Tough, relentless, resilient: Why the 36ers deserve serious credit

The Adelaide 36ers were one Bryce Cotton lay-up or one defensive rebound away from potentially being NBL26 champions in a finish few saw coming.

“We have to give a whole lot of credit to Adelaide,” Pete Hooley said on NBL Overtime.

“I had my doubts big time and those doubts were based on what we saw towards the end of the season to when they lost the Ignite Cup Final.”

After sitting top of the ladder for most of the season, the 36ers dropped six of their last 10 regular season games and fell short in the Ignite Cup against New Zealand.

“We were thinking, where’s their identity gone? Where’s this Adelaide team gone that had them top of the ladder and were the team to beat?,” Hooley added.

“They kind of lost their way outside of Bryce. We saw Zylan Cheatham go up and down, (DJ) Vasiljevic the same, (JOHN) Jenkins started well and then petered out. Rakocevic was probably like Bryce, one of the more consistent guys and (Isaac) Humphries' form dipped.

“And we were all thinking they would struggle, but they just found a way.”

Adelaide answered those questions quickly in their Playoff Series against the South East Melbourne Phoenix, comfortably taking care of a team many tipped to advance.

Damon Lowery even predicted their Championship hopes would be over in three games, pointing to their late-season struggles before Game 1.

“That is a resilient group, because to get smacked in the mouth by 44 in Game 1 and then literally have moments in both home games where Sydney get out by double-digits and they didn’t fold,” Hooley said.

“Props to them. I give them a whole lot of credit.

“It starts with Bryce Cotton, he just gets beat up and he gets knocked down and he just brushes it off and gets back up each time.”

Speaking after Game 5, 36ers coach Mike Wells said he couldn't be more pleased with his group's resilience.

“I couldn't be more proud of the group and the way we competed,” Wells said in his post-game press conference.

“All year … the amount of times that we were down at least eight points in second halves and came back and won was something like 13.

“(I) just couldn't be prouder of Bryce, his effort, DJ's (Vasiljevic) willingness to battle and try to guard KD (Kendric Davis) out there, because of Flynn's (Cameron) foul trouble.

“Isaac Humphries just had a really, really solid year and he was so good today. And down the line, John (Jenkins) played well and what Zylan (Cheatham) does for our group … I could keep going.”

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