After missing a chance at the winner at the end of regulation, Bryce Cotton was never going to miss a second chance to win the game in New Zealand for the Adelaide 36ers adding another highlight to an ever growing reel.
Not only is Cotton in the discussion as the greatest player ever in the NBL as he tightens his grip on a sixth MVP award, he continues to prove one of the most lethal finishers in league history.
That's why he was left kicking himself when he missed a good look at a contested layup at the end of regulation when the 36ers took on the Breakers on Friday night at Spark Arena with his team trying to avoid a third consecutive defeat.
They were then playing catch up most of overtime but Cotton had vowed to himself if he got a second chance to win the game, he wouldn’t miss again.
After Adelaide forced a five-second violation to keep the margin at one with 9.7 seconds to go, Cotton was left licking his lips when Matt Kenyon set his screen and took his defender Izaiah Brockington with him.
That left Cotton being guarded by New Zealand centre Sam Mennenga, and the five-time MVP put up a three-pointer that never looked like missing. It went through with a second left on the clock for yet another game winner in his 283-game career.
"It's the moments that you kinda live for when obviously both teams are going back and forth but I was pretty upset with myself not making that layup in regulation," Cotton said.
"So I just silently thought to myself especially once we got the five second violation, if I have two chances to win the game one of them's got to go in because that's the standard that I hold myself to."
As for the way things unfolded, Flynn Cameron made a huge three ball to bring the 36ers back within a point on the previous possession forcing a Breakers timeout.
The 36ers were all set to foul whoever caught the inbounds pass, but Cotton and Kenyon did so well keeping the ball away from Parker Jackson-Cartwright that Karim Lopez had nowhere to go before his five seconds expired.
That gave Cotton a full 9.7 seconds to work with and just a one-point deficit giving him the options of making any number of plays. Once his coach Mike Wells left him to his own devices, he backed himself to make up for the end of regulation.
"It was huge and that took away the chance for them to put some points on the board and Kenny did a hell of a job pressure Cartwright, and he's been having a great game so I figured I'd jump out and try to double him and we were able to buy a little more than five seconds to get the final shot," Cotton said.
"Mike was asking me a million different questions on what guy I wanted to screen or did I want a screen when they were trying to figure out who was coming in, but my brain doesn’t work that way and I figure stuff out on the fly.
"I don't know but once I get the ball in my mind I'm thinking I'll figure it out as I'm in motion, and then Kenny comes in and sets a good screen and forces the switch, and I just thought to myself there's no way I get two chances to win the game, and not make one of them."
The 36ers came into the game with New Zealand having lost consecutive matches for the first time in NBL26 at home to the Tasmania JackJumpers and then on Sunday at HoopsFest in Perth to the South East Melbourne Phoenix.
Newly signed import John Jenkins made his debut in Perth and then was into the starting five on Friday despite still shaking the jetlag from flying from Romania to Perth and then on to Adelaide and now over to Auckland in little over a week.
However, he starred with 24 points on 6/11 three-point shooting in 33 minutes.
Cotton can't wait to now see how much more he can bring to the Sixers the rest of the way.
"He's a true pro, he knows how to play the game and his movement with and without the ball is amazing, and we all kinda fed off of that," Jenkins said.
"But it was just a great team win and John carried us a big part of that first half and then even down the stretch he hit some big shots for us, Flynn hit some big shots and DJ (Vasiljevic) hit a couple of threes, and that's what it's about finding those sweet spots where we have so many weapons, and being able to utilise that.
"For John to have a game like this in just his second game with us, it's very impressive but it's not surprising."
Now that the 36ers continue to be clear in top spot in the NBL standings at 20-6 and ahead of the 18-8 Phoenix, Cotton knows that they have a target on their back.
Every team is going to be throwing everything at beating the 36ers no matter what they are playing for. Even more so in the case of a team like the Breakers playing to keep their own season alive.
That's why Cotton was proud of Adelaide showing grit to get that road win on Friday ahead of another massive match up on Sunday now against the Kings in Sydney.
"That's something that we need to understand going forward no matter who we're playing we're going to get every team's best shot because we're the standard of the league," Cotton said.
"We've been the No. 1 team in the league for however many weeks now so we need to act like it and I'm happy that we got the win but the fact that we were up 10 with three minutes left, and went into overtime, there's some things we've got to look over.
"I'm happy we got the win and it's always a positive learning on a winning note but it's just another day, just a normal day and you've gotta have a short memory and be glad we were able to get the win.
"Now it's onto the next one."