R2 Preview: Adelaide 36ers vs SE Melbourne Phoenix

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Wednesday 20 January

Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Broadcast: ESPN; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
Adelaide 116 (Johnson 33, Giddey 16, Dech 14, Humphries 14) d SE Melbourne 108 (Creek 30, Wetzell 24, Sykes 18) 2OT, Round 1, Adelaide Entertainment Centre

What a game! It was a contest the 36ers appeared to control for most of the afternoon thanks to the brilliance of Daniel Johnson, but the Phoenix hung tough behind the ever-present Mitch Creek. Josh Giddey gave an enticing glimpse of his future down the stretch, then Brendan Teys produced an important cameo in the second overtime to secure an Adelaide win.

The now
Giddey relished the Phoenix’s lack of ball pressure, a stark contrast to United in the season opener, and put on a show not seen from an Australian his age since Joe Ingles. However, he will miss this return clash due to concussion from his late-game crash landing, meaning the 36ers desperately need Donald Sloan to shake off the rust and lead his team to a 2-1 record.

For SE Melbourne, dropping two on the bounce to an opponent not tipped to contend wouldn’t be the ideal start, however with five key additions in the off-season their best basketball is well ahead. Their ball movement to create open shots, and effort to crash the boards to retrieve missed shots, were positives from Round 1, but their interior defence requires attention.

The key men

Keifer Sykes – Offensively, Sykes added 18 points at 50 per cent from inside the arc and 11 assists, while also nailing a triple to show he can be a significant contributor at that end. His defensive ball pressure made a bigger impression at times, and given Sloan and Sunday Dech will be leaned on to do more handling with Giddey out, expect Sykes in their grill even more.

Daniel Johnson – Remarkably, DJ has scored 60 points in his opening 65 minutes of the season, connecting at 67 per cent and accounting for one-third of Adelaide’s total score. Against the Phoenix, Johnson was 10-of-11 from both the free-throw line and two-point range, and with all his deuces coming inside the paint, SE Melbourne need to find some answers.

The stats
 - Adelaide scored 107 points from ‘ones and twos’ against the Phoenix, shooting 64 per cent from two-point range, including 16-of-26 at 62 per cent from mid-range

 - The 36ers’ bigs committed 13 of their team’s 19 turnovers, as SE Melbourne won points from turnovers 22-14

 - SE Melbourne’s bigs combined for 16 offensive rebounds, yet while the Phoenix pulled in 22 o-boards to 12, they only won second chance points by five

 - Adelaide’s reserves contributed 48 points at 53 per cent, 27 boards and 10 assists, compared to the Phoenix counterparts who managed just 19 points at 31 per cent, 9 rebounds and 2 dimes


The quotes
Mitch Creek summed up the Phoenix’s attitude to their opening-round loss to Adelaide in a very transactional way.

“We missed a lot of really open looks from extremely good shooters and they made some pretty tough middies over contested defence,” he said.

“Over the course of the year I’ll take that.”

At the end of the day though, the Phoenix had to take a sapping double-overtime defeat, and coach Simon Mitchell had plenty to ponder.

“I thought we had a rough one, we looked a little rusty, particularly at the offensive end. I thought we didn’t have a lot of rhythm, credit to Adelaide for taking that away from us,” he said.

“When you're taking it out of the basket a lot you're going to be a little clunky in your half-court sets.”

While Mitchell acknowledged the 36ers’ ability to make tough shots from mid-range, he didn’t feel his team made them work hard enough for it.

“We needed to make a stand,” he said.

“They shot the ball particularly well from mid-range. We want to take their presence off from the rim and take away heat from the three-point line, but I don’t think we put enough sideways pressure on those mid-range shots, and they shot the ball particularly well from that area.

“We had a particularly rough night shooting, we left a lot of points on the free-throw line, some really good looks from behind the arc early, those are shots I expect our team to make. We’ve got a little bit of work to do.”

SE Melbourne’s inability to sustain their defensive pressure allowed a ragged Adelaide team to find their rhythm.

“We turned the ball over early (but) we only ended up turning the ball over seven times in the second half and both overtimes, so we took care of it, which was a huge key,” 36ers coach Connor Henry said.

“I thought the ball movement was a lot better. We can get even better at it, but they responded, we moved the ball, shared the ball and got production from a lot more guys and that’s what happens when you share the ball.”

Adelaide face the challenge of repeating the dose without precocious Next Star Josh Giddey, but Henry is confident the team’s system can handle the absence of a key player.

“In our system all three guards and wings can handle the basketball, that’s the design we’ve put in,” he said.

“The system is designed around our bigs, and this was the first time we've had Isaac (Humphries) play extended minutes. The big guy played a total of 37 minutes and I had to call a time-out one time because he was cramping up.”

With Humphries and Johnson combining for 47 points, 16 rebounds and 5 assists, the Phoenix must make some defensive adjustments.

“We paired him with DJ as they both can play inside and out,” Henry said.

“It’s nice to know we can run plays through (DJ) because I think he’s got an elite basketball mind.”

The ball is now in SE Melbourne’s court, but while Giddey won’t be suiting up, he left a parting challenge for the visitors ahead of the Wednesday’s rematch.

“I think we wanted it a bit more than the Phoenix, we were more physical,” he said.

Game on.