Sixers can "beat anybody, anywhere"

Mike Wells has found his eight-man rotation that has the Adelaide 36ers sending shivers into every team above them, he likes their improved defence and communication, and also knows now is not the time to take the foot off the gas.

Wells always kept his faith at what the 36ers could accomplish even when things were crumbling around them, and all he wanted was some patience until he got his full squad back.

He has now been vindicated with the Sixers having won five of their last seven games, and those two losses were narrow ones on the road to Tasmania and Perth.

Adelaide has strung together seven straight impressive performances including only conceding 92.9 points in that run having given up 107.3 in the previous six.

The Sixers beat the Kings in Sydney for a second time in the past month on Friday night to jump to sixth and control their own Finals.

While they have some dazzling offensive weapons that were again on show with 30 points and six assists from Kendric Davis, 23 points and 11 rebounds from Montrezl Harrell, and 19 points and nine boards from Isaac Humphries, it's the defensive end impressing Wells.

"I just couldn’t be more proud of the group defensively because they have a lot of different weapons, and they keep playing five out and putting you in different rotations and things. But I thought we really, really defended with an edge and then rebounded," Wells said.

"Our group is finally healthy, we're finally getting together and we're not a sixth seed. I think we can beat anybody, anywhere at this point and that felt like a playoff, finals game to me.

"The way you win those kind of games on the road is by playing defence and it started with this guy (Humphries) right here. He was absolutely phenomenal with what we were trying to do and he delivered a defensive clinic out there."

The two things that are now standing out since the 36ers have got everyone back available from either suspension or injury is that Wells has found an eight-man rotation to settle on, and their defence is so much better.

On the perimeter it's Lat Mayen and Sunday Dech leading that defence, and in the paint it's Humphries, but there's also a greater buy in from everyone else that has been key.

Wells has also shortened the rotation with the starting five of Davis-Vasiljevic-Mayen-Harrell-Humphries with Dech, Jason Cadee and Jarell Martin off the bench, and it's working.

"I just think it comes back to communication and now that we have a healthy group, I'm able to come off the bench with Jason Cadee, Jarell Martin and Sunday," Wells said.

"I'm playing an eight man rotation and I've got three veterans like that who could easily be starters, but they are coming off the bench and solidify us.

"It's not always going to be perfect but the group is constantly talking and connecting, and I love the accountability of the group.

"When we get stops and we're able to run back at people, and put pressure on them down the floor, and have guys rolling to the rim, that's when we're at our best."

Another thing to impress Wells against the Kings was the way captain DJ Vasiljevic found a way to contribute without needing to replicate his 10 three-pointer heroics from Sunday in Cairns.

Vasiljevic didn’t hit a three until early in the fourth quarter he knocked down two in short time and had nine of his 12 points in a burst that pushed the 36ers lead out to 14 points.

But it was the all-round efforts of his captain that Wells liked.

"DJ is our captain and our leader, and does a lot of different things for us, but he was coming off a game where he scored like crazy," Wells said.

"Tonight the scoring wasn’t there because they were top locking him and doing some different things, and Bul (Kuol) was out there harassing him but he contributed to this win in so many other ways besides shooting threes.

"That's part of the growth of this team along with Ice doing things that don’t show up in the stats sheet, but they are connectors for the group."

The next task is back at home to New Zealand on Sunday and the Breakers might be out of contention and potentially missing Parker Jackson-Cartwright, but Wells wants Adelaide to take that game as seriously as any other.

"We've been playing playoff basketball here for four, five or six games and that's what we've talked about," Wells said.

"The only way you can control your own destiny is to win. I think we all feel like we're one of the better teams but you've got to go out there on the floor and prove it. Everybody in that locker room wants to play more than four games."