The Adelaide 36ers will play Melbourne United in the Hungry Jack’s NBL Grand Final after a thrilling one point win over the Perth Wildcats at Perth Arena.
Adelaide trailed all night and with 54 seconds to go were still five points behind Perth with their semi final series seemingly headed for a decider on Sunday.
But two big plays by Nathan Sobey and Josh Childress in the final moments helped the Sixers grab the lead for the first time and they hung on for a 89-88 win to set up a mouthwatering clash with Melbourne in a best of five Grand Final Series.
It was a disappointing end to the season for the reigning champions who made all the running early in the game as MVP Bryce Cotton slammed on 19 points in the opening quarter to open up a 13 point lead for the home side.
From there Adelaide fought its way back into the game as Childress (25 points) and Mitch Creek (22) gradually clawed back Perth’s lead in front of a hostile crowd of 12,055 Wildcats fans.
Game one of the Grand Final Series will be played at Hisense Arena in Melbourne next Friday March 16 at 7.30pm AEDT.
Game two will be played at Titanium Security Arena on Sunday March 18 at 3pm AEDT with game three at Hisense Arena on Friday March 23 at 7.30pm AEDT. Games four and five (if required) will be announced at a later date.
Tickets for all games can be purchased at Ticketek.
Perth Wildcats Press Conference Vision (Trevor Gleeson and Damian Martin)
Adelaide 36ers Press Conference Vision (Joey Wright and Josh Childress)
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