Heartland Hustle: Phoenix Look to Stay Unbeaten in Blitz

PHOENIX LOOK TO STAY UNBEATEN IN BLITZ

The South East Melbourne Phoenix will look to continue their unbeaten record in the NBL Blitz competition as they take on the Illawarra Hawks tomorrow night.

The Phoenix were undefeated their first pre-season competition, while last season the Blitz was not held due to COVID-19 constraints.

On Saturday night the Phoenix opened their NBL Blitz campaign with a commanding performance against the Sydney Kings.

(Zhou Qi impressed during his first outing with the Phoenix)

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The Phoenix had five players in double figures on Saturday night, and will be looking to continue that spread of scoring.

Mitch Creek with 17 lead the way and was well supported by Kyle Adnam off the bench with 16, Ryan Broekhoff with 12 and both Zhou Qi and Xavier Munford recording 10 points.

Zhou Qi impressed in his debut with four monstrous dunks,  but did find himself in foul trouble. Cam Gliddon is likely to miss and he continues his recovery from off season hip surgery, while Dane Pineau will again miss due to Covid protocols. Mitch Creek will sit out as a precaution after injuring his ankle on Saturday night.

OPPOSITION SCOUT

The Illawarra Hawks added some high level talent to the core that saw them finish 3rd in the NBL21 regular season and take Perth to three games in last seasons semi final series.

Australian Boomer Duop Reath will be one to watch, as he battles it out in the paint with Zhou Qi.

Head coach Brian Goorjian said that he and the Hawks would not simply be going through the motions.

“These games are really important,” said Coach Goorjian.

“Ideally, with all these weeks of training what you want is practice, then play games, make adjustments, practice, and then play games. We’ve had the practice; but we haven’t had the games.”

“We need these games to move forward as a group; what are we going to keep in there, what rotations look good and what don’t; what offensive schemes do you need to add or take out?” 

“Plus, we’ve got a bunch of new players; we’ve got a new point guard and another new import, so we are looking forward to the competition and seeing what adjustments we need to make.”

KEY DETAILS

To watch the game sign up to a Kayo account, all NBL Blitz games are being broadcast free via Kayo Freebies.

TIP-OFF 5:30pm AEDT.

Where: Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

Broadcast: Kayo Freebies.

Phoenix Media (15/11/2021)