Two Games in Three Days Prove Too Much to Handle for Phoenix

South East Melbourne wore their stunning green Indigenous jerseys, sporting the words Ngiyani, meaning “We All”. And the Phoenix were all in on a bruising tussle with the Illawarra Hawks, but couldn’t maintain the rage in a 77-83 loss that snapped their third three-game winning streak this season.

(Boon Wurrung elder Janet Galpin welcomed the Phoenix faitful for Indigenous Round.)

Boon Wurrung elder Janet Galpin welcomed the Phoenix faithful to The Fire Pit and, while they might be two of the most potent teams in the NBL, the lid was firmly on the cup in the first half, The Phoenix shooting 37 per cent and the Hawks 39 per cent.

Mitch Creek was the prime mover in the first quarter, his seven points combining with five from Izayah Le’afa to make up more than half of the Phoenix’s 18 points.

The game was tied up after one but the respective offences sputtered even more in the second, both teams managing only 15 each as they went to the long break in a 33-33 deadlock.

Ryan Broekhoff had five points and four rebounds in the second quarter, working hard to keep Phoenix plays alive on the offensive end and making a menace of himself defensively.

The Phoenix splashed in the first nine points of the second half and tried to blow the game open, but the Hawks fought back, taking the lead on a Tim Coenraad three just before the three-quarter-time buzzer.

Down 57-55, the Phoenix were outclassed in the last quarter as Justinian Jessup and Antonius Cleveland took over from game-high scorer Xavier Rathan-Mayes.

The Phoenix offence worked hard to generate plenty of open looks, but they just wouldn’t fall — they made only eight of their 35 attempts from deep.

Creek tried hard with a team-leading 18, while Broekhoff had 15, but he missed 10 of his 12 attempts from deep.

(Mitch Creek didn't stop trying all night and continued his hot form.)

The result:

South East Melbourne Phoenix 77-83 Illawarra Hawks

The numbers

Phoenix

Creek: 18 points

Broekhoff: 15 points, 7 rebounds

Le’Afa: 14 points, 2 steals

Munford: 13 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists

Hawks

Rathan-Mayes: 19 points

Cleveland: 16 points, 7 rebounds,

Jessup: 15 points, 7 rebounds,

Reath: 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks

The turning point:

Mitch Creek’s third-quarter three as Duop Reath closed out.

Creek had his deep shot humming and his wing try opened the second half scoring. That bucket sent the Phoenix juggernaut on its way to a 12-2 run blowing the lead out to double figures. It lifted the crowd, too. The Phoenix couldn’t sustain it, though, as the Hawks’ pressure proved too much.

(Izayah Le'afa played a great defensive game.)

The Player of the Game:

Izayah Le’afa

The ‘Nix’s wing stopper was on his game from the get-go, locking down on Illawarra scorers Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup. Incredibly Harvey, who is averaging better than 15 points per game, missed every one of his field goals and only scored 1 point for the game Jessup only made two buckets to three-quarter-time, but got off the leash. At the other end, Le’afa struggled with his shot, but still managed 14 points.

The Play of the Game:

Mitch Creek’s fadeaway as the shot clock expired in the first.

Munford’s baseline jumper was blocked by Duop Reath but Justinian Jessup was unable to recover the ball and it dribbled out of bounds with 1.7 seconds left on the shot clock. Creek and Broekhoff went into overdrive in a bid to free themselves up, the former finding some separation and popping in a poetic fadeaway that would be Phoenix’s last bucket for almost four minutes of game time. Captain Kyle Adnam’s offensive board and put back among the trees also deserves a mention. It’ll be in this week’s Phoenix highlight reel. He completed the and-1, too, re-establishing a 10-point margin after the Hawks had made inroads.

(Kyle Adnam's putback was a highlight of the game.)

From the coach:

“Really disappointed. I just thought, at the back end of quarters, especially the first quarter, (we) failed to score. (We) did the same (thing) back end of the second quarter. Start again. Really positive in the third quarter and then fell away again. We lost momentum. It just didn’t work for us. Our bench wasn’t productive tonight and theirs was.”

-Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell on the disappointment of the loss.

From the player:

“Credit to Illawarra, they brought their A-game and I thought they converted on all of our mistakes, so we’ll go back on to the film when we get back together and see what went wrong and fix it. It’s good that we’ve got the whole week to prepare and try to get back to it (our best).”

-Izayah Le’afa on the loss and how the Phoenix plan to bounce back.

CLICK HERE for tickets to Sunday's game against Melbourne United.

Phoenix Media (6/3/2022)