Triple threat: Hunter’s hot hand in Phoenix rise

One of the pleasant surprises for Josh King this NBL season has been Jordan Hunter’s rise as a genuine three point shooting threat.

That continued improvement was on show as the Phoenix won their seventh game from their last eight appearances, with a professional display against Brisbane.

Their pressure defence forced 23 turnovers, and they collected 14 offensive rebounds while taking 24 more field goal attempts than their opponents. They also knocked down 15 three pointers.

Hunter went 4 from 5 from long range, drilling back to back shots in the third quarter that triggered a memorable celebration. It marked the strongest three point shooting display of his career.

While King welcomed the outside shooting, he was equally impressed by the big man's overall performance. He delivered 24 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists in 23 minutes.

The Phoenix now shift their attention to the Adelaide 36ers as they aim to head into the FIBA Break sitting in second place.

"It's something we haven't really spoke a lot about with Jordi, but he's shooting the ball obviously phenomenally well this season, and we're not going to talk about it, and will just let him keep catching and shooting," King said.

"But that was fun to see tonight and he broke the game open, but it's something he does every day in practice and he works on it with the assistant coaches getting those shots in game spots, and at game speed.

"It was really fun to see Jordi not just with the shots he made, but he did a great job on Tyrell (Harrison) around the basketball, and he did a lot of other things.

"Obviously people are going to talk about the shooting, but I was actually more proud of how he played defence and how physical he was around the basket."

Hunter’s development in NBL26 has been a genuine transformation. He has become a dangerous outside shooter, hitting 18 from 32 at 56 per cent. All of those figures are career-highs.

During his four years of college at Saint Mary's, Hunter attempted only one three pointer and made it. Across four seasons with the Sydney Kings, he went 15 from 56. Last season, in his first year with South East Melbourne, he shot 9 from 27 in 34 appearances.

The transformation has been remarkable, and Hunter now turns his focus to Isaac Humphries, Nick Rakocevic and the 36ers on Saturday.

"It's awesome (hitting shots) and it's helping the team with balancing the floor right now. JB's (John Brown) a great interior presence so if I can stretch it out a little bit more then that helps," Hunter said.

"Then it's awesome that guys are pretty thirsty to keep me rolling when that happens, and I'm grateful to the coaches for believing in me, and helping me work on this, and it's going in at the moment so we'll try to make hay while the sun shines.

"Now I'm excited (for Saturday's game). It will be good to get into John Cain and have a crack at them (Adelaide), and Isaac is having an awesome season and they have a whole lot of players who are playing really well.

"It's a tough job and we're going to approach it as any other game, being excited for the challenge and excited to see where we stand against them."