Hawks Shot Down by Bullets

The Brisbane Bullets' late season resurgence has continued with a third straight victory after beating the Illawarra Hawks in an entertaining affair between the cellar dwellers, winning 103-86 on Saturday night.

At first glance you would have thought going in that this match-up was to be a non-event but these two squads are out to prove a point, spoil parties and make it tough for the teams fighting for playoffs contention. 

The battle of the bottom of the ladder with both teams having seasons they would rather forget engaged in a shootout at WIN Entertainment Centre on Saturday night.  

Last time these two sides met the Bullets were victorious 86-61 at Nissan Arena with individual highlighted contributions from Sobey 22, Cadee 13, Froling 13 and Deng for Illawarra with 11 as the only Hawks in double figures.

The home side came into this game off the back of that two-point win 78-76 over the Breakers sealed with that three quarter court shot from Tyler Harvey with three seconds remaining. Before that win they had lost their previous eleven with seven of those by single digits.

The Bullets had won their last two games against the 36ers in controversial overtime and the Phoenix by five points, prior to those wins they had lost five straight.

Hawks started this game as slight favourites but it was predicted to be a shootout with plenty of points and from the first jump ball it proved to be exactly that.

The Bullets had come to play with Andrew White opening scoring with a two-point jump shot before Sam Froling returned serve with the layup with the points rolling in from there.

In the end it was the Bullets who took victory in the clash 103-86 in a real see saw of a battle. 

The Bullets had to take notice of a resurgent Tyler Harvey who has surely now found himself in contention to be named in the All-NBL First Team. Even with the inconsistent start to the season he has stood up again and again in his past 16 games to deliver 21.1ppg at 43 per cent from range.

In this one with a losing side Harvey led scoring with an impressive effort of 22 points, 3 rebounds and one assist. 

The Hawks starting five joining Harvey were Will Hickey, Wani Swaka Lo Bulak, Sam Froling and Deng Deng.

At the end of the first quarter the visitors led 24-20 with Harvey sinking two from deep and leading point contribution for the Hawks (8) and White leading scoring for the Bullets with eight also. 

The Bullets played ten of eleven of their players in the first eight minutes of play showing Vanderjagt’s desire to roll that rotation and give a variety of shooting options across the court. 

The second quarter was a shootout with 98 total points in the half with Bullets retaining their lead 50-48. The Hawks shot five three pointers with Harvey taking one of those to lead scoring across both teams with 16. 

The starting five for Brisbane had to come up with some creative ways to defend with DJ Mitchell, Andrew White, Jