Adelaide 36ers coach Joey Wright hopes the experience of grand final defeat at the hands of Melbourne United will fuel his squad's future success.
Needing to shock the minor premiers on their home floor to win the club's fifth NBL championship, the Sixers fell behind early and could not recover to go down 100-92 at Hisense Arena.
Wright believes experience gained from the series defeat to Melbourne, coupled with last season's early exit against eventual champion Perth Wildcats, will only help his team mature as they seek Adelaide's first title since 2002.
"You have to go through this thing a couple of times before you get it," Wright said.
"We've been in the playoffs four of the last five years and the longer you're here, the more you learn.
"You've got to get there to give yourself a shot and hopefully we can retain a lot of these guys, bring them back and if we can do that, I think we will make a good run at it."
While Wright described Saturday's performance as Adelaide's worst of the five-game grand final series, he felt his side was still in the contest despite an explosive start from United sharpshooter Chris Goulding.
"For us to only be down 13 with the way they were shooting the ball was pretty encouraging," he said.
"We've run down a 13-point lead quick so we didn't really feel that was necessarily an issue if we could get those guys under control.
"We slowed Chris up a little bit for the second half but that's when (Casey) Prather stepped up and Casper (Ware) stepped up."
Wright was full of praise for forward Mitch Creek who has excelled for both the Sixers and the national team during the Boomers' FIBA World Cup qualifying campaign.
"Just to see how hard he works and how much he puts in, he's been our true warrior and our backbone all year," he said about Creek.
"He has been that guy for us all year, he has given the opposition hell at both ends of the court."
Wright also took time to commend Melbourne star Goulding for his achievements this season, having granted the United captain his first NBL opportunity as a development player when he was coaching the Brisbane Bullets in 2006.
"I could not any happier for Chris Goulding right now," Wright said.
"Chris was a guy who was always hanging around the side of the court and wanting to be a great player...he walked the walk before he could talk the talk, which was great because we loved the confidence he had.
"It's great to see him develop, grow, become a man and do what he does."