The defensive anchor behind Phoenix's shooting spree

On a night when the South East Melbourne Phoenix found their shooting range, their most important piece might well have been doing all his work around the basket.

That was, of course, French big man Yannis Morin, who is giving coach Josh King just what he was hoping for.

For good reason, what the Phoenix did at the offensive end on Saturday night at John Cain Arena against the Adelaide 36ers will become the talking point of the eventual 108-94 victory.

After all, they made their first 10 shots, including seven from beyond the arc, to put up 42 points in the first quarter on 16/21 shooting from the field and 10/12 from the outside.

They were leading by 29 at half-time with 72 points to their names, on 27/39 shooting at 69 per cent and 13/20 from deep too.

But defensively, thanks to their French centre, is where it all started for coach King, and that fuelled what they were able to do offensively.

Morin set the tone on the very first possession when guarding Adelaide’s Nick Rakocevic, and his impact in the win was as significant as anyone with 9 points, 8 rebounds (3 offensive), 4 assists, two steals and 2 blocks in 25 minutes.

“Yannis got a deflection on the first play of the game when they tried to post Rak up, and he deflected the ball out of bounds, and almost forced the turnover,” King said.

“That’s setting the tone for the entire game and just letting the other team know that it’s not going to be easy if you’re going to beat us.

“That’s a huge play that no one will talk about, but that is setting the tone for our entire team, and that stuff is contagious.

“We need more of it, and we don’t need him to be the only one, and he’s not the only one, but those small wins end up being big wins.”

His teammate D’Shawn Schwartz was one Phoenix player to catch fire early with 10 points on 2/2 three-point shooting in the first quarter on his way to 20 points on 3/6.

He too credited the defence of Morin and is thankful for making sure he also gets safely to their home games at John Cain Arena.

“First of all, he gives me a ride to the games every day, so I like him for that, but he does a good job of really just imposing his will,” Schwartz said.

“He gets his hands on a lot of basketballs, and he plays hard.

“He plays hard when he’s in there, especially against these bigs that like to rim run in this league, so him providing some protection and getting back is so important.

“He had a great dunk tonight too that brought a lot of energy and fire to our bench and our team. I love what he’s doing out there.”

The 4-5 Phoenix next play Tasmania at John Cain Arena on Sunday, November 1 from 3pm AEDT, live on ESPN.