No panic: Wells backs strong response

It counts the same whether it’s a record NBL Championship Series margin or a one-point loss, and Adelaide 36ers coach Mike Wells isn’t overreacting to Game 1. Instead, he’s grateful for the six-day break ahead of Friday’s home Game 2.

The bad news for Wells and the 36ers is that their 44-point Game 1 loss to the Sydney Kings on Saturday night was the largest in Championship Series history.

The good news is it’s a best-of-five series, with two of the remaining four games set to be played at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. That perspective shaped Wells’ response post-game.

From Adelaide’s standpoint, there was plenty to fix. The 36ers managed just 68 points on 35 per cent shooting, went to the foul line only six times, and struggled to generate consistent offence.

Isaac White top-scored with 11 points, while Flynn Cameron, DJ Vasiljevic and Zylan Cheatham combined for just 12 points on 5-of-27 shooting.

Wells acknowledged Sydney’s dominance, but made it clear there was no sense of panic.

“They got to the things that they wanted to get to tonight and you’ve got to give them credit,” Wells said.

“That’s the way it went tonight, but it’s only one game and there’s no panic in me.”

“We have to go back, regenerate our group and get a little more organised,” Wells said.

“We’ve played these guys pretty well through the regular season and had a couple of tough endings in losses.

“It’s probably not a bad thing for us right now to have six days. I’ll take all the time to reset, figure a few things out for our group and put some things in place for Friday night.”

The 36ers have thrived on home support all season, regularly packing out the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

That advantage was on full display in Game 3 of the Playoffs, when Adelaide rode the energy of a sold-out crowd to a win over the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Wells is backing that atmosphere to play a major role again, with another vocal crowd expected as the 36ers look to level the Championship Series.

“We have to bank on the positives and get back to the rhythm we had in the last series,” he said.

“We lost a game, now we go home and we have to protect home court.”

"It's the playoffs, it's a series and it's just one game and now we have to move on and our goals are to go home and take care of our home court after they held home court in Game 1.

"We have to go home and take care of Game 2 and we know what the atmosphere is and what it's going to be like at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre after how unbelievable they were in the last series.

"We'll need all of that energy plus and we just need to win a home game and then it's 1-1, that's what you have to do in a playoff series."