RD12 Preview: Adelaide 36ers v Illawarra Hawks

When: 8.00pm (AEDT), Saturday 3 April 

Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre

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

The last time

Illawarra 98 (Harvey 24, Adel 19, Bairstow 14) d Adelaide 89 (Crocker 23, Johnson 17, McVeigh 16) – NBL Cup Week 3, John Cain Arena, Melbourne

This was a fascinating game midway through the NBL Cup in the only clash that Adelaide and Illawarra have had so far in #NBL21. The 36ers were fresh off a hammering of 44 points from New Zealand while the Hawks had gone down to South East Melbourne by 17 points just days earlier.

It was all about who was going to bounce back and it was the Hawks who did the better job of that although admittedly the Sixers were just getting used to life without the injured Isaac Humphries and had yet to welcome new import Brandon Paul into the line-up.

With Tyler Harvey delivering 24 points on 6/11 shooting from deep, the Hawks proved too strong to win 98-89. He got good support too with Deng Adel delivering 19 points, eight and five assists while Cam Bairstow added 14 points and Justinian Jessup 12.

Josh Giddey impressed for Adelaide with 14 points, six rebounds and nine assists. Tony Crocker top-scored with 23 points in his best NBL performance. Daniel Johnson had another 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists with Jack McVeigh delivering 16 points and seven boards.

The now

It's tough to read too much into that last meeting between the two teams at the NBL Cup because two of Illawarra's best performers Tyler Harvey and Cam Bairstow, and Adelaide's top-scorer Tony Crocker all won't be there on Saturday night in Adelaide.

Harvey had a brilliant game back on Monday with 28 points in the win over the Brisbane Bullets, but hurt his back late in the piece and couldn’t get through Thursday's loss to the South East Melbourne Phoenix. He has now been ruled out at least of Saturday's game with the 36ers while Bairstow remains in doubt but could still face a late fitness test.

And Adelaide will be without Crocker for the first time this season having been ruled out with a hip compliant. While the 36ers do remain without imposing centre Isaac Humphries as well, the good news is that Next Star point guard Josh Giddey returns and import guard Brandon Paul has been confirmed to come into the starting line-up for the first time.

It would be an understatement to say that both teams come into the meeting at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre desperate for a win. The Sixers have now lost five straight following a 14-point loss in Cairns on Sunday to slip to 7-13 on the season while the Hawks are coming off a 32-point hammering at the hands of the Phoenix on their home floor on Thursday which sees them come into Saturday's game in Adelaide at 10-9.

The stats

- Tyler Harvey (24 points) and Tony Crocker (23) led their teams in scoring the first time they met this season, but neither will be there on Saturday night through back and hip complaints respectively

- The 36ers have played 11 games since their last home game at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre for a 2-9 record

- Saturday night will be Brian Goorjian's first game coaching in Adelaide since November 2008. On that night, he led the South Dragons to a 106-100 win over the 36ers at the Distinctive Homes Dome

- Illawarra takes the most field goals a game averaging 75.6 while Adelaide takes the fewest amount of shots at 67.9

The key men

Brandon Paul – What a rollercoaster ride his four games with Adelaide have already been. Fresh out of two weeks of hotel quarantine and playing his first game since December 29 with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls in China, he set things alight against Perth at the NBL Cup with 19 first half points and 25 for the game. He backed it up with 20 against South East Melbourne and he appeared to be rolling. But his role and minutes have seemingly decreased over the last two games in losses to the Wildcats and Taipans with him only combining for 14 points and nine assists on 11 field goal attempts and a total of 43 minutes of court time. In the first two games he played 60 minutes for 45 points on 14/28 shooting. But that's in the past, he will be starting on Saturday against the Illawarra Hawks, and there's every reason to suggest he'll be a significant part of the offence and has all the tools to lead the 36ers to a much-needed win.

Emmett Naar – Well Hawks coach Brian Goorjian is making no qualms about the fact that he is putting just about all the responsibility of running his team onto Emmett Naar on Saturday night in Adelaide in the absence of Tyler Harvey. Goorjian was disgusted with his team's 32-point loss to the Phoenix two days ago and with the way they performed at both ends of the floor. Post-game, he made it clear that Naar would be asked to take responsibility to make sure both areas are drastically better in Adelaide, and how he goes achieving those results demanded by his coach will go a long way to determining the end result.

The quotes

Adelaide 36ers GM of Basketball Jeff Van Groningen has seen plenty in his time in the NBL and beyond, and he knows the difference between a losing streak, and becoming a losing club. He hopes the Sixers can manage to maintain their competitiveness and chemistry as a group while times are tough, but a win on Saturday over the Hawks would certainly make that an easier task.

"Confidence is a huge thing and nobody yet has put a scientific finger on it because it's an intangible, it's like momentum and those things that everybody can see that are real, but you can't manufacture and it really only comes with a turning of the tide and a win," Van Groningen said in his appearance on this week's Sixers Fix with Scott Ninnis podcast, which you can listen to by clicking here.

"Wins often beget wins and losses can do the same, which is what we're in the middle of at the moment. There's definitely no quick fix, the only quick fix would be medical miracles so when you lose a player so significant as Isaac Humphries that a six-week injury can heal in six days. The reality is that doesn’t happen and we have to work out what we're doing within the group we have. 

"There is no quick fix and the guys have to graft and work hard, and get through it, and then they have to somehow manufacture that win and then when a win comes, all of a sudden feel better and the tempo changes, the temperature changes around the group and you can often be away to a more positive mindset. 

"These are difficult times when you're in the middle of a losing streak but not becoming a losing club at times like this is a real battle. But that's what we are determined to do is to make sure we retain a winning mentality and get back on the right track."

Van Groningen also confirmed that Brandon Paul would start for Adelaide against Illawarra on Saturday night.

"He will be starting in this game as I understand it. We've made the announcement that Tony Crocker is out with a hip injury but Brandon would have started anyway. Brandon Paul was coming in to play and resume what would be a much more normalised situation for him where he was starting," Van Groningen said. 

"A coach calls makes those calls to do with who plays and who starts, and how many minutes are in those games. We have a coach and coaching staff who make their calls based on what they think is giving the team the best shot. They are not trying to lose games, that is counter intuitive to their careers to try and says it doesn’t matter about winning or losing. 

"They are trying to come up with the best possible scenario that will assist the team in winning, and they are with the team more than anyone. It's a decision that the head coach ultimately makes and his decision in those early few games that Brandon played was that he was coming off the bench."

Illawarra coach Brian Goorjian hated what his team did defensively against the Phoenix on Thursday night, but it was the lack of anything happening offensively minus Tyler Harvey and Cam Bairstow that left him flabbergasted. He hopes to see that fixed on Saturday to a degree with Emmett Naar and Lachlan Dent to take over point guard duties.

"Well I think the defensive side of the ball is where it starts and I'm going to go right there with Emmett. He's going to have to run the team and he's going to have to stand up," Goorjian said.

"He's got a background and we've got some guys who have been in this organisation for a while who want an opportunity, and they are getting an opportunity and it's their time. You can handle defeat and some rough patches, but there was no spit to it at all, no push to the ball, no pressure and we were manhandled. 

"We were like little kids and it starts with the man with the ball. I'm going to go right there with Emmett and Lachie, the ball will be in their hands and maybe a message was sent in this game by what we got, but they are going to have to play at a whole nother level than this against Adelaide."

Goorjian had no idea just what an impact taking Harvey out of the Hawks line-up would have, but there's no time to worry about him missing on Saturday night. He knows it's on him to now find a solution to get a better performance from the Hawks.

"The defence was what it was and it was like nothing I've ever been part of for a long, long time and there was nothing to it, but I think it was deflated by how bad we were offensively," Goorjian said. 

"We had nothing from the perimeter, they were laying off our guys and letting them shoot other than Justinian, and the whole key was cog. And to execute anything without Tyler in there and without rolling the ball into the block, I just didn’t know how we were going to get a good shot. 

"That just led to the blowout. Taking Harvey out of our group was alarming and that's going to be a real challenge coming into the next game. Everyone has dealt with injuries but with us missing these two pieces it really had an effect, and that falls back on me now to make some adjustments for the next one."