King turns spotlight on defence

There was plenty to like in what South East Melbourne showed over the past week. But for Josh King, one number stood out for the wrong reasons: 337 points conceded.

With HoopsFest looming, defence is now front and centre ahead of a clash with Adelaide.

Saturday night’s loss to Perth came in the Phoenix’s fifth game in 13 days. They arrived at the State Basketball Centre riding three straight wins and having poured in 359 points across that stretch. That run included back-to-back 124-point performances against Sydney and Illawarra.

Much of that scoring surge was built off defensive pressure. It fuels the league’s fastest pace, creates extra possessions, and leads to more shots than anyone else.

King was pleased with the offence. But he felt the team had drifted away from its defensive identity.

That slippage was exposed in the 107–97 loss. Perth shot 56 per cent from the field and earned 24 free throws. The Phoenix managed just 11.

With eight days to reset before facing the league leading 36ers in Perth to close HoopsFest next Sunday, King knows what must change.

“Defensively we just weren’t very good and it's our third game this week, and the third game we gave up 100 points and we can't kid ourselves and think we're just going to outscore every team we play,” King said.

“We have to get back to focusing on that side of the ball on the defensive end, even though I thought we were better in the second half than the first half when we were really bad defensively.

“You have to play better defence and you have to learn that you're not just going to outscore every opponent every night.”

In the two games before Saturday night’s clash with Perth, the Phoenix bench delivered. Angus Glover scored 40 points across wins over Illawarra and Sydney, while DJ Mitchell added 32.

That production disappeared against the Wildcats.

The bench managed just 23 points on 10 from 30 shooting. The plus-minus numbers were tough reading. Ian Clark finished minus 16 in 14 minutes. Glover was minus 13 in 26. Akech Aliir was minus 11 in three minutes. Mitchell ended minus 8 in four.

King is prepared to put it down as an off night, rather than a trend.

“I don't think they were fatigue mistakes and I thought we had a lot of pop tonight, and I thought our starting group was pretty good and they were all positive in the game when they were in there,” King said.

“But we need other guys to come off the bench and step up to help us and we've had that throughout the year, but we'd like to think when we go to the bench we get stronger and better with our depth.”