Hot Shooting Phoenix Hammer Hapless Hawks

The South East Melbourne Phoenix drained 16 three-pointers at 59 per cent on the way to a record setting and ultra-impressive 39-point victory at home to the Illawarra Hawks on Thursday night. 

The Phoenix produced a stunning and concentrated, all-round team display to demolish the Hawks at John Cain Arena who were coming off their second win of the season Monday against Melbourne.

For half the contest, the plucky Hawks stuck with the championship contenders. But when the Phoenix hit the accelerator in the third quarter, it was all one-way traffic as they raced to a 111-72 victory that now inches them closer to a coveted top-two spot. 

The Phoenix ended up shooting 55 per cent from the field including going 16/27 from beyond the arc with Gary Browne going 4/5 and Ryan Broekhoff 3/5 leading the charge but Grant Anticevich and Junior Madut hit two apiece too.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell was especially happy with the defensive second half performance and despite the record margin, will take some lessons from it.

"I think there are some lessons there for us as well," Mitchell said.

"Defensively there were some really poor play for us in the first half and then we looked down and put in one of the better performances from a team this year. 

"It was a pretty impressive defensive [display]. The last two minutes of the first half we started to lock in. 

"I know we got the first four, it may have been five [stops in the second half]. There was no let-up when guys came into the game and that was great to see."

Adding to the pain for the Hawks was the 20 turnovers they coughed up for the Phoenix to score 34 points from.

Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas was happy with a lot of what his team did in the first half but ultimately they saw a contending Phoenix team flexing their muscles.

"I felt we were right in it in the first half. The last possession of the first half was a bad one for us and then in the third quarter I thought we couldn't get anything going," Jackomas said.

"There were things that we weren't very good at, but we really have to go back and have a look at that to give you a proper answer [on effort]. 

"Today we're playing a contender. Melbourne [United] is on par with us, we looked good in that [game]. We have to keep our belief but it is going to be tough."

Zhou Qi returned to the Phoenix, who now boast a 5-1 record with the Chinese big man in the line-up. Zhou had missed five rounds of the NBL heading into this game and coach Mitchell pre-game suggested it will take more than a couple of matches to see him get close to his best. 

He got his first touch with just over a couple of minutes left in the first quarter and by quarter-time had four points thanks to a pair of trips to the charity stripe. Zhou's minutes restriction meant it would be little more than a cameo appearance and he finished with eight points and four rebounds. 

The Phoenix’s Gary Browne (12 points, 10 assists) started the night hot with three three-pointers to get the Phoenix going in the first quarter, which helped the Phoenix to an early 9-0 run. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Phoenix getting it done at both ends to round out the half ?<br><br>Catch the second half live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/yQJ5AqLIIK">pic.twitter.com/yQJ5AqLIIK</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1600787550054256642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Browne was also industrious on the defensive side of the floor, causing havoc with his active hands. But for the Hawks, Michael Frazier II (20 points) had the answers. 

Having recently featured in World Cup qualifiers for Team USA, Frazier’s experience was on show. It helped the Hawks to keep pace with the Phoenix, trailing by a mere point (28-27) after a foul heavy opening period.

Ryan Broekhoff was floored with a heavy Mangok Mathiang screen midway through the second, but got up to hit a crucial three-pointer a minute later that stretched the Phoenix’s lead to 10 points (45-35) for the first time. 

Broekhoff, so often a barometer for the Phoenix, was arguably his team’s best player. He finished with 21 points and seven rebounds. 

But it was sharp-shooting from Tyler Harvey (13 points) and production in the paint from Sam Froling (eight points, four rebounds) that saw the Hawks again level the contest (50-50). Some last-minute slip-ups cost the Hawks, as the Phoenix went into the main break with an eight-point lead (58-50). 

Creek played the fewest minutes of any of the Phoenix’s starters in the first quarter, but the MVP candidate continued to do the one percenters for the Phoenix throughout in an attentive workmanlike effort that characterised his team’s display. 

Last time against the Hawks (a 112-78 Phoenix win), Creek had 27 points and six rebounds. In this match, he had 19 points and five assists. 

There were some third-quarter injury concerns for Browne, who twice went down off what appeared to be a single collision clutching his left knee. 

It was one of the few heart-stopping moments for the Phoenix and their fans from half-time onwards, who began to cruise through the latter stages of the match. With fewer than four minutes gone in the third, the Phoenix had established a 19-0 run for a 69-50 lead. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Gary Browne doing it all himself ?<br><br>Catch the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/aEl5bkThA5">pic.twitter.com/aEl5bkThA5</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1600783857510338563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

When Creek made a simple lay-up to open the final quarter, it got to 32 points. On the very next play, Junior Madut converted a three-pointer from the corner to make it a 35-point margin. 

Zhou Qi played much of the fourth quarter and piled on the pain, establishing a then season-high 37-point lead with over seven minutes to go. 

It got as bad as 40 points, but the Hawks settled for a 39-point margin that was the biggest win in South East Melbourne's history.

Both teams play again in Roud 10 with the Hawks remaining on the road to play the third placed Cairns Taipans on Saturday. Then on Sunday the Phoenix remain at home to play the Adelaide 36ers looking to make it three consecutive wins.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 10

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 111 (Broekhoff 21, Creek 19, Browne 12)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 72 (Frazier 20, Harvey 13, Siva 8, Froling 8) 

BOX SCORE