A year on, Phoenix ready to go one step further

12 months is a long time in basketball, just ask the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

This time last year, they were facing a similar challenge, Game 3 of their Playoff Series on the road.

Ultimately, the Phoenix lost to eventual champions Illawarra in Wollongong.

Since then, the team, although keeping a similar core of Nathan Sobey, Jordi Hunter, Owen Foxwell, Angus Glover, Malique Lewis and Josh King, have reinvented themselves around their defensive identity.

While some will point to the addition of Defensive Player of the Year John Brown III and Wes Iwundu, captain Nathan Sobey believes it's because of the team’s complete buy-in.

It’s for that reason, as well as the team’s continued growth, that he believes his squad are ready to go one step further than last season and help the club qualify for its first-ever Championship Series.

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”First and foremost, we get after on the defensive end and that creates energy for us on the offensive end, so that'll be our main focus [once again on Tuesday],” Sobey said to NBL Media.

“We were a little bit different last year in terms of how we kind of approached [the game].

“[Now] we've got guys who are ready for the moment and understand the situation.

“We’re really looking forward to going over to Adelaide and [playing in] an environment that’s fully against us.

“[As a group] we understand that and know how fun it will be to compete for 40 minutes.”

The Phoenix set up this sudden-death Game 3 fixture by fighting back from as many as 18 points down to defeat Adelaide by nine points at John Cain Arena on Saturday.

One of two catalysts for that was words from coach Josh King at half-time.

“We come in [half-time], and he just stated the obvious that we weren't playing kind of the way we wanted to play, and things weren't kind of blending out the way we wanted them to,” Sobey said.

“At the same time, we weren't down by a ton. It wasn't kind of unreachable, so we just needed to come out with a lot of energy, dictate terms and put the game back on our terms.”

The other was a third-quarter eruption by Sobey, who scored 17 of his career-high 41 during that period.

“I just took the shots as they came and then obviously got going a little bit,” he said.

“[From there, I was able to] search for a few more and then, as a group, we kind of got rolling.

“That's when we really got in control of the game and got it back on our terms, being able to start playing the way we wanted to play for the second half.”

As impressive as their second-half performance was, Sobey downplayed whether it carried any advantage heading into Tuesday’s do-or-die clash.

“It's a whole new game. They're at home now and are probably coming in refreshed as well,” he said.

“[The fact] they're back in their home environment [isn’t lost on us].

“But were also aware we haven't played well as a group for 40 minutes this whole series, so we have an understanding that we're capable of more.

“It all starts with us making everything as difficult as possible and getting after it on the defensive end.

“If we put all our eggs in that basket and spend our energy on that end of the floor, we know it translates to positives on the other end.

“If we come in with the right mindset and play the way we think we can play, know we'll be all right.”

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If they do secure victory at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Tuesday, Sobey’s team will create history as the first Phoenix side to reach the Championship Series in their seven-year existence.

“Obviously, that would be great, but at the same time, we’re just focused on what we've got to do in the next 24 hours to get ready for the game,” he said.

“That’s followed by the 40 minutes of the game, which I know we’re ready for.”

Game 3 tips off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.