Rollercoaster night leaves King torn

It was quite the rollercoaster of emotions for Josh King.

The South East Melbourne Phoenix coach went into half-time feeling like his team were playing like the Golden State Warriors at their peak, before a second half where his frustrations spilled over.

South East Melbourne beat the New Zealand Breakers 123–116 on Wednesday night at the State Basketball Centre, making it eight wins from their past 10 games and moving to within one game of the league-leading Adelaide 36ers.

That result was built on a dominant 74-point first half, one King said he would happily go back and watch. He compared those opening 20 minutes to the Warriors of the 2016/17 NBA season, a team Ian Clark was part of, with the man himself scoring 16 points in the first half for the Phoenix.

The second half was a different story. King was clearly frustrated by the flow of the game and the free-throw count, with the Breakers attempting 49 from the line, compared to 19 for South East Melbourne. John Brown III and Jordan Hunter both fouled out, a situation that could have proved fatal.

"We were just getting out and running, and sharing the ball and finding guys, and I told the guys in the locker room that I believe and hope Ian Clark was on this team because I made reference to it, but we looked like the Golden State Warriors from like 16/17," King said.

"It was fun to watch and then somehow the game changed in the second half and it was just a different game, but I really liked the first half and I thought we were in a good position."

"We weren’t at our best defensively because of the way we were shooting the ball, and we probably should have been up a little bit more when you score 74 points, but it was like a baseball game in the second half.

"I was just hanging out talking to the fans like you would in between pitches, but in this case it was in between foul shots so we'll see how it goes from here."

King was adamant post-game that he would not be drawn into talking about the officiating, even if his frustrations were right on the surface and difficult to hold back when questions drifted in that direction.

It was the last thing on his mind at half-time, particularly after the Phoenix produced the highest-scoring half in the modern 40-minute era, knocking down 12 of 20 shots from beyond the arc.

"I’m just happy the guys found a way to win the game, especially when you shoot 30 less free throws than your opponent, it's really hard to do and it was really frustrating," King said.

"It was a really boring second half and I guess we played a lot different in the second half than we did in the first, and we have to be better of course, but I've watched enough press conferences now and have heard enough players and coaches, we just want consistency.

"I've never seen that big of a difference in a free-throw count and I've finally said something, and I don't know if I'm the last person to say something, but it's really frustrating and I feel for our guys.

"I'm not saying we don't foul, but we just want some consistency out there and that's how I saw it, it felt like the world's longest game and world's longest half."