Bryce Cotton has carried the Adelaide 36ers to their first NBL grand final in eight years in a 108-96 victory over South East Melbourne Phoenix in the deciding Game 3 of their playoff series.
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The greatest offseason recruit in league history, Cotton poured in 38 points at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Tuesday night, giving him a 36.3 scoring average for the semi-final series which the Sixers won 2-1.
Adelaide captain Dejan Vasiljevic responded to his promotion into the starting five by scoring 27 points, including 6-of-10 three-pointers as the 36ers booked their place in the best-of-five game grand final series against Sydney, starting in the Harbour City on Saturday.
"I couldn't be more proud," 36ers coach Mike Wells said.
"We won the offensive rebounds and we crushed them on the boards totally (52-31).
"Our guys showed real toughness and grit the entire game."
Ian Clark piled up 32 points for the Phoenix, while Game 2 hero Nathan Sobey - booed mercilessly all evening - scored 17, albeit at a ragged 6-of-18 clip.
With Vasiljevic on song early and the 36ers' bench hustling with venom, the Phoenix were under the pump from the outset.
Nick Rakocevic exerted himself physically in the paint, while the unsung Matt Kenyon, implausibly, had as many rebounds (five) in 2:41 of action as SEM did in the entire opening term, at the end of which the Sixers led 28-17.
Vasiljevic started the second period by splashing back-to-back triples and when Cotton followed with one of his own, the Sixers were up 37-17.
With crowd villain Sobey off-colour, missing eight of his first nine shots, Clark carried the Phoenix in the second term, finishing the half with 17 points.
At the other end, Cotton had 23 for the 36ers, who were shooting 65 per cent, bossing the boards 27-9, and led 59-45 at halftime.
When Clark poured in eight straight points in 95 seconds to slash the gap to 68-60 in the third term, it was game on.
But Cotton had other ideas.
The six-time league MVP pushed Adelaide's advantage out to 83-64 when he buried his fourth trey on the three-quarter-time siren.
There would be no repeat of Game 2 when Sobey inspired the Phoenix to victory from 18 points down as the Sixers' dynamic duo - Cotton and Vasiljevic - continued to press home their team's advantage.
"We got out-hustled a little bit to start the game," Phoenix coach Josh King said.
"They (Adelaide) came out ready to go.
"Congrats to them - they played a heck of a game and they deserve to be in the grand final."
Australian Associated Press
