Yin and yang: South East Melbourne's balance is making them an NBL contender

Without a dominant offence or defence, the Phoenix are still sitting among the league's elite teams.

Credit: May Bailey Photography

“Defence wins championships”. For decades, that was the mantra of basketball coaches, analysts and fans alike. It’s the mindset that leaves countless fans yearning for a return to ‘80s basketball, it’s a motivating tool to get young players to even guard someone, and it has continued to feed the mystique around finals basketball. How many times have we been told that, when it comes to crunch time, offences slow and defences step up?

Always a little simplistic, that phrase has been further debunked in the era of the three point revolution and advanced analytics. As elite scoring teams have won championships at every level, the perception has shifted; now, you need to be setting the standard either offensively or defensively if you want to win it all.

That has certainly rung true in the NBL in recent years, where the league’s best at either end have stood up in the finals. In all of the last five seasons, the NBL champion has been the top-ranked team in either offensive or defensive rating; in three of those years, their grand final opponent was the league’s best at the other end of the floor, per Spatial Jam.

After nine rounds, the 2021-22 NBL season is seemingly following a similar trend. Watch even a second of Melbourne United basketball, and it’s clear that they are the league’s best defensive unit. With Matthew Dellavedova and Caleb Agada leading from the point of attack, and with Jo-Lual Acuil and Jack White protecting the rim, they have been impenetrable early in the season. The numbers back that up, as they rank first in defensive rating by more than four points per 100 possessions.

The Perth Wildcats have been similarly eyecatching, albeit at the other end of the court. Led by Bryce Cotton and Vic Law, two of the league’s top three scorers, the Wildcats have dominated offensively while pouring in almost 90 points per game. They lead the league on that end by a similarly dominant margin, with their league-best offensive rating 3.5 points per 100 possessions ahead of their nearest challenger.

Despite all of that, neither Melbourne or Perth sat atop the NBL ladder at the end of round nine. That honour belonged to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, who have emerged as the biggest challenger to last season’s grand finalists. Those three sides have already moved clear of the chasing pack, both on the table and in the underlying numbers.

Prior to the weekend’s action, all three were posting a net rating of +8.0 points per 100 possessions or higher; the rest of the league is stuck miles behind, with every other team sitting in the negative, per Spatial Jam. Saturday’s big loss to Perth was a blow to the Phoenix, but it shouldn’t take away from their overall success early in the season.

Where Melbourne and Perth both have their calling cards, the Phoenix have matched them overall with the league’s most well-rounded attack. While they sat outside the top two offensively and defensively ahead of round 10, they were the only side ranked in the top three for both, per Spatial Jam. The Phoenix may not be “elite” at either end, but by being very, very good at both they are still one of the league’s elite teams.

King Qi and Wolf Creek

Nothing better exemplifies the balance of the Phoenix than the two players leading their charge.