Adelaide eyes statement win in Game 3

Up 1-0 and leading by 13 at half-time in Game 2 of their Playoff Series with South East Melbourne, the Adelaide 36ers were well on their way to their first Championship Series in NBL18.

But the Phoenix’s All-NBL Player Nathan Sobey had other ideas, scoring 17 of his career-high 41 in the third quarter alone.

That scoring eruption helped the host at John Cain Arena outscore their rivals 57-35, to level the series and set up a do-or-die Game 3 in Adelaide on Tuesday night.

While reflecting on the second half, Adelaide coach Mike Wells explained his team is still confident heading into the decider.

“We did well controlling the pace in the first half, and in the third quarter, they (the Phoenix) got it on their terms, and they got going a little bit,” he said.

“You have to give them credit, they're a good team, and it's a possession game. We would have liked to re-establish ourselves as we did in the first half, but we weren't able to do that.

“We were still fighting and engaged there in the fourth quarter, and we got some stops, but ended up with too many empty possessions on offence.

“[But] we head home now, and our crowd will be a factor in Game 3, and they've supported us all year.

“Nobody believes it, but we have been a good team. I'd rather be playing this game at home.

“We protected home court [in Game 1], they protected home court, and this is why you play 33 games to get to have an elimination game on your home court.”

In terms of specifics, Wells outlined that turnovers and offensive rebounds hurt his side and will need to be addressed ahead of the Adelaide Entertainment Centre Final.

“At the end of the day, if you have 18 turnovers and give up 18 offensive rebounds [it’s going to be hard to win],” he said.

“There's a whole bunch that goes into their offensive rebounds, but a lot of it is from the amount of threes they take, and that is a strength of theirs to get second chances.

“[Despite all this] we did a lot of good things to be as close as we were in that game.”

Tuesday’s sudden death Game 3 tips off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.