Melbourne United have missed the NBL finals by 0.06 of a per cent, their 116-107 victory over the Adelaide 36ers at John Cain Arena on a dramatic last day of the regular season not quite enough to secure a play-in berth.
After beating the Sixers on Sunday, United needed Perth, two hours later, to either lose to ladder-leading Sydney or win by under 11 points.
The Wildcats' 96-84 triumph at RAC Arena - the 12-point margin only confirmed when the Kings' Dejan Vasiljevic missed a three-pointer at the death - sealed Melbourne's fate.
Perth (15-13 win-loss, 100.47 points percentage) pinched sixth spot from United (15-13, 100.41) by the equivalent of one layup across the season.
Melbourne took almost four quarters to shake off the Sixers' stern challenge, outscoring the visitors 14-5 in the last two minutes and 9-2 in the final seconds as they chased vital percentage.
Rayjon Tucker (31 points), Chris Goulding (23) and Xavier Rathan-Mayes (21) scored all of United's last 21 points down the stretch.
"I loved our second efforts," United coach Dean Vickerman said.
"The second-chance points that we got, the offensive rebounds that we picked up - that was massive."
Inspirational Antonius Cleveland (career-best 30 points) and Sunday Dech (20) were valiant for the 36ers.
Eighth-placed Adelaide (13-15) needed to win by 21-plus points to have a chance of making the play-in but will be left to rue a horrific 46-25 rebound count in Melbourne's favour, including an unforgivable 21 by United on the offensive glass.
"We were both chasing the same thing - it was a high-paced, high-scoring game," 36ers coach CJ Bruton said.
"It was a great atmosphere, (but) disappointed we didn't come away with it."
The pace was hot all match, both teams eager to let it fly and run up the score, with margins at the forefront of their thinking.
Down 57-56 at halftime, Melbourne looked to be getting on top in the third stanza by pulling ahead 87-80 at three-quarter time.
Cleveland started the fourth term with a late contender for Dunk of the Year, blowing past Tucker and stuffing it home acrobatically over Mason Peatling.
His fifth triple gave Adelaide the lead and the momentum but the 36ers' rebounding woes continued down the stretch.
A squall of Melbourne offensive boards in one possession finished with a tie-breaking three-pointer from Goulding and United were never again headed.
