R18 Preview: SE Melbourne Phoenix vs Cairns Taipans

When: 7.30pm (AEST), Friday 14 May

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

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

The last time
South East Melbourne 86 (Gliddon 22, Te Rangi 13, Adnam 12) d Cairns 66 (Jois 12, Dufelmeier 11, King 11) - Round 15, Cairns Pop-up Arena

The Phoenix desperately needed this Round 15 win after four losses from five games, and they played like it. Less than six minutes into the contest they led 24-4 as Reuben Te Rangi ran up eight quick points. While Cairns would briefly reduce the deficit to single figures surrounding half-time, Cam Gliddon and Izayah Le’afa quickly put paid to their challenge as the Phoenix featured seven players scoring seven points or more and five with multiple dimes.

The now
Wednesday’s strong win over New Zealand means it’s not desperation stakes for South East Melbourne this time around, but it might be if they drop this one. With two of their final seven games against the cellar-dwelling Taipans, a pair of wins will put one Phoenix foot into the post-season, but a loss in either game will put them back in the dogfight for fourth. With Keifer Sykes and Ryan Broekhoff in uniform, however, they enter as warm favourites.

Normally, Cam Oliver’s brilliant form would be an ominous sign for opponents and mean Cairns are a chance to beat anyone, but Space Cam is now carving it up stateside for the Rockets. Scoring points has been like pulling teeth for the Snakes since their superstar big man departed, their only win a defensive shutdown of the Breakers to the tune of 68 points, and they must find answers for Sykes, Broekhoff, Mitch Creek and co to prevail on Friday.

The stats

 - In Oliver’s final three games, Cairns averaged 85ppg at 46 per cent from the field. In four games since they’ve managed 73.8ppg at 40 per cent

 - In their past three games, the Taipans have received 36.7ppg from their bench. Over the opening 25 games that number was just 21ppg

 - The Phoenix are 12-4 when they score 90 points or more in regulation, compared to 3-10 when they don’t. Cairns have kept teams below that mark in eight of their past 11 games, but not in their past two

 - SE Melbourne are 14-4 when they hold opponents below 90 points, but 1-10 when they don’t. The Taipans have reached that mark just once in their past 15 games

The key men

Majok Deng – Wondering why Cairns’ bench has gone from offensively impotent to contributing almost half their score? The answer is mostly Deng. There was no danger of the super-sub easing his way back into the action after his 10-week lay-off, instead producing 34 points and 14 boards in 47 minutes, shooting 52 per cent from the field and 4/8 from deep. If Cairns are to post a winning score they’ll need to find Deng shots early and often.

Keifer Sykes – Kyle Adnam has had a breakout season, and Izayah Le’afa has shown he’s a long-term NBL player, but neither of them is Keifer. The pint-sized PG showed his match-winning worth against the Breakers, scoring 21 points in 21 minutes and making fourth-quarter plays out of nothing. If he is in attack mode again he makes Scott Machado work at both ends, and a tired Scotty has made just 12/46 from the floor in his past four games.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Best of Keifer <a href="https://t.co/m1TZM25y3Z">pic.twitter.com/m1TZM25y3Z</a></p>&mdash; South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1392675540293754881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The quotes

It was a mid-season masterpiece from New Zealand coach Dan Shamir, weary of his giant centre being whistled for fouls game after game, he launched a public PR campaign.

It worked. Colton Iverson, who had fouled out in the previous three games, has only picked up four fouls in two of the following 13 outings as the Breakers have made a gallant but likely unsuccessful run at the post-season.

For Cairns monster Nate Jawai, the fact his enormous frame seems impervious to contact leaves him short of free-throw attempts, and he decided to channel his inner-Shamir after last round’s close loss to Brisbane.

“I think without getting enough calls in the first three quarters I just continued to just play and not worry about it, to be more aggressive,” he said.

“My mindset was to be stronger than I was in the first three quarters. I came out and was just motivated because nothing was happening on our side it felt like.

“I was able to get myself in a comfortable situation where I was able to get a bucket or a good look, being aggressive kind of got me going.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JAWAI JAM ?<br><br>Nate going upstairs in game 1?5?0? for the Snakes ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/92jJDU33yP">pic.twitter.com/92jJDU33yP</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1385533612615864326?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Jawai’s performance was outstanding, 20 points at 50 per cent, with the Snakes +3 in his 23 minutes on court.

Bridging three-quarter-time, the former Raptor had 11 points in six minutes as Cairns closed a 16-point deficit to five and threatened a mighty boilover.

“It was big time tonight. He gave us an opportunity in this game after starting out poorly as a group defensively, we were able to go through him,” coach Mike Kelly said.

“When he’s been out there throughout the season we've played through him a lot, and to see him step up and deliver tonight, cut the gap to five points a couple of times, it’s just great to see him in attack mode, and also ready to kick that ball out when other guys are ready to shoot or he gets doubled.

“I like to see it and want to see from all our guys, but from Nate I want to demand it at the defensive end, because at the offensive end we know he can really dominate the post.”

Where Cairns have been getting improved defence is rookie duo Tad Dufelmeier and Mojave King.

“Tad has played super hard since he’s been in and super aggressive,” Kelly said.

“Mojave is continuing to grow as the season goes on and finding his way defensively is where I think a lot of his growth is going to come, because he’s got such great gifts there to be able to guard people and for being 18-years old he is very strong and athletic, obviously.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mojave King doing grown man things ? ? ? ? <a href="https://t.co/M2KftQsct0">pic.twitter.com/M2KftQsct0</a></p>&mdash; Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1370301834485669889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

South East Melbourne are trying to find their defensive mojo as they look to lock in third spot, and coach Simon Mitchell liked what he saw in the full-court work of Keifer Sykes and Izayah Le’afa in the win over New Zealand.

“It’s nice to have Keifer back driving the ship, that’s important for us moving forward, not just him leading us down the stretch but the defensive work he does, it’s very important for our success,” Mitchell said.

“Knowing that we've got some healthy guys in that backcourt, having Keifer back healthy, having Zay on the floor, we know we can get up the floor with those guys and create a little havoc.

“We need to be that club that grows into being a team that feeds of the energy we produce at the defensive end and I think we’ve been fairly poor defensively the past four weeks.

“We’ve tried to add energy by getting up the floor but we’re watching the ball sail over our heads and go in for lay-ups.

“We've been trying to manufacture energy for this group through the grind, getting through the issues we've had to get through health wise.

“Tonight we had a few extras bodies, we were able to get up the floor a bit more and we had success with it.”

At the offensive end, having Sykes, Le’afa and Kyle Adnam who can all create shots and driving lanes for Ryan Broekhoff, Mitch Creek, Reuben Te Rangi, Ben Moore, Cam Gliddon and Yanni Wetzell is a scary proposition for opponents if the Phoenix can get it to click.

“It’s a luxury to have, but I feel like the head of the snake has been missing for a while,” Mitchell said.

“For us to make a run, for us to finish with some momentum, and for us if we make the playoffs to make a splash, we need Keifer playing at a really high level.”