Hawks head north to claw Taipans

Fresh off a five-game home stand, in which they went 2-3, the Illawarra Hawks will hit the road to solidify their spot in the NBL's top four.

First on the two-game road trip will be the Cairns Taipans at the Cairns Convention Centre from 5.30pm AEDT on Saturday.

In the pair's 78 clashes to date, the Hawks have won 42, including 4/5 in NBL21.

Due to COVID-19 protocols within the NBL, the Taipans have only played five matches this season and are 2-3, including a 2-1 record on their home court.

During that stretch, Adam Forde's Taipans have only reached 80 points once in their five games – when they posted 93 in a huge win against Adelaide.

In their other four games, they have averaged just 72.7 per game - a stark contrast to the Hawks, who remain the highest-scoring team at 89 per game. 

On the flip side, the Taipans are the second hardest team to score against at just 78 per game.

This campaign, Cairns has never trailed at quarter-time but has also never outscored their opposition in the fourth period. 

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Saturday's round nine NBL22 fixture, which both sides come into on the back of a loss, will mark the first time Brian Goorjian has coached at the Cairns Convention Centre since February 2009, which was the last regular-season game for the South Dragons in their championship season - which they won 82-80.

During his career, Goorjian has coached in Cairns 18 times for 14 wins and four losses, which started with the Victoria Titans winning by 27 back on January 29, 2000.  

The Taipans also proved to be a favourable opponent for the Hawks' starting backcourt in NBL21, with Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup averaging 25.4 and 18.4 points respectively - with that total the latter's highest against any team last season.

That duo will be matched up against Tahjere McCall and Scott Machado (assuming he recovers from a heel injury).

The former, in his first year in the NBL, is averaging 16.25 points, 6.75 (first in the league) and 6.5 rebounds per contest, while the latter has proven to be one of the competition's top point guards during his three-year stint with the Snakes.

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Furthermore to that point, Cairns lead the league in assists at 18.2 despite ranking ninth in scoring at 76.8 overall.  

The Taipans (66.9 per cent) lead the NBL by a large margin in generating the highest percentage of their score from assists with the Hawks (45 per cent) at the opposite end of the scale.  

On the flip side, Cairns (18.6 turnovers/game) leads the NBL in turnovers per game while Illawarra (nine per game) is the best at looking after the ball. 

The fixture will be broadcast live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel.