South East Melbourne coach Josh King has doubled down on his team's three-point-heavy approach, despite the Phoenix's perimeter shooting woes condemning them to a third-straight NBL defeat.
SEM went 12-of-45 from deep in their 92-88 defeat by the Perth Wildcats on Friday night, eight days after their historically poor 4-of-41 three-point shooting display in the Throwdown derby loss against Melbourne United.
The Phoenix attempted 1203 threes last season, easily an NBL record and well clear of second-placed Melbourne (988).
They're on track to eclipse that figure this season, despite hitting only 25 per cent of them.
But the Phoenix have been given the green light to continue firing away from long range, according to King.
"Yes," he responded when asked if he would persist with 'Plan A'.
"I think we're getting good shots. I believe in the guys who are shooting them.
"If we're shooting the ball like we were last year, we're 4-0 right now. But we're not.
"At some point ... water will find its level.
"Right now, we're a 1-3 basketball team.
"We've got 29 games left, so let's talk after that."
King remains bullish that SEM can turn around their ailing percentage from downtown, but insists they will need to up their defensive intensity in the meantime if the shots continue to miss.
"I'm super, super, super confident in that group," he said.
"I believe in the guys in that locker room.
"We haven't shot it well this year.
"We had the one game against United that everyone wants to talk about.
"Tonight we were 26 per cent - we shot 45 three-pointers and we made 12.
"If we're not making shots, we've got to make stops.
"If we're going to get out of this, it's going to be on the defensive side."
King believes it is too early in the season to hit the panic button, ahead of this Sunday's home clash with the Illawarra Hawks at John Cain Arena.
"No one's going to feel sorry for us," he said.
"It's not doom and gloom. I feel like some people are expecting me to move furniture right now. It's early days."
