Zylan Cheatham produced the first triple-double of NBL27, but combined with Nick Rakocevic the Adelaide 36ers' starting front court had 41 points, 28 rebounds and 17 assists as they showed what a powerful duo they can be after Isaac Humphries' retirement.
It was a big test for the Adelaide front court pair on Saturday night up against Sam Froling and Makur Maker from the Illawarra Hawks, but they were dominant forces in the eventual 106-78 win at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
Their efforts were key to the Sixers leading by 12 at half-time already despite six-time MVP Bryce Cotton having just four points and shooting 1/9. By the end of the night they had dominated their Hawks opponents to show what a force they can be.
Rakocevic finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and six assists, and Cheatham 21 points, 12 boards and 11 assists for the first triple-double of NBL27.
Being more aggressive was key to the success of Cheatham and it has been a constant work in progress for him this season at the urging of coach Trevor Gleeson.
"Something we keyed in on a little bit and Trevor told me before the game that we just need you to be aggressive and be yourself," Cheatham said.
"I broke down a lot of film this week and obviously I'm pretty critical of myself and how I've been playing, and some of the areas that I could be a little bit more aggressive.
"So I just took all that into account and my teammates did a really good job playing off me and stuff. So it was a good win."
As for playing alongside Rakocevic, he might be good at getting under the skin of opponents. That again happened late in Saturday night's game with a run-in with Maker and Davo Hickey, but his teammates clearly love playing alongside him.
Cheatham is no different and there's nobody he would rather be sharing that starting front court with at the Sixers than Rakocevic.
"Nick is the life of the team, I mean he's the spark to the team so it's a joy to have a big that has hands like that and is as skilled as he is," Cheatham said.
"He bails us out of a lot of situations where we're able to just throw him the ball and he gets to a bucket or gets fouled.
"He is a very critical piece to what we do, he slows the game down when we need it and then the way he's rebounding the ball is just a joy to have.
"I definitely want to up the standard with him and I don't want him to get comfortable at all so I'm proud of him, but we've got a lot of work to do."
Going back to Sunday's loss to Brisbane, the Bullets came in with a defensive game plan to sag off those Adelaide players they didn’t deem as dangerous shooters.
Cheatham was one of those and he didn’t necessarily respond to that as well as he would have liked, or that coach Gleeson wanted him to, and they went to work on it this week ahead of taking on Illawarra.
The Hawks didn’t necessarily come in with the same plan of guarding Cheatham, but either way he was ready to be more aggressive and it paid off.
"The way they played me kind of impacted my attitude on the game," Cheatham said.
"So the game before, playing off of me and me seeing so much space, it kind of puts you in a position to be stagnant and not want to go side to side and do the things that you do naturally.
"So, for me, when I broke that tape down and just seeing how they were playing me, I'm like I can still be aggressive in these situations, and do the things that I do.
"Just because they want to play a certain defence that shouldn't impact how I'm playing and then it doesn't hurt to get on the glass and get some easy ones and stuff.
"So it was just a complete game by the Sixers, I would say."
As happy as Cheatham was for his own performance on Saturday night, that was trumped by the sheer joy he felt for 16-year-old Raheim Brown Jr to score his first NBL points late in the game with a three ball to the delight of the sold out Adelaide Entertainment Centre crowd in attendance.
"Oh man, I couldn't imagine being 16 years old and doing that, I mean what I was doing at 16 years old, I just couldn't imagine being in the NBL right now," Cheatham said.
"He's just an unbelievable kid, comes from an unbelievable family and proud is an understatement.
"He's like a little brother that you just kind of see him blooming every day and getting better, and he comes in with such a good mentality every day.
"It was great for Trev to finally give him some minutes. I had to throw him under the bus, but I love RJ, and I'm very proud of him."