R19 Preview: Adelaide 36ers vs Illawarra Hawks

Friday, May 21, 2021

Brandon Paul and Adelaide's hopes are pretty much done and dusted, but they can put a spanner in Illawarra's playoff works with a big home performance.

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Friday 21 May

Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre

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

The last time
Illawarra 71 (Harvey 23, Simon 12, D Deng 10) d Adelaide 66 (Crocker 16, McVeigh 11) - Round 18, WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

This Round 18 clash wasn’t pretty. While it has been a physical, injury-riddled season, the quality of NBL rosters has shone through, however on this night in the ‘Gong the two teams combined to shoot 38 per cent and cough up 41 turnovers. With five minutes to play scores were tied, but with Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup scoring the Hawks’ final 16 points and their defence holding Adelaide scoreless the final three minutes, the home side prevailed.

The now
That was a disappointing night for the 36ers, who had their primetime starting five on show but couldn’t get it done. Loss number 18 in Sydney last round effectively put the Sixers out of the playoffs, and they promptly farewelled Josh Giddey and thanked him for what will be long-lasting memories. Now they play for pride, and with Perth waiting two nights after this game, followed by a 48-hour turnaround to get to Christchurch, they’ll need plenty of that.

The Hawks pride took a hit on Tuesday as they were manhandled by Melbourne. Considered one of the NBL’s best defensive teams, Illawarra were completely opened up by United, at first from outside by Chris Goulding, then all over as the game progressed. They now sit outside the four on percentage, and their next stretch against Adelaide twice, Cairns and New Zealand shapes as pivotal, especially with a Perth-Sydney home double waiting in the final round.

The stats

- Illawarra’s defence is allowing just 82.9ppg this season at a second-lowest clip of 43 per cent. On Tuesday, Melbourne scored 102 points at 70 per cent inside and 51 per cent outside

- The high-pressure Hawks still won points from turnovers 23-6 against United, and have won that category 111-46 in their past six games. They forced Adelaide into 24 miscues in Round 18 in Wollongong

- The 36ers were +15 in that game in 10 minutes with Josh Giddey on the bench, compared to -20 in his 30 minutes on court. Daniel Dillon was +17 in nine minutes with six assists and zero turnovers

- Adelaide’s five starters combined for just 32 points on 11/38 shooting in that game, including 5/21 from the arc. Tony Crocker and Jack McVeigh combined for 27 points off the bench on 8/12 from deep

The key men

Tyler Harvey – It’s no secret that Harvey is the secret. While the Hawks scored 87 on Tuesday, their highest tally since March, their star guard managed just 10, meaning his side is now 0-8 when he fails to reach 16 points. In contrast, they are 10-1 when he hits 24 or more. He scored 24 and 23 on 12/23 from deep in Illawarra’s two wins over Adelaide and missed their defeat. Daniel Dillon and Sunday Dech will be on this job, which will be pivotal.

Daniel Johnson – It’s tempting to say DJ will miss Giddey and his delectable dimes, but the truth is DJ has played with that many different Sixers’ point guards and scored bucket loads no matter who’s feeding him the Wilson. This season, he’s been next level in Adelaide wins, averaging 24.3ppg at 55 per cent in their past nine triumphs. In the win over Illawarra he had 26 points and 15 boards, while in two Ls to Sam Froling and Co he averaged 13 and six.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">That'll work. ? <a href="https://t.co/e0FChPcYNH">pic.twitter.com/e0FChPcYNH</a></p>— Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1393848366002438144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 16, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The quotes

They say pressure makes diamonds, but it also crushed Adelaide’s playoff hopes cruelly in Round 18 as they crashed to Illawarra and the Kings.

Having won six-of-nine heading into last week, including three Ws in a row where they averaged 96.7ppg, this looked like a resurgent team with its full roster finally on deck.

But when the Hawks applied the heat, the Sixers melted.

“We had 24 turnovers,” a bemused coach Conner Henry said post-game.

