Preview: Melbourne v SE Melbourne (Round 11)

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Thursday 15 December, 2022

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Foxtel; Sky NZ

Who won the last time?

South East Melbourne 78 (Williams 18, Browne 17, Creek 16) d Melbourne 72 (Rathan-Mayes 15, Goulding 13, Tucker 12) – Round 9 at John Cain Arena

An undermanned Melbourne without Isaac Humphries and Shea Ili gave the Phoenix everything they could handle in the third Throwdown of NBL23, tying the scores with less than four minutes to play on a trademark CG43 three, but they were unable to connect from that point on and Alan Williams and Mitch Creek iced the game for little brother.

What happened last game?

South East Melbourne have since added Zhou Qi back into that frontline, and the Williams-Creek-Zhou combination ran up 53 points at 60 per cent on Adelaide as the Phoenix did whatever they pleased offensively en route to 102 points. United did plenty right in Perth, overcoming a sloppy start to lead by 14 in the third quarter and eight with 45 seconds to play. The rest will go down in Wildcats history, but Melbourne won’t want to remember as they slip to 6-11.

What’s working?

SEM’s second squad – Ranked last in bench scoring (18.1ppg) entering Round 10, Junior Madut, Kyle Adnam, Reuben Te Rangi and Qi burned the 36ers for 27 points at 56 per cent. Rewind to the Round 9 Throwdown and the Zhou-less bench delivered just three points on 1/7 shooting. With Melbourne now bringing Humphries and XRM off the pine, and going +28 on bench points in Perth, the contribution of SEM’s second squad is crucial on Thursday.

Rebounding response – After entering Round 10 as the NBL’s worst offensive rebounding team and reeling in just six against Brisbane, Humphries, Marcus Lee and Mason Peatling made a statement in Perth, corralling 11 of Melbourne’s season-high 19, including five in the final term. Given SEM are +21 on o-boards in the three Throwdowns, grabbing 31 per cent at the end to United’s 20 per cent, this is a huge area of improvement for Lee and Co.

What needs stopping?

Little errors – Melbourne’s tally of 17 turnovers in Perth tells a story by itself, as do the four cough-ups in the opening seven minutes as the 'Cats jumped 14 ahead, but the defensive errors hurt just as much. Shea Il caught asleep off the ball to give Bryce Cotton his first three, Goulding failing to tag TaShawn Thomas on the roll to get him started. XRM going under a DHO to give Cotton another triple to really get going. Then of course the box-out failures of Ili and Rathan-Mayes on the final play. Great teams rarely make these errors.

Chris Goulding – Last time, the Phoenix were prepared to play four-on-four and have one defended almost pinned to Goulding at all times, and with good reason given he rolled out 30 points on 7/12 from range in the second Throwdown. The result of South East Melbourne’s face-guarding efforts two weeks later was 15 points on just five three-point attempts, but Melbourne were +6 with CG on the floor and -12 in the 3:13 he rested. Since then, United have “hunted” CG threes, their skipper launching 22 heaves in his past two outings.

Who’s matching up?

Mason Peatling v Mitch Creek – Peatling played out of his skin in the last Throwdown, grabbing 11 rebounds, including four o-boards, in just 19 minutes, and he’s now had 17 caroms and 9 offensive boards in his past 48 minutes. Mason’s defence will be super important against Creek, who has averaged 21ppg against United this season. While he’s been held to 40 per cent shooting, Mitch has gone 22/29 from the foul line to help SEM set up their defence, and Peatling and Co must defend without fouling this time around.

Marcus Lee v Alan Williams – It’s fair to say Big Sauce has been a big problem for United, averaging 22 points and 13.7 boards while shooting 25/29 from the charity stripe in three Throwdowns, his strength advantage over Humphries causing Dean Vickerman to key his defence around Williams as well as Creek. Melbourne now have the Lee-Humphries double act to throw at him for the first time, while Zhou breaks free for his first derby of NBL23.

Shea Ili v Gary Browne – The Phoenix floor general has taken a liking to Throwdowns, averaging 16.3ppg, 8.7apg, 5.7rpg and 1.3 steals. He’s only had Shea in play once though, shooting 38 per cent in that game, while Ili racked up 15 points at 71 per cent and four assists in 19 minutes. The ability of this pair to disrupt their counterpart will be a big factor, with the Phoenix twice throwing their Shea-less foes out of offence en route to victory, but Melbourne a different team with their point guard in the line-up, averaging 93.8ppg.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="et" dir="ltr">???SHEA ILI??? <a href="https://t.co/aypJpYJqSn">pic.twitter.com/aypJpYJqSn</a></p>&mdash; Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1602275717886390274?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

Gary Browne has put up some big numbers and had a big impact in three Throwdowns, and it turns out he’s made for the big moment.

