Have the Cheshire Phoenix found their feet?

The Cheshire Phoenix had a rocky start to say the least, as Ben Thomas and his squad lost 4 of the first 5 BBL Championship games. However, since then, they have won 4 of their last 7.

Lets look at the stats so far in the season, The Nix typically run a 10 man rotation, yet with the injuries that they have picked up they are fairly short handed, running an 8 man rotation. The Nix run a avg of 75.3 possessions per game, which is ranked 8th in the league. They have a Defensive Rating of 105.6 (ranked 6th in the league) and an Offensive Rating of 106.5 (ranked 5th in the league) so based on the stats, they are a mid table team.

The pick up of Kyle Carey is a very underrated one. Since Kyle Carey has come into the starting lineup for the Phoenix, they have won every single game (3/3). This tells me that in order for Cheshire to win, they need Carey to be in the starting lineup. Whilst in the starting lineup, Kyle averages 23.1mpg and 6.5ppg, when he's coming off the bench he averages 18.7mpg and 5ppg on 35% shooting.

With the start of Kyle Carey, this meant that Kahron Ross' counterpart , Mike McCall Jr has come off the bench, maybe splitting the backcourt is the best option. Both are great in their own right, however maybe they need to run the offense individually in order to make it work. It seems to be working for Mike as well, whilst he was in the starting lineup, McCall was averaging 12.9ppg and 4.5ast whereas coming off the bench - typically the sixth man, he is averaging 17ppg and 2ast, although the assists have dropped, he has took a leap on the individual offense. He hit this shot on the weekend

One place that the phoenix do struggle is the second half, they can build leads, they can build them quick. However, they let them slip twice this weekend against Bristol and Glasgow, they went 1-1 as in Bristol they got bailed out by a trademark Mike McCall jumpshot, see above.

Across the weekend, heading into the second half in each game they were leading 10 and 14. In the Glasgow game (36-26) they lost the 3rd Quarter 23-9, which led to a 5pt loss giving the Rocks a BBL Trophy Semi-Final. On the Friday night down in Bristol they were leading 38-24 at the break but proceeded to lose the 4th quarter 27-14, but then McCall hit THAT shot.

I think the reason behind this 'Achilles heel' is the rotation, the team loses its legs and takes sloppy shots and stops playing the defense that is required to play.

So to round off, I do think the Phoenix have found their feet heading into the heart of the BBL season.

Photo Credits - Adam Day Photography