Last Friday South-East Melbourne Phoenix star Mitch Creek played his 250th NBL game.

The six-foot five-inch (196cm) small forward played his 250^th NBL game on Friday during the South East Melbourne Phoenix's big win against the Cairns Taipans.

Creek put up 20 points in the win, in what was a welcome return to form for the forward.

"Last night was nice to get back into a bit of form," Creek said.

"I really struggled the last couple of weeks. You know everything it's kind of finished, and I took a bit of a breath, and the mental fatigue and stress for the last six months really took its toll on me.

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"It wasn't until I did take that breath that I felt the full weight of it, but now that that's done, you know I've spoken about my mental health and the team's been fantastic.

"To be back out there playing some good hoops is always a good thing."

Two hundred and fifty games at any level of sport are quite the achievement, but to play that amount of games in the cut-throat environment that is professional basketball, is even more impressive.

"Anytime you get a milestone game or achievement like that it's always very special," Creek said,

"To know that you've played a certain number of games doing what you love with your friends, that's always a really exciting thing to be a part of and the boys are fantastic."

Despite the city having a penchant for producing sporting stars, even Horsham-raised Creek himself didn't believe he would achieve so much in basketball.

"You never think you're gonna become a professional athlete, let alone captain the side or play for your country or to notch up that number of games," Creek said.

"You've got to pinch yourself at times and really appreciate how lucky we are because we are very lucky to be doing what we're doing.

"It's a very special thing to be playing the game we love and making a living out of it and living a good life.

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"It's certainly not what I expected but I'm very thankful and humbled to be able to do it."

Only in its second season, the Phoenix currently sit third on the ladder after a crucial win against Melbourne United on Sunday.

The club is well placed to make their first NBL Finals appearance; however, Creek said the side is "just taking it game by game".

"We don't try and look too far ahead," he said.

"We don't look at ladder position or anything like that, we just worry about what's in front of us."

2021 started off as a tough year for Creek. He was stood down in March following assault charges; however, the charges were dropped in April.

Fortunately, the second half of 2021 could be busy for Creek with the prospect of a potential Olympics berth for the Boomers.

"The Olympics is another (goal), getting ready for that and trying to prepare as best as possible, to put myself in a position to be selected," Creek said.

"If we take care of business here with the Phoenix, that makes it a lot easier to try and tick those boxes."

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