R8 Preview: Illawarra Hawks vs Adelaide 36ers

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Two tired teams desperately needing a win, can Josh Giddey and Sunday Dech outdo the brilliance of Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup and get the 36ers back on track?

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Thursday 4 March

Where: State Basketball Centre, Melbourne

Broadcast: ESPN; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand

The last time
Adelaide 102 (Drmic 24, Johnson 22, Randle 19) d Illawarra 96 (Blanchfield 35, Dech 16, Boone 14) Round 14, 2019/20, Adelaide Entertainment Centre

A night to remember from Todd Blanchfield, who nailed 7-of-12 from the arc and 5-of-6 from inside, helped the struggling Hawks lead for much of the first half despite Adelaide’s dominance at the foul line. After three quarters of free-wheeling basketball, however, the defences won out in the final term, and 10 points from imports Jerome Randle and Eric Griffin were enough to get the 36ers over the line.

The now
When Adelaide poured in 99 points against SE Melbourne to move to 6-5, with Brandon Paul soon to come, things were looking promising for a team tipped to claim the wooden spoon. But in four defeats surrounding that W, the Sixers have averaged just 71.5ppg and now face at least a month with Isaac Humphries on the sidelines. With Paul not yet available the firepower is lacking, meaning it will take a huge defensive effort to topple the Hawks.

The news isn’t much better for the men from the Gong, who have lost three of their past four and five of their past seven. In those games they’ve scored once in the 70s, three times in the 80s, twice in the 90s and once in triple figures, suggesting a team that is struggling to execute consistently at both ends. It’s the defence and ball security that will most be concerning coach Brian Goorjian, however, those areas key to their early-season success.

The stats

- In wins, the Hawks average 19.7 points from turnovers while conceding just 7.7. In five losses they are even with their oppo on PFTs, averaging 13.8

- Illawarra are conceding 11.8 triples at 42 per cent in losses along with 17 points from free throws. In wins, those numbers are 9.5 treys at 29 per cent and 11.5 points from the stripe

- Adelaide have not once connected on 11 or more three-pointers this season, and only once converted at better than 42 per cent. They are last in the NBL with 7.1 makes per game

- In wins, the 36ers are averaging 70.3 points per 40 minutes from ones and twos. In defeat, that number shrinks to just 50.3

The key men

Tony Crocker – The Sixers need a number of key men to step up to help them post a winning score, but Crocker stands out given Adelaide are 6-3 when he scores in double figures, compared to 0-4 when he doesn’t. On those quiet nights he’s averaging 5.8ppg on 9-of-29 shooting, with just 4 two-point field goals and grabbed 4 defensive rebounds in total. He needs to man up if he wants to be part of a winning team more often.

Tyler Harvey – The offensive tornado from Torrance swept up all before him early in his debut NBL season, but his past two games have delivered just 14.5 points at 37 per cent from the field and 5-of-16 from deep. After dealing 25 assists to 15 turnovers in the opening nine games, those numbers have reversed to 3 dimes and 7 miscues in the past two. The Hawks must find ways to get their star PG some more rest and some open looks.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">THIS GAME.<br>TYLER HARVEY.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ILLatSYD?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ILLatSYD</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZYKBqUwjyS">pic.twitter.com/ZYKBqUwjyS</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1360828435816349701?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The quotes

At half-time of last week’s loss to SE Melbourne, veteran Hawks coach Brian Goorjian wasn’t happy with his players’ defensive discipline.

“We’ve talked about all year, cheap baskets, keeping them off the glass and the free-throw count – it’s nothing to do with the referees they’ve done a great job, it’s 17-5, we’re fouling, we’ve got to keep them off the line and stop those easy baskets,” he said.

Fast forward to the post-game press conference and the message had changed significantly.

“I've tried to keep my mouth shut during this, but I just can’t, a huge factor for us, and I’ve been yelling from the sidelines the whole time, is to keep that fouling down,” he said.

“In those four wins there was no secret, a big factor was our defence and our defence was keeping the opposition off the foul line.

“We haven't had that situation since we got here for this tournament (NBL Cup) … All of a sudden we’re a different team when we get here? I don’t think so and I'm stressed and disappointed in that.

“I’ve tried to work the sidelines a little bit and figure that out, but I was really disappointed tonight and last night where that’s gone.”

Goorjian went on the speak about perceived inconsistencies with the way on-ball and off-ball contact is being officiated, but earlier in the press conference he had touched on the real issue causing his own team’s inconsistency.

“I thought there was a sign today, on some of the guys that we’ve been riding their backs, of fatigue and I think obviously in the situation we’re in the guys are stressed and the confidence level is down,” he said.

“That (slow) start like that really got me on my heels, I wasn’t expecting that and I’m sure the group wasn’t.

“That’s not good for us right now, everything got a bit tighter after that, now we’re hesitant to take shots out of the corner, we’re over-penetrating, just looked like a stressed situation.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cam pass it though.<a href="https://twitter.com/CammyGliddon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CammyGliddon</a> with a delicious set up ??<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ILLatSEM?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ILLatSEM</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLCup</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/IvY1cnKmXA">pic.twitter.com/IvY1cnKmXA</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1365864526323748865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Compared to their hot start, the Hawks are missing more shots and turning the ball over more, giving their opponents more opportunities to flow into offence, resulting in penetration opportunities, more offensive rebounding lanes, and more easy scores and free throws.

Instead of the Hawks playing on the front foot, they're the ones fighting through set defences more often, which has taken away their ball movement and placed even more of a load on Harvey and Justinian Jessup.

“We talked about it leading into this game, that the ball was sticking, that was an emphasis point leading in, but I just made a call when we were 15 down early with that movement, that we just didn’t have the energy or have the crispness to get anything done that way,” Goorjian said.

“So I thought, and I'm chasing my tail here, it’s too much, we’re asking too much for where these guys are at physically, so I went to the early on-ball and went that way.

“Do we want to have ball movement? Do we want it through hands? Yes we do, but that cutting game, that ball movement game is tiring.”

Adelaide look tired too, and generating points is going to be labour-intensive on Thursday without Isaac Humphries drawing defensive attention, as they found in their catastrophic loss to NZ where the Breaker picked them apart.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="fr" dir="ltr">C?LT?N<br>IVERS?N.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLCup</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://t.co/rvmFN0L3LH">pic.twitter.com/rvmFN0L3LH</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1365555135590526978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Four games in seven days, not being able to train consistently with our core group because of injuries, not being able to train with the other guys who have specific roles,” coach Connor Henry listed as his reasons.

“We’re not in a good spot and we discussed just this scenario about making sure we’re ready to go and battling through fatigue, and as you saw that first quarter it got well out of hand and we weren’t able to stop it.”

Despite their star centre’s absence, Henry feels confident his team will bounce back, as they have a number of times this season, and move themselves level with Illawarra and SE Melbourne in third and fourth place.

“I think the group is going to come together, nobody likes being embarrassed. We've got to quickly get some rest and get back training in a few days, where hopefully we can regain some of our cohesiveness and get better,” he said.

“There’s no one magic answer to what we’re going through. If you look at the statsheet it can be glaring at times when we can’t defensively keep guys in front and then we turn the ball over at the offensive end because the ball’s not getting through hands.

“This is a broken record by me, so we've got a lot of work to do.”