Melbourne United star Tai Wesley expects his team to raise their level of physicality in Friday night's crucial third game of the NBL grand final series against the Adelaide 36ers.
United took a 1-0 advantage into last Sunday's game two in Adelaide but the home side responded with a dominant 110-95 performance to level the series.
"We are coming off a loss and we are looking to avenge that," Wesley said on Thursday after United's final training session.
The 2017-18 all-NBL second-team forward flagged rebounding and execution at both ends of the floor to be deciding factors in a pivotal game three that will leave the victor one win away from the championship.
"We feel like we weren't physical enough on defence (in game two) to get loose balls and rebounds, they out-hustled us at the ball," Wesley said.
After winning all five previous encounters with the Sixers this season before last Sunday, Wesley knows the importance of bouncing back in game three in order to protect home court advantage.
"It's too late in the season for soul-searching ... we know who we are, we just need to get back to that," he said.
"Hopefully losing game two gave us a little serve of humble pie and we come out ready to work."
There has been plenty of feeling with a war of words erupting between import guards Casper Ware and Shannon Shorter after game two.
There were also accusations of targeting Sixers import Josh Childress who suffered a fractured scapula last Sunday and will miss the rest of the playoffs.
But Wesley does not expect tensions to boil over on Friday with the NBL title on the line.
"It's part of playoff basketball - their guys are emotional, we are emotional, it's high level, we all want to win, we are all competitors," he said.
After struggling with injuries in the opening two games of the series, Melbourne import duo Josh Boone and Casper Ware fully completed Thursday's training session with Boone declaring the pair ready to face the Sixers.
Boone expects United to bounce back on Friday by taking charge from the outset after falling behind early in game two.
"It always tough to come back especially against a team like that, that can really put the points up on the board so we've got to make sure we start off better," Boone said.
"If we win tomorrow, we have a chance to close out there (on Sunday) and if by chance they're able to come back, we still have one more shot at it."
