“Comfort, leadership, experience”: why Wells brought Vasiljevic into the starting five

Adelaide 36ers Head Coach Mike Wells has praised co-captain DJ Vasiljevic’s leadership and input in Tuesday night’s decisive third Semi-Final win over South East Melbourne.

The 108-96 win at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, in front of yet another sell-out crowd, saw Vasiljevic returned to the starting line-up.

And the experienced two-time NBL Champion delivered with 27 points, two rebounds and four assists, as well as locking down defensively on Phoenix talisman Nathan Sobey.

Vasiljevic combined with league MVP Bryce Cotton for 65 points (Cotton had 38 to go with six rebounds and seven assists) to guide the Sixers into their first Championship Series since 2018.

Wells said he had treated the games throughout NBL26 against the Phoenix as a seven-game series, and was proud of the group’s resolve to get over the line in the deciding contest.

“I couldn't be more proud of the way we won game seven,” Wells said after the game.

“The way we won game seven was a 17-point first quarter (defensively), and we came out and we took care of the third quarter, and we took care of the boards.

“We won the offensive rebounds, and we crushed them on the boards totally.

“I've been talking about the math formula - that there was a sweet spot for us to win, and we knew that their record was like 17 and one when they scored more than 100 points.

“You've got to keep them under 100 and we haven't been able to do that in a few games because they're so talented and they're so good and they're just relentless about coming downhill and shooting threes.

“(But) our guys showed real toughness and grit that entire game to get back, try to contest, make things tough, and to rebound, and then to be able to run back out.”

Wells may have surprised some with his move of Vasiljevic into the starting line-up at the expense of John Jenkins, but his co-captain had immediate impact, hitting a big three and being involved in some smart plays.

Sobey was being booed at every involvement by the very crowd that cheered him on when he spent four seasons in Adelaide and he struggled to get going early. The 36ers didn’t have any such troubles with Nick Rakocevic and Cotton switched on early, and Matt Kenyon providing five first quarter rebounds as the home side rushed to an 11-point lead.

With Sobey hitting foul trouble, he was benched, and that allowed Cotton to go to work. He had 16 second-quarter points and Vasiljevic added nine as the lead stretched to 20.

The Phoenix would fight back through Ian Clarke who raced to 17 points before receiving a foul and then a tech foul in quick succession, heading to the bench to ease his frustrations.

It was 59-45 at half time but within six minutes the Phoenix were back to within eight points.

Then the visitors’ trademark physicality came back to bite them with John Brown III finding himself in foul trouble for back to back fouls, and Angus Glover and Jordan Hunter also picking up fouls as the momentum swung back in Adelaide’s favour.

When Cotton hit a three on the three-quarter-time buzzer, the Sixers were suddenly in front by 19.

The Phoenix’s discipline continued to hurt them with Wes Iwundu fouling out and then copping a tech foul for his reaction to the officials, and still Clark tried to keep his side in the game.

While he would finish with 28 points, it would be in vain as the Sixers came home comfortably to win by 12 points, on an emotional night in which they honoured Hall of Famer Ken Cole two days after the 1986 Championship winning coach's passing.

Wells was full of praise for Vasiljevic, saying he had opted to go with a line-up that was experienced both in big NBL finals and in playing together.

“I wanted DJ in there,” Wells explained.

“I wanted his comfort, I wanted his familiarity, and everything that he's done, him and Ice (Humphries) have been here the longest.

“I thought that was incredibly important in this type of game to go with that kind of experience.

“He's been an unwavering leader for us the entire year, and he was my lone captain last year, and I really thought it was important when we had to change the culture and change the group of guys that I needed a little bit more, because, you know, Ice had been here that long, too.

“They'd been to roommates and teammates (for many years) and all these things, and then, you know, you throw Bryce in and it's got the most experience probably in the league, and most games played and all these MVPs and championships.

“I just felt like I needed those three things.”

The Sixers will now head to Sydney to face the Kings in game one of the Championship Series on Saturday night.