Phoenix Fail to Deliver

Another performance below what they are capable of has left the Phoenix needing to finish with five wins to give themselves a chance of a second consecutive finals appearance.

A slow opening quarter saw both teams feeling each other out, five turnovers for the Phoenix and two early fouls to Mitch Creek kept the first quarter close. A first quarter that neither team would have been particularly happy with ended with the Taipans leading 29-26.

The second quarter saw the Phoenix out played by the Taipans, the home team finished leading 56-48.

Xaiver Munford was the shining light for the Phoenix dropping 14 points.

The third quarter was another the Phoenix would care to forget as they struggled to limit the Taipans at one end, while finding buckets hard to come by at the other.

As has been the case for much of the back end of this season the desperation came from the Phoenix far too late, unable to execute and they saw their slim finals hopes, become slimmer.

Another big test for Phoenix as they try and kickstart the back-end of their season is against Melbourne United in Throwdown XVI on Thursday night.

The Result

Cairns Taipans 90-Phoenix 85
 
The Numbers

Phoenix
Xavier Munford  20 points , 8 rebounds,  2 assists.

Taipans
Keanu Pinder 21 points, 12 rebounds,  3 assists

The Turning Point

Down by three with time to tie the score the Phoenix failed to execute, which has been the story of the second half of the season.

The Player of the Game

Hard to find a winner for the Phoenix on a disappointing night, where their finals hopes, while still mathematically possible, became slim.

The Play of the Game

See above.

From the Coach

Simon Mitchel
"Defensively we were okay in the second half, but then our offensive started to flounder, we missed some easy ones around the rim, but it was always going to come back to our defence in the first half. Despite missing all those easy ones around the rim in the second half, the most disappointing part of the second half was we just turned the ball over. Especially after time outs, you come in after a time out and have a play drawn up, and you come out and produce a turnover." 

From the Player

Kyle Adnam
"Really disappointed,  it was in or hands, we had an opportunity but didn’t play well and thew the ball away at the end which was the story of the game. Just really disappointing, I know how good we can be as a group but it’s disappointing to have the chance and just turn the ball over."

CLICK HERE for tickets to Throwdown XVI

Phoenix Media (2/4/22)