R18 Preview: Illawarra Hawks v NZ Breakers

When: 8.00pm (AEST), Saturday 15 May

Where: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

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

The last time
Illawarra 75 (Mooney 30, Cotton 16, Blanchfield 9) d New Zealand 67 (Landale 11, Goulding 10, Baba 10) – Round 16, Launceston, Tasmania

It was only a couple of weeks ago when the two last met down in Tasmania and it was a bit of a grind and a physical affair, it was the Hawks who prevailed in an important win as they try to chase down a playoff spot in #NBL21.

New Zealand led for most of the match on Monday night as NBL Round 16 continued until they were overrun in the final quarter by a rampant Hawks attack.

Tyler Harvey was virtually unstoppable with the rock in his hands, finishing with 29 points including three triples including a dagger late. 

But it was Justin Simon (12 points, six rebounds) who sealed the result with a huge block on Tom Abercrombie in the final minute that denied any chance of a Breakers comeback to go with his stifling defence all evening. Sam Froling was also influential with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Abercrombie (14 points, four rebounds) and Tai Webster (14 points, five assists) paced the Breakers while William McDowell-White was a strong contributor in the absence of a hamstrung Levi Randolph with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists. 

The now

This is a big game for both ball clubs with the Hawks needing to win as they try to break into the top four while post-match either way, the Breakers have every reason to go into celebration mode.

Illawarra has now improved to a 14-14 record on the back of winning that last game against New Zealand in Tasmania and then backing it up at home to the Adelaide 36ers on Tuesday in a crucial 71-66 victory against a fellow playoff contender.

That was the first of three straight matches in Wollongong for the Hawks and a stretch of closing out the season with seven of the final games at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

The Hawks are adjusting well to life now without Cam Bairstow and Deng Adel, and seem to be finding their groove as a group. With Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup their main offensive firepower and Justin Simon setting the tone defensively, that's where it all starts. 

Then AJ Ogilvy, Sam Froling and Deng Deng are doing well up front, and Daniel Grida and Emmett Naar are contributing where they can, and the Hawks are finding a groove as they make a push for a playoff spot in #NBL21 in the first season under Brian Goorjian.

The Breakers might be out of the playoff race with a 9-19 record now with eight matches to go, but they have lost no admirers for the way they have battled through adversity in so many ways over the last six months that they have been based in Australia.

Only Rasmus Bach, Finn Delany and Colton Iverson have managed to play every game for the Breakers this season highlighting that not only have they been away from home, but they have had a horror run with personnel and injuries too.

Tom Abercrombie is currently sidelined while Levi Randolph has now missed the last three games with Tai Webster, Corey Webster and Rob Loe having missed plenty of games while Jarrad Weeks, Jeremy Kendle and Lamar Patterson have all come and gone.

But no matter what, the Breakers have continued to fight and be competitive, and now after everything they've been through Saturday's game with the Hawks in Wollongong is their last in Australia for #NBL21.

New Zealand will be breathing the biggest sigh of relief once the game finishes knowing they get to go home for the first time since the start of December, and begin a run of seven matches to close out the season.

The stats

- This will be the first time the Breakers have played in Wollongong since Round 18 last season and that was the now infamous game that was abandoned with four minutes to go in the third quarter with a leaking roof. New Zealand is the only team to not beat Illawarra so far in #NBL21.

- The Hawks have averaged scoring just 73.2 points a game over the last five matches to be the lowest scoring team in the league during that span. In that time they have shot the ball at the 40.6 per cent from the field and 26.5 from three-point territory.

- Legendary Hawks coach Brian Goorjian has not tasted defeat as coach against the New Zealand Breakers since January 2006 when he was in charge of the Sydney Kings. He has a 17-3 overall record coaching against the New Zealand, and is 10-1 in games in Australia against them.

The key men
Tyler Harvey/Justin Simon – How can you split these two guns from the Hawks? They are both match-winners in their own rights with Harvey doing it with his offensive prowess and love for the big shots, and big moments while Simon sets the tone with his defence and what he produces as an all-round ferocious package. When Harvey scores 25 points or more, the Hawks are 6-0 this season and he averages 25.5 points against the Breakers this season. But you can't underestimate how important Simon's defence, offensive rebounding and energy he provides for the Hawks either.

