Bryce’s “short memory” in bounce back performance

Bryce Cotton was back at his best in the Adelaide 36ers’ win over South East Melbourne and the NBL champion has credited a “short memory” with helping him bounce back from a disappointing showing five days earlier.

Cotton was uncharacteristically quiet in his side’s loss to Sydney on Saturday, held to just seven points from only ten field goal attempts.

He had surpassed that total and added some in the first quarter of Thursday night’s victory over the Phoenix with 15 first quarter points on his way to 28 by the end of the game.

The 33-year-old added four rebounds, six assists and three steals to cap an impressive showing.

Yet he was typically nonchalant when asked how he put the Sydney performance behind him.

“I've been playing this game for a long time, so I have short memory, whether I have a great game or a game like the one I have versus Sydney,” Cotton said after the game.

“I just take what the defence gives me and you know, whatever happens happens.”

Cotton said playing faster helped him get into the game, but also helped him bring others into it.

“Obviously, we know we have so many different weapons and it puts us in the best position to utilise it where everybody may have spurts with their impact in the game when we're playing faster," he said.

“I have to be aggressive and you know, looking back at the game from Sydney, me and Mike had spoken (about) if I wait to take a “good shot”, and only those, I may never shoot the bar just because they had me guarded.

“So just trying to put more pressure on the defence but at the same token, you know, you don't want to be a black hole either, so I want to be sure I did a good job distributing once I had a few shots, gravitated some more attention, so we could utilise those weapons we talked about.”

One of the highlights of Thursday night’s game was the way Cotton linked up with big man Isaac Humphries, who himself finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

It’s been a combination worth watching all season so far, and Cotton said it was a big reason he chose to sign with Adelaide in the off-season.

“He was probably one of the first people I thought of when I signed here, just because he's always usually played good against me when I was in Perth, so I was aware of what he can do,” Cotton said.

“And historically, I play well when I had a big on my side so I was super excited.  

“Hopefully we continue to gel throughout the season.”

Cotton and his side will be back on the court in Cairns on Saturday evening when they face the Taipans from 5:00pm ACDT / 4:30pm AEST.