Hawks dominate with McGee unstoppable

There is life in the championship defence for the Illawarra Hawks yet with JaVale McGee unstoppable with 37 points and 14 rebounds to hand Melbourne United successive defeats with the 107-93 Ignite Cup by Disney+ victory.

The bottom-ranked Hawks made surprisingly light work of top-ranked Melbourne at the WIN Entertainment Centre on Wednesday night to claim six of the seven points on offer in the Ignite Cup.

Melbourne lost a first game of NBL26 at home on Monday night to the Sydney Kings and were looking to hit back on the same floor they lost Game 5 of last season's Championship Series.

It wasn’t to be, though, with the Hawks producing their best performance of the season less than a week after a record 42-point loss on the same floor to the New Zealand Breakers.

McGee was unstoppable with the three-time NBA champion finishing with 37 points, 14 rebounds and two steals on 13/21 shooting from the field and 10/11 at the stripe along with knocking down his first NBL three ball.

It was far from a one-man show, though, with Davo Hickey again outstanding with 18 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two blocks while Tyler Harvey knocked down 4/5 from long-range for 17 points, four rebounds and two assists.

New import guard QJ Peterson played the best of his three games to date as well with 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists while Wani Swaka Lo Buluk chimed in with 14 points and four boards along with a standout defensive job on Chris Goulding.

The Melbourne captain finished with just five points on 2/8 shooting with Finn Delany top-scoring for New Zealand with 21 points and three assists.

Jesse Edwards had his hands full with McGee and dealt with foul trouble that limited him to 18 minutes despite finishing with 19 points, six rebounds and two blocks with Milton Doyle adding 16 points and 11 assists, and Tyson Walker 14 points, five rebounds and five assists.

McGee clashed twice with Delany, before the Hawks giant exhorted the parochial home crowd by twirling his arm in the air late to the delight of the Wollongong faithful.

Edwards, monstered early in his marquee match-up with McGee, threw down four second-quarter dunks but Illawarra's former NBA star otherwise continued to prove a problem.

McGee had 20 first-half points as the Hawks led 57-43 at the main break.

Critically, Illawarra went 18/19 from the free-throw line by the long break to Melbourne's 2/2 and comprehensively outrebounded United 26-13.

Melbourne closed the gap to eight points but with Edwards forced to sit after chalking up his fourth foul and United's woes on the glass continuing, the Hawks still held sway 79-68 at three quarter-time.

McGee drained his first three of the season midway through the fourth, which he followed with a wild celebration, as Illawarra's cushion swelled to 20 points.

Hickey and Melbourne's Fabijan Krslovic clashed after the full-time buzzer when the teams' post-game huddles overlapped midcourt. United were subsequently booed off the court with the Hawks' title defence suddenly looking less shaky.

The Hawks now head to Far North Queensland to take on the Cairns Taipans on Friday night while United return home to face the South East Melbourne Phoenix in a tantalising Throwdown on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26 – IGNITE CUP BY DISNEY+

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 107 (McGee 37, Hickey 18, Harvey 17)

MELBOURNE UNITED 93 (Delany 21, Edwards 19, Doyle 16)

BOX SCORE