Bryce's greatest challenge yet?

Six-time MVP Bryce Cotton has played in countless big games during his illustrious hoops career, but Friday’s Game 2 between Adelaide and Sydney looms more important than most.

Down 1-0 in the Hungry Jack’s NBL26 Championship Series, Friday’s fixture is as close to a must-win for Mike Wells’ side as it can be, with no team in the competition’s history coming back from 2-0 down to win the title.

The catalyst for that has to be Cotton, who was held to just 4/12 and just 10 points in Saturday’s historic 44-point defeat.

“Bryce Cotton is meeting one of the greatest tests of his professional career,” 1990 NBL MVP Derek Rucker said on Monday’s episode of the Moments That Mattered, presented by Mitsubishi Motors.

“How can he get himself going? Because they can't win this without Bryce being effective.

“It's not a one-man show, but they can't win without Bryce getting really good basketball productivity on the offensive end and bringing in others to their level, so that as a team, they can contribute.

“First of all, they need some help in terms of offensive structure. I didn't like their plan of attack on the offensive end on Saturday night. I thought it was too one-out and too much of the ball starting with Bryce in possessions.

“Flynn Cameron, or when he gets in the game, Isaac White has to handle the ball more. Zylan Cheatham [can even more] to the point forward position a little bit more, just take some of the pressure off of Bryce. Move him around, get the ball to him later in possessions, and then he can make plays.”

Rucker doubled down and backed the Sixers, who are 14-6 at home this season, and three-time champion Cotton to tie the series up.

“The nature of how the NBL has gone historically, sweeps are extremely rare,” Rucker said.

“I know the 36ers have a lot of pride. They play in one of the best venues that provides probably the greatest home court advantage in the league now. I think they'll make an adjustment in Game 2.

“We will not see a big-time margin as we saw in Sydney, and full credit to the Kings for what they were able to do in Game 1, ga historic victory.

“[That defence] has become the trademark of the Sydney Kings’ success this season, coming out and dictating the terms of the basketball game via their defensive intensity and execution.

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“The dominance the other night and the ability they showed to disrupt Bryce's comfort zone offensively was really fascinating to watch.

“This season against the Kings, Bryce has only averaged 16 a game, which is significantly lower than the 25 he scored per game throughout the regular season.

“But look, now Bryce has to figure out how he can be effective against this swarm of diverse defenders that Brian Gorgian continues to throw at him to shut him down.”

Game 2 of the series tips off at 7.30pm AEDT on Friday night, live on ESPN and 10 Drama (Adelaide and Sydney).