Game 3: 5 things we learned as Kings take control

• ‍Game 1: 'Saturday night slaughter' as KD's Kings fire first shot‍
• Game 2: Cotton game-winner levels series as KD loses his cool‍
• Game 3: 'All love' as KD talks Cotton clash as Kings take Game 3\

The Sydney Kings have taken control of the NBL26 Championship Series and are now just one win away from their third title in five years.

While it was Kendric Davis who stole the show with 34 points, 15 assists and no turnovers while playing the full 40 minutes - again it was Sydney's ability to have multiple contributors on top of their star point guard which led them to an all-important victory.

That, as well as their ability to make things tough for six-time MVP Bryce Cotton.

Aside from a 15-point outburst in the fourth-quarter of game two, including the game-winning layup, Cotton is yet to find any rhythm against the Kings' defence and the Adelaide 36ers staff is yet to find a way to free up their main man who needs to fire if they are a chance of breaking a 24-year championship hoodoo.

As we look back on game three in Sydney and look forward to a do-or-die game for the 36ers in Adelaide on Wednesday night - here's five things we learned from the Kings 106-93 win in front of the biggest crowd (18,373) in NBL history.

KD CAN'T BE STOPPED

You hear it all the time, especially in playoffs or finals game as a coach.

"Do we try and stop the star or do we let him get his and focus on limiting everyone else?"

The 36ers might need to go with the latter. Because one thing's for sure, you can't let KD go for 34 and dominate the game and then have three other Kings make valuable contributions with Xavier Cooks (18 points and 10 rebounds), Jaylin Galloway (17 points and five three-pointers) and Tim Soares reach double figures as well with 12 points.

Adelaide need to pick their poison - easier said than done - or the title race ends in South Australia on Wednesday night.

REPEAT THE DOSE

Myself and Jason Cadee have spoken about it on the Cut to the Jase podcast, other commentators and experts have said it on the NBL coverage - Adelaide need to do some different things offensively to get through the suffocating Sydney defence.

One thing we mentioned, and I put in my five taekaways from game one of the series, was using some guard-to-guard screens for Bryce Cotton.

Put DJ Vasiljevic and John Jenkins, who has been on fire in the past two games, into ball screens with Cotton. Either two stay with the 36ers superstar and a shooter gets wide open, or you get a more favoured match-up for an isolation situation if they switch.

We saw it once at the start of game two and once at the start of game three.

Game 2 result: A wide open three-point make for Vasiljevic.

Game 3 result: A long and late closeout to Vasiljevic resulting in an open attack on the rim.

Apart from that, we are yet to see if multiple times in either game. Something in our opinion, the 36ers must do more of in game four to keep the series alive.

36ERS, PUT PRESSURE ON THE REFS

Mike Wells' post-game press conference comments about Matthew Dellavedova not being called for any fouls was fair enough.

But the actual free-throw differential? Don't think so.

Sydney shot 23 free-throws compared to Adelaide's 11, and while Cotton probably should have shot more than two attempts, the 36ers were their own worst enemy.

The Kings get stops, get out in transition, put pressure on the rim and, for the most part, have executed in clinical fashion in the half court - therefor resulting in more foul calls and free-throw attempts.

Adelaide have been clunky, almost single-action based, and relying on the brilliance of certain players in isolation situations or early ball screens. That's not going to result in many foul calls.

And while I believe Wells' intentions in the press conference were more about deflecting criticism from his team and staff, a leaf out of the old rugby league master Wayne Bennett's book, that time or energy needs to be focused on solving their issues offensively.

Although, I'm sure that whistle is about to be different in Adelaide regardless of the pressure they put on the basket.

IS IT THE BEST OF THE BEST?

The NBL Championship Series is supposed to be the best-of-the-best?

It's the best players and the two best teams going head-to-head, there's no doubt about that.

But have we got the best officiating crew for these games? I'm not so sure.

Vaughan Mayberry and Michael Aylen should be on EVERY game. The third, go to the best performer across the season.

And let's not change during the series unless there's an injury or illness among the referee crew.

Food for thought.

MORE MINUTES FOR JG

Again, Jason Cadee and I spoke about it on the latest edition of Cut to the Jase, but I think people have forgotten about how good Jaylin Galloway is.

He starred in game two, hitting 5-from-8 from the three-point line for 17 points, but I still don't think his 23 minutes was enough. He spent more time on Cotton defensively as well and did a great job.

Galloway's a player who can develop into an elite defender.

In Sydney's only loss in the series, he only played 17 minutes. Not sure either is enough for the young star.