Wells: 'Pressure will reveal who we are'

First vs second. Packed house. Playoffs energy in October. The chance to make an early statement.

These are the games players and coaches alike spend months working for, and for the Adelaide 36ers, the perfect early test of where they’re at.

“I want to see us play under pressure. I want to see us play the best teams. I want to see us play on the road in a hostile environment, because they’re all firsts for us,” 36ers coach Mike Wells said.

“For us in our journey, game seven, it’s a really good opportunity to go down there and play a really good team and see where we’re at.”

Of course, much of the focus when Adelaide heads to Melbourne will be on the battle between superstars Bryce Cotton and Chris Goulding.

Coming off an incredible 53-point haul against Cairns, Cotton is in rare form. But Wells says individual accolades matter little to the five-time MVP in the search for team success.

“He’s (Cotton) all about the win. That’s all he wanted (against Cairns). That’s what he said, ‘I was willing to do whatever to get the win’, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Wells continued.

“He wants to be defined by winning. The rest of us are beneficiaries of that.”

Wells said he had great respect for the program Dean Vickerman and Melbourne United have built.

“I think as our organisation is resetting and growing, I think Melbourne United’s been the standard,” he said.

“They have a long history of being a very good club.

“Talent … lots of talent. They do a great job recruiting players, they’ve got a great system. Dean does an outstanding job. They’re organised, they’re detailed and they’re disciplined.”

Sunday firms as another chance to grow for a new-look Adelaide roster, which currently sits at 5-1 on the season.

“We’re still such a work in progress. I’m still figuring out our players,” Wells added.

“I love our group. I love where we are at. I love some of the things we’ve accomplished.

“As hard as the Sydney game was, it probably helped us against South East (Melbourne) and against Cairns. Maybe we win those two games because it was a little tougher for us against Sydney.

“As long as the journey is still moving ahead and we’re still getting better and I’m still figuring out those combinations, we’re in the right place and be peaking at the right time, which is at the end of the year.”

Adelaide travels to Melbourne to take on United, live on ESPN and 10 this Sunday from 2.30pm AEDT.