As inspirational as Nathan Sobey was, it was getting the game back on their terms that was key to South East Melbourne Phoenix forcing a Game 3 and crashing the offensive glass and speeding up the Adelaide 36ers will remain the focus.

Sobey's career-best 41-point outburst with eight three-pointers speaks for itself after the Phoenix came from 18 points down to beat the 36ers at John Cain Arena in Game 2 of their Playoffs battle on Saturday night.

At half-time, the 36ers led by 13 having had the game on their terms with 57 points on 73 per cent shooting while going 13/15 at the foul line with six-time MVP Bryce Cotton having 19 points on 9/10 free-throw shooting.

South East Melbourne only had four offensive rebounds and just couldn’t get things on their terms, but that changed instantly in the third quarter and it was about more than Sobey's four triples and 17 points.

The Phoenix outscored the 36ers 57-35 in the second half to force the deciding Game 3 back in Adelaide on Tuesday while ending up with 18 offensive rebounds, forcing the 36ers into 18 turnovers and getting up an extra 25 shot attempts.

Coach Josh King knows the Phoenix have to get things on their terms again like that second half on Tuesday night if they are to prevail in what he's labelling Game 7 between the two teams.

"It's about being really disciplined with our foul discipline, pressuring the ball and not allowing them to just get into whatever action they want, and allowing Bryce to get into an easy scoring situation," King said.

"If we play the way we did in the first half there, we probably won't have a chance to win the game on the road so we'll have to come out with better pace, and more desire but I liked the response and it's always about how you respond.

"And here's the NBL headline – we've played them six times this year, it's 3-3 and we're going to Game 7 on Tuesday. Here we go."

The message from King to his Phoenix players at half-time when they were down 13 was simple – if our season is going to end tonight then let's at least make sure we go down playing our way.

The change was obvious with the mentality of South East Melbourne as soon as the third quarter started as they hurried up the 36ers. That pressure got them more stops and from that their offence flourished and John Brown III kept on creating second chances when they missed.

"It was (the message) more or less get your head out of your ass, we've got 20 minutes to save our season and if we're gonna go down, we're going to go down playing the way we've played all year long," King said.

"Obviously we got hot then in the second half and made shots, but we played with way more pace, energy, mindset and I'd say we played more the way we've played the entire season.

"We were playing very passive and timid in the first half, and they had something to do with that, but we weren’t playing at the pace we needed to and I thought the guys did an unbelievable job of adjusting in that season half."

As for Brown III, the league's Best Defensive Player and leading offensive rebounder didn't have a single board to his name going into half-time.

He didn’t realise that until told post-match, but he made up for it anyway with six offensive rebounds in the second half and was key to the Phoenix having 25 more shot attempts.

Setting the tone on the hustle areas is something he takes great pride in.

"That's rare, in the first half? Goodness gracious. Not at all (wasn’t aware), I just thought I was crashing effortlessly, but obviously I didn’t get any and I appreciate you bringing that to my attention and hopefully that don’t happen again," Brown III said.

"I come out feeling like I could have gone harder and in the first half I wasn’t as aggressive going to the rim, and it was about if I want to go harder or stay so it was an easy answer for me.

"I know once I'm doing my thing, I know guys like Malique Lewis and it's fun to get extra possessions because that's very deflating once you play good defence and make a team miss, and then they get the offensive rebound and you have to restart all over again.

"That's going to be the key factor in the next game too."

Chris Pike

Phoenix must play their way to win 'Game 7'