Beijing time, February 26, 2022, at 17:00 this afternoon, the NBL regular season ushered in a focus battle, by the Perth Wildcats sat at home to meet the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix, before this game, the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix ranked first in the league. In terms of the strength of the two teams, the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix is undoubtedly stronger than the opponent. In the first leg of the match between the two sides, the Phoenix team once lost the game. This time again, the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix can undoubtedly be described as a revenge.
After the game began, the visiting team Phoenix took the lead, and under the leadership of Mitchell Crick and others, the Phoenix team quickly took the lead. Since then, the Perth Wildcats have begun to get into form, with team center Matthew Hodgson and forward Law scoring points, and the gap between the two teams continues to narrow. At the end of the first quarter, the Phoenix led the Perth Wildcats by seven points at 21-15. After the start of the second quarter, the Phoenix team still felt hot, the starting five Tigers continued to score, and the point difference between the two teams continued to widen. At halftime, the Phoenix led the Perth Wildcats by 14 points at 45-31.
After the third quarter began, the Phoenix's feel dropped, and the Perth Wildcats took the opportunity to launch a counterattack. Under the leadership of the team's forward Law, the home team's inside and outside lines all blossomed, and at the end of the third quarter, the Phoenix still led the opponent by six points at 63-57. After the start of the final quarter, the Perth Wildcats scored first, but the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix still performed solidly, and in the end, the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix beat the Perth Wildcats 86-80 to avoid being double-killed by opponents this season.
In this game, the Phoenix had a total of three people scoring in double figures, including starting striker Mitchell Crick who scored a team-high 22 points, which is the biggest contributor to the team's victory. In addition, Edenham scored just five points on 20 points and 5 rebounds, Alfa 12 points, and Zhou Qi scored just five points on 2-of-5 shooting. For the Perth Wildcats, four players scored in double figures throughout the game, with forward Law scoring a game-high 22 points and Kerton 15 points.