R21 Preview: SE Melbourne Phoenix vs Adelaide 36ers

Friday, April 22, 2022

Mitch Creek and Daniel Johnson go head-to-head against as Adelaide look to build their winning streak, and the Phoenix look to salvage pride after falling out of the playoff race.

When: 7.30pm (AEST), Friday 22 April, 2022

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Sky Sports NZ

Who won last time?
Adelaide 100 (Johnson 22, Dech 21, Harris 11, McCarron 11) d South East Melbourne 92 (Creek 27, Munford 24, Le’afa 11) – Round 17, Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Defence was optional in Adelaide in Round 17 and late in the contest Adelaide chose to exercise that option, prevailing in a highly-entertaining games of hoops … unless you’re a Phoenix fan. South East Melbourne trailed by five midway through the final term, with their season on the line, and gave up an 18-4 run that proved once and for all they’re not playoff material.

What happened last start?

Daniel Johnson, Sunday Dech and Dusty Hannahs were the key figures in that Round 17 run, and they were at it again in Sydney last round, combining for 15 points in the final five minutes to blow the Kings away. Adelaide were +14 in the possession game and +22 on possession points as their young crew simply outworked their more-fancied opponents.

It was Groundhog Day for the Phoenix last round too, surrendering a second-half lead yet again as they leaked 32 points in the third term. SE Melbourne started the season as one of the NBL’s best defensive units, but their inability to guard in recent weeks has left them walking the ball down the floor time and again, and their offence has suffered as a result.

Who’s in form?

Xavier Munford – If there’s one shining light for Phoenix fans in recent weeks it’s Munford, who has averaged 21.3 points at 49 per cent 4.6 rebounds 4.3 assists and 2.0 steals in his past seven games, and with coach Simon Mitchell wanting more heat on the rim and less long-range heaves, his import guard has scored 40 of his past 56 points from the key or foul line.

Dusty Hannahs – When the going gets tough, Dusty gets going, racking up 43 points in 52 minutes in stunning road upsets over Perth and Sydney, pleasingly going 4/7 from distance after hitting just 2/21 in his previous eight. Hannahs has now averaged 16.4 points in his past eight games against top five teams, compared to 11.5ppg over the rest of the season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SHOT CLOCK. SHOT CLOCK. SHOT CLOCK. ?<br><br>Dusty's buzzer beater wins our Fantastic Play of the Day!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreSixers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreSixers</a> <a href="https://t.co/UXrkUkyw2u">pic.twitter.com/UXrkUkyw2u</a></p>— Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1515623605278679045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who needs to be?

Izayah Le’afa – In their past five games, the leading opposition backcourt scorer has averaged 20.4ppg against the Phoenix, who have certainly missed Keifer Sykes’ disruptive D. With Hannahs playing with gay abandon, SE Melbourne need Le’afa getting in his grill and not allowing the streaky import to get catches where he can easily use the middle on-ball.

Hyrum Harris – Hyrum will get the tough assignment on Mitch Creek, who has dominated the Sixers this season. While limiting early penetration is a key against Creek, so is engaging him at the other end, and though Harris dished just 1 assist last round, in the previous three games he’d dealt 11 – seven to Johnson – and his playmaking will be important on Friday.

Who’s statting up?

- Adelaide have a 4-5 record and are +3 in scoring in their past nine games, despite six of those being against the top six teams

- The Phoenix have led in the second half in eight of their past 10 games, but have a 2-8 record in that stretch. In those losses they are 1-7 after intermission, giving up an average of 46.3 points

- Mitch Creek has averaged 28 points at 55 per cent, 9 rebounds and 3.5 assists against Adelaide this season

- Daniel Johnson has averaged 26.5 points at 66 per cent, 9 rebounds and 3.5 assists against SE Melbourne this season

Who’s matching up?

Mitch Creek v Daniel Johnson – While DJ playing more minutes in the middle will lessen this direct one-on-one battle, you can bet this pair of buddies will still find moments to go back-and-forth. They duked it out for 60 combined points at 71 per cent in the first meeting of the season, then backed that up with 49 points at 50 per cent in the Round 17 re-match.

They're both still in good form too, despite both teams now being out of playoff contention. Johnson has produced 19.8 points, 8.4 rebounds and 3 assists in his past five games, while Creek has overcome South East Melbourne’s struggles to deliver 22.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.6 dimes in his past five. Who will win shootout number three and deliver their team victory?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">? Creek with the two hand slam! ?<br><br>? Tune in live and free on <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10Peachau</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KayoSports</a> Freebies <a href="https://t.co/wX61C0ykMD">pic.twitter.com/wX61C0ykMD</a></p>— South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1515538439671738368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s talking the talk?

