No Sykes, no worries as Phoenix fly over Hawks

Keifer Sykes has been at the forefront of everything the South East Melbourne Phoenix have done this season, yet without him they delivered a standout wire-to-wire performance to beat the Illawarra Hawks 93-76 on Sunday.

The Phoenix weren’t lacking in motivation to make up for a surprise last up loss to the Adelaide 36ers at the NBL Cup in Melbourne, but without the firepower and defensive prowess of Sykes and with the NBA-credentialed Ryan Broekhoff still weeks away, the Hawks loomed as a significant threat.

But Illawarra had their recent troubles to try and overcome having lost to Brisbane on Friday and four of six overall after a 4-0 start, and it was South East Melbourne in control virtually from start to finish at John Cain Arena.

The absence of Sykes pushed fan favourite Kyle Adnam into the starting rotation of the Phoenix backcourt, who set the tone of the offence early to help set up a 12-4 lead. Adnam was on his way to a career-best 11 assists and the margin was 25-13 at quarter-time. 

Phoenix pair Yanni Wetzell (nine points) and Cam Gliddon (17 points) continued to find their way to the line, leaving Justinian Jessup on the wrong end of the foul calls early for the struggling Hawks.

The Golden State Warriors’ draftee had recorded three fouls minutes into the second quarter, forcing the Hawks’ offence to retool. Sam Froling was another frequent violator and ended up fouling out. 

In fact, it was the Hawks’ inability to get to the free-throw line compared to the Phoenix that would be the biggest difference-maker. In all, the Phoenix had 30 attempts compared to the Hawks’ seven. 

But when Tyler Harvey (14 points) made back-to-back three-pointers halfway through the second quarter, the Hawks began to find some groove and were fighting back from a 16-point deficit. 

A ret-hot Mitch Creek (25 points, 10/17 shooting) punctuated an impressive first half with a three-pointer on the stroke of half-time. 

He entered the main break shooting 7/9 from the field and 19 points. It helped the Phoenix restore their buffer and go into half-time with an eight-point lead (45-37). 

The third quarter was where the Phoenix put their stamp on this one. The Hawks had no answer on defence for Creek, and import big Ben Moore (22 points) was also on target as the Phoenix extended their three quarter-time lead to 18 points. 

It would have taken the biggest comeback of the season to pull that back, which proved too much for even the high-scoring Hawks. When Cam Bairstow (10 points, five rebounds) threatened with a pair of three-pointers, the Hawks pulled it back to 11, but that was as close as they got late. 

It was left to the ultra-impressive Adnam (11 points) to ice the game with a step-back three with two minutes to go. Game over and the Phoenix backed up handing the Hawks their first loss of the season three weeks ago which has now turned into Illawarra losing five of seven.

With the aforementioned Sykes and Broekhoff returning from a stint in the NBA to join this Phoenix squad, they are building nicely for a playoff push.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell was understandably delighted with the performance at both ends.

"I was wondering to myself a little bit whether we had enough ammunition defensively [with Dane Pineau, Keifer Sykes and Adam Gibson out] but the guys stepped up and we did, so that was great," Mitchell said.

"We targeted them (Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup). They’re very important players. That’s not saying we neglected the other guys, I think Illawarra early in the season only had three guys averaging double figures yet they were racking up all these points because they were getting contributions from everyone who came in. 

"It’s not just doing a job on their guys, it’s how you do a job. One of those things about Illawarra is their transition offence, and I thought we did a great job attacking the rim and getting to the free-throw line. 

"And if you’re shooting free throws you’re taking away their transition coming back the other way. We stuck to our game plan, we did it well and maybe that’s got to do with the results."

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian feels the combination of his team feeling the pinch of so many games and spending so long on the road combined with opposition teams coming at them hard after their hot start is catching up to them.

"I thought there were some signs today, the last couple of games of the guys we've been riding their backs the last couple of games, of fatigue," Goorjian said. 

"Obviously in the situation we're in guys are stressed and the confidence level is down. So that start really got me on my heel. I wasn't expecting that and I'm sure the group wasn't. 

"That's not good for us right now. Then we were hesitant to take shots out of the corner. You know, we're over penetrating. We just looked like a stressed situation and playing from behind tonight was not good for us.

"I think everyone saw we got that start and everyone brought their A-game and came at us hard. We lost a couple of close ones to Cairns and our last one to Brisbane, just again it has affected us a little bit."

The Phoenix will be tested with yet another meeting with the Perth Wildcats on Wednesday while the Hawks take on the also struggling Adelaide 36ers as part of the same double-header at the State Basketball Centre.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 7
NBL CUP WEEK 2

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 93 (Creek 25, Moore 22, Gliddon 17)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 76 (Harvey 14, Simon 13, Deng 10, Bairstow 10) 

POINTS AWARDED – South East Melbourne Phoenix 5, Illawarra Hawks 2

BOX SCORE