Hawks defy Perth hoodoo to claim Game One win over Wildcats

The Result

Illawarra Hawks 74 - Perth Wildcats 72

The Story

The Illawarra Hawks are one win away from the 2021 NBL Grand Final Series after taking down the defending champion Perth Wildcats 74-72 in Perth.

It may not happen too often, but boy are we glad it happened tonight, the Hawks winning in the West for only the second time in their last 36 attempts to take a 1-0 lead in the best of three semi-final series against the Wildcats.

Young star Sam Froling got the Hawks off to a good start, dropping home the visitors first six points of the contest in front of a raucous Red Army at RAC Arena. 

Perth guard Mitch Norton soon found himself planted on the bench, with the Wildcats number one defensive option for Tyler Harvey forced to the sidelines early on after registering two fouls in as many minutes. 

It didn't help the Illawarra offence though, the Hawks going 1/8 to begin the contest with Harvey missing his first six shots in an out-of-character opening. The Wildcats taking a 22-16 lead into the first break. 

The second stanza saw an old face get busy, as Todd Blanchfield unleashed an offensive explosion for the Wildcats.

The former Hawk knocking down basket after basket on his way to eight points for the quarter and helping the home side to a 12 point lead midway through the term.

The game grinding to a bit of stand still as both sides ran a lot of half court sets with minimal movement away from the ball.

Finally the Hawks found a bit of clean air after a few slick passes, with Justin Simon on hand to slam home this bucket.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Move that ball boys ??<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/AXBI2419Tw">pic.twitter.com/AXBI2419Tw</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball - x (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1402963266020601866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Simon catching fire soon after - with the Defensive Player of the Year favourite relishing in his offensive skin to help drag the Hawks back into the contest, before White landed this play on the halftime buzzer to reduce the margin to six.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacLewisWhite?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IsaacLewisWhite</a> 1 - Buzzer 0<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/XgozkVkkb2">pic.twitter.com/XgozkVkkb2</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball - x (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1402964693149384705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Wildcats leading 39-33 at the oranges, with the Hawks shooting 35% from the field. 

The second half started the way the Hawks would have hoped, the visitors creating some turnovers and playing some fast transition hoops. 

'Next Star' Justinian Jessup registered his first points of the finals series, before Simon exploded towards the basket on back-to-back possessions to earn himself four more - the Hawks trimming the lead to three.

Simon was active on the offensive boards as well, pulling down this miss before laying on an assist for Jessup's first three of the night..

Tensions threatened to boilover midway through the third when Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson was given a technical foul for poor behaviour, with the Hawks momentarily hitting the front courtesy of a couple of foul shots. Perth managed a late rally though to reclaim the lead and head into the fourth 56-52 in front.

The fourth quarter started in an air of anticipation, and it didn't take long for Flight Froling to slice straight through it.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacLewisWhite?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IsaacLewisWhite</a> 1 - Buzzer 0<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/XgozkVkkb2">pic.twitter.com/XgozkVkkb2</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball - x (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1402964693149384705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

An unsportsmanlike foul on Jesse Wagstaff helped Jessup to the line where he split a pair, before Harvey found his stroke from beyond the arc to tie the game at 63-63 with a tick over six to play. 

Jessup huge down the stretch as the young American took over for the Hawks, the Golden State Draftee dropping in 10 final quarter points to give his side the lead.

And it was Justin Simon who nailed the coffin shut, the Player of the Game launching himself after this Harvey miss to ensure the Hawks walked away from Perth with the dub.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">?????????????????????????????????????? <a href="https://t.co/Rk5DhgOArk">pic.twitter.com/Rk5DhgOArk</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball - x (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1402980703784947712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

A huge result away from home, with the win giving Illawarra a 1-0 series lead ahead of Game Two on Saturday in Wollongong.

The Stats

They say the devil is in the detail and if you take a closer look at the stats behind tonight's result, Hawks' fans should smile knowing the side can't shoot the ball much worse.

Illawarra went 37% from the field, 28% from deep and only connected on 11/21 free throws at a 52% clip.

The Wildcats in comparison had shooting splits of 43-27-82. 

Both side's were fairly evenly matches across a number of the main box score categories, with rebounds (41-40), steals (8-4) and blocks (3-1) all favouring the visitors.

In a game often played at snails pace, neither side hit double figures on fast break points, and there was only 18 turnovers for the match in total.

The Hawks got nice bench production out of White (7) and Tim Coenraad (10), while Emmett Naar had five assists in nine minutes of action.

The Fallout

"I'm so excited about what's ahead. I was so excited coming in here. And again I know the history but this is a whole different franchise, whole different organsition and we felt good about ourselves coming in, that we could play with these guys. They're a good basketball team, they're well coaches and well drilled, they're the Perth Wildcats," Hawks coach Brian Goorjian said.

"We came into this game thinking we had a chance, and as the game went on I just kept looking at the score clock and saying "if we can just not let it go, stay in it", we've Justinian [Jessup] and Tyler [Harvey] that are dangerous late in the game from the three and...a lot of times it's Tyler but tonight it was Justinian. It's a series, it is young, it exciting vut it means nothing unless we get the next one, we're on about trying to win this series," Goorjian said.

Last time we played them, we talked about it, we played them at our place and he only played 12 minutes. We thought tonight it was going to be real important, his defensive presence on the ball...tonight it was so many things, steals, rebounds, carrying the ball in transition finding people and then offensive rebounds...he's an interesting piece, he's different than the other two [Harvey and Jessup] but really special tonight and he was probably the difference for us," Goorjian said.

"I'm just so excited to go back to the WEC, go back to Wollongong. Talk's cheap. What's it gonna be, what's the new franchise, what's the new ownership gonna be like, what are they gonna do in the community...we're gonna scrap and fight and we're gonna represent the community and they're gonna be proud of the team. Tonight whatever happens, I feel going back there it's gonna be the same thing, this is a team that long term the community's gonna be proud of," Goorjian said. 

"So proud of the guys. I was our biggest fan down the stretch and I'm so happy we got that result..,[this is as] about as exciting as it gets. We're not gonna deprive ourselves of enjoying it, I know we're gonna go back and enjoy it for the night and then we're gonna put it away and do the right things going back home tomorrow. Not many better feelings and as Goorj touched on, we're so excited to go and pack out the WEC and give it our all," guard Isaac White said.

The Road Ahead

Both side's fly to Wollongong now for Game Two at the WIN Entertainment Centre at 5:30pm on Saturday. If the Hawks win, they will progress to the Grand Final, while a Wildcats win would take the series to a third and deciding game in Perth on Monday. Tickets for Game Two are on sale HERE,