R13 Preview: Illawarra Hawks v Cairns Taipans

When: 5.00pm (AEST), Sunday 11 April 

Where: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

Broadcast: ESPN; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
Cairns 101 (Machado 31, Ngatai 17, Djeric 16) d Illawarra 95 (Harvey 24, Deng 17, Jessup 17) – NBL Cup Week 1, Melbourne

Point guards Scott Machado and Tyler Harvey gave fans a world-class duel to open the NBL Cup with Machado’s Cairns Taipans taking the 101-95 win outscoring the Illawarra Hawks 56 to 38 over the last 15 minutes.

Machado had 31 points, six assists and eight rebounds as he led his side back from 12 points down midway through the third quarter to a victory while Harvey 24 points, five rebounds and five assists in what was the best possible start in terms of quality to the NBL Cup.

The point guard battle was something to marvel at but this was a game for a couple of New Zealand Breakers teammates from last season to make their biggest ever marks on the NBL.

Jordan Ngatai is in his first season with the Taipans and started for the third straight game, and had the best game of his 67-game career with 17 points and four rebounds while going 5/7 from long range.

Deng Deng didn’t play a single minute last season at the Breakers but in his 27th NBL appearance, he just couldn’t miss for the Hawks putting up 17 points, five rebounds and two blocks.

The Taipans ended up going 18/35 as a team from three-point territory but at the other end of the spectrum, Deng Adel had a horror afternoon for the Hawks setting a new unwanted NBL record by missing all 15 of his field goal attempts. 

The now

The two teams come into Sunday's clash in Wollongong with vastly different preparations with the Hawks already having played two home games in Round 13 while the Taipans will be playing their first game since last Sunday.

The Hawks did beat the Taipans twice in Cairns as part of their four-game winning streak to start the season but it's been quite the rollercoaster ride for Brian Goorjian and his men since then. Following that winning start, they lost five of seven matches before stringing together three wins in the next four.

But since the NBL Cup they had fallen into losing five of six games after Wednesday's home defeat to the shorthanded Brisbane Bullets meaning Friday's game also in the 'Gong to the South East Melbourne Phoenix was huge. 

They managed to find a way to win 82-80 and that steadies them at an 11-11 record now coming into Sunday's game against the Taipans which will be their third home game in Round 13 in the space of just five days.

While nobody is satisfied to ever lose games of basketball, the Taipans didn’t lose any admirers with the performance in Melbourne on Good Friday and then in Cairns on Easter Sunday against United.

United have now returned to the top of the NBL ladder and are ranked as championship favourites so beating them was never going to be easy, and while the Snakes didn’t quite manage to, the signs were encouraging for them to take forward with them.

Now after the second of those games on Sunday at the Pop-Up Arena, the Taipans have had a full week back at home in Cairns to work on some things on the training floor, to integrate new arrive Hyrum Harris into the group and to prepare to play the Illawarra Hawks this Sunday in Wollongong.

The stats

- Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup were instrumental in Illawarra's bounce back win on Friday over the Phoenix combining for 48 points, and they have enjoyed playing the Taipans so far in #NBL21. Harvey is averaging 23.3 points against Cairns up on 19.3 for the season while Jessup is delivering 20.0 points against the Snakes and 15.1 points overall. Jessup has gone 12/15 at 80 per cent from three-point land against Cairns in the three games.

- While Taipans coach Mike Kelly finished his NBL playing career with Wollongong and started his coaching life as an assistant at the Hawks, he is yet to lead the Taipans to a victory in the 'Gong in what is now his third season at the helm.

- Sunday's game will be the 600th time the NBL has had a match played in Wollongong. The first was on March 3, 1979 at Beaton Park with the Hawks hosting the St Kilda Saints, and winning 91-88. Of the 599 previous games in Wollongong, 257 of them were played at the old Beaton Park between 1979 and 1998, and now 342 of them at the current WIN Entertainment Centre where the Hawks moved to in 1999. Over 1.5 million people have attended those 599 matches with the Hawks scoring more than 60,000 points along the way.

