Basketball On The Internet.

SOUTH EAST Melbourne is taking a long time to realise having Nathan Sobey - a bronze medal Olympian, unquestionably gifted athlete and highly skilled baller - handling the ball in the NBL endgame is a recipe for disaster, which Sydney, with Jaylen Adams fired up, blatantly exposed yet again last night.

Adelaide 36ers fans and Brisbane Bullets supporters who once smacked their foreheads watching Sobey's self-belief sabotage tight games, would have been shaking their heads in mild amusement as he sank the Phoenix for the second time in three rounds.

His "don't worry, I'll be the hero" antics in the second half of the last quarter 82-88 home loss to Illawarra helped cost interim coach Sam Mackinnon a 3-0 sweep of his games at the helm and last night went a long way toward costing Josh King his shot at a 3-0 start.

Sobey again was an endgame disaster with his now-customary poor shot selection, turnovers and ill-advised at best, but simply poor at worst, decision-making in the clutch.

Consequently the Kings won a game they probably never should have, Adams breaking a 67-67 deadlock with seven straight points and behind 67-74, South East only had a consolation basket left to close the contest.

Adams showed how you should do it, Sobey a lesson in how you do not.

Remember, Angus Glover's 3-point make with 6:52 left had South East ahead 64-54. Sydney went 20-5 from there to the siren.

In exactly the same way Cairns import Rob Edwards never should have poked the bear against Perth when he trash-talked Bryce Cotton into a match-winning 35-point game, Phoenix Next Star Malique Lewis made the same mistake with 7:26 left in the game.

Swatting away an Adams drive, he had a bit to say. But from that point on, Adams scored 11 of his 20 points and dished two assists to sink South East Melbourne.

When the going got tough, a grizzly Adams got going and believe it, the Kings looked a different team.

Sobey's last quarter produced three rebounds, three missed 3-point attempts, one missed two-point attempt and two turnovers.

Sure, coaches and smart basketball followers will tell us the game was won-and-lost a dozen different times and ways and they would be correct.

No-one should outright blame Sobey for the loss.

This is just to point out when you put the ball in his hands to help decide the game, he certainly will, one way or the other.