Hawkeye - Illawarra Hawks v Cairns Taipans R13 Preview

THE MUST KNOWS 

When: 5pm AEST, Sunday 11 April

Where: WIN Entertainment Centre

Broadcast: ESPN, SBS On Demand and Twitch

Past meetings:
Round 1 at Cairns Pop-Up: Hawks 92 def Taipans 76
Round 3 at Cairns Pop-Up: Hawks 90 def Taipans 70
Round 6 at John Cain Arena: Taipans 101 def Hawks 95

THE PRELUDE

As it stands, the Hawks find themselves nestled inside the NBL's top four while the Taipans are rooted to the bottom of the ladder - with today's clash looming as an integral piece of the NBL playoff puzzle.

Based purely on recent form, you would assume the playoffs are beyond the Taipans reach this year. The club that surged it's way to within a game of the 2020 NBL Finals Series just hasn't been able to find it's mojo so far in the New Year and a loss today would almost certainly end their slim finals hopes.

The Hawks enter this one off the back of one of their finest wins of the season - a come-from-behind victory over the high-flying SE Melbourne Phoenix after being down by 17-points at one stage in the third quarter.

This game will also be the 600th NBL game played in Wollongong.

Crowd numbers were not kept for the first few seasons but over 1.5 million fans have attended the NBL matches in Wollongong to see the home side score almost 60,000 points.

The Hawks enter today's game without Cam Bairstow (leg) and Emmett Naar (concussion) while Cairns will be suiting up their newest player Hyrum Harris - a man who played 16 games for the Hawks last season as a development player. 

THE FUN FACTS

Justinian Jessup vs Cairns: 24, 19,17 average 20.0 average over whole NBL is 15.1

Justinian Jessup has shot 12-from-15 three’s against the Taipans this season (80.0%)

The Taipans have lost their past seven games in Wollongong (one of those was in Canberra) and nine of their last ten. Cairns last win on the road to the Hawks was in October 2016.

The Taipans are yet to win in Wollongong or New Zealand under Mike Kelly.

The Hawks are playing their third home game for the round and have scored 82 in both games so far with a 6-point loss to Brisbane and a 2-point win over Phoenix.
On Friday they recorded their best comeback for the season when they won after being down 17-points.

Cairns have won just one game in their past eight games and there last two losses were to Melbourne both by 10-points.

The Taipans did win two games at the NBL Cup in Melbourne but have lost their last eight true ‘away’ games going back into last year.

Last season Cairns was the only team that didn’t win in Wollongong with losses by 8 in overtime and by 1-point thanks to a free-throw made by AJ Ogilvy.

600 games milestone numbers:

The first game in Wollongong was on March 3, 1979 at Beaton Park when the Hawks hosted the St Kilda Saints and beat them 91-88. Their second was the very next day when they also were at home to the Canberra Cannons and lost 74-78. (Both those visiting teams went on to play in the first NBL Grand Final)

Wollongong home records:
Beaton Park 257 games played for 143 wins 114 losses (55.64% win clip)
WIN Ent Centre 342 games played for 194 wins 148 losses (56.72% win clip)

Total: 599 games played for 337 wins and 262 losses (56.26% win clip)

Note: The Hawks have also played 5 ‘home’ games outside of Wollongong with three at Shellharbour, one in Ballarat and one in Canberra.

From 1979 to 1998 the Hawks called Beaton Park home and much history was made there including the highest scoring NBL game of all time when the Tigers 186 defeated the Hawks 158 and the NBL’s first ever replay game in 1986 when a scoring error forced a game against the West Sydney Westars to be replayed – in which both games were decided with Illawarra winning by 1-point.

In 1999, the Hawks moved to the WIN Entertainment Centre and it’s hard to imagine a bigger moment that Damon Lowery’s free-throws to get Wollongong into the Grand Final for the first time in 2001.

THE MATCH UP

Tyler Harvey v Scott Machado

On Friday Harvey scored 22 points and was huge when the game was on the line for the home side. Both Harvey and Justinian Jessup average more against Cairns than their overall season average, so the all-American back court could be in for a big afternoon at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

Against Cairns Harvey has notched up 25, 21 and 24-point games at an average of 23.3 while his current scoring rate across his first NBL season is 19.3 points per contest. 

Harvey will have another tough assignment today, coming up against Taipans livewire Scott Machado. Machado leads the NBL in assists at 7.7 per game but averages nine against the Hawks this season. He also had his career best 31-points last time they met in round 6 at the NBL Cup.

Both Machado (32) and Harvey (31) are in the league's top 16 for minutes per game and both side's offence runs through their ball dominant guards. With Naar sidelined for the Hawks today, more onus will fall on Harvey's shoulders, with this matchup probably deciding who walks away with the chocolates.

THE SPOTLIGHT

Justin Simon - Simon may not have had a huge influence in the first half of Friday's surprise win over the Phoenix - but he more than made up for it down the stretch as the defensive whiz created havoc for the visitors when the game was on the line.

Coach Brian Goorjian praised Simon post-match saying "his impact could not be underestimated" despite the Hawks back court of Jessup and Harvey getting most of the kudos.

Simon's shot hasn't been falling at the clip he would probably like (8.68 points per game at 41% and 31.7% from deep), but he's more than making up for it in other areas that maybe aren't always included in the box score.

Deflections, putbacks, helpside defence, cutting off passing lanes and guarding the opposition's player on a nightly basis all form part of Simon's assignments and although they might go unnoticed by the stats crew, the Hawks faithful absolutely love what he brings to the court on a nightly basis. He's also leading the league in swipes.