Game Preview: Phoenix Seek Redemption over Wildcats

Opponent: Perth Wildcats

When: Sunday Feb 14, 5:00pm AEDT

Where: State Basketball Centre

Broadcast: SBS Viceland, SBS On Demand, Twitch, NBL TV

Live Updates: @SEMelbPhoenix on Twitter

South East Melbourne Phoenix will look to bounce back from a disappointing outing against Perth on Thursday night when the teams meet again on Sunday at the State Basketball Centre.

The Wildcats brought the heat to the Heartland in the first leg and Phoenix Coach Simon Mitchell will demand a lift in intensity from his troops to return to the winner’s list.

Unfortunately for basketball fans in Melbourne, the game will go ahead with no crowd due to the Victorian COVID-19 lockdown.

The game is the final fixture for both sides before the NBL Cup tips off next week and a golden opportunity to build momentum into the busiest month of the season.

(Simon Mitchell wants his team to show more fight on Sunday)

SQUAD

Adam Gibson (calf) returned on Thursday night and got through the game, so is expected to again suit up on Sunday.

Dane Pineau (back) remains out.

CAM GLIDDON:

“We’re disappointed with the effort. Disappointed with our intent on offence and defence. We’ve watched our video and it was an eye-opener for a lot of people, and we just can’t wait to correct our wrongs on Sunday.

“The video told all the story, it’s pretty obvious what went wrong and a lot of it just comes down to personal pride and effort.

“I’m sure we’ll bring a different mindset. It’s not smart to be over aggressive and overdo it but I think just having that pride about stopping your man and attacking him on the other end and doing it with discipline and intelligently, that’s where we’ll start off.”

ASSISTANT COACH LUKE KENDALL:

“They made a pretty evident change up in how they attacked us on their offensive end. They knew we were going to hard show on Cotton and made some adjustments around that and got other guys involved and in the right spot at the right times.

“They are who they are and they’re good at what they do. Being physical is one and they pride themselves on it. When they’re winning, they’re hitting hard, going to the offensive rebounds and doing those little intangible things and we were nowhere near that.

“We can put in all the scout we want but until we’re ready to step up and hold our own ground and defend our guy one-on-one…hopefully we can turn that around on Sunday.”

PLAYER TO WATCH

Kyle Adnam scored an equal career-high 24 points off the bench on Thursday night to continue his career-best season. Adnam leads all bench scorers in the NBL and is third on the Phoenix for points behind Creek and Sykes.

OPPOSITION REPORT

Todd Blanchfield (22 points) finally found his groove on Thursday night and proved a handful.

Bryce Cotton and John Mooney were their usual dominant best, while Jesse Wagstaff recovered from his failed layup attempt in the one-point thriller between the two teams in Perth to play a handy role.

The Wildcats’ record is 2-2.

HISTORY VS. OPPOSITION

Head-to-Head Record:

Phoenix 1 Wildcats 5

NBL21:

Perth def Phoenix 88-76

Phoenix def Perth 90-89

Perth def Phoenix 106-75

NBL20:

Perth def Phoenix 110-79

Perth def Phoenix 108-98

Perth def Phoenix 97-71

Sam Bunn for Phoenix Media (13/02/2021)