“I thought we came out pretty well in the first and second quarter but for us it’s constantly keeping energy throughout the game, so we’re just figuring out how to do that right now.

“We’re trying to stay together collectively as a group.

“We don’t need to put any pressure on ourselves, we just need to get back to winning and do what we do.”

Adelaide will face a South East Melbourne side reeling from a Round 7 Throwdown loss on Friday night at 7:30pm AEDT.