ROUND 11 of the National Basketball League (NBL)’s 2021/22 season kicked off on Thursday night, with the SEM Phoenix hosting the Sydney Kings at John Cain Arena. It was a reasonably anticipated matchup, given the Phoenix have been one of the stronger sides to start the season, while the Kings have been in some red-hot form themeselves of late. It certainly lived up to the hype, in what was a terrific way to kick things off for the weekend.

The Kings jumped out to an early lead, thanks to some fluent offence in the first quarter. The Phoenix were able to stop the bleeding and provide a bit of a fightback in the next couple of periods, but could not regain true control of the game in this time. This meant Sydney was able to seal the win with a strong final quarter to claim a five-point victory and edge closer to the top-four.

In this article, we take a look at the starting lineup, and compare the performances from the respective players at each position.

Lachlan Barker (Phoenix) vs. Jaylen Adams (Kings)

Heading into this clash, this may have appeared to be shaping up as a one-sided matchup. Adams was arguably the form player of the compeitition coming into the matchup against the Phoenix, and loomed as one of the biggest influences on the result. He was coming up against the inexperienced Barker, who was named in the starting lineup for the first time in his NBL career (after proving himself at NBL1 level for the Frankston Blues). As expected, Adams was able to make his mark on the game with 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists, despite some inaccurate shooting. However, what came as more of a surprise was the impressive play of Barker, who was able to make an immediate impact with a big first half. He was a spark when his side was on the back foot, and caught the eye of many around the league with 14 points for the match. Adams may just take the chocolates here due to his all around play, but Barker still impressed.

Izayah Le’afa (Phoenix) vs. Dejan Vasiljevic (Kings)

The Phoenix were once again forced to make some changes to their starting lineup due to some COVID-related drama with some of their starting guards. This saw the injection of Le’afa into the starting lineup, where he suffered a nasty bout of inaccuracy throughout the match against the Kings. He went 0/10 from the fielld in a disappointing outing shooting-wise, but he still impacted the game with four boards and six assists. The sharpshooting Vasiljevic was also slightly wayward with some of his shots, but his efficiency from behind the arc saw him still able to reach 14 points and claim the win in this matchup.

Ryan Broekhoff (Phoenix) vs. Wani Swaka Lo Buluk (Kings)

Since returning from the NBA, Broekhoff has been solid, without being outstanding for the Phoenix. The guard/forward has shown the ability to score at a rapid pace in the past, and he was able to do exactly that against the Kings. He poured in a game-high 25 points, which was boosted by his ability to get to the free-throw line, where he made 11 of his 12 attempts. Swaka Lo Buluk did not have the same impact on the scoreboard, but produced some strong energy on the defensive end on talents such as Broekhoff, but the former Dallas Maverick gets the nod in this matchup thanks to his impressive total in the points tally.

Mitch Creek (Phoenix) vs. Xavier Cooks (Kings)

In what was the most entertaining battle of the match, two stars of the competition went head-to-head in a high-scoring battle. Despite some inefficient shooting from the field, Creek was able to make his way to 23 points as he looked to give the Phoenix a massive boost on the scoreboard, and was a valuable contributor regardless of the end result. On the other hand, Cooks was able to notch up a team-high 23 points himself in the win, producing a clutch performance with some big buckets down the stretch. To top it all off, he was able to do this while shooting 56% from the field in a truly commanding performance.

Zhou Qi (Phoenix) vs. Jarell Martin (Kings)

The battle of the big men saw two contrasting performances in terms of areas of success for the match. Zhou was back to his rebounding best, pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds as he was able to use his big frame as an advantage. His blocking numbers were slightly down, although he was able to stil affect a number of attempted shots in and around the paint. Martin produced a much more offensively minded performance, dropping 20 points in the win as he went to work both inside the paint and from behind the arc. He hit some big shots down the stretch, and probably gets the nod in this matchup for this reason.