South East Melbourne Phoenix addresses key issue ahead of do-or-die third semi-final against Illawarra

The NBL semi-finals are in do-or-die territory, and there’s one issue an underdog must address if it is to continue to stay alive.

South East Melbourne Phoenix coach Josh King will urge his players to crash the boards with ferocity in the semi-final series decider against Illawarra Hawks on Wednesday night – or suffer the consequences.

The underdog Phoenix will head to Wollongong with aspirations of producing another upset win over the top-seeded Hawks at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

At stake for Phoenix is a chance to punch their ticket to the NBL Championship Series for the first time in franchise history.

A key focus for Phoenix will be the rebounding battle after they dodged a bullet in game two, coming away with a 101-94 win despite being minus-seven in the rebound count and giving up a massive 19 offensive boards.

King said those numbers were unsustainable for his team.

“The negative, if I had’ve saw that we gave up 19 offensive rebounds today, I don’t know if I thought we would’ve won the game, but we found a way,” he said.

“That’s one thing that we have to clean up. We have to do a better job on the offensive glass.

“If we can clean that up, we will be in good shape.”

Phoenix coach Josh King says his players have to do a better job on the glass. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

King was thrilled with how Phoenix responded after losing game one.

Phoenix had less than 48 hours to prepare for game two but found solutions to all the problems they experienced in the series opener.

“Really proud of the players,” King said.

“My team, they did a great job, did what they were supposed to do in playoff basketball, defend home court.

“It’s 1-1 and now we get an opportunity to play up there in Wollongong on Wednesday and have a chance to go and play in a grand final (with a win), so it should be fun.”

Phoenix star Matt Hurt will head to Wollongong full of confidence.

The 24-year-old forward bounced back from a series opening shocker to be a dominant force with 30 points in the game two victory.

King expects Hurt to have a target on his back in the series decider.

“We’ve got to continue to play through him but also know they’re not just going to let him get where he wants to be and we need other players to step up, and credit to our guys for other guys stepping up tonight,” King said.

King has maintained all season that he preferred an even contribution over one or two dominant players.

Matt Hurt and Nathan Sobey starred for the Phoenix in game two. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

In game two he got the perfect mix, Hurt playing the starring role, guard Nathan Sobey a potent secondary scorer and several valuable contributions off the bench, led by a do-it-all game from the versatile Angus Glover.

“I can go up and down the line-up here, obviously Glover late in the game, Foxy (Owen Foxwell), I think Joe (Wieskamp) hit a huge three late in the game, just making tough plays, everybody that got in contributed and the bench was great,” King said.

“If we want to have a crack at them and have a good chance to win the game on Wednesday night, we’re going to need several guys to step up (again).”

King said Phoenix point guard Derrick Walton Jr was “sore” after playing two games in three days after a long lay off with a hamstring injury but should be right to back up for game three.

Originally published as South East Melbourne Phoenix addresses key issue ahead of do-or-die third semi-final against Illawarra