Hawks crash back to earth at hands of ladder-leading United

The Result

Illawarra Hawks 87 - Melbourne United 102

The Story

There was an air of anticipation floating around the WIN Entertainment Centre on Tuesday night in the leadup to the fifth Hawks - United matchup of the season, but the visitors made sure they took every bit of oxygen out of the building on their way to a 102 - 87 shellacking of the home side.

The Hawks entered the contest on the back of several dour offensive performances, but you wouldn't have known it in the opening few minutes as Justinian Jessup and Tyler Harvey drained back-to-back-to-back buckets.

This Justin Simon steal and stuff whipped the crowd into a frenzy as the Hawks were again set alight by their defensive barometer on their way to an early advantage. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WOAH ? <a href="https://twitter.com/simon_Says_so?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@simon_Says_so</a> <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/NCEBLyKdQt">pic.twitter.com/NCEBLyKdQt</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1394590326602432514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

United worked their way back into the contest though - overcoming an early eight point deficit thanks largely to the work of Jock Landale and sharpshooter Chris Goulding.

Goulding got loose for 12 first quarter points and missed only once in the opening term to help United to a 28-27 lead.

The second stanza saw United begin to edge away on the back of some solid bench contributions, David Barlow leading the way with six points and Scotty Hopson chipping in three.

Hawks 'Next Star' Jessup was in fine form as he netted his eleventh point of the contest, with the Boise State graduate looking ominous on the offensive end. 

Skipper AJ Ogilvy was his reliable self, dropping six points and a handful of rebounds and assists in another well-rounded first half performance.

But the opening 20 minutes was all about Goulding - the United star knocking down 25 first half points on 9/15 shooting. The talismanic star giving the Hawks nightmares from outside the arc with seven threes as United held a comfortable 53-42 lead at the oranges.

The third quarter was a slog as United continued to edge away on the back of the immoveable object that was Landale. The Melbourne marquee man had himself a whale of a time and registered 10 points in the frame.

Harvey tried his best to get the home side back into the contest - willing his way to the basket on this spectacular AND-1 play.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tyler tough <a href="https://twitter.com/YoungTRaaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YoungTRaaw</a> ?<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/DRGGbVFLgW">pic.twitter.com/DRGGbVFLgW</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1394605202938859524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Coach Brian Goorjian emptied his bench for much of the quarter, with Emmett Naar and Deng Deng getting some extended run and rewarding the coach with seven and six points respectively. Deng also ripped down six boards.

United heading into the final break with an insurmountable 81-59 advantage. 

The final quarter was all about two things for Illawarra - getting more reps into the likes of Naar, Lachie Dent, Max Darling and returning champ Tim Coenraad, and trying to preserve the margin for the sake of the NBL ladder.

Coenraad flicked home the first points of his comeback - with the crowd revelling in the fact the 300+ game superstar is back in Hawks colours.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ya love to see it <a href="https://twitter.com/coenraad22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@coenraad22</a> ??<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/st3VNhYj8Z">pic.twitter.com/st3VNhYj8Z</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1394609024889327623?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hawks guard Isaac White was made the most of his 20 minutes of court time, finishing the game with seven points, while Deng Deng got busy late to finish the game as the Hawks leading scorer with 15.

The Hawks second unit was brave, but United runs deep and is top of the ladder for a reason - the visitors consolidating first place with a runaway win.

The Stats

A red-hot Melbourne United side strolled into the WIN Entertainment Centre and shot the lights out in an electric offensive display.

United was an incredible 58% from the field and a preposterous 51% from beyond the arc tonight, giving the home side no chance considering their recent offensive struggles.

The Hawks in turn weren't diabolical - 41% from the field and 32% from deep - but were no match for the ladder leading United despite getting to the line on 18 occasions to Melbourne's five, and having less than half the turnovers (7-15) of their counterparts.

The Hawks has more swipes (8-5) and each side made four blocks each, while the Hawks bench had a rare night outscoring their opponents 41-36.

Once again, the Hawks struggled to create for one another, losing the assist count 12-27.

The Fallout

"Had no answer for them defensively tonight. We had preparation time and the key was, we talked about for two days "we gotta lock into [Chris] Goulding in that first quarter". He's a leading scorer and that's the guy that breaks your spirit. They totally dominated us, they're better than we are right now. They're a very good basketball team, very well coached," Hawks coach Brian Goorjian said.

"I know it's a little thing but the [Daniel] Grida situation, you put Grida on Goulding and you put [Justin] Simon on the ball and it's just a look that we've had in the last three games when [Deng] Adel departed and we brought Grida into it, he hasn't made a perimeter shot, he hasn't helped us offensively but the defensive side of the floor he's guarded that wing player and it's enabled Justin to guard the ball," Goorjian said.

"He [Grida] won't play in Adelaide, I don't see that happening. He's one of the toughest kids I've been around and I think we'll get him down the back stretch...when you take the two marquee guys out and when we didn't have [Justinian] Jessup for the game and we didn't have Tyler [Harvey] for the game, I thought the last three games we've gone to another level defensively with him [Grida] and it was really disappointing. I kept looking there, you know, who do you go with here on Goulding and my hands were tied...he's somebody I sure would have liked to have a go there," Goorjian said.

"It's always a great experience stepping out on the court. I love this team, we've got great chemistry, we always play well together, we go hard, and against the top teams it's always going to be a challenge but I think we all learned a lot and it was a good experience," Hawks big man Max Darling said.

"It's gonna be a good fight [against Adelaide]. Like Goorj said, without Grida it's gonna be tough but I think we can pull together defensively and get it done," Darling said.

The Road Ahead

Round 19 - Friday May 21, 7:30pm AEST v Adelaide United @ Adelaide Entertainment Centre