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South East Melbourne Phoenix superstar Alan Williams has been praised by coach Simon Mitchell for his standout performance of NBL23.

Williams joined the Phoenix at the start of this season after playing 67 games in the NBA for the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets while also spending time in Europe.

His progression throughout the season prompted Mitchell to acknowledge Williams’ efforts after Sunday’s win over the Perth Wildcats on Sunday, where he absolutely dominated the floor with 27 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.

“He’s had a pretty good season, Alan Williams, I think sometimes we overlook him,” Mitchell said.

“His passing, his rebounding as well as his ability to score, his touch, he’s had big weeks most games.

“He has a lot of love for his teammates and his club.”

Williams has played a key leadership role for the Phoenix this season - especially while the likes of Gary Browne, Trey Kell and Ryan Broekhoff have been sidelined on various occasions throughout the campaign.

As his side's go-to option in the key he's averaged 16.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game in NBL23.

South East Melbourne's win has bumped the team to a 14-12 record for the season - cirrently god enough for sixth on the ladder. Phoenix fans would have been worried after their team faltered and suffered a five game losing streak - however they've since snuck back into the top six.

Mitchell commented on where he believed the team excelled to defeat a hot-shooting Perth.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The South East Melbourne Phoenix got it done in ????? in the Heartland, taking down the Wildcats to stay in the post-season race ?<br><br>Relive all the highlights thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/HungryJacksAU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HungryJacksAU</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/TAWnBmx8N4">pic.twitter.com/TAWnBmx8N4</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1617265855573753857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“We haven’t been finishing real well the last few games, but we positioned well and got good looks,” he said.

“There’s little things you do to try and secure a win, everything worked for us tonight there.

“We’re the number one rebounding team in the league and the number one offensive rebounding team in the league. It’s a team we thought, with their smaller back court, that we may be able to put some hurt on them there, and the boys did.”

South East host the second on the ladder Cairns Taipans on Wednesday night at 7:30pm AEDT.