R20 Preview: Cairns Taipans v South East Melbourne Phoenix

When: 7.30pm (AEST), Friday 28 May

Where: Cairns Pop-Up Arena

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

The last time
South East Melbourne 106 (Creek 20, Sykes 16, Te Rangi 14) d Cairns 77 (Djeric 17, Jawai 10, Machado 9, Deng 9) – Round 18, John Cain Arena, Melbourne

It was only a couple of weeks ago since the Phoenix hammered the Taipans in Melbourne, and South East Melbourne has been able to build on that momentum while Cairns has been vastly more competitive since as well.

That 29-point win for the Phoenix was their second win in succession and they have now turned that into a four-game winning run to have all but locked in a playoff position in just the second season in franchise history.

For the Taipans, it was part of a losing slide that has now stretched to eight games but they have responded since that performance and they needed to.

There was a lot to like from the all-round performance from the Phoenix in that last meeting. Six players reached double figures and the only players on the entire bench to not score were veteran Adam Gibson and Izayah Le'Afa. 

Mitch Creek was perhaps the most influential as he battles to find his best form, notching up 20 points, two rebounds and three assists. Reuben Te Rangi was the sparkplug to start the third quarter blitz with 14 points, six rebounds and two assists while Yanni Wetzell, Cam Gliddon and Ben Moore all joined the party.

There was little to be found when sifting through the rubble for the Taipans. Mirko Djeric top-scored with 17 but he was launching grenades while his side trailed by over 30. Jawai had 10 points under extreme pressure, but no other Taipan could manage double figures.

 

The now

This game was originally scheduled for Saturday in Melbourne but has been moved to Cairns on Friday, and that could give the Snakes a real sniff of an upset and to snap their losing run.

The Taipans had been expecting Wednesday night's game at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena against the Brisbane Bullets to be their last at home of the season, but now they will host the Phoenix on Friday and Melbourne United on Monday in front of their home fans.

While the Snakes are now on an eight-game losing streak coming into Friday night, their form has been significantly better since their 29-point loss to the Phoenix in Melbourne a fortnight ago.

They put in a couple of competitive efforts at home and away to the Perth Wildcats, they battled hard in Wollongong against the Illawarra Hawks and then had a chance to tie scores up late in the game on Wednesday at home to the Bullets.

With Nate Jawai tough to stop down low, Mojave King finding his best form of the season, Scott Machado back to his best running the show and Tad Dufelmeier, Mirko Djeric, Jordan Ngatai, Majok Deng, George Blagojevic and Venky Jois all contributing, it's a team the Phoenix can't sleep on.

South East Melbourne arrives in Cairns on their own four-game winning streak but the change in schedule to now jump on a plane to head to Far North Queensland when they had been expecting a home game is a little spanner in the works.

However, the Phoenix haven’t played since beating the Bullets on Saturday which saw them improve to that four-game winning streak and to an 18-14 record on the season to remain in third position.

With four matches to go, that third position is certainly South East Melbourne's to lose and even should they finish on the same record as one of the teams now beneath them, they should still claim that third position thanks to their superior percentage.

The other bonus for the Phoenix right now is that they are at full strength with everybody up and firing for the first real time this season. Keifer Sykes is back and proving why he's among the league's best offensive and defensive players while Mitch Creek continues to be a near on unstoppable force. 

Then you have Yanni Wetzell and Ben Moore down low, and role players Cam Gliddon, Reuben Te Rangi, Ryan Broekhoff, Kyle Adnam, Adam Gibson and Izaya Le'Afa all helping put together a team not only that's playoff bound, but that could really push for a championship.

 

The stats

- Last time these teams played, the 29-point win for the Phoenix was the biggest defeat the Taipans have suffered all season. At one point, South East Melbourne led by 36 points which is the biggest lead they have ever held in any of their 60 NBL matches.

- The Phoenix are the highest scoring team in the league putting up 90.0 points a game while the Taipans are the lowest scoring team at 81.6 points.

- The Phoenix are attempting to win five consecutive matches for the first time. Their four-game winning streak has seen them win at an average of 19.5 points a game while putting up 96.5 points themselves and conceding just 77.0.

 

The key men

Scott Machado – He's going to find the going tough with Keifer Sykes up in his grill the entire game, but right now the runner-up MVP and All-First NBL Team member from last season is right back to some of his best form. It has been a challenging season for Machado and the Taipans, but over his last four games he's delivering 17.0 points, 8.0 assists and 4.3 rebounds while shooting 23/53 from the floor at 44 per cent and 9/22 at 41 per cent from downtown. Another strong performance from him and the Taipans could very well snap their losing slide.

