Phoenix backcourt too much for Giddey-less 36ers

They had two days to stew over what they deemed a blown chance in double overtime and with Keifer Sykes and Kyle Adnam leading the way, the South East Melbourne Phoenix proved too good for the Adelaide 36ers, winning 89-83 on Wednesday.

The two teams played out a cracking contest on Sunday that needed two overtime periods to determine a winner and it was the 36ers who prevailed 116-108 largely on the back of the exploits of the league's youngest player, Josh Giddey.

Along the way Giddey fell face first to the floor after a breakaway slam and it was the after effects of that which ruled him out of Wednesday's return encounter again at Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

The Phoenix were able to take full advantage of his absence with their backcourt led by Sykes and Adnam, but including Adam Gibson all instrumental in the eventual six-point win.

With Adelaide making a charge a couple of times in the fourth quarter, it was Sykes with all the answers for the Phoenix.

He firstly drained a long-range three to get the lead back to nine and then he went on an individual 7-0 run capped off with another three ball on his way to 24 points and seven assists while going 4/7 from downtown.

Adnam was also superb off the bench for South East Melbourne with 17 points while in his 438th NBL appearance, Gibson had some big moments for 11 points on 3/4 from the land of plenty.

Meanwhile down low, Ben Moore had a big impact in the second half for 10 points and 12 rebounds.

It was a drought breaking win for the Phoenix too. It was their first win since beating The Hawks on January 12 last year. They snapped a nine-game losing run on Wednesday while also winning in Adelaide for the first ever time.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell was relieved that despite having work to do, this time they came out on the winning end.

"There wasn’t a whole lot of difference I don’t think. We still missed shots but I guess we made our free-throws and that was the difference," Mitchell said.

"It was a more physical contest tonight I thought too and it felt like a bit of a different game, but we are still trying to find a way to get out of that hole at the offensive end. 

"Defensively I thought we were pretty solid despite a couple of mental breakdowns by doing some silly stuff that cost us, and giving up O-boards. 

"We need to tighten that up but on the whole the guys executed the scout, we were able to curb the influence of Daniel Johnson a little bit and that was probably a bit of the difference maker for us too."

Daniel Johnson and Mitch Creek combined for 63 points between them on Sunday, and the superstars had a fascinating battle largely opposed to one another on Monday.

Johnson had just six points at the half but caught fire in the third and ended the night with 19 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Creek battled foul trouble and had 15 points and five boards.

Johnson received tremendous support from Isaac Humphries who had 20 points, eight boards, four blocks and three assists so the bigs weren’t a concern for the Sixers, but they did need others to step up further.

Tony Crocker scored 12 points and Donald Sloan 10 with Sunday Dech and Jack McVeigh scoring nine points apiece.

Sixers coach Conner Henry saw some encouraging signs but ultimately his team is just having to work too hard to score right now and he's hoping to develop some better offensive flow.

"We've got to get some easier baskets. We're not getting some great looks and we're having to grind everything out, and that's tough to do when you then ask the boys to back it up on the defensive end," Henry said.

"Our offence is a work in progress for all of us right now and we're going to have to figure that out. We're not getting really any transition points, any easy open looks so we need to increase our pace and we did miss the young guy tonight, he pushes the ball when he gets it all the time.

"It will be good to have him back on Friday to see if that helps."

Keifer Sykes opened the game how he would finish it, on fire, with five quick points for the Phoenix, but Donald Sloan, Sunday Dech and Tony Crocker all hit opening quarter threes for the Sixers to keep things close.

A couple of triples then to Kyle Adnam in the second period saw South East Melbourne begin to skip away with the lead eight when Reuben TeRangi connected from beyond the arc.

But Adelaide kept within touch and it was the last five points from Crocker and Brendan Teys that had the gap just four at the long break.

Daniel Johnson had just six first half points but had 10 points in less than five points of the second half including back-to-back three balls to regain a narrow lead for the home.

But his old Adelaide skipper Adam Gibson soon changed that with his own pair of threes, and then an 8-0 run to close the quarter saw the Phoenix up 10.

Adelaide did threaten a fightback a couple of times in the fourth quarter, but Sykes had the answer on big bucket after big bucket each time as the Phoenix celebrated their first win in in 53 weeks.

Both teams play again in Round 2 with the 36ers remaining at home to the New Zealand Breakers on Friday. The Phoenix stay on the road taking on the defending champion Wildcats in Perth on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 2

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 89 (Sykes 24, Adnam 17, Creek 15) 

ADELAIDE 36ERS 83 (Humphries 20, Johnson 19, Crocker 12)

BOX SCORE