Preview: South East Melbourne vs Cairns - Round 6, NBL24

Friday, November 3, 2023

Both the Phoenix and Taipans have already lost in Round 6. Who can bounce back with a win?

Sunday, November 5 at 2pm AEDT | John Cain Arena

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South East Melbourne rose as high as second on the ladder off the back of a four-game win streak, but has dropped to fifth following its Thursday night defeat to Brisbane.

Gorjok Gak played just three minutes of the loss and exited the game due to a calf complaint, the severity of which has not yet been revealed by the club.

Taran Armstrong and Tahjere McCall both returned for Cairns’ defeat to the Breakers, however McCall did not hit the floor after meeting the team in New Zealand following the birth of his child.

South East Melbourne
92-108 loss to Brisbane
103-100 win over New Zealand
96-83 win over Brisbane

Cairns
81-91 loss to New Zealand
87-80 win over Sydney
83-84 loss to Illawarra

Alan Williams
With the likelihood that Gorjok Gak will miss Sunday’s game, star center Alan Williams’ role for the Phoenix just got far more important – and he can’t afford to find himself in foul trouble like he did last time out against the Bullets.

Despite missing the early part of the season due to a knee complaint, Williams is currently one of the front-runners for the league’s MVP award, and prior to Thursday’s loss the Phoenix, hadn’t lost a game he had played in this season.

He played fewer than 20 minutes against the Bullets but still ended with 14 points, seven boards and four assists, and while Cairns’ crop of bigs don’t possess the sheer size of Tyrell Harrison, Rocco Zikarsky and Aron Baynes, they can still do some serious damage if the Phoenix are undermanned at that position.

“Every one of his fouls is really important for the Phoenix because he’s not a guy who is coming off the bench as an enforcer saying ‘I’ve got five fouls to throw around, here I come’, he’s an MVP level player and bigs in this league can get into foul trouble if they’re not careful. I think he needs to be smarter than that. Once he got into foul trouble the Gak injury doubled down on South East Melbourne’s troubles.” – Liam Santamaria on NBL Now.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">#1 | Alan Williams ?<a href="https://twitter.com/alantwilliams?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alantwilliams</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SEMelbPhoenix</a> <a href="https://t.co/vbvN6YVctO">pic.twitter.com/vbvN6YVctO</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1716315666897367122?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Taran Armstrong
There have been plenty of false starts for Taran Armstrong in his debut NBL campaign, and it may have taken until Round 6, but the exciting young guard has finally seen the NBL floor.

His eight assists against the Washington Wizards on the Taipans’ NBLxNBA tour set tongues wagging, but he reaggravated a foot injury in the process and was forced to sit out until Friday’s loss to New Zealand.

His seven points, one assist and three turnovers don’t leap off the page, but Armstrong is one of Australia’s most highly-rated basketball talents, and when the Taipans start to get bodies like Tahjere McCall and Patrick Miller back on the floor, he could emerge as one of the best young players in the competition – he just needs to find his feet first.

“The opportunity arose to start him and throw him in the deep end because we knew Pat was out this weekend and Tahj didn’t pull up great from the flight, so there was no point trying to risk him. It was a good opportunity for Taran to find his feet, find his way and play with his teammates ... he naturally will critique himself harder than anyone else ... he’s only going to get better.” – Adam Forde following the loss to New Zealand.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is my favorite stuff that Taran Armstrong does. Gets the ball on the re-set after the offensive rebound and he's already processing what's going on in front of him. He sees how far off Jonah Antonio's man is playing him, anticipates the confusion between Perth defenders as… <a href="https://t.co/k25KdF9eZl">pic.twitter.com/k25KdF9eZl</a></p>— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sam_Vecenie/status/1706580962770141695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 26, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mitch Creek vs Lat Mayen
Mitch Creek is one of the most high-level talents in the NBL. He came third in the competition’s MVP voting last season, he’s played in the NBA and for the Boomers, and he’s been the leader of the Phoenix since day one.

Why then has he suddenly started to struggle from the free throw line?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Captain Creek ? <br><br>? Watch on ESPN ?? Kayo | Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/Wo7EzA0ubB">pic.twitter.com/Wo7EzA0ubB</a></p>— South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1720018073561002449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

As a team the Phoenix left 15 points on the floor from missed free throws, and seven of those were attributed to their star man. Although he still finished with 20 points, those misses basically decided the game.

Lat Mayen will likely spend at least some time on Creek in this clash, following his good performance against the Breakers on Friday night.

Mayen jumped into the starting lineup for the injury-struck Snakes and played fewer minutes than only Bul Kuol, finishing with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

He’s a handsy, long and tough defender – almost in the mould of his teammate Kuol – and given Creek’s issues from the lines in recent weeks, something of a ‘hack-a-Creek’ strategy in the paint might well be discussed in the lead up.

South East Melbourne ranks first in the NBL for free throw attempts per game (26.7), but last for free throw percentage (69.6 per cent). If they want to establish themselves as genuine title contenders, they need to stop leaving so many points at the line.

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Ben Ayre has been South East Melbourne's best free throw shooter this season, and has connected with 87 per cent of his looks from the line (20 of 23).