How to watch & talking points: Adelaide v SE Melbourne (Playoffs, Game 1)

Adelaide 36ers v South East Melbourne Phoenix
Tuesday, March 10, 7.30pm AEDT
Adelaide Entertainment Centre

How to watch‍

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Talking points

Control of the glass
‍In their four games this season, whoever won the rebounding count, won the game. The Adelaide 36ers won the first two battles convincingly and had a 10 rebound advantage in each of those contests. However, the Phoenix flipped that script in the last two games and dominated both outings and controlled the glass.‍

X-factors
‍Now that it's the business end of the season and it comes down to a series win, the x-factors for each team have never been more important. For the 36ers, it's been Nick Rakocevic's energy and effort off the bench that has sparked some big moments for his team. yet on the other side it's been either Angus Glover or Ian Clark, who are both capable of having big nights on the offensive end.

What they're saying

36ers big man Nick Rakocevic on playing a home final in front of the Adelaide fans:
“It [playing a home Finals game] is a huge deal.

“It's a huge deal for the staff, for the management, the coaches and for the Adelaide fans and community [at large].

“Them supporting us this whole season means a lot to us, and we don't take it for granted.

“Having that home court advantage absolutely helps. It's a difference-maker.

“Just to be a part of this [with everyone], so far has been incredible. It's a blessing, but you know we're not finished.

“[We’ve been] through all the ups and downs of the season together and owe it to one another to try and get our hands on that hardware.

“Everyone wants to be a part of wining team, and to do it with a group like this, would be a truly amazing experience, because there are only so many times in your life where you can say you were part of a championship-winning team that did something special.

“No one person is bigger than the team, and achieving something like that gives everyone a connection for life, and no one can take that away from you.”

Phoenix coach Josh King on his team's mentality heading into Tuesday night:
"We've talked about it all year long and we've gotten away from it a little bit from time to time, but we want to win the game on the defensive side of things and we want to wear teams down.

"I thought for the most part we did that tonight and after the first quarter we pretty much had the game in control for the last three quarters. It was one of our better defensive efforts for the season.

"We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight from three and everybody asks what do you do when you don't shoot well. You've got to play defence and hopefully that's a message to our team that you can still win the game if you don't shoot it well from deep if you play defence.

"It's something that the guys did a really good job of trying to recalibrate in the break and it's something we really talked about in our practices. Credit to the players for focusing on that side of the ball.

"Hopefully it's something we can continue to do moving forward because we're going to need to in this next series."

Missing in action

Adelaide
Ben Griscti - Neck - TBC

South East Melbourne
No injuries listed.

>> View full injury list

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