Phoenix savage Bullets to consolidate third

The South East Melbourne Phoenix have now won four straight, they are solid in third spot and they put a hammering down on the finals contending Brisbane Bullets at Nissan Arena on Saturday night.

Both teams had plenty at stake coming into the battle with the Bullets fresh off their stunning come from behind win against the Perth Wildcats to revive their playoff hopes while the Phoenix arrived in Brisbane on a winning run and having beaten Melbourne United on Sunday.

Former Bullet Reuben Te Rangi set the tone from the start with two early threes and the Phoenix just went on big runs right throughout the game. 

Brisbane was hanging in there just down eight at half-time, but the Phoenix opened up the second half on a 24-5 run and the game was done. South East Melbourne didn’t stop, though, and went on to lead by as much as 35 points in the fourth before beating the Bullets 95-66.

It's a significant win for the Phoenix as they remain further locked into third position at 18-14 while the finals hopes get tougher for the Bullets at 14-16.

There was so much to like about what the Phoenix did. They shot the ball at 51 per cent, they had 50 rebounds to 39 including 16 at the offensive end, and their defence was brilliant to hold Brisbane to the 66 points on 36 per cent field goal shooting.

Yanni Wetzell's chemistry to be there to catch on point passes from Keifer Sykes and Mitch Creek was brilliant, and the rookie big top-scored with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Kyle Adnam put up 16 points while Reuben Te Rangi scored 12 in just 13 and-a-half minutes with Creek delivering 12 points and five assists, and Sykes 10 points and eight assists.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell continues to be proud of the way his group has gone through so much to now be firing heading towards the end of the season.

"I'm really proud of the guys. We've had a rough year but we just keep putting our head down and busting through everything thrown at us," Mitchell said.

"Just to get this little bit of a run here these last two weeks with our guys, there's always been belief within the group even if outside the group it's wavered a little bit. 

"We had to go through a little bit of soul searching when we were dropping games and it was more about how we were going about it. We still haven’t really put our finger on anything other than we were buggered. We've turned the corner on that now and we just have to keep building."

Anthony Drmic continued his career-best form for the Bullets with another 20 points, five rebounds and three steals on 7/14 field goal shooting and 3/7 from three-point land.

Lamar Patterson had 11 points for Brisbane but only three after quarter-time with Nathan Sobey shut down by the stifling defence of Sykes and kept to four points and four assists on 1/7 shooting.

Bullets coach Andrej Lemanis couldn’t put his finger on why, but felt his team could never find a way to get into the game or to put any sort of clamps on the Phoenix.

"Throughout the game we never really got in a position where we were exerting our will on the game, and putting ourselves in a position to make positive plays," Lemanis said.

"We were always on our back foot and reacting, and they were pretty much able to do what they wanted to do. Over time that builds its own momentum and their confidence goes up and ours goes in the opposition direction. 

"We were never really able to arrest that and it shows itself in things like us not setting screens to get people open, and they were. They were getting to the rim and the shots that the wanted with ball movement while we were stagnant. 

"We only scored 24 in the second and that was an outcome of our general passiveness throughout this game."

Reuben Te Rangi returned to Brisbane for the first time as an opposition player and knocked down two quick threes for South East Melbourne, and when Yanni Wetzell and Mitch Creek got going too, the Phoenix led 18-11.

Nine first-quarter points from Anthony Drmic and eight from Lamar Patterson kept Brisbane close, but the Phoenix went on another 9-0 tear to be up 31-24 by quarter-time.

South East Melbourne came out firing still in the second period with a 9-3 streak this time with Keifer Sykes hitting five points after a scoreless first term.

Brisbane fired back, though, and triples from Drmic and Nathan Sobey kept them close, but a late Kyle Adnam three for the Phoenix saw them maintain a 50-42 half-time edge.

Once again the Phoenix came out firing from the break with the opening seven points including a three ball from another former Bullet on his first return to Brisbane, Cam Gliddon.

South East Melbourne blew the game wide open even further with a dominant four minutes that saw them score 12 consecutive points. Even though the Bullets hit a couple of buckets before three quarter-time, the Phoenix were still in control up 24.

Once more the start to the quarter saw South East Melbourne make its mark with another 10-2 run to see the lead balloon to 34, and it got to 35 late with an Adnam three ball before at least Brisbane finished with the final six points.

The Phoenix now have a full week to prepare to host the bottom placed Cairns Taipans next Saturday while the Bullets host Melbourne United on Monday in a must-win affair.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 19

BRISBANE BULLETS 66 (Drmic 20, Patterson 11)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 95 (Wetzell 18, Adnam 16, Creek 12, Te Rangi 12) 

BOX SCORE