Basketball On The Internet.

THE decision by Adelaide 36ers coach Mike Wells to try and influence the narrative of the NBL Championship by aiming a blowtorch on an alleged officiating discrepancy favouring Sydney - and a feckless media using emotive terms such as "UFC" to describe the Kings defence - is bordering on the pathetic. 

Sorry, but Tom Aspinall is NOT competing for an NBL ring and there is nothing illegal about Matthew Dellavedova or any other Sydney defender locking isolation clamps on league superstar Bryce Cotton, or of the double and triple-teams the Kings have sent his way.

Wells starting off by complimenting the officials, then lambasting them for Delly escaping Game 3 without a foul is about as lame as it gets.

How about switching focus to running Cotton off multiple screens and rattling the bones of some of those defenders. 

Or occasionally when he needs a break but no sub is forthcoming, shunting Cotton to a corner and running a high pick-and-roll on that same side, knowing whoever is guarding the six-time MVP will not offer any helpside defence?

You know, coaching, having strategies in place, acting instead of reacting, taking accountability for what your team is executing. Not trying to influence the officials or your home crowd.

Watching Game 3 as an analyst and not as a former 36ers fan, I saw two Adelaide dunks off three-step travels and Flynn Cameron blatantly double-dribble. No whistle blew on any of those plays.

I also do not recall hearing Kings coach Brian Goorjian bleating about the fact Dellavedova had his first foul within 30 seconds of Game 1's tip-off, or his second foul within a minute of when he was subbed back in later in the first quarter.

Pretty sure his sole focus is on winning another championship and adjusting his team appropriately. 

The Adelaide crowd, no doubt, will play its part in Wednesday's Game 4 and buy into the crap Wells is selling. I mean, with all due respect to Nick Rakocevic, he won't be up for sainthood anytime soon. The point here is, what goes around, comes around, as we already have seen multiple times.

Focus on the officials? Guess that's one way of keeping focus off the adjustments the 36ers have yet to make. There's still time but if you're mainly concentrating on calls, a concession speech might come in handy.