R14 Preview: SE Melbourne Phoenix vs Adelaide 36ers

When: 5.30pm (AEDT), Saturday 17 April

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Broadcast: SBS Viceland; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
SE Melbourne 96 (Moore 23, Wetzell 22, Adnam 13, Gliddon 13) d Adelaide 89 (Paul 20, Giddey 15, Johnson 15) OT, Round 10, John Cain Arena

This was a clinical offensive performance from Adelaide, leading from the first minute as six 36ers scored in double figures and they shot the ball at 52 per cent from the field and 61 per cent from two-point range. Of course, the clinicians checked out with 100 seconds to play after a Brandon Paul triple put the Sixers ahead by seven. From there, SE Melbourne scored seven unanswered points in under a minute to force overtime, where Izayah Le’afa and Kyle Adnam completed the big steal with a combined 7 points and 3 assists in the extra period.


The now
That game sums up the could’ve, should’ve, would’ve season the 36ers are experiencing, having lost their past six single-figure games dating back to their Round 6 win over the Phoenix. Since then they are 3-9 overall to fall three games out of the playoff picture. Their staggering win over Perth gave hope a resurgence is on the cards, but that was built on a remarkable long-range shooting performance that isn’t repeatable night after night.

SE Melbourne are the NBL’s deadliest three-point shooting team – first in percentage and second in makes – but they died by that sword defensively on Thursday, Sydney shooting 13-of-29 to continue a recent trend of the Phoenix being exploited from deep. That loss means Simon Mitchell’s men have a two-game buffer inside the top four, and with nine of their next 11 games against Brisbane, NZ and Cairns, their destiny is in their hands.

The stats

 - Phoenix opponents have hit 43 per cent from the arc in their past three games. Prior to that they had allowed just 34 per cent to rank third in defensive three-point percentage, after sitting last in that category in their inaugural year

 - SE Melbourne are 12-5 when they score 89 or more, while the 36ers are 6-2 when they hold opponents below that score

 - Adelaide have shot the ball at 51 per cent in four games against the Phoenix, their best conversion against any side. SE Melbourne have shot 43 per cent against the Sixers, their lowest clip this season

 - The Phoenix and 36ers rank first and second respectively in true shooting percentage, with SE Melbourne ranking first for field-goal percentage and three-point conversion, and fourth in free-throw accuracy


The key men

Daniel Johnson – The evergreen DJ is in a rich vein of offensive form, averaging 26.7 points at 59 per cent, 10-of-17 from the arc and 9.7 rebounds, 3 o-boards and 2.3 assists over the past three games. It’s his defence that will be critical in Melbourne, however, with Yanni Wetzell and Ben Moore’s execution of ball-screens a key to the Phoenix offence, and you can be sure Le’afa, Keifer Sykes and Kyle Adnam will put DJ in that action time and again.

Izayah Le’afa – In Adelaide’s past five wins, Josh Giddey has averaged 8.8 assists to 3 turnovers, and when he shoots 50 per cent or better from outside, Adelaide are 4-2 compared to 5-9 on his less accurate days. In other words, disrupting Giddey is a good recipe for success, and Le’afa is a development player by name, disruptive force by nature. He’s coming off a career-high 29 points in Sydney, so expect him in attack mode at both ends.

https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1382652081853526021


The quotes

For most of the past five weeks the Phoenix had been the hunter, the mobility of Wetzell and Moore in the middle, the speed of Mitch Creek at the four-spot, and their two point guard line-ups giving them the ability to go after teams offensively and defensively.

That wasn’t the case in Sydney on Thursday, however, as the hungry Kings took the initiative and owned the tempo.

“I thought outside of Izayah our backcourt was pretty poor on the night,” coach Mitchell said.  

“It wasn’t a strength of ours at all. I feel like we kicked the ball around the gym a little, some unnecessary turnovers which led to buckets going the other way.”

The Phoenix have had contributors all over the floor, and have dished dimes like they’ve been going out of fashion, but they lost their composure against the Kings’ aggression.

“I thought we tried to fight the hard shows way too often, whereas last time we got rid of the ball early and sliced it to death, I don’t know why we went away from what was working but we did,” Mitchell said.

“I think the majority of our worries were at the defensive end tonight and that’s attention to detail.”

Last year’s debut season went south for SE Melbourne because they couldn’t defend at NBL level. This year they’ve made good strides in that area, but Sydney showed there is still plenty of work to do, shooting 55 per cent from the field and racking up 28 points in the first and third quarters.

https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1382650075797549062


“For us, we can’t have those breakdowns and those let-ups,” Mitchell said.

“It wasn’t like one or two possessions, it was like a four-minute period where we were really disappointing. If you string a couple of bad possessions together at each end the game can get out of hand very quickly.

“The guys are aware of that, we’re not ahead of ourselves.”

They are still ahead of the chasing pack, having won seven of their past 10 games, and Le’afa wasn’t about to let one game suck the spirit out of arguably the NBL’s most free-spirited team.

“All the guys in the locker room are having fun right now, tonight wasn’t the night but we've got a game Saturday so we’re looking forward to the next challenge,” he said.

After toppling Illawarra and Perth in convincing fashion to resuscitate their playoff hopes, Adelaide were looking forward to their next challenge in Cairns.

“The last two have been good. We've just been trying to stick to a process these last three weeks, trying to get out of the losing streak, so we’ve gone back to some basics, we've asked a for a level of understanding and commitment from the guys and they’ve met it,” coach Conner Henry said.

“They’ve really worked hard each day when we've had time to train, and we've gone back to that – get the ball through hands, trust the process, understand the scout and have a good time doing it.

“We’re not looking past anybody, we’re just focused on our work, recovery tomorrow, getting into training and starting to prepare for Cairns.”

https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1382292308402401286


After falling to the Taipans in heartbreaking fashion – with a game-tying trifecta from Jack McVeigh off the mark – the tune had changed.

“It really shouldn’t have ever come to that point, and that’s the disappointing thing,” Henry said.

“We got ahead of ourselves coming in, we got away from doing a lot of things that we did against Illawarra and Perth, namely we didn’t move the basketball and build pressure on the defensive end and play easy basketball.

“We had a stretch there in the second quarter when we increased the lead substantially, where it was just easy basketball, got it through hands and found the open man, and that makes the defensive side of the ball a lot easier.”

That’s exactly what Mitchell wants from the Phoenix as they look to get back on the winner’s list and take care of the Sixers.

“We've just got to use it as an opportunity to get better on both sides of the ball,” he said.

“I thought we took a little step back on the defensive side tonight, but that’s going to happen from game-to-game.

“We’re coming from a long way back in the pack on that side of the ball, but I feel like we’re inching our way in the right direction, and hopefully by the end of the year we’re up amongst the better teams in the league.”