R2 Preview: Perth Wildcats vs SE Melbourne Phoenix

When: 5pm (AEDT), Sunday 24 January

Where: RAC Arena, Perth

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

The last time
Perth 97 (Cotton 25, Norton 18, White 15) d SE Melbourne 71 (Walker 16, Roberson 11), Round 16, 2019/20, RAC Arena

This was a hard-fought contest until midway through the third term, when a blistering 36-10 Wildcats burst busted it wide open. Bryce Cotton, Nick Kay and Mitch Norton combined for 21 points in the final six minutes of the third and SE Melbourne had no answer, shooting 5-of-18 during that fateful run as they took the ball out of their defensive basket time and again.

The now
While Perth were then on the path to the title, their road this season could be a little rockier. The delay to Bryce Cotton’s citizenship and Majok Majok’s injury have left the Wildcats’ roster looking thin as they try to cover the departures of Damian Martin, Terrico White, Miles Plumlee and Nick Kay.

Much will be asked of Todd Blanchfield as he attempts to replace White’s clutch offence, something Vinnie has done in patches but rarely with consistency in his career. Tom Jervis has channelled John Farnham and must wind back the clock to take the pressure down on new import John Mooney, veteran Jesse Wagstaff and impressive rookie Luke Travers.

SE Melbourne’s tough road win over Adelaide relieved some of the pressure on their line-up, especially with new import tandem Keifer Sykes and Ben Moore finding some quality form. Now if Cam Gliddon and Reuben Te Rangi – who have made 4-of-21 from long range between them – can find the target things will look good offensively for the Phoenix, now they just need to build on Wednesday’s encouraging signs and find a permanent fix for the D.

The stats
 - SE Melbourne allowed the 36ers to shoot 50 per cent in their opening two games. No other side is allowing above 44 per cent so far this season

 - In their two meetings with Adelaide, the Phoenix grabbed 10 more offensive rebounds and had nine fewer turnovers, giving them 9.5 more scoring opportunities per game

 - Last season the Wildcats were plus-27 in the possession game in their three meetings with SE Melbourne, winning the o-board count 44-24

 - In Kay, White, Plumlee and Martin, the Cats have lost an average of 42.6ppg, 20.3rpg, 9.1apg, 4.0spg and 4.3 made triples

The key men
Bryce Cotton – It’s Cotton until the Phoenix prove they can make someone else beat them. Last season against Simon Mitchell’s men he scored 22.3ppg at 56 per cent from both the field and the arc, got to the foul line 7.3 times per game and dished out 19 assists to just 4 turnovers. Keifer Sykes gives the Phoenix more backcourt defensive bite this time around, but Yanni Wetzell and Ben Moore must prove they can handle the other side of the screen.

Mitch Creek – It was a little bit the opposite for Creek against Perth last season, with one bust-out 31-point game but also two quiet nights where amassed just 16 points in total on 6-of-19 from the field. With no Nick Kay in red this time around though, Creek should pose some serious questions to the likes of John Mooney, Jesse Wagstaff, Todd Blanchfield and Luke Travers, especially if he can rebound, run and put heat on the rim.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">COLLAPSE THE D!! <a href="https://t.co/4eUD2a1NEs">pic.twitter.com/4eUD2a1NEs</a></p>&mdash; South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1351813510267719685?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The quotes
It’s an obvious question for a franchise spoiled by Nick Kay, Matt Knight and Shawn Redhage for as long as many fans can remember – who is going to start at the four-spot in NBL21?

“We’re rich with choices with Jesse Wagstaff, Luke Travers, Sherv (Corey Shervill) and (Jarred) Bairstow, and we can always slide John (Mooney) over to the four now with Tommy (Jervis) in the squad,” coach Trevor Gleeson said.

“We’ll have multiple options at that four spot. With our offence, it doesn’t necessarily affect us. We could even look at (Todd) Blanchfield in that position as well.”

Perhaps the most understated but important contribution of that trio of legendary power forwards was their contribution at the defensive end, Kay and Knight elite at that end and Redhage maturing into a master disruptor in the second half of his career.

Someone needs to fill that hole against the Phoenix, firstly to slow down superstar Mitch Creek, but also to be able to keep scorer-distributor Keifer Sykes out of the lane when coming off on-balls.

“He’s a scoring point guard, like what they had last year with Roberson," Gleeson said.

“They’re every quick, probably a little bit quicker than last year, and obviously Creek is a franchise player, so we’re going to have to do a good job on Mitch and limit his opportunities.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="de" dir="ltr">KEIFER SYKES ? <a href="https://twitter.com/ksykesyb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ksykesyb</a> <a href="https://t.co/gJRed5pOuc">pic.twitter.com/gJRed5pOuc</a></p>&mdash; South East Melbourne Phoenix (@SEMelbPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix/status/1351833299447029760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

If the Wildcats are true to previous form, they’ll go a smaller line-up at times and try to pressure the Phoenix out of their offence.

But that’s where coach Simon Mitchell feels more comfortable than on last season’s trips to Perth, thanks to the ball-handling tandem of Kyle Adnam and Sykes.

“When we were looking for a replacement for John Roberson, last year I didn’t have confidence playing John and Kyle together, but Keifer’s a different beast,” Mitchell said.

“I feel like I'm more confident playing those two guys together, it’s a smaller backcourt but I feel like they can handle bigger players.”

That pairing, alongside veteran Adam Gibson, were critical in the Round 2 road win over Adelaide, contributing 52 points on 9-of-15 shooting from distance.

“Gibbo came in with a beautiful little cameo, Kyle Adnam’s been active off the bench in both games and Keifer had a really solid game tonight too – it’s going to be someone different every night,” Mitchell said.

The season opener will certainly feel different for the Wildcats, who are facing two big challenges in the new year, beginning with enforced quarantine around a strict training schedule.

“We get three hours outside that we can practice and train. It’s a very limited ability to be together as a group outside of training when you’re competing at high intensity on the court,” Gleeson told The West.

“It’s been difficult. We normally sit and have lunch together and there’s a bit of banter and a little bit of chemistry. We don’t have that opportunity because as soon as we finish practice we are straight out the door and into our home quarantine.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There aren&#39;t many NBL players that have accomplished as much as Bryce Cotton in their first hundred games in the league ?<br><br>We&#39;ve mixed up the best bits from his first 99 ahead of tomorrow night&#39;s ? when the <a href="https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PerthWildcats</a> take on the Phoenix at 9:30pm AEDT on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL20?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL20</a> <a href="https://t.co/1EhNolGpU9">pic.twitter.com/1EhNolGpU9</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1217653150963781633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The other challenge is replacing four key championship players – including one of the greatest Wildcats of all time in Martin – while only counting Blanchfield and Mooney as notable recruits to make life easier for the ever-targeted Bryce Cotton.

“It’s different. You’ve gone from three imports to two imports and we’re missing a once in a generation player in Damo,” Gleeson said.

“It’s a younger team, it’s an exciting team, we are more athletic, but we’re going to have to learn along the way … Now is the next opportunity to develop someone up to that standard.

“That’s the exciting part. We are growing. We are young and have got some really, really good young kids coming through. We’ve added some vets in there. So it’s a really good balance and I’m happy with where we are at the moment.”