“In that second quarter we handled their pressure, our decision making out of their pick-and-roll coverages was really good, we picked them apart.

“At half-time we discussed exactly what was going to take place, they were going to continue to come at us.

“Their rotations off pick-and-roll pressure is very good, and we didn’t make decisions off the initial slip pass. Our bigs made some poor reads, our guards made some poor reads and there’s the game. We couldn’t handle their pressure.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="tl" dir="ltr">Bang Bang BOOM <a href="https://twitter.com/simon_Says_so?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@simon_Says_so</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarraProud?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarraProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://t.co/YcP2ZlqUNp">pic.twitter.com/YcP2ZlqUNp</a></p>— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1392054004591460355?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

For Henry, it was a lack of mental toughness, where not enough players could absorb pressure and keep playing the team-first basketball that had made them one of the form teams of the competition.

“We couldn’t get quality looks because we couldn’t throw out of pick-and-roll and we couldn’t throw onto the next open man, or we couldn’t attack a close-out and then make a second read and find an open guy,” Henry said.

“There was a lot of selfish play tonight, there was a lot of ‘me ball’. It doesn’t tell the tale we had 23 assists, we should have had 37 assists if we just made the extra pass.

“When Jack (McVeigh) and Tony (Crocker) came in there was the ball movement and it freed up a lot of guys and they made threes.

“Some of the guys on the team need to watch this film and learn from it.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Our man <a href="https://twitter.com/tcrock23?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tcrock23</a> has 5?? triples. <a href="https://t.co/ESq9vd2zgx">https://t.co/ESq9vd2zgx</a> <a href="https://t.co/gjQdNQOMCX">pic.twitter.com/gjQdNQOMCX</a></p>— Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1392072036072116224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While finals are now a mathematical pipedream, they get the opportunity to make amends against the Hawks, and listening to coach Brian Goorjian, there will be plenty more of the same defensive screws being tightened.

“We had to figure out as a group what’s our best option, what’s the place we can go to be competitive with this and give us the best chance to win games,” Goorjian said.

“After the Sydney game we really started to pick up the defensive end of the floor.”

Three lockdown wins in a row moved the Hawks into fourth place, but they received a massive reality check against Melbourne, with defensive surprise packet Dan Grida sidelined their D was largely ineffective against Chris Goulding and Co.

“Whatever we were doing, and the other options during the game, just didn’t work,” Goorjian said.

“When Adel departed and we put Grida into it, he hasn’t made a perimeter shot, he hasn’t helped us offensively, but the defensive side of the floor he’s guarded that wing player and it's enable Justin (Simon) to guard the ball.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There’s some stuff to smooth over but Daniel Grida does something each game that makes you think he will be an NBL star. He plays harder and with more intent than a lot of guys and that has shown through at SEABL and NBL level already <a href="https://t.co/j8A1rr1k5O">pic.twitter.com/j8A1rr1k5O</a></p>— Jordan McCallum (@jordanmcnbl) <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanmcnbl/status/1076824876726419457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“Tonight it was a different look having Harvey and Emmett on the ball to start this thing and Justin guarding Goulding.

“It wasn’t a good match-up in Melbourne and it wasn’t a good match-up tonight. Then the back-up scenario, what do you do and who do you go with there? He just toyed with them.”

While the absence of Isaac Humphries and Josh Giddey reduces the defensive burden in Friday night’s clash with Adelaide, Goorjian knows the Sixers still have more than enough talent to put a spanner in their playoff works.

“You look at a couple of guys out like Humphries and Giddey, and now you look at Crocker, Paul, Daniel Johnson, McVeigh, they’ve still got a squad and they're going to be loose and relaxed, there’ll be a great crowd down there and it’s going to be tough,” he said.

“The defensive end of the floor is huge for us, rebounding is huge for us, those two things for tonight were the reason for the loss and those things are key against Adelaide to turn the tables here.”