Hawkeye - Illawarra Hawks v Cairns Taipans R6 Preview

THE MUST KNOWS 

When: 3pm, Saturday 20 February

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Broadcast: ESPN, SBS On Demand and Twitch

Last Time They Met: Hawks 90 (Harvey 21 Jessup 19, Froling 14) d Brisbane 70 (Oliver 20, Machado 14, Djeric 11), Round 3, Cairns Pop Up Arena

THE PRELUDE

The Illawarra Hawks will kick-off the inaugural NBL Cup in Melbourne when they clash with the Cairns Taipans at John Cain Arena today.

The NBL Cup will feature all nine teams across the next few weeks – with all games and results counting towards the season proper.

The Hawks have taken care of the Taipans by an average of 18 points across their two matches so far this season, both wins coming on the road at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena.

Both fixtures came in the opening couple of rounds of the season – so today the Hawks will no doubt run into an even more desperate and determined Taipans lineup, with last year’s finalists now sitting second last with a 2-6 record.

Funnily enough, Cairns had the exact same record at the same stage of last season. From this point in November 2019 the Taipans won 14 of their next 18 games to rocket them into finals contention.

CLICK HERE FOR NBL CUP GUIDE

Today marks the first time Brian Goorjian has returned to John Cain Arena since he celebrated a championship with the South Dragons in on 13^th March 2009. The venue was Goorjian’s home court during the 2001 and 2002 seasons for the Victorian Titans and 2009 for the South Dragons.

The Taipans enter the game with the fresher legs having not played since they defeated the Breakers by 15 points at home 12 days ago – their biggest win of the season so far.

THE FUN FACTS

In both games against Cairns, Tyler Harvey was the Hawks leading scorer (25 & 21) and Justinian Jessup was second highest (24 & 19).

When Harvey leads the Hawks in scoring this year they are undefeated in four games.

In their entire NBL careers, Hawks players are collectively 1-from-20 wins at John Cain Arena with Cameron Bairstow winning a game with the Bullets in December 2018 registering the only success. AJ Ogilvy has the worst record with a winless slate from nine visits in his career.

Current coach of the year Mike Kelly is still hoping for his first career win over Brian Goorjian after two early defeats. Both men were named as NBL Coach of the year in their most recent season in the NBL.

Cairns 16 and 20 point losses to the Hawks are their only double figure defeats in their six losses this season. Cairns’ total of 70 and 76 points v the Hawks are the Taipans two lowest scores of the season so far.

THE MATCH UP

Justinian Jessup v Scott Machado

Two imports with very differing styles and approaches will go a long way to determining todays result.

Hawks Next Star Jessup has lit up the Taipans in two games this year – registering 21.5 points per game and shooting 64% from the field. The light’s out shooter managing to find an early rhythm in both games and given the green light from a tardy Taipans defence – connecting on 7/9 three’s against the Snakes across two games. In his other five games he has shot 9-from-24 (37%)

Machado has played more of a tradtional point guard role against the Hawks so far this season - notching 12.5 points and 9 assists. Compare that to the 17 points per game he averages this season and it’s clear the Hawks stingy defence has curbed Machado’s influence so far. Cairns will need him to up his scoring rate if they are to have a realistic chance.

He’ll again be charged with a tough defensive role on either Jessup or fellow backcourt star Harvey – with the increased effort needed on the defensive seeming to impact his offensive prowess across both games in Cairns.

THE SPOTLIGHT

Deng Adel – Adel came to Wollongong with a big bag of tricks and a bucket load of basketball experience. The former Cleveland Cavalier’s preseason was curtailed by an injury that lingered into the opening few rounds – but now he’s getting a clean run, fans are starting to see just why Adel is one of the brightest prospects in Australian basketball.

It’s been a good few weeks for the South Sudanese product - earning a birth in the Boomers squad for the Tokyo Olympics and being promoted back into the Hawks starting line-up in their most recent win over the Sydney Kings.

He may have only registered 11 points in his first start of the year – but it was two clutch free throws down the stretch that stood out most. The pair of coolly-taken freebies helping steady the side after an indifferent second half and helping seal a win against the fiercest of rivals.

After a week of rest and practice, Adel must now rise to another challenge – the NBL Cup. Eight games across three weeks will test every man’s body - but the Hawks must be banking on Adel’s NBA-level professionalism and experience to help the young side navigate what could be a tricky few weeks.

THE QUOTES

Lachie Dent on the nature of the NBL season so far…

“It’s probably not the season we which we had in terms of logistics but we’ve got a pretty good group that just kind of roll with whatever goes on. It is what it is, it’s still not a bad job to be honest. It’s a weird little thing we’re we play three weeks down there and eight games. Not much practice which is pretty fun because we get to play more games,” Dent said.

“We practice so we can play games. The games are always more fun although I enjoy practice, especially the way we’re going now. We’ve got a really creative group and everyday we step foot on the court is a real exciting challenge.”

Brian Goorjian on the NBL Cup…

"We've been kind of in limbo for a couple of days so hearing the news that we're finally going is relieving. We've got a young team that just puts two bags on their back and off we go. We don't have a lot of baggage is what I'm saying, so we're looking forward to getting down there and can't wait to embrace the challenge," Goorjian said.

"We win these eight, or we do well in these eight, and we come back home. The atmosphere in that venue [WIN Entertainment Centre] is electric and our team is excited to play there over the home stretch.”

On facing the Taipans first up in the NBL Cup...

"They've got a great point guard, they're big, they're key guys log a lot of minutes. There's a lot of presure on those two imports but they've had an opporutnity to refresh and they're desperate. I've said it before and I'll say it again. There are no easy games in this league," Goorjian said.