Phoenix Overcome Slow Start, Keep Bullets Winless

Sunday, October 23, 2022

The Brisbane Bullets have now lost five games in-a-row to start #NBL23, but Saturday's 89-88 loss to the improving South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena might just hurt the most.

Brisbane led at all three changes and had a golden opportunity to seal a much-needed win as the Phoenix saw their shot evade them by going 0/12 from the field to open the quarter.

The Bullets could not cash in and it looked over in the final minutes as Phoenix import Alan Williams had two foul shots to open up a six-point lead and seal the result.

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However, he missed both and Tanner Krebs nailed a triple to close the advantage to just a single point. But time expired soon after with the Phoenix backing up their strong win in New Zealand on Thursday by making it consecutive wins with their full squad available after losing three straight.

Mitch Creek was a man possessed in the comeback win for South East Melbourne. He had the game on a string with 31 points and seven rebounds while Gary Browne created well for his teammates with 11 assists to show once again how important as a playmaker he will be in just his second appearance.

Alan Williams had his second strong showing of the round too with 11 points and eight rebounds with Reuben Te Rangi and Kyle Adnam (seven assists) both scoring 10 points.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell saw more positive signs, especially on the defensive end, but there was still plenty of work to do.

"We made plays down the stretch defensively and we kept them to one shot for the majority of the game which was important," he said.

"There were some good signs there for us. As we have seen, Zhou (Qi), Trey (Kell), we still need to get some miles in their legs. We have a long way to go ... as far as being a top notch team.

"We can be better than that. Tonight some guys when they got to the end of the rotation, I think they took a few shortcuts. There is still some development there. We are going to grow with time on the floor and getting some healthy bodies out there."

Jason Cadee (21 points, five rebounds, five assists) had his most productive night of the season so far leading the way for the Bullets starting as point guard, as did former NBA star Tyler Johnson (15 points, three rebounds, four assists).

Nathan Sobey had 10 points and five assists despite shooting 4/14 with Aron Baynes adding 11 points and fellow big man Ty Harrison 11 to go with eight rebounds in just under 20 minutes in the absence of the suspended DJ Mitchell.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">GARY BROWNE ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/n27PdFnAmC">pic.twitter.com/n27PdFnAmC</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1583736095438557184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Bullets coach James Duncan pointed to the 17 turnovers as proof that the Bullets are not clicking properly yet.

"Our turnovers hurt us again, that was a big issue for us," he said.

"We just had mental errors, we broke down at certain parts of the game and gave them a bit of life.

"Kudos to us to continue to fight and come back, we couldn't come back."

Pressure was mounting on the Bullets after losing their first four matches of the season and there were plenty of areas needed to clean up, and that all began with the start. The visitors obliged on Saturday, managing to hold the Phoenix to 21 while producing 25 points of their own to claim the early advantage.

The second term was another arm-wrestle as the determined Bullets looked to stay in the contest and lock down on the defensive end. In the end, Brisbane managed to go into the half-time break with a 47-41 advantage.

However, the ghosts of losses past came back to haunt the Bullets as they came back from the sheds for the second half, turning the ball over three times in three minutes as the Phoenix went on a 14-2 run.

With the lead surrendered, the Bullets needed a spark and they found it in Cadee who continued his purple patch while Johnson drained a crucial free to steal the lead back late in the third quarter.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tyler Johnson is cooking ?‍?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/jFs4e3ZAFw">pic.twitter.com/jFs4e3ZAFw</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1583728764134912000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ty Harrison had the last say of the quarter, banking the rock in for the final shot to ensure Brisbane lead at the final change as well - albeit by just a single point.

Johnson and Sobey both had early looks in the final term but missed their assignments as nerves began to set in. Fortunately for the visitors, the Phoenix were struggling with their execution as well.

It was becoming an epidemic as the Bullets went 1/6 and the Phoenix went 1/12 to start the quarter with the game there for the taking.

Creek finally snapped the run of misses for the Phoenix after a sloppy Bullets turnover, although Johnson said 'on my mother, I did not touch that basketball'.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mitch Creek is feeling it from outside ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/400abbKyXP">pic.twitter.com/400abbKyXP</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1583725056969973761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Bullets continued to stutter on the defensive end while the Phoenix were able to ease out to a three-point lead from the foul stripe in a tense final minutes.

An unsportsmanlike foul from a frustrated Harrison on Broekhoff showed that the wheels were starting to wobble once again for the Bullets. Broekhoff made them pay with a foul shot and a triple that pushed the lead out to seven with just over two minutes left.

While Sobey had been cold all night, he came up with a layup, a strong defensive play and then a triple to haul his side back to within two points, but it wasn't to be as the Phoenix kept building momentum and the Bullets fell to 0-5.

With their Round 4 double-header done, the Phoenix now don't play again until Friday night on the road to the Perth Wildcats. The Bullets head straight to Wollongong searching for their first win on Monday night against the Illawarra Hawks.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 4

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 89 (Creek 31, Williams 11, Adnam 10, Te Rangi 10)

BRISBANE BULLETS 88 (Cadee 21, Johnson 15, Harrison 11, Baynes 11)

BOX SCORE