The key men

Tyler Harvey – The Hawks quite simply looked lost when he was missing recently with a back complaint. He was on fire back going back to Monday week when he put up 28 points in the win over the Brisbane Bullets on the back of nailing 8/10 from deep. But he twinged his back late in that game, wasn’t able to get going against the Phoenix a few days later and then sat out last Saturday away to the Adelaide 36ers. And the Hawks really struggled in his absence. But his importance was on show with how influential he was in Friday's win over the Phoenix and now he'll need another big performance up against the Taipans and Scott Machado on Sunday.

Cam Oliver – It's no secret to anyone who closely watches the Taipans that he is the true barometer of this team. When he is fully focused, when his energy is focused in the right way and when he is suitably motivated and switched on, he is unstoppable and his teammates feed off that. But when he's not on his game, it can equally be as negative as influence. He had an interesting game last Sunday where Mike Kelly voiced his displeasure at him for a poor defensive play. But to Oliver's credit, he took that on the chin, supported his teammates from the bench and then returned to the court to play well. Now he does appear to have favourable match ups against the Hawks bigs so this is his chance to put the Snakes on his back and lead them to an important victory.

The quotes

After the second of those games against Melbourne over Easter on Sunday at the Pop-Up Arena, the Taipans have had a full week back at home in Cairns to work on some things on the training floor, to integrate new arrive Hyrum Harris into the group and to prepare to play the Illawarra Hawks this Sunday in Wollongong.

The Hawks have had the opposite preparation having had games against the Bullets on Wednesday and Phoenix on Friday to focus on so the Taipans will be hoping having had a full week to prepare and get ready to take on Illawarra will end up paying off for them during the game.

"I think it's good to get on the practice floor some and be at home for a little while, but you also like to keep playing so you can expel the demons from losing games," Kelly said. 

"We're on the verge of playing a good basketball game, we've played some good quarters but haven’t put it together consistently to be a 40-minute team. 

"I think it's good to be on the practice floor to continue to work on our execution and ability to finish plays. I don’t think it's a bad thing and you just do what you're told so we'll take it and just get ready to go to Wollongong."

For Ngatai and Djeric to combine for 28 points on the back of going at 9/14 from three-point range on Sunday was something coach Mike Kelly would be delighted to now see more of moving forward.

"It was great to see those guys take their shots and make their shots," Kelly said. 

"The last two games we've shot well as a team and Ngatai has shot well in both those games. Mirko is always one shot away from being hot so it was great to see him come out and take those shots, and make them."

Hawks power forward Sam Froling not only realised what an important win it was for his team against the Phoenix on Friday, but felt it was the type of performance they can now really build some momentum on the back of.

"By far it's probably the best game I've played in in the NBL thus far," Froling said.

"We deserve this one and we knew we had to come out as a team to show Goorj that we had the fight in us and everyone came out and did that, and left it out on the floor. I'm pretty proud of the effort from all the fellas."

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian was delighted with how Justinian Jessup and Tyler Harvey led the comeback win against the Phoenix, but didn’t want to forget the contribution of Justin Simon.

"I thought Jessup made some really good plays especially and really shot the ball well under pressure. And the amount of minutes he played and with the defensive assignment he had meant he didn’t get much rest. And the same with Tyler and I thought they dug real deep," Goorjian said.

"I thought we executed some nice sets out of horns and again it's a line-up that has been pretty good defensively but has struggled offensively out on the floor playing with one big and four smalls. But in this game on the offensive end we simplified things, kept it spread and played pick-and-roll and Tyler and Jessup were great to play off.

"But you can't understate Justin Simon and what those rebounds meant and the defence that he played. The pick-and-roll stuff was good with Justinian and Tyler and it's nice to have that avenue now, get a bit more from Deng Deng, and Adel and we are going to have to continue to do it as a group."