Pressure is beginning to mount on Skylar Mays, but it's the bigger picture for South East Melbourne Phoenix coach Josh King who needs more overall from his group off the bench and needs them to find a defensive identity – and quickly.
The Phoenix made the best possible start in Sydney on Sunday. What pleased King the most early was not just the 30 points his team scored with seven three-pointers inside five minutes, but how they also held the Kings to nine points in that time.
He's always maintained faith that his team will produce enough offensively this season, it's at the defensive end he has wanted his team to find itself and that didn’t happen the rest of the way.
Sydney outscored South East Melbourne 101-69 over the last 35 minutes to win by 11 and one player coming into focus is import guard Mays who played under 11 minutes for two points on 1/7 shooting while being -27 while out there.
After having 20 points and six assists in a loss to Brisbane, Mays has now managed just 6.0 points and 1.8 assists the past four matches, but King doesn't want to join the pile in on him.
"(I just want to see) him playing better, to see him playing better and contributing to winning," King said.
"It doesn't necessarily have to be points and it's not just with him, it's with a lot of different guys too and he's the easy guy to pick on, but we need more better efforts from multiple guys.
"I think everybody knows that everybody is replaceable, including myself, this is professional sports so it's a performance-based business that we're in at the end of the day.
"I mean he's a capable basketball player and we just need him to play better."
For the most part, King was happy with what his starting group provided on Sunday with them scoring 81 points on 15/32 three-point shooting between them led by Nathan Sobey's season-high 33 points.
Foul trouble to Dash Daniels (10 points, six rebounds) and D'Shawn Schwartz (10 points, five boards) did limit them a little, but for the Phoenix to get to where they get to this year, it's getting more off the bench that's key for King.
Not having Hunter Goodrick and Daniel Foster right now isn’t helping, but of those who are available, Angus Glover was still solid in his 200th game with 11 points and three assists, but co-captain Jordan Hunter's struggles continued.
He had just two points and three rebounds in 15 minutes while being -22 and is now averaging 5.0 points and 4.0 rebounds the past three games.
Even Akech Aliir started the season tremendously but over the past four matches is down to 3.3 points and 1.3 rebounds.
It's a collective lift that King is looking for starting at home to the Illawarra Hawks on Wednesday night in an Ignite Cup by 7-Eleven match up.
"I understand Skylar's the easy pick on guy, but Jordi's not playing well right now even though I thought he had a good week of practice, but that doesn't guarantee that you get to play well in the game but it does give yourself a chance," King said.
"So we need to get him going and we need to get our bench going. I mean, Glove is a really good player and I wouldn't say he had his best game today, but he's a guy that we lean on a lot.
"We need guys coming off the bench to perform better for us and to piggyback off of all that, I thought D'Shawn Schwartz getting in foul trouble actually really hurt us today, especially in that second quarter."
It was a blistering start against the Kings from the Phoenix racking up to a 21-2 lead in the first three minutes, and then leading 30-9 after five minutes.
But getting stops is what King felt was key to his team finding their groove at the offensive end. That defensive bite just wasn’t there the rest of the game which is why the Kings were able to put 101 points on the board and shoot 37/71 from the field over the last 35 minutes.
"There's a lot of different moving parts and first off when you go to the bench, you need guys to come in and at least provide some relief because we need multiple guys that can play this up tempo style," King said.
"But it's also whoever's out on the floor focusing on getting stops and you get a big lead, you're also getting stops that allows you to get out and run.
"So if we keep focusing on that end of the floor, it's really good for us and it's not always going to be perfect, but we allowed them to get back into the game and clear the deficit way too early.
"Obviously, we want to play fast, which always gives a team a chance to get back in the game but it shouldn't be that easy for a team to get back into the game when you're up 21."
King demands full effort from his players when they are out on the floor to play the style he wants, which is why it's so important to have a bench unit he can rely upon.
But to get better as a group defensively, he knows it has to come from anyone, and for any of his players not happy with how things are going, they have a chance to turn it around on Wednesday night against the Hawks.
"I don't want to just say one person because it's a team game and we need more people to play better to play this style," King said.
"It's tough to play this style with six or seven bodies, that's why having Hunter Goodrick and Daniel Foster back home really hurts us, especially on the defensive end.
"They're two of our better defenders, but we need other guys to step up and when your opportunity is there, you need to play better.
"And the good news is, if you don't like your situation, we have a game on Wednesday night, and you'll probably get an opportunity to play."