Adnam Inspires Phoenix in Opener

The South East Melbourne Phoenix might have started NBL23 shorthanded, but with a career-best night from Kyle Adnam, and Mitch Creek and Alan Williams delivering, they produced a first up 84-79 win over the Tasmania JackJumpers.

While the Phoenix led all evening at John Cain Arena, including by as much as 18 and still by seven with a minute to play, the JackJumpers kept fighting just like they did all last season. But the home team ultimately saluted by five points. 

Check out all the highlights below. 

The Phoenix opened the NBL season on Saturday night without the presence of new imports Trey Kell and Gary Browne along with Chinese sensation Zhou Qi and Boomer Ryan Broekhoff, but it didn’t deter them.

Adnam stepped up from the start with 11 points in the opening quarter while Williams was a force especially in the second quarter down low to keep them up double-figures at half-time despite the 11 points from Tasmania development player Sean Macdonald.

New JackJumpers imports Milton Doyle and Rashard Kelly had first halves to forget, but both got hot at different points in the second half to ensure it was still a dramatic finish before Mitch Creek closed it out at the foul line.

Adnam produced a career-best 30 points for the Phoenix on the back of nailing 6/9 from the three-point line and a perfect 8/8 at the charity stripe to go with four rebounds and four assists.

Creek might not have been seen in pre-season, but stepped up for 23 points and six rebounds with Williams doing his best work in the first half for 12 points and seven boards. Reuben Te Rangi added an important 10 points.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell was especially happy with the fighting effort from his team with the game on the line.

"We were a little bit out on our feet at times and we didn’t execute as well as we possibly could have, but it was great to see Kyle and Creeky make big plays down the stretch," Mitchell said. 

"It was good to see guys defend and the last two minutes were especially pretty good. We kept them under 19 points in each of the first three quarters which is a hell of an effort, and that's kind of what our goal is so that's three ticks.

"We only did that once in every game in the pre-season so to do it three times in the first regular season game I think is pretty important."

Jack McVeigh continued his form from the NBL Blitz for the JackJumpers with 20 points on 4/6 shooting from beyond the arc with Kelly adding 18 points and six boards, Doyle 13 points and six assists, and Josh Magette seven points, eight assists and three steals.

JackJumpers coach Scott Roth ultimately felt the biggest differences were sending South East Melbourne to the foul line 29 times to his team's six along with Adnam. 

"I thought it was an exciting game and you're on the road, and it's difficult to win in this league period and on the road it's even more difficult," Roth said. 

"The margin of error has to be something you are concerned about, and for us having them going to the line 29 times and 15 offensive rebounds was a factor. 

"I thought they were just more relentless and congratulations to Simon on that group. They obviously played extremely hard and Kyle Adnam was a blast to watch even though I didn’t like seeing the ball going in."

Kyle Adnam opened up the new season just like he'd been playing through the pre-season with a big three for the Phoenix and then Alan Williams went to work down low. He battled hard on the offensive glass and got a couple of strong finishes to help his new team to a 7-2 start.

Mitch Creek hit a triple to make it 10-4 before Tasmania steadied with a three ball from Matt Kenyon and then in-close finish from Jack McVeigh. 

Adnam nailed another from way downtown and a couple of buckets to Reuben Te Rangi helped the Phoenix to an eight-point lead before Scott Roth was forced to call a timeout.

Jarred Bairstow scored straight out of that but Adnam was the story of the first term and he knocked down a third three to go to 11 points and the Phoenix led 28-16 by the end of one.

South East Melbourne then blew the game open further to start the second quarter scoring eight of the first 10 points to lead 36-18.

Tasmania had to find a way to score and found a three ball from Fabijan Krslovic before Sean Macdonald capped off an 8-0 run.

Macdonald was almost the lone offensive weapon for the JackJumpers in the opening half hitting all three of his long-range attempts for 11 points, but the Phoenix had all the answers.

Williams continued to dominate inside and went into half-time with 12 points and six rebounds to help his new team lead 43-33 at the main break.

Adnam then continued to fire with the Phoenix's first eight points of the second half with two more three-pointers as the lead got back out to 13. It was soon 14 thanks to Mitch Creek as well, but then the JackJumpers got themselves back in the contest.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">MAN&#39;S ON FIRE ?<a href="https://twitter.com/KyleAdnam?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KyleAdnam</a> continues to cook at the Firepit!<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo &amp; Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/ihz0VhPzDH">https://t.co/ihz0VhPzDH</a> <a href="https://t.co/JfxmzQd7tB">pic.twitter.com/JfxmzQd7tB</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1576139858325606401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It was new imports Rashard Kelly and Milton Doyle leading the charge too, and Tasmania was down just six by three quarter-time.

Kelly scored Tasmania's first seven points of the fourth quarter to make it a one-point ball game all of a sudden.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Who had Rashard Kelly (<a href="https://twitter.com/WizKellyy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WizKellyy</a>) in the first dunk of NBL23 sweepstakes?<br><br>Congratulations. <br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo &amp; Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/A6eVcoFxO1">pic.twitter.com/A6eVcoFxO1</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1576142874365698048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

A couple of jumpers soon after from Doyle and the JackJumpers were back level, but couldn’t quite ever take the lead.

Even though the Phoenix got back up eight again after two more Adnam field goals, Tasmania kept coming and a couple more threes from McVeigh, and another from Kelly had the margin just two again with 13 seconds to play.

Creek and Adnam closed it out, though, at the free-throw line for the Phoenix after a turnover from the JackJumpers on a possession where they could have tied it up.

The JackJumpers are the only team to play twice in the opening round as they now host the Cairns Taipans on Monday night. The Phoenix are next in action on Thursday night against the Illawarra Hawks in Wollongong.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 1

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 84 (Adnam 30, Creek 23, Williams 12)

TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 79 (McVeigh 20, Kelly 18, Doyle 13)

BOX SCORE