King of all apologies as United smack Phoenix in mouth

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“Before I answer your question, not our best tonight. I want to apologise to the fans. Great crowd. We’ll be better; I know that.”

That was South East Melbourne Phoenix head coach Josh King’s first words after a diabolical 86-61 clobbering in the first Throwdown of NBL27.

“What led to it? I could make every excuse under the sun for why I think we shot 4-for-41 (9.8%) from three.

“Just a bad shooting night that I haven’t seen in the two-plus years I’ve been here. It’s by far our worst performance, and we picked a bad night to do it.

“I can’t pinpoint why, other than giving Melbourne United a little bit of credit. I thought we had a lot of really good looks. Maybe nerves for some guys who haven’t played in John Cain before, but a lot of guys who have played there didn’t shoot the ball well either.

“I can’t pinpoint an exact reason.”

Ugly doesn’t begin to describe the Phoenix on the offensive side of the ball while Melbourne United dropped 12-for-34 (35.3%) from deep.

King deflected the Phoenix’s busy schedule to start NBL27 – two road games before the Throwdown. King's men played in Perth on Saturday, Hobart on Monday and then three days later against United in Melbourne.

“That could be one thing I could say – that it’s our third game in six days – but I’m not going to make that type of excuse for our guys," King said.

“We had three days’ rest since coming back from Tassie. We’ll be better, and I’m really excited to see how we respond to this game.”

United import Josh Oduro ($277,000) put up 21 points (10-for-13), eight rebounds and was +25 in 25:42 minutes, while star point guard Cole Anthony ($300,000) impacted both ends of the floor with 18 points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals in 22:42 minutes.

“I said it in here last week: (Oduro)’s a really good player,” United head coach Jacob Chance said.

“A really, really good basketball player. He’s smart, he’s tough. He’s going to be so important. Him and Fab (Fabijan Krslovic ($172,300)), we’ve got such a luxury there, two really high-IQ bigs who are physical, can protect the rim and do different things defensively.

“I’m just happy for him to get some reward. Obviously, 10 of 13 is a great clip, but he earned that.”

What should concern nine other NBL clubs is that Anthony, 26, is still on a minutes restriction. He sent a scare through the United camp when he banged his knee on a drive, but, Chance said, “Not concerned. Just a knee-on-knee, so sore.”

“Obviously, at the end there, we just rolled,” Chance added.

“I’ve talked to everyone in this group: we’ll roll with the guys who are getting it done. If we can get contributions like that – from Tommy (Tom Wilson ($69,000)) to play 17 good minutes, Malith Machar to play 14 good minutes – it takes pressure off needing to burn our starters. That’ll be our mindset all year.”

What you need to know

• Melbourne United beat South East Melbourne Phoenix 86-61 at John Cain Arena in Round 2 of NBL27, in front of 10,175.
• United won all four quarters, 16-14, 29-21, 24-22 and 17-4, and led at every break, by two, by 10 and by 12 before the margin blew out to 25.
• Josh Oduro top-scored with 21 points on 10-for-13; nobody in a Phoenix shirt passed 10, with Akech Aliir (3-for-10) and Skylar Mays (4-for-11) tied at the top of their sheet.
• The game was decided at the three-point line: the Phoenix took 41 threes and made four, United took 34 and made 12.
• The Phoenix shot 24-for-88 from the field, 27.3 per cent, against United's 33-for-75, and managed four points in the final quarter.

Melbourne United

• Josh Oduro ($277,000) top-scored with 21 points and eight rebounds on 10-from-13, the most efficient line on the floor.
• Cole Anthony ($300,000) added 18 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals on 5-from-13, with 6-from-9 at the line.
• Chris Goulding ($188,900) scored 17 on 6-from-13, five of them from beyond the arc on 10 attempts.
• Luke Travers ($292,900) had nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds on 4-for-11.
• Malith Machar ($69,000) scored nine off the bench in 14 minutes on 3-for-7, including 2-for-4 from three.
• Joe Ingles ($300,000) contributed seven points, five rebounds and two assists on 3-for-5.
• Sam Waardenburg ($277,500) had five points, five rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes.
• Melbourne shot 33-for-75 from the field, 12-for-34 from three and 8-for-14 at the line, with 55 rebounds, 14 assists and 14 turnovers.

South East Melbourne Phoenix

• Akech Aliir ($125,300) led the Phoenix with 10 points and six rebounds off the bench, going 4-for-4 at the line.
• Skylar Mays ($277,000) matched him with 10 points and five assists on 4-for-11, 2-for-7 from three.
• Dash Daniels ($115,000) had nine points, three rebounds and two steals on 3-for-10 in 23 minutes off the bench.
• Jordan Hunter ($224,800) posted seven points and seven rebounds on 3-for-6, the only Phoenix starter to make half his shots.
• Tanner Krebs ($150,300) had six points and six rebounds on 2-from-8.
• Nathan Sobey ($379,600) scored six on 3-from-13 and missed all six of his three-point attempts.
• D'Shawn Schwartz ($277,000) had five points and seven rebounds on 2-for-11, and went 0-for-6 from deep.
• South East Melbourne shot 24-for-88 from the field, 4-for-41 from three and 9-for-12 at the line, with 53 rebounds, 11 assists and 10 turnovers.

United’s Chris Goulding described United’s depth as a “luxury”. Multiple guys can shoot the ball, get to the rim, and create their own shot, along with Ingles’ elite passing IQ.

“It’s a luxury,” he said.

“We’re still figuring some things out. It was a little clunky at times; we turned it over a lot early. But we had an intent to be really aggressive and play with some pace.

“It’s a luxury for sure, but it’s a work in progress. Are we happy to give up a little bit of ourselves and run to the corner and play an alternate spacing, and take what the game gives us in that regard?

“It could be that I don’t get a shot for six, seven, whatever minutes, but we’re exploiting it somewhere else. So, a lot of positions covered with a lot of talent is for sure a luxury.”