Basketball On The Internet.

TO borrow a line from today's contemporary world, Bryce Cotton is living rent-free in Kendric Davis' head and unless Sydney coach Brian Goojian can exorcise KD's Cotton-demon, there's every chance Adelaide can continue to grow deeper into this NBL Championship, now locked at 1-1.

Davis' petulant and immature reaction to Cotton sinking Game 2's match-winning basket was indeed what could be described as the contest's "fiery aftermath", with the potential for further chaos, had Shaun Bruce not intervened in time.

Tomorrow's Game 3 in Sydney now looms as even more important in this best-of-five series than usual because both teams will be heading back to Adelaide Entertainment Centre - the scene of the crime! - on Wednesday for Game 4.

Trust this. The 36ers fans will NOT be forgiving Davis and having shown his childish side so blatantly, any lingering love from his time as a 36er will have long disappeared in the rear vision mirror. The fans will give him hell.

In contrast, should Kings fans buy into the BS being said about BC allegedly inciting the incident and therefore choose to ride him verbally tomorrow, it will be water off a duck's back.

For starters, Cotton is a pro and his focus will be on escaping the Kings' defensive tentacles, not appeasing an opposition audience.

After he pounced on the loose ball off Davis' ill-conceived drive-and-miss and converted it into a tough match-winning lay-up under Torrey Craig pressure, Cotton had every reason to celebrate.

His jubilation was totally justified and he did nothing to incite the Kings. He was a man living in the moment, a moment he created which revitalised this potentially disapppointing championship.

Davis, whose second foul on Cotton in the final quarter contributed to the MVP tying the scores from the stripe, came clapping at him at the sidelines, then flashing three fingers in his face as if to indicate Game 3 is ahead.

But as Davis continued to define every inch what a sore loser looks like, a surprised Cotton only replied to his aggressor, Bruce jumping in to prevent his Kings teammate from doing something even more stupid.

And "doing something even more stupid" definitely was on the cards as the Kings wrestled Davis away.

Seeing how pathetic and distressed Davis was could only serve to buoy the 36ers, already buoyant after turning around a 44-point Game 1 road defeat.

But where there should have simply been relief and joy at prolonging the series, there was absolute bliss at the aftermath which laid bare Davis' suspect underbelly.

Now there's more, with reports suggesting a heated off-the-court verbal stoush between Sixers owner Grant Kelley and Kings assistant coach Andrew Bogut.

Davis has made this series personal, challenging Brian Goorjian, the NBL's coaching GOAT, to now have to factor in how this extra-curricular nonsense will impact on everyone's mental approach.

It's not enough he has to monitor and orchestrate curtailing Cotton, now he has to find a way to focus his man-child import onto what is important. Is it winning the championship or trying to get one up on Bryce Cotton?

That post-game shifted the dynamic. Goorj has the job ahead now to shift it back.

NBL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Best-of-5)

Game 1: Sydney Kings 112 (Davis 25, Soares 22, Galloway 15, Maluach 12, Craig 11; Soares 8 rebs; Davis 7 assts) d Adelaide 36ers 68 (White 11, Humphries, Rakocevic, Cotton 10; Cheatham 7 rebs; Cotton 7 assts) at Qudos Bank Arena. Crowd: 13,181

Game 2: Adelaide 36ers 91 (Cotton 28, Cameron 17, Jenkins 14, Vasiljevic 12; Rakocevic 9 rebs; Cheatham 7 assts) d Sydney Kings 89 (Davis 20, Cooks 18, Craig 17; Craig, Cooks 10 rebs; Dellavedova 7 assts) at Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Crowd: 10,058

Game 3: Sunday, Qudos Bank Arena

Game 4: Wednesday, Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Game 5 (If required): Sunday, Qudos Bank Arena