The great Bryce Cotton poured in 42 points to put the Adelaide 36ers within one win of their first NBL grand final since 2018 with a 104-97 victory over South East Melbourne Phoenix.
Fresh from collecting his sixth league MVP award, Cotton felt he was "in a flow state" as he hit 17-of-25 from the field - including 6-of-11 from three-point range - in front of a record Adelaide Entertainment Crowd of 10,055 on Tuesday night.
Captain Dejan Vasiljevic added 17 points off the bench as the Sixers took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three semi-final play-off series.
"That was a real play-off game," Adelaide coach Mike Wells said.
"I'm super proud of our guys after so many days off to be able to make plays and find a way to win."
Ex-36er Nathan Sobey posted 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Phoenix, albeit at an inefficient 9-of-26 clip, including 2-of-11 from deep.
Cotton was red-hot from the tip, rattling off 16 points on 100 per cent shooting in the opening term, including 12 in a wild 155-second sequence.
He had the Sixers up 20-13 before the Phoenix replied with a 10-0 burst, edging ahead 25-23 at quarter-time.
Back-to-back Angus Glover triples extended SEM's lead to 35-29 before Cotton went to work again.
The American import again showed why his signature was so prized during the off-season, adding eight more in the second term to have Adelaide up 50-48 at halftime.
The momentum continued to swing both ways in the third period.
Cotton's peerless brilliance was countered at the other end by SEM's John Brown-inspired rebounding.
SEM's 10-2 dominance of the offensive glass, which created numerous second chances, meant the 36ers only led 77-75 at three-quarter-time.
After Adelaide moved ahead 94-84, the Phoenix took just 43 seconds to close the gap to 94-92, before the Sixers had the decisive last word, through Cotton, Vasiljevic and Flynn Cameron.
Adding to SEM's woes, Brown limped gingerly from the court inside the last minute and cut a dejected figure on the bench.
Phoenix coach Josh King was unsure whether Brown was injured.
"I don't know," King said. "I'm not sure if it was frustration or what.
"I thought it was a back-and-forth game - it was intense, it was physical.
"We had 21 offensive rebounds, we took 13 more shots - it was kind of on our terms.
"We just didn't make enough shots."
Game 2 will be at John Cain Arena on Saturday.
