Musashi Match Report: Phoenix Produce 56-Point Turnaround over Wildcats

First-year Phoenix recruit Keifer Sykes put on a clinic as the NBL's great enigma team, South East Melbourne exacted revenge on the Perth Wildcats, pleasing their stay-at-home fans with a 96-71 win.

It should have come as no surprise that the Phoenix responded to Thursday's 31-point at the same State Basketball Centre to the Wildcats with a 25-point win just days later.

After all, that's been their season to date. They lost first up in Adelaide before bouncing back with a big win. They did the same in Perth and then following a loss to Melbourne United, rebounded with a big win over the Illawarra Hawks before Thursday's hammering by Perth.

Now Sunday's response showed just how good they can be.

This Valentine’s Day rematch was pivotal for the Phoenix after head coach Simon Mitchell had described Thursday's performance as "timid". If they were intimidated by Perth, the statistics backed up why. 

Four of Phoenix’s five lowest-ever scores and poorest performances in their short history have come against the two-time reigning champion Wildcats. 

Mitchell may have feared it was going to be a case of more of the same when the Wildcats raced out to a 9-0 lead in this match. But sensing the urgency of the moment, the Phoenix began to click – and were deadly once they did so. 

The red-hot shooting from Keifer Sykes was the Phoenix’s most impressive source of offence, with the Chicago born guard missing only one shot in the first half on his way to 24 points and 10/14 from the field. His performance also included seven assists. 

The players who needed to especially respond to make the Phoenix more competitive all had good games as well. 

Reuben Te Rangi delivered his best game with South East Melbourne for 16 points and with rebounds while Yanni Wetzell stood tall for 11 points and 10 rebounds and Cam Gliddon contributed eight points while knocking down a couple of threes.

Mitch Creek was also more effective, posting 18 points and six rebounds. Ben Moore chimed in with nine points and six rebounds, Kyle Adnam five points and six assists, and the Phoenix now head into the NBL Cup on a high.

They forced 12 turnovers and were rock-solid conceding just 71 points, 35 fewer than against Perth on Thursday. 

In truth, it was a dominant display. Phoenix’s 11-point half-time lead blew out to a 25-point win.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell didn't panic even after conceding the opening nine points and sensed his team was ready to fire.

"I like the way we played. We didn't panic at the 9-0 start at the beginning of the game. We reloaded... we learnt our lessons from the last game from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint," Mitchell said. 

"The mindset was much better and you saw the results. I actually don't think our state of mind was poor to start the game. They made some shots in transition and we missed some shots... even though we didn't get some shots in, we wanted to focus on the things we could do." 

Perth couldn’t summon the team effort they enjoyed on Thursday night, but John Mooney achieved a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Bryce Cotton also had 15 points to go with nine assists but shot just 6/16.

Jesse Wagstaff added 11 points, Todd Blanchfield 10 and Mitch Norton nine, but it was nowhere near enough.

Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson lauded his team's defence on Thursday, but not this time around.

"It's really disappointing. The last two games were good, competitive. I thought we were a second slow. Defensively we were horrendous. Everything that we worked on didn't come into the game," he said.

"Sykes was getting any shot that he wanted out there. All of them were getting any shot that they wanted out there. Offensively we didn't set screens, we didn't cut hard and that was a recipe for disaster."

"It gets a little complacent I guess, you win by 30 points and you come into the next game... we took some short cuts along the way."  

In a crowdless State Basketball Centre, the Phoenix let their game do the talking. They’ll hope to maintain this momentum going forward. 

After eight games, the Phoenix are 4-4 having remarkably followed each loss with a win this season. 

The Wildcats have played three fewer games (with a record of 2-3) and continue their battles against Melbourne-based teams, facing the top-of-the-table Melbourne United on Saturday night to open the NBL Cup.

The Phoenix enjoy an extra day off before they host the Brisbane Bullets on Sunday afternoon. 

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 5

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 96 (Sykes 24, Creek 18, Te Rangi 16)

PERTH WILDCATS 71 (Mooney 19, Cotton 15, Wagstaff 11) 

Written by NBL.com.au (14/02/2021)