Hawks chase fourth straight win against Bullets

Fresh off their double-overtime win against the New Zealand Breakers, the Illawarra Hawks will head north to Brisbane in chase of their fourth straight victory.

Standing in the way of their second win in three days will be the Bullets, who are 1-2 on the season after losing to 83-70 to Perth on Friday.

The pair's rivalry stems back to 1979 when both were foundations club's in the NBL's maiden season.

Unlike the Hawks, the Bullets weren't part of the NBL from 2009-2015.

Despite this, the Bullets hold a 55-40 all-time record over the Hawks.

Sunday's round three fixture, which will mark the first time the Bullets have played in front of their home fans at Nissan Arena (a venue where Brian Goorjian's era at Illawarra started) in NBL22, will give the Hawks a chance to match the 4-0 start they enjoyed in 2021.

All previous five seasons Illawarra has started with four straight wins, they have at least made it to the semi-finals.

This fixture also represents the first clash for Harry Froling against his former team.

Coach Brian Goorjian and forward Sam Froling chat to the media after the @illawarrahawks defeated New Zealand #NBL22 pic.twitter.com/48V7oiG29C

— NBL (@NBL) December 17, 2021

This enticing showdown will see plenty of exciting match-ups all over the floor, headlined by the point guards Tyler Harvey and Nathan Sobey.

Harvey scored 26 points, including the game-winner, in Friday's win and will head into the clash with averages of 18 points, 4.33 rebounds, 3.67 steals and three assists per contest.

While his opposite number Sobey has 21.5 points, nine rebounds, 4.5 assists and one steal per game in NBL22.

Supporting these two respective stars in their backcourt will be harp-shooters Justinan Jessup and Anthony Drmic.

Illawarra's NBA Next Star Jessup comes into the contest on the back of his best game to date in NBL22, recording 21 points, five rebounds and four assists against the Breakers.

Just as enticing will be the battle between the forwards Antonius Cleveland Sam Froling against Robert Franks and Lamar Patterson.

Memphis product Cleveland is posting 12.33 points, 6.67 rebounds and 2.33 assists through his first three NBL games, while last season's Most Improved Player Froling is averaging 10.5 rebounds a game - a mark which is third-best in the competition.

Comparatively, Brisbane's forward duo are leading their team in scoring thus far in 2021-22.

Franks is putting up 22.67 points (third-best in the league) and 10.67 each time he steps on the floor, while Patterson is chalking up 18 points, four rebounds and four assists per game.

Finally, is the match-up in the middle, where the Hawks should have a big advantage due to Duop Reath's incredible early season form.

The Australian Boomer has dominated each of his first three contests this season, to the tune of 22.5 points and eight rebounds - all while shooting 65 per cent from the field.

Matching up against the Reath will be Tyrell Harrison, who is contributing six points and 9.67 rebounds per game.

Off the bench, the Hawks and Bullets will be relying on their respective sparkplugs Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Jason Cadee for a lift when they check in on Sunday.

HawkHeads can watch the game on ESPN via Kayo Sports, Foxtel or 10 Peach from 3pm AEDT.

Tickets for the Hawks' next home game, on Thursday, December 23, at the WIN Entertainment Centre are available via Ticketmaster.