“I have travelled around the world and played on big stages, and one of the reasons I signed here, I didn’t tell them this, was because the arena here is a big arena,” he laughed after South East Melbourne’s Round 9 defeat of United.

“When I found out they play the (Australian Open) tournament here, I'm mad because we've got to let them have it and we’ll play somewhere else, which will be special too for our fans, but playing in the big arena with our fans, that’s something I'm looking forward to every time.”

He’s got a big-time running mate who’s been successful on big stages all around the world too, and that’s big-bodied centre Alan Williams.

The pair have struck up a close friendship, but Browne seems to be the only one not impressed by Sauce’s ability to drop midrange floaters like he’s Tyler Harvey.

“We’re really close because he speaks Spanish, and he makes those ones, but the easy ones he smokes them, so I'm supposed to be averaging like 11 assists a game, when he makes those it’s like ‘How the hell do you make those and not the close ones?’ and he’ll be like ‘My bad man’,” Browne laughed.

“I've played a lot of big places with a lot of special players and I think every night the energy he brings offensively and defensively is something amazing.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">??? ??????? ??? ?? ??????? ????? ??‍? | <a href="https://twitter.com/alantwilliams?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alantwilliams</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/trey_kell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@trey_kell</a> <br><br>? <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAU</a> ?? <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/QnQzovs9iV">pic.twitter.com/QnQzovs9iV</a></p>&mdash; South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1601778559852302336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Indeed, Williams went 4/14 in the last Throwdown, and while some of them were bunnies, much of it had to do with a quality defensive game plan from Melbourne.

Dean Vickerman’s men ‘iced’ on-balls with discipline, forcing Browne and the other Phoenix guards baseline, allowing them to load up the keyway and force South East Melbourne to try and find the weakside shooters.

When Williams and Creek did get it on the roll, they were in traffic that made for difficult finishes, with Mitch also an uncharacteristic 4/14 as the Phoenix scored just 78 points at 32 per cent from the field.

“I thought our interior defence was good tonight, the way we guarded the post, people coming downhill a number of times and they scored 24 points in the paint at 34 per cent and we score 50,” coach Vickerman said.

When it mattered, however, SE Melbourne found a way to get it done, be that Ryan Broekhoff from deep or pinching steals that Browne could convert in the open floor, or Williams getting to the foul line on deep catches.

Just as importantly, they held United scoreless for the final three minutes and didn’t cough up a single turnover in that span to gift easy opportunities, Browne loving the veteran group the Phoenix have brought together.

“We understand that each possession counts, we understand that we can’t let it be at the end of the quarter or at the beginning, we know we've got to keep the same intensity whether we’re up by 30 or down by 30,” Browne said.

“We've got a bunch of guys who are old and we understand what it takes to win a game, we understand how the season goes, each game we've got to approach it like it’s a playoff game.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">??????? ?<br><br>? <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> ?? <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/Foxtel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Foxtel</a> <a href="https://t.co/mo7XvWALEK">pic.twitter.com/mo7XvWALEK</a></p>&mdash; South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1598992171667161092?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That’s certainly the case this Thursday in the regular season’s final Throwdown, with Melbourne desperate to bounce back from their heart-breaker in Perth.

A loss could leave United four games outside the top six by the weekend, needing to likely win nine of their final 10 to make the post-season.

In contrast, victory over their crosstown rivals followed by a clipping of the Hawks’ wings on Sunday could move Melbourne to just one game behind sixth by round’s end.

Coach Vickerman continues to look on the bright side of life, knowing his team was just a few careless moments away from beating the Wildcats and being on a three-game winning streak.

“There’s a lot of things we can get better at and that’s about completing every possession and staying locked in for longer periods of time,” Vickerman said.

“I think the 21 points off turnovers was huge, but for the most part we played basketball the right way, we moved it and shared it and played with really good intent.”

What he doesn’t want to see is a repeat of the mini brain fades that cost them dearly in Perth and in the last Throwdown.

“We had plenty of chances,” he said in Round 9.

“When we got close we shot ourselves in the foot a number of times, jumping at three-point shots and let them have that one, two unsportsmanlike, there were so many things, 18 turnovers.

“I think we had six in the first half that were uncontested ones, just errors from us, and that’s where we’re going to focus, we’re just going to focus on us this whole second half of the season, how much better at being solid and staying in games can we be?”