R3 Preview: Melbourne United vs SE Melbourne Phoenix

Sunday, January 31, 2021

It's the first Throwdown of NBL21, as the red hot Keifer Sykes and Mitch Creek take on the terrific trio of Chris Goulding, Scotty Hopson and Jock Landale.

When: 3pm (AEDT), Sunday 31 January

Where: Bendigo Basketball Stadium

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

The last time
Melbourne 109 (Goulding 28, Long 21, Trimble 20) d SE Melbourne 90 (Madgen 23, Wesley 20, Roberson 13), Round 20, Melbourne Arena

This was the NBL20 version of Melbourne United at its best. Playing for what had seemed a most unlikely playoff spot, they jumped out to a 20-4 lead as Chris Goulding and Dave Barlow combined for their first 16 points. After a spirited Phoenix display in the middle quarters had their deficit back to six early in the final period, United unleashed a 22-6 burst behind 15 points from Shawn Long to lock in a semi-final date with the Kings.

The now
This year’s version of the Phoenix has shown already they have no interest in being the defensive revolving door of their predecessor. Keifer Sykes’ monumental late-game breakdown aside, SE Melbourne looked the defensive part in Perth, holding the Cats to 44 per cent shooting, 42 points in the paint and forcing 13 turnovers. There are still concerns on their defensive glass, and that’s something they’ll need to fix against United.

Melbourne have dominated the d-boards in their two wins to open the season, their ability to force tough shots without getting into regular rotations a feature of their play. They are also number one in the league at forcing turnovers – both in terms of whole numbers and percentage – and have been expert at converting those to points, thanks to the likes of Shea Ili, Mitch McCarron and Yudai Baba.

The stats
- Melbourne have committed only six less turnovers than their opposition, but lead points from turnovers by a significant 39-22. Seven players are averaging at least 1 steal per game

- United have pulled in 79 per cent of their defensive boards, and lead second chance points 29-18 across their two games

- SE Melbourne are grabbing a league-low 24.8 d-boards per game, accounting for just 65 per cent of rebounds at their defensive end, compared to 70 per cent by their opposition

- Last season, the Phoenix defence leaked 98.6ppg, allowing 10.6 made triples at a league-high 38 per cent. So far in NBL21 they concede just 87.3ppg in regulation, allowing an NBL-low 6.2 threes at 30 per cent

The key players
Shea Ili – Sykes is a huge key to the Phoenix generating open-court opportunities and creating half-court scores. In their two wins he has averaged 21.5 points, 7.5 assists and 2.5 steals, and Friday night in Perth he showed all his big-game European experience to keep SE Melbourne’s offence ticking. Enter Ili. With Damian Martin retired the Kiwi buzzsaw is the NBL’s best at taking opposition guards away from their preferred spots and denying them touches at key moments – he will need to do both to slow down Sykes.

Mitch Creek – Has there ever been a more dangerous trailer in the NBL? Maybe Tony Ronaldson’s three-ball in the 90s with the SE Melbourne Magic, but he certainly couldn’t slice defences up from the trail position like Creek. The challenge for coach Simon Mitchell and the Phoenix is to replicate that trail position more often in their half-court sets so they can get more out of Creek late in the shot clock, rather than getting bursts from their superstar when his team’s defence is generating run-out opportunities.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Creeky to the rack ?<br><br>Skipper's heating up late in the first half. <a href="https://t.co/AOdiAUN2jY">pic.twitter.com/AOdiAUN2jY</a></p>— South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1355111883343187968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The quotes
It’s probably fair to say Keifer Sykes is excited by the challenge of playing on big names like Bryce Cotton and Donald Sloan in the Hungry Jack’s NBL.

“I'm excited, that’s why I signed up here, that’s why I'm excited to come to this league,” he said after taming the Wildcats in Perth.

“It’s amazing for me, the way this schedule’s set up, we play some of the better teams early, me coming into the league I feel like I'm the new guy so I’m excited to take on those challenges.”

While Cotton was still outstanding in Friday’s clash, SE Melbourne’s defensive effort was much improved on their first match-up, and the MVP clearly wasn’t the game-defining player he was in Round 2, where his plus-minus of +19 was far-and-way the best on the floor.

Sykes was the driver of that improved defensive performance, and he’s quickly picked up the trend of the star offensive guards being spared the tough defensive assignments.

“I want to go at all the guards, they probably won’t defend me, but I want to defend them at that end and I want to play on the other end, and that’s just me testing myself,” he said.

“Just seeing how solid I can play defensively, and then don’t let that affect my offence, that was my thought process going into this game. I love going against good players.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Clutch <a href="https://twitter.com/ksykesyb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ksykesyb</a> <a href="https://t.co/w2TWaLTn0d">pic.twitter.com/w2TWaLTn0d</a></p>— South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1355128113894551553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sykes knows Melbourne have plenty of good players, and while he couldn’t quite remember Jock Landale and Chris Goulding’s names, he’s looking forward to again taking on the best.

“This is going to be a different test,” he said.

“They’ve got some guards who defend, they’ve got the big guy from the Euroleague, they got Scotty Hopson, they got the shooter.”

Landale in particular will be a target of Sykes as the chosen defender of ball-screens, after he racked up 19 points and 9 assists in Perth, executing with poise from the pick-and-roll.

“They really challenge you in a lot of areas,” United coach Dean Vickerman said.

“That’s an area with the Phoenix they put you in a lot of on-ball screen situations so I think we can continue to improve in that area.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">?THE GAME WINNER <a href="https://twitter.com/ksykesyb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ksykesyb</a> <a href="https://t.co/in33n9fkTM">pic.twitter.com/in33n9fkTM</a></p>— South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1355131513419886594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In contrast, United will likely challenge SE Melbourne on the inside, particular with Dane Pineau’s defensive expertise still on the sidelines.

In Cairns last week, Landale and Jo Lual-Acuil combined for 26 points and 18 rebounds, with Landale making a string of big plays throughout.

“When they made a run at us in the first half he came in and dropped two threes in a row, then you put him down low and let him play at the post,” Vickerman said.

“Maybe we didn’t go there enough tonight, we had Cam (Oliver) in foul trouble in the first couple of minutes, maybe we needed to explore that a bit more.

“He was 7-of-10, we've got to get that up to him having another four or five attempts in the game because he was pretty exceptional.

“He just does so many things well for this team and he’s such a competitor, we saw that in the fourth quarter.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jock 2 Jack ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandWithUs?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#StandWithUs</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/JockLandale?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JockLandale</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/5jackwhite?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@5jackwhite</a> <a href="https://t.co/JDAeqJcx0T">pic.twitter.com/JDAeqJcx0T</a></p>— Melbourne United (@MelbUnitedHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnitedHQ/status/1353639688880328704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Lual-Acuil has been a key in triggering Melbourne’s dangerous second unit in the open floor thanks to his insatiable appetite for cleaning the glass.

“That’s two games he’s come in and in around 17 minutes had double-figure rebounds,” Vickerman said.

“Him and Landale are a pretty awesome combination.”

But Vickerman will be on JLA to make his mark offensively in this game against the undersized Phoenix.

“The group’s message to him is he's one of the elite one-on-one players in this league so he’s got the green light to go ahead and attack,” Vickerman said.

That’s exactly what the Phoenix will be doing as they ride the emotional wave from their stunning Jungle win and look to lodge a surprise 3-2 start to the season.

“We have nothing to lose, people would have expected us to go 0-5 on this, so we’re excited for the challenge and I just want to see our toughness,” Sykes said.

“Quick turnaround, we don’t need to practice, we’re ready to play basketball games and win basketball games.”