Hawks eager to rebound against Phoenix

After a tough road loss, there is nowhere better to return to form than on your homecourt.

That's exactly what the Illawarra Hawks will be looking to do on Thursday night when they take on the South East Melbourne Phoenix at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

This round four fixture will be just the eighth time the two NBL21 semi-finalists have matched up, with the Hawks only registering one win in that time, which came on April 9 (82-80) at the WEC.

After each starting the season 3-0, both tasted defeat for the first time at the weekend - with Thursday's loser facing the prospect of back-to-back defeats and dropping out of the all-important top four.

If Brian Goorjian's side does win on Thursday, they will become the first Hawks side since October 2012 to win their first two home fixtures - with the club going 1-1 in each campaign since.

To achieve that, the Hawks are going to need to improve their first-quarter play, with the team being a combined -27 in scoring differential, compared to a +42 for the next three periods.

How good was our #NBL22 home opener against the @NZBreakers ‼️

We can't wait to do it all again with you #HawkHeads this Thursday against the @SEMelbPhoenix 🏀

Grab your @WINSportsEnt 🎟️ now via @Ticketmaster_AU: https://t.co/eQP95W3Vz1#WeAreIllawarra #FlyAsOne pic.twitter.com/PwLEunNJL5

— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) December 22, 2021

A big part of that is the fact Hawks star Tyler Harvey is yet to score in a first quarter this season.

In a combined 28 minutes and 13 seconds of playing time, the guard is 0-from-6 field goals combined.
Despite this, the California product is still the NBL's 16^th ranked scorer at 15.75ppg after being third last year at 20.4 ppg - largely because he was the number one first-quarter scorer in the competition with 185 points in total.  

On the opposite side of the ledger, Phoenix's Mitch Creek has had no such issues, entering this game ranked third in scoring, at a career-best 23.3 points per game 

In all four games so far, Creek has scored more second-half points than what he had at half-time.

The Horsham talent posts 39 per cent of his points in the first half and 61 per cent in the second while averaging more points in both the third (7.5) and fourth (6.8) periods than any other player in the NBL.

Creek is also leading the NBL in three-point percentage at 56.5 (13/23), for all players that have shot more than 20 shots - just ahead of Perth's Vic Law (50 per cent) and Melbourne's Chris Goulding (47.6)

Hawks' Duop Reath is currently sixth on that list, after hitting eight of his 20 shots from downtown in NBL22.

That highlights the impact, both inside the paint and from distance, the Australian Boomer has had thus far, with averages of 20.25 points, nine rebounds and 1.25 blocks - all while shooting 54 per cent from the field.

Reath's match-up with Chinese superstar Zhou Qi looms key between the two sides, with the latter currently leading the NBL in blocks (4.25 per game).

That mark is currently ranked fifth all-time for best averages and if he was able to block five shots on Thursday, his average would take him ahead of the previous best - keeping in mind the top four players (including leader Victoria Giants' Willie Simmons (4.38) in 1987) all played in 48-minute games.

The round four fixture also presents two potential milestones.

The first is Phoenix import Devin Thomas should be ready to make his NBL debut in this match.

Thomas attended Wake Forest (2012-2016) and most recently played in the Estonian/Latvian Basketball League averaging 10 points and 8.7 rebounds.  

The second is Hawks veteran Tim Coenraad needs two more three-pointers for 400 in his career, which will see him become just the fourth Illawarra player to reach that level - behind Mat Campbell (1049), Glen Saville (680) and Oscar Foreman (464).

Tickets for the match, tipping off at 7.30pm, are available via Ticketmaster.