High hopes in the Heartland

The South East Melbourne Phoenix face a big task on Saturday night when they host Adelaide and look to cement their place in the top six.

Former NBL MVP Derek Rucker believes they are on track to achieve that result due to their ability to get it done defensively under coach Josh King.

“They are a top four defensive team in the league right now,” Rucker said on NBL Now.

“He (King) has certainly solidified them on that end.

“It’s kind of proved a lot of doubters incorrect, because all along we were saying that perhaps it was the personnel that they had assembled.”

The Phoenix currently sit sixth on the standings, just two wins out of the top four, which is remarkable for a team that began the season 0-5.

“Even the games that they’ve lost, they’ve had really good chances to win them,” Rucker said.

“But that game on Sunday (the Throwdown);'-l0-'- was really impressive because they were down. And we have seen South East Melbourne over the years when they get in a battle against Melbourne, that feeling on inferiority to United starts to come to the forefront and they kind of relent.”

After being down by 15 points at one stage, King’s men dug deep and managed to claw back a big win against their Melbourne rivals.

“Even when Melbourne made a late run at them, they were able to make enough plays and win that game,” Rucker said.

In the fourth quarter, it was Derrick Walton Jr who steadied the ship and came up big, with some clutch offensive plays to get the win.

“I thought he looked really good in that role,” Rucker added.

“Another big point is Jordi Hunter, who now looks like one of the best big men in the competition.

“Josh King has certainly done something on that offensive end that has totally got Jordi playing at the level that I’m sure everyone down in the Heartland had hoped for.”

The Phoenix host Adelaide in a big clash at John Cain Arena, live on ESPN on Saturday night at 8pm AEDT.