Wells: Phoenix win was "appropriate response"

Adelaide 36ers Head Coach Mike Wells has described his side’s 17-point win over South East Melbourne on Thursday night as “the appropriate response” to the weekend’s defeat to Sydney.

The Sixers took the lead from a Bryce Cotton three pointer inside the first 15 seconds and never looked back, finishing 88-71 winners at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

As he usually is, Cotton was the headline act, nailing 15 first quarter points before finishing with 28 (four rebounds, six assists), bouncing back from a disappointing seven point effort on Saturday night against Sydney.

Coach Wells was proud of the way his side came out against the Phoenix and stamped its authority on the contest from the start.

“I thought that the whole week of prep, we had a very professional approach,” Wells said.

“The guys were open. We tried to move the needle a little bit forward every day and I thought that was the appropriate response.

“I think we have a really good group that's really trying to figure it out. It's a prideful group, they're communicating, they're connecting, and a lot of different ways, and, you know, we're trying to get better on every possession.”

The Phoenix had won the last three meetings between the sides, including in last season’s finals and they had extra reason to get up for Thursday night’s game with Nathan Sobey – who played 111 games for the 36ers –back in Adelaide and playing his 300^th NBL game.

But Cotton spoiled the party, aided by some strong defensive efforts that pleased Wells.

After 15 in the first quarter, Cotton’s scoring slowed but he still had 23 points to half time and the Sixers’ advantage stretched to the same total at the main break – the club’s biggest half time lead at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in seven years.

And with Cotton scoring, twin towers Isaac Humphries and Nick Rakocevic performed the perfect tag team under the rim with 17 rebounds between them and Zylan Cheatham chipping in with six of his own at half time.

The third period was all about Humphries. He was a constant threat as he moved up to 19 points and the Sixers headed into the final period with a 21-point lead.

And while the Phoenix could claim to have won the second half, Wells was glowing in his endorsement of his side’s defensive effort all night.

“I thought defensively is where it was really important and where we look like we made some strides,” Wells said.

“It wasn't perfect at times, you know, we had a lot of turnovers, but off the 19 turnovers, they only had nine points off turnovers. That is a really, really important stat.

“That's hard to do with that many turnovers, but a commitment to get back and still defend after the turnovers a big, big step, and then I think the rebounding and things like that.

"Obviously, we had three bigs, with double digit rebounds, 55 rebounds and a 40 minute game is really hard to do.”

Wells said there was a lot to learn from the disappointing showing against the Kings just five days earlier, but playing in their third game in seven days, the Sixers could not have been more tuned in to responding.

“We had a really long film session, probably too long,” he smiled.

“I did my best version of Quin Snyder there but it was sort of like one of those days where I knew we couldn't do a lot on the practice floor so I decided that we would do it with their minds, right?

“There's a whole bunch of different ways that we can learn and teach. And so we just did it through video.

“I hate to talk so much, but we're trying to get everybody to kind of like think and talk and act Sixer, right? and, you know, like getting everybody on the same page.

“But, you know, I love where we're at. I don't think we've played great yet and we're sitting here at 4-1.

“I think there's a lot of positives, and yet, you know, there's a lot of things that we can get better at.”

A lot of that will come as the rebuilt squad continues to connect on and off the court.

“I love them at the practice court and I like what they're like in the locker room and even at lunch the other day, there was 45 minutes when they were at lunch the other day before anybody broke out of cell phone,” Wells laughed.

“That was a miracle that they were sitting there and talking and connecting without a cell phone, like, I haven't seen that in a while. And so that just lets me know what kind of group we have.”

The Sixers will fly to Cairns on Friday to face the Taipans, with less than 48 hours between games.