Mike Wells admits no adjustments after Bryce Cotton shut down in Kings\u2019 Game 1 Grand Final rout<\/p>\n
Adelaide head coach Mike Wells<\/a> admitted he doesn\u2019t have any adjustments to try to get six-time MVP Bryce Cotton<\/a> better looks after the Sydney Kings<\/a> dismantled the 36ers<\/a> 112-68 in Game 1<\/a> of the NBL26 Grand Final Series in Sydney.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, well obviously I don’t have any adjustments because it looked like the regular season, so I’m not really going to comment on that one,\u201d Wells said.<\/p>\n Cotton, 33, was held to just 10 points on 4-for-12 from the field and 1-for-5 from three in 32 minutes.<\/p>\n RELATED: 5 things were learned from the 44pt blowout in Game 1<\/a><\/p>\n The Kings set the tone early, sending NBA champion Matthew Dellavedova<\/a> at Cotton from the opening tip. On one of the first plays, Cotton was on his back holding his face after getting hit by Dellavedova on a back-cut.<\/p>\n \u201cGive Sydney a lot of credit, right?\u201d Wells said. <\/p>\n \u201cI think they beat us in most of those hustle categories and most of the statistics that kind of give you earmarks on how you’re going to come out of the game. So give them credit \u2014 they’re a really good team.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought they got us early, and then they got us often. They did a lot of really good things. They made things hard on us, and they broke a lot of the rhythm on both sides of the ball. They had a bunch of guys that made some plays, and they were just the more aggressive team.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s what happens when you get in foul trouble \u2014 it really kind of backed us out of any sort of rhythm because we just never got any.\u201d<\/p>\n Wells deflected a follow-up question about how the Kings went about attacking Cotton and shutting down the 36ers’ offence.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think they’re a really good team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey’ve got a lot of length and a lot of size across the line at a lot of different positions. Probably the only one guy that doesn’t have that length and athleticism is KD (Kendric Davis).<\/p>\n \u201cThe rest of them have a certain amount of physical characteristics, and they’re able to close off some passing lanes. They do a good job of being in gaps and stuff like that.<\/p>\n \u201cBut yeah, they had the upper hand. That’s where it goes in Game 1. <\/p>\n \u201cIt’s a playoff series \u2014 they got one game. They held home court. We’ve got to go home, try to figure it out in a week, and take care of our home court on Friday night.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n NBL commentator Damon Lowery came under significant criticism<\/a> earlier in the season for declaring in October 2025 that the 36ers didn\u2019t have enough firepower to win a championship in 2025-26.<\/p>\n “If Adelaide is going to be serious about winning the whole thing, I think they don’t have enough offensive firepower,” Lowery said<\/a>.<\/p>\n “When you’ve got to go and beat Melbourne United, and I don’t know how anybody is going to do that without full guns blasting, so I think they need someone else.”<\/p>\n Cotton responded: “He hasn’t done enough as a basketball player for me to respect his opinion. I usually don’t listen to anybody, but especially not him.”<\/p>\n But …. Wells admitted after the 44-point blow-out, \u201cIt would be sort of by committee for us, like it’s been all year. We have a few guys that handle the ball. <\/p>\n \u201cI don’t think there’s any secret about how we play.<\/p>\n \u201cBut yeah, there’s multiple guys out there that have to be connectors, and you have to get into different areas and try to help each other. I wouldn’t say the help was probably there on the offensive end today.\u201d<\/p>\n