Can Hawks complete sweep?

Has Illawarra worked out the formula for stopping Bryce Cotton?

The three-time MVP is simply too good a player to not bounce back, but looking at the stats, the Hawks have won the battle so far.

Across two wins against the Perth Wildcats this season, Illawarra has kept the star to just 10 points a game, well down on his 23.3 point average across the season. 

“Bryce Cotton is an unbelievable player, so when we get times to make it difficult for him, that's what we set our pride on, but we don't know if it's going to last for 40 minutes,” Hawks coach Justin Tatum told The Illawarra Mercury.

NBL champion Pete Hooley said he expected Cotton to respond. 

“That’s going to be an interesting thing to watch, because the last regular season challenge through the greatness of Bryce Cotton is the Illawarra Hawks,” Hooley said on NBL Now.

“Every other challenge he’s been thrown in the regular season, he’s just risen above and dominated like he always does.

“Everyone talks about how the Hawks are the Bryce stopper. So you know that in his mind, he’s like, 'I want to play properly, I want to go out there'.”

John Rillie’s team has locked up its spot in the Playoffs phase of the Finals already, but no doubt has a point to prove against a team it could well face off against in the Championship race. A clean sweep is something a proud team will be desperate to avoid.

But Illawarra will have other ideas. 

"We're going to give everything because at the end of the day they (the Wildcats) have a chip on their shoulder by losing to us twice already," Hawks coach Justin Tatum said.

A win would lock in a Finals spot for the Hawks, an incredible turnaround after they parted ways with former coach Jacob Jackomas earlier in the season.

Illawarra won just three games last season and started NBL24 with two wins from the first games, but has rebounded under Tatum, winning 11 of its past 17 games.