Surprised by Dusty Hannahs’ late-season form? You shouldn’t be, this is a man who across a professional journey of ups and downs has not forgotten why he plays the game.

“Playing basketball’s what I love to do, I'm blessed to be able to do it and get paid at 28 years old, I hope to keep doing it for the next seven years I guess would be pretty good,” he said.

“I'm just glad I could go out there and help the team win.”

That was after he dropped 22 points on the Kings – including 14 in the paint and a tough contested game-breaker from deep – to back up from his 23-outburst in Perth.

Hannahs’ scoring was the icing on the cake for coach CJ Bruton as his team held the Kings and 'Cats to 76ppg, forced 29 turnovers, were +20 in points from turnovers and pulled in 30 offensive boards at 35 per cent across the round.

“I thought the effort and energy, the focus was really good,” Bruton said.

“Our boys were up for the challenge all the way through, I had to go deep in the bench and use everyone and everyone contributed as they did all weekend, and in the end we got great results.”

In pre-season, with their big men playing limited minutes, Bruton went deep into the bench and deployed a high-speed, high-energy style that was hard to play against.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Defensive dunks.<br><br>? - <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> <a href="https://t.co/VIxmQMmnnl">pic.twitter.com/VIxmQMmnnl</a></p>— Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1515580088443891715?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While the losses of Isaac Humphries and Cam Bairstow has been huge blows, it has allowed the likes of Hyrum Harris and Zac Gattorna to bring new energy to the four-spot, and the Sixers have been a better defensive unit for it late in the season.

Their past month has been highly-competitive basketball at both ends, and last weekend they got the fruits of that labour.

“We represent the 36ers, we represent our sponsors and our families. No one wants to go out losing ball games, no one’s trying to do that, everyone’s trying to do the right thing, everyone’s hearts in the right thing,” Bruton said.

“The focus has been really strong, not that we've shortened anything, just the understanding of what’s asked of you, we've done it for longer periods.

“We've also made shots. Like any game, if you can have scoreboard pressure it helps. We've taken the right shots and we've knocked down a few more than we did earlier in the year.

“When you’ve got a lead, you're not fighting from behind 10 points or 15 points and using all that energy. We've done a good job to get a lead and build a lead.”

South East Melbourne haven't been able to make shots, the injury-interrupted years of Ryan Broekhoff and Cam Gliddon – plus their perimeter struggles when playing – has left the Phoenix offence two-dimensional.

They also haven't been able to find that level of consistency, and against the JackJumpers their lapses in concentration cost them dearly and ended their playoff push.

“Not closing out games again, third quarter we didn’t box out, gave them easy second-chance threes repeatedly,” captain Mitch Creek said.

“Zero o-boards first quarter, three in the second – still reasonable for how effective they’ve been for second-chance opportunities – and then third and fourth quarter probably 48 o-boards. Eight, and that probably resulted in 15-20 points, that’s where we lost it.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">F-Easter your eyes on this! McVeigh gets our second half off to the start it needs ?<a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> has the action! <a href="https://t.co/GXyYNqxD66">pic.twitter.com/GXyYNqxD66</a></p>— Tasmania JackJumpers ? (@JackJumpers) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers/status/1515543839309955079?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It’s the consistency coach Simon Mitchell has been searching for all season, and he says they’ll be searching for it this weekend against Adelaide and Perth too.

“For us as a team, even at 11-5 … we were just scratching the surface, we’re really quite a ways off where we need to be on both sides of the ball,” he said.

“Our endeavours at that point are no different to our endeavours right now. That’s to try and put a team out there that can play 40 minutes of basketball, execute both sides of the ball and come out victors, and that’s still our goal for the next two games.”

For Hannahs, this is a season that got away, but he’s keen to finish on a high.

“We've had a lot of nail-biters that haven't gone our way this year, it’s been a tonne it feels like,” he said.

“For us to finish strong with some wins and not go out on a bad note where hanging our heads and wanting to get out of here, it’s more about us coming together for a strong finish like coach has been telling us, and we’re following through on that.”

For Creek, it’s business as usual.

“We've got to play and respect every single fan that has come out and supported us and given their hard-earned money,” he said.

“If you’ve ever heard me speak or seen me play, I don’t lack motivation to go and play and kick someone’s arse.”