Keifer Sykes – It's no coincidence that the Phoenix's impressive form of late has coincided with his return to the line-up. Not only is he putting up impressive offensively numbers with 18.3 points and 4.8 assists over this current four-game winning streak, but his defence has been sensational. That was most evidenced against Nathan Sobey and the Brisbane Bullets last Saturday, but if he can keep scoring and distributing on Friday against Cairns, and shut down Scott Machado in the process, the Phoenix will be tough to beat.

 

The quotes

Taipans coach Mike Kelly has been grateful that Cairns was able to come up with the Pop-Up Arena for this season as a home base with the redevelopments happening at the Convention Centre, and he's happy to now get two more unexpected home games to look forward to. 

"This has been great, great to be able to have a place to play in Cairns and call it home even if it is short lived. We haven’t won a lot of games here so I won't miss that but the fans have embraced it, we had our home floor down there and it has felt like home," Kelly said.

"I know everyone in Australia wants no more cases so I hope everything goes in the right direction down in Melbourne, but for us it's kind of nice that we get to sleep in our own beds a couple more nights and play a couple more games in our own place."

Much of the talk coming out of Wednesday's game for the Taipans against the Bullets was the career-best showing of Mojave King, and his coach was as impressed as anybody.

"He came out ready and was really good. It was great to see him knock down shots and attack the rim, he did a great job. It's really a result of him getting open in what we're doing," Kelly said.

"We'll occasionally run something to get Mo into a position to score whether it's attacking the basket or feeding Nate. He seems to space out well then and they seem to have something going there for Nate to get the ball back out to him. This is Mo getting better and playing 29 minutes, and taking the opportunity and making shots. 

"It's not surprising that he got shots and that he knocked them down, it's just the most he's played and shot the ball, and shot the ball well. The other end he's making a progression as well to learn to defend and knowing the personnel on the other side. It's about stepping up to be physical defensively and it's been a great progression to watch, and he'll keep getting better like that."

Cairns' Next Star Mojave King put all of his talents on show against the Bullets on Wednesday night finishing with 25 points while shooting 9/15 from the field and 4/9 from three-point territory.

He enjoyed the experience and wants to just keep on building whatever the future holds.

"I felt good. I was just trying to bring a lot of energy, run the lanes super hard and try to make the right plays offensively," King said. 

"Then my teammates were just finding me and thankfully I was able to knock down a few shots and get out and thrown down a few dunks as well. It was good to give the team a bit of a boost as well. I'm not sure what my plans are yet, but I'm just going to keep working as hard as I can to be the best player I can be."

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell couldn’t be more proud of the way his group has overcome plenty of adversity in a number of areas right throughout this season to now have their playoff destiny in their own hands coming into the final two rounds.

"I'm really proud of the guys. We've had a rough year but we keep just putting our head down and busting through everything thrown at us. Just to get this little bit of a run we've had now the last two weeks with our guys, there's always been that belief within the group," Mitchell said.

"Belief outside the group has wavered at times but not within the group. We have to go through some soul searching when we were dropping some games and it wasn’t just the fact that we were dropping games, it was more the way we were going about it. 

"We still haven’t put our finger on it other than we were buggered, physically and mentally. We weren’t able to get up and down at training, and there were guys who were just out and other guys just holding on. We've turned the corner on that and just have to keep building."

Having had just the two games over the last two weeks has come at a welcome time for Mitchell and the Phoenix as well especially with the knowledge that starting from Friday night, they have a full on schedule that's likely to continue into the playoffs.

"Any time you can get some rest into your group you have to take advantage of it and it did give us some practice sessions. We went through probably a week there with nothing more than some light Shootarounds so that was good to have a whole week to go back to the drawing board and just prepare for one opponent specifically," Mitchell said. 

"Now we've had a bit of time off again to get ready for Cairns. We'll make sure guys get their rest because it's nice to have everybody back, but we still have to manage some guys and get ready for this Cairns game.

"Then we have a pretty hellacious ride after that so we have to make sure we are pretty on point with our heath. It's kind of scary thinking about what lies ahead some of the things I'm hearing in regards to dates with finals if we are fortunate to make it after the road trips we have in that final round. Hopefully smart decisions are made that enable us if we are fortunate enough to make the finals to be able to give our best."

South East Melbourne rookie centre Yanni Wetzell has been huge for the Phoenix this season especially with Dane Pineau having been ruled out for the rest of #NBL21. He continues to deliver big time in that starting five spot and he's enjoying especially the chemistry he's building with Keifer Sykes and Mitch Creek.

"Those guys are massive and they just bring so much attention onto themselves from help defenders so it leaves me open in some of those spots," Wetzell said.

"Keifer's so quick and Mich is so aggressive downhill that he attracts that second and third help defenders. That leaves me open on those short corners in those dunking spots for the catches. As we play more and more together, that seems to be happening more and more which is nice."