'He's miles ahead': King says DPOY race is over

The South East Melbourne Phoenix may have missed their chance to play for top spot on Saturday, but that result was no reflection on John Brown III. Coach Josh King has already declared him a certainty for the Damian Martin Trophy for Defensive Player of the Year in NBL26.

"It’s not close, it’s not," King said.

"We can sit here and pretend that it is, but he’s kilometres and kilometres and kilometres, miles, miles ahead for Defensive Player of the Year, in my mind and it’s not close," King said on Wednesday night.

The Phoenix remain in second spot despite their loss in Perth on Wednesday, and once again Brown III played like a man possessed. His line of 20 points, 14 rebounds (nine offensive), four steals and two assists on 10-of-12 free-throw shooting only told part of the story.

Much of the night saw Brown III matched up with Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. or Kristian Doolittle, making for some fascinating battles, but his coach was once again effusive in praise of what he delivered.

“John Brown is a frickin beast, man,” King said.

“John Brown’s guarding everybody out there and if they had a stat for how many fires you put out in a game, I’d like to know that stat.

“I don’t know how you’d calculate that, but he was a warrior today and he was guarding JLA, he was guarding Doolittle and at the end of the game we were switching one through five.

“So it just wasn’t a JLA matchup, he was on Doolittle for a lot of the game and you look at his numbers, he had nine offensive rebounds which is absurd and 14 total, 20 points and it was an amazing effort.”

Lual-Acuil Jr also played a major role in setting up the Wildcats’ win, before fouling out late while contesting a rebound against Brown III.

The Perth big man finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three blocks on an efficient 9-of-12 shooting, and has relished all four battles with Brown III in matchups against South East Melbourne this season.

“Obviously he’s a great player and a great defender, and you’re just excited to play against good players like him,” Lual-Acuil Jr said.

“We have good players across the league and every game’s different, and you’re just excited for the game and we put together game plans to attack different people with different schemes.

“I kinda just stick to that and it’s never really me versus John Brown, it’s Perth Wildcats versus South East and it just goes that way.”