Hawks face Phoenix in must-win clash

The Illawarra Hawks can return to the all-important top four with a win on Thursday night when they host the South East Melbourne Phoenix at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

The Hawks, fresh off a loss to Tasmania, will have even more motivation to produce a strong performance, as the club hosts its NBL22 Indigenous round fixture.

This looms as a key weekend for the Hawks, who could rise as high as third with two wins (with the side also facing Tasmania in Launceston on Saturday) but could drop to sixth with two defeats.

While wins are the only focus, teams would have an eye on points percentage which will be the deciding factor if teams are tied on wins at the end of the season.

Of the current four teams that fill positions three through six, the Hawks have the best points percentage, but it is extremely close - Sydney Kings (12 wins seven losses at 101.48 per cent), SEM Phoenix (11-7 at 102.12 per cent), Illawarra Hawks (11-8 at 103.06 per cent) and Tasmania JackJumpers (10-9 at 100.61 per cent).

Based on current for and against, the Hawks currently have a 15-point advantage on Phoenix who is in front of Kings by another 10-points with Tasmania about 13-points short of the Kings' percentage.

That is remarkably close with an average of nine games to play and the next three out of four NBL games to be played this round feature these teams going head-to-head with Saturday being incredibly important. 

The Hawks have won five of their last seven games with two losses to Tasmania being the negative. 

In that span, Illawarra has averaged an NBL low seven three-point makes per game and taken a league-low 23.3 attempts from long range. 

They have been successful by keeping teams to just 78.1 points over their last seven games – the lowest by any team at the league's lowest field goal shooting of 38.9 per cent.

Illawarra is 6-4 losses at home with three wins from their last four since their one-point loss to Phoenix in round 10. 

The Phoenix have won their last four interstate games which is a franchise-best in their short history, with wins at Tasmania, Brisbane, Illawarra and Adelaide.  

South East Melbourne, who have now played six games in a row decided by less than eight points) is on a two-game losing streak and only lost three straight once in the past two seasons – rounds 14 and 15 last year.  

Boding well for the hosts on Thursday is the fact they haven’t been outscored in a final quarter in their last six games, while the Phoenix have not outscored any of their opponents in the final quarter of their last six games.

Especially as the Hawks look to make it two straight wins against Simon Mitchell’s side (83-77 in round 14) - marking just the second time from nine attempts they’ve beaten them.

During that John Cain Arena fixture, both teams were at full strength – which was only the fifth time in the 92 games played this season in NBL22 that that has occurred.

That won’t be the case on Thursday though, as the visitors will be without sharpshooting forward Ryan Broekhoff, thanks to a shoulder injury. 

Stats tell us the Phoenix is 4-2 when they are not at full strength this season. 

Tickets for the match are available via Ticketmaster.