Finn Delany – What a season this man is having and it wouldn’t surprise come the end of the season to see him high up in MVP voting, and in the All-NBL First Team. He had another 32 points on Wednesday for the Breakers in the loss to the Phoenix but he hasn't quite produced against the Hawks so far this season going at just 9.0 points a game. But with the form he's in right now and his all-round game, he's going to take some stopping from Illawarra.

The quotes

Illawarra coach Brian Goorjian loved what he saw from his team at home on Tuesday in a critical win over the Adelaide 36ers which was all led by the stunning defensive prowess of Justin Simoon.

"It's amazing now that with Adel not here with us and Bairstow out injured, it's just something that we weren’t excited about but what has happened is it's opened the door for Justin Simon," Goorjian said.

"There's no option, we are playing off him and on the defensive that's how we are going to win, and he's the head of the dog. He did an unbelievable job on Giddey in this game, he did an unbelievable job on the Webster brothers in the last game, and how he has evolved now with the change in the team has been key. It gives us that hand to play defensively because it starts with the pick up of the ball, and with the great guards in this competition."

Without the additional offensive weapons of Deng Adel and Cam Bairstow, Goorjian is making no secret that Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup are their go to offensive threats, and after stepping up against the Sixers, he's hoping to see them continue against the Breakers.

"I'm proud of what Sam did and the contributions that Deng Deng made and everybody, but it comes down to being in the game in the fourth quarter and who makes the big shots or who takes the big shots," Goorjian said. 

"And it's Tyler for us. Justinian also had that shot on the left baseline on his left hand where he drew the foul when the game was tied was huge. That was a set play we ran for him after he'd been struggling offensively but it was a big basket, and really important for us. Then there was Tyler's deep three. There's no secret who we are playing off offensively and they made two huge baskets in the crunch for us in that game."

Hawks big man Sam Froling was proud of the frontcourt's performance against the 36ers on Tuesday and is looking forward to continue to make the most of these games at home in the 'Gong.

"DJ consistently has been putting up massive numbers his whole career so he was a big focus for us to try and stop, and I think we did a pretty good job of that and Isaac as well is an unbelievable player. It was a big effort from all the guys – AJ, Max, Deng Deng and myself to kind of limit those two. I'm super proud of those guys for doing it," Froling said.

"It's super nice to be home and these fans are the best. This year they have just consistently been getting louder and louder, and it's getting more and more exciting to play here. I'm super excited for the next few games to come at home and defending this home court. It will be massive for us."

Breakers coach Dan Shamir was proud of the fight his team gave back on Wednesday after they weren't able to train as scheduled in Melbourne after coming from Perth due to an administration error that left them hotel bound.

He continues to be proud of the way his group has dealt with everything over the past six months but also feels they still aren’t too far away from doing enough to win more games.

"A lot of teams that i know of would not look like that. We are taking a lot of beatings and one thing is for sure and that's that people are not turning against each other or quitting or not giving 100 per cent," Shamir said.

"I don’t want to sound like we need anybody to feel sorry for us, that's not the case, and it's not right, and our job is to always to find a way to give ourselves a chance. With a little bit more focus on different points of the game, we could have won that last game. We can do even better if we avoid mistakes that we can avoid but 100 per cent hats off to everybody for the character that they are showing, and for doing the job right under a lot of tough circumstances."

New Zealand centre Rob Loe also saw the chances there for the Breakers to fix up a few things to get wins and hopes to see that happen on Saturday against the Hawks.

"We started off pretty slow in that last game and it might be attributed to the lack of preparation, but we switched on a little bit more in the second and third quarters even though we still had some mistakes like coach said," Loe said.

"That went all the way down to the end of the game when we were still making some mistakes that we can improve on. Those are the sloppy errors that are coach killers and that really hurt, but credit to the guys for not giving up and hanging in there. They made a few tough shots and that was it."

Loe also continues to marvel like the rest of us at the growth of Finn Delany who without question has turned himself into one of the best and most consistent players in the league.

"With Finn, he's just going from strength to strength. He had a pretty good year last year, and he's doing really well this season," Loe said.

"He's probably one of the hardest workers I know and he's always in the gym, and it shows on the court. It's a credit to him."