Adelaide 36ers will face off against Sydney Kings in the NBL Championship Series after Bryce Cotton and DJ Vasiljevic starred in a dominant win against South East Melbourne Phoenix in Tuesday night’s pulsating do-or-die final.
After a dramatic season, filled with twists and turns for both teams, it all came down to Game 3 of the semi-final series at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
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The surging Sixers led by 19 points heading into the final term, with another heaving sellout crowd in full voice, and went on to seal a memorable 108-96 win despite a few nervous moments late.
Cotton had 23 points in the first half and finished with a game-high 38, while Vasiljevic was superb with 27 points and Nick Rakocevic finished with a double-double (14 points and 12 rebounds).
With Phoenix star Nathan Sobey (17 points) unable to have his usual influence, former 36er Ian Clark was outstanding off the bench with 32 points, but he had little help at the offensive end.
The Championship Series gets underway with Game 1 at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday night.
NOT THIS TIME!
The Sixers led Game 2 of the playoff series in Melbourne by as much as 18 points before succumbing to a second-half rally that ended in a nine-point loss to Josh King’s resurgent team.
This time the 36ers led by as much as 20 points before Phoenix slashed the margin to eight points with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.
But a technical foul on John Brown III when he ran over the top of Vasiljevic allowed the home side to regroup and go on a 12-2 run.
When Cotton drained his seventh triple as time expired to send his 83-64 the crowd reached a new level of fever pitch.
SOUNDS OF SOBEY
Sobey lifted his team up on his shoulders with 41 points in Game 2 and he was targeted from the outset by the home fans.
The loudest sounds in the opening minutes were deafening boos whenever he had the ball in hand and even louder cheers when he did something wrong.
Whether it was the pressure of the occasion or the hostile reception, Sobey struggled in the first quarter, shooting 1-from-6 from the floor for two points.
Sobey missed both his three-point shots in the first quarter, but he wasn’t struggling on his own.
The Sixers missed three triple attempts in a row at one stage, including back-to-back heaves from Cotton, but neither side had the radar working from long range early.
The Sixers were 2-from-8 from outside the arc to the Phoenix 1-from-9 in the first quarter, but the home side was far better overall from the floor shooting at 63 per cent to 35, Rakocevic and Cotton with a team-high seven points to propel their team to a 28-17 lead at the first break.
TECHNICAL TROUBLE
The on-song Sixers led by as much as 20 points in a second quarter punctuated by technical fouls to both sides.
Cotton slammed the ball in frustration when a fired-up coach Mike Wells was whistled for a technical with his side leading 49-32.
Ian Clark drained the resulting free throw and took his tally to a team-high 17 points off the bench before he hit his own tech trouble.
Whistled for a foul against Cotton, Clark clapped furiously in the official’s face and got whistled once more forcing him to the bench with his third foul.
The visitors’ struggles continued from three-point land where they were 1-from-14 before Clark drained his long-range attempt midway through the second term.
Adelaide shot 7-from-14 from outside the arc in the first half, but was also able to dominate on the boards, Matt Kenyon pulling down a game-high six rebounds in a lopsided 27-9 count at the main break with the Sixers up 59-45.
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