Hawkeye - Hawks v Cairns Taipans R3 Preview

THE MUST KNOWS 

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Thursday 28 January

Where: Cairns Pop-Up Arena, Cairns

Broadcast: ESPN, SBS On Demand and Twitch

Last Time They Met: Hawks 92 (Harvey 25, Jessup 24, Froling 11) d Cairns 76 (Deng 20, Noi 16, Oliver 16), Round 1, Cairns Pop-up Arena

THE PRELUDE

The Hawks return to their home-away-from-home in Cairns to take on a desperate and determined Taipans side who is languishing near the bottom of the competition ladder.

Last time out the two stars of the game were American duo Tyler Harvey (25-points) and Justinian Jessup (24 points). The Taipans highly regarded backcourt had no answer for the two-pronged attack, with the sharp-shooting pair leading The Hawks to a deserved, but potentially flattering, 16 point victory.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Justinian Jessup shot the lights out against the <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CairnsTaipans</a> - earning him our latest <a href="https://twitter.com/peppermoney?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@peppermoney</a> ‘Money Ball of the Game’<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarraProud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarraProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://t.co/IOW6hk7yK3">pic.twitter.com/IOW6hk7yK3</a></p>&mdash; Hawks Basketball (@thehawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehawks/status/1351431518170742786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 19, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Harvey has since gone to Brisbane to score 31 against the Bullets while Jessup has averaged 7.5pts in his other two games this season.

It was also another breakout game for Justin Simon - 10 points, 12 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 dimes – in a display that forced the majority of the league to sit up and take notice of the two-way specialist.

Tonight’s game will mark just over a month on the road for The Hawks – but coach Goorjian will know wins away from home don’t come easy and rarely come in streaks of four.

THE FUN FACTS

The Hawks have never missed the NBL playoffs after starting a season 3-0.

The Hawks are the only team that has scored 90-points in all three games so far while Cairns are allowing 91 points per game while averaging a league low 84.8 ppg.

If the Hawks can win this game they would have won 5 of their past 6 games in Cairns and have more wins than any visiting team since the start of the 2019 season.

THE MATCH UP

AJ Ogilvy v Cam Oliver

The Hawks skipper is off to a red-hot start in 2021 – finding ways to contribute both on and off the ball in a perfect 3-0 start to the season.

The all-round nature of his stat line last time out against the Taipans (6pts, 7rebs, 3ast, a block and 2stls) is a perfect snapshot of the important jack-of-all-trades type role Ogilvy has carved out in Coach Goorjian’s lineup.

The continued absence of fellow frontcourt stalwart Cam Bairstow means even more of the leadership burden falls on Ogilvy’s shoulders, but so far he seems to be enjoying the responsibility of steering his young teammates around the court.

He’ll have his work cut out for him tonight though as he faces off against in-form Taipans big man Cam Oliver.

Oliver has been ruthless around the rim in his last few – and torched the Hawks last start for 16pts and 13rebs. It’ll be up to Ogilvy and youngster Sam Froling to curb the influence of the baddest man in the NBL as the Hawks shoot for four in a row and a second straight win at the Snag Pit.

THE SPOTLIGHT

Isaac White – he may only be averaging 5pts a game at the moment but as the minutes start increasing (7-11-15 over his first three) we might be starting to uncover a gem in Isaac White.

The guy can flat out shoot, no two ways about it, but it’s the stuff that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet that must be impressing coach Goorjian most at the moment.

Deflections, taking charges, switching in defence and mopping up loose balls are all part of the young shooting guards role this season and is embracing the challenge of adding extra strings to his bow.

He may have only had limited opportunities but he’s making them count - shooting 50% from the field.

THE MASTERCOACH

Brian Goorjian on being on the road since Boxing Day…

Being on the road with a group like this, it’s young kids with two bags and we hop from hotel to hotel. Wives, babies, all of those things that are difficult when you’re dealing with this type of situation I’m not dealing with. These guys just want to get better, they’re young and they’re fearless as far as all of this and what’s going on. So the day-to-day, we’ve had a real opportunity to get closer because were around each other the whole time. We didn't know each other that well, eating together, watching games together, going out for walks together the teams come closer in a very short period of time.

On the importance of the Hawks name…

The local community, the local business people, they want their name. My call after the game [to reinstate the name]…I wasn't telling people you gotta get memberships, its just we’ve got this young exciting team that you can come and have the opportunity to see and you’re gonna have a great night at the basketball. And I feel as I get older it's a responsibility of mine to grow this thing in this area and get that stadium gilled. And if we get that stadium filled and get the people behind it, we’ll get the name back.