Basketball On The Internet.

SOUTH East Melbourne today staged the greatest comeback of this NBL season, while a typically bewildered Adelaide 36ers produced the season's greatest single choke, surrendering a 21-point third quarter buffer as the Phoenix marched into the semi final and the Sixers into mothballs.

South East was simply irrepressible while Adelaide's two disparate halves was a perfect reflection of its season and a sad way to send Jason Cadee into retirement after he played his heart out for 10 points at 75 per cent, 2-of-3 threes, six rebounds, three assists and a steal in 26 committed minutes.

Unfortunately for Cadee, the Phoenix had more than one committed player, led by Matt Hurt's 25 points at 61 per cent, nine rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.

Owen Foxwell worked his butt off to ensure Kendric Davis earned his game-high 26 points (on 8-of-19 overshooting), Ben Ayre (17 points, including 4-of-7 threes in under 20 minutes) and Angus Glover (10 points, six rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block) all factors in the reversal.

Departing from their ridiculous and wildly astray and erratic 3-point barrage of the first half which saw South East muster 15 points in the first quarter and 11 in the second, and also playing some defence, its second half was like magic.

The first closed on Davis racing forward an errant Ayre threeball, heaving it - with precision  - from the Phoenix's side of the halfcourt and swishing it on the halftime buzzer.

It pushed Adelaide ahead 45-26 at the main interval and bouncing to the changerooms on a well-deserved high.

Despite drawing precious little of value from key Aussies Dejan Vasiljevic, Isaac Humphries and Lat Mayen, Cadee and Jarell Martin offered positive bench relief.

But South East was in much the same boat, Nathan Sobey again wayward and wasteful (11 points on 2-of-11 shooting, 0-of-4 from 3-point line, 7-of-7 free throws), Joe Weiskamp still diabolical (4 points, 1-of-6 shooting) and Jordie Hunter under-utilised.

When Montrezl Harrell opened the second half scoring to make the 36ers' lead 47-26, the question for Phoenix phans was where will the revival come from?

Hurt, Ayre, Foxwell, Glover, Malique Lewis and Matt Kenyon provided the answer, hustling their tails off and as the margin started to shrink, so too did the 36ers' belief in each other.

Davis decided to win it on his own - to paraphrase Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman: "big mistake, huge" - Harrell, whose work rate only rarely finds overdrive anyway, didn't choose to shift gears and, according to ESPN's sideline "reporter", the blame-game was in full view at the Adelaide bench.

Typically, Adelaide coach Mike Wells slipped back into his two most well-worn sideline behaviours - first, looking completely bewildered and at a total loss as to how to minimise the carnage, then secondly, chirping at the refs as if it was their fault his team lost all sight of its objective.

Most of the rest of the NBL will be thrilled to see the Sixers gave this guy a three-year contract.

When Sunday Dech passed the ball toward Harrell in the defensive keyway, the latter having seen the rebound secured and busting away, the ball bounced into the key where Hurt collected it and scored, reducing the Phoenikx deficit to 54-60 with a quarter left.

Even a blind man could see what was to come, South East winning comfortably 85-75 a game it really had no business even fighting back into.

Now regular season champion Illawarra awaits in the best-of-three semi final, with Melbourne hosting Perth in the other.

The teams which finished 1, 2, 3, 4 again reached the semis, making a further mockery of the so-called "play-in tournament".

At least now we can all get down to business.