'It’s a brand new season': 36ers eye Playoff reset

The Adelaide 36ers will end their off-court hiatus on Tuesday night when they host South East Melbourne in Game 1 of their Hungry Jack's NBL26 Playoff Series.

It will end a 16-day break for the 36ers since they last hit the hardwood in their Ignite Cup Final with New Zealand.

According to newly crowned MVP Bryce Cotton, the FIBA Break came at the right time for his Sixers, who have lost seven of their past 11 games.

“Going into a FIBA Break, teams carry and bring in new momentum each time,” Cotton said at the NBL26 Finals Launch.

“Look at Melbourne United, they started off very hot, 9-0. And then when they came out of the FIBA Break, they hit kind of a low.

“We were rolling for a large portion of the season and then we started to hit our lull towards the end.

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“So a positive perspective for us that which me and Mike [Wells] have talked about is regardless of how well or how bad we were playing towards the end of this season, we had this FIBA Break coming up.

“It's going to be a brand new season, and everybody's momentum is washed away, so it's like a fresh start, and that's the approach that we're taking.”

Coach Mike Wells echoed the sentiments of his six-time MVP, saying the time together in Adelaide will do wonders for the team from the City of Churches.

“Just from a team standpoint, it [FIBA Break] is a chance for us to unpack our bags,” Wells said.

“I really feel like we'd been on the road since we went to HoopsFest out in Perth. We had a lot of road games on the back end of our season.

“We haven't had two home games in a row since we went to HoopsFest, so I think there's a point for us to get home and unpack and reset.

“[Last] FIBA Break, we came out ready and we had a really good run after that.

“We'll try to duplicate some of the things that we did in that window from a team concept and see if we can get this thing right, as we get ready for Finals game at home.”

The 36ers host the Phoenix from 7.30pm AEDT on Tuesday night, live on ESPN.