Mitch Creek hopes South East Melbourne’s visit to regional Victoria to take on the Cairns Taipans on Tuesday night will inspire a new generation of basketball players and fans.

Country boy Creek understands the excitement building ahead of the Phoenix’s visit to the redeveloped Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium in Traralgon.

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“Growing up in Horsham, I remember when the Melbourne Tigers used to come in, it was always a dream as a kid to watch these guys and to be able to do the same thing for these local communities, people who support from afar, it’s exciting,” Creek said.

“I love that the club is putting a lot of time into the country and rural areas, we want them to feel a part of the Phoenix family.

“You never know who you can inspire in the next generation of young basketballers to continue that path and follow their dreams.”

Creek admits it has been hard stopping himself from interacting with fans during Covid times — he is known as one of the NBL’s most giving players when it comes to spending time with supporters.

“You just want to go out and say ‘hey, let’s get some selfies’ and sign some shirts and some basketballs,” he said.

“To give them a great experience we need to make sure we take a little bit of time out of our day, not think about whether we win, lose or draw, or play well or bad.

“When you’re not allowed to, it is tough.”

COVID SUCKS

Creek — and the Phoenix — have had the stuffing knocked out of them by Covid.

The 29-year-old took three weeks to work back to 100 per cent fitness after contracting coronavirus, which ripped through the Phoenix and left them unable to play — or even scrimmage in practice — for nearly a month.

“We only had six or seven guys at training for most of the time, guys in close contacts, guys with Covid, I went down with Covid,” he said.

They were smacked by Brisbane last Saturday-week but bounced back Sunday after some soul-searching, downing Tasmania, 76-63 — Creek with a team-high 19 points.

“We put a lot of time into the little things, the one percenters that no one sees and we had some very honest conversations,” he said.

“We’ve had a really good week of training, everyone’s fit and healthy and everyone’s raring to go.”

The Phoenix got their first look at new import Brandon Ashley and would have loved what they saw — the big man ripped down 11 rebounds, six of them giving them second chances.

HEAD OF THE SNAKE

Just as Phoenix had its Covid dramas, so have the Taipans, who haven’t played a game since December 31 — 25 days — and aren’t expecting injured point guard Scott Machado back.

Creek is still wary, given the Taipans will have seen teams like his own struggle out of the blocks after Covid-enforced breaks.

He giggles when he says the Phoenix need to cut off the “head of the snake”, import playmaker Taj McCall, to stop Cairns: “It’s very cliche to say that for the Taipans, but he really is, he’s a phenomenal player.”

He should know, the pair played together in the NBA G League with the Long Island Nets.

“I played with Taj, I know how good he is offensively and defensively, he’s an absolute menace,” he said.

“We’ve stayed in touch since he’s come over here and since I left America.

“They’ve got a lot of very aggressive offensive targets, who put their head down, get on the rim and score the ball.

“It means there’s going to be a lot of long rebounds, so we’ve got to box out, keep them to one shot and then try to keep Taj out of the paint.”

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE 3-2 (3rd) v CAIRNS TAIPANS 2-2 (5th)