King's full confidence in Phoenix

Josh King couldn’t be more impressed with how his South East Melbourne Phoenix players have conducted themselves since his arrival, and that's why he has full confidence in them turning things around in Perth on Tuesday night.

The Phoenix lost their first five games of the season with Mike Kelly as coach, before Sam Mackinnon took over on an interim basis for three games, with two wins. That's when King arrived to be part of the NBL for the first time.

That had King in charge for the last 21 games of the regular season leading the Phoenix to win 14 of those to be locked into fourth position, and earning a double chance in the Play-In Tournament even before Saturday night's Throwdown.

The Phoenix had a chance by winning that game big to avoid having to go to Perth for a fourth time in NBL25. They were leading by 12 points early in the second half, but Melbourne United were playing to stay second and ended up prevailing 103-93.

But still, South East Melbourne has done a stunning job to turn things around with the same playing group from being 0-5 to finish at 16-13, to end up in fourth spot and give themselves two chances to reach a playoff series after the FIBA window against Melbourne.

"I'm really pleased and proud of our team, my team – South East Melbourne. We've finished fourth in the regular season and it's a really big accomplishment from where they've come from," King said.

"I'm super proud of them, it's a great regular season and now it's time for the playoffs and it's a new season for everybody. These guys have done an unbelievable job and I don’t think they get enough credit for the job they've done this year.

"They've dug themselves out of a huge whole and they are fun to be around every single day. We've had success because they support each other and they cheer for each other day in and day out, and they push each other."

The Phoenix have been without championship winning point guard and Larry Sengstock Medallist Derrick Walton Jr for the last seven games.

Just in that back court it's been Owen Foxwell, Ben Ayre and Angus Glover stepping up, but it's the entire group that King is proud of, to be now going into post-season battle beginning with the first Play-In Game in Perth against the Wildcats.

King's first two visits to Perth for losses weren’t nights he would like to remember. The Wildcats attempting 51 free throws to his team's 20 across that 80 minutes a definite talking point, but those two games were at RAC Arena.

Tuesday night's match up will take place at the former Challenge Stadium, now the Perth High Performance Centre. While the Phoenix will have to deal with a raucous 4500-strong Red Army, it’s a court that neither team is familiar with.

Either way, King is just looking forward to heading into battle with this Phoenix team knowing they can book in a playoff Throwdown series, or worst case scenario getting to host either Sydney or Adelaide with a second chance to get through.

"These guys have been fighting all year long, they're battle tested and now it's playoff basketball and that's different," King said.

"We're going to go on the road and we're going to play wherever the game is being played in a hostile environment against a really good basketball team who is playing well right now.

"We know what we're up against, it's not going to be easy but it's not supposed to be and it's why it's the playoffs. It's the best of the best and we deserve to be there, and I know we're going to play to the best of our ability on Tuesday."

From the first moment King laid eyes on his South East Melbourne playing group he had enormous confidence in them. That's only continued to grow as he knows they are capable of something special in this finals series.

"Of course I've got confidence in my group. Is it going to easy? No, but everybody has seen that when we play our best basketball we can beat everybody, and we have," King said.

"But you have to play well and we can't think we're going to play well for 36 minutes and win playoff games. We have to stay concentrated and disciplined, and do all the little things to win games on the road especially in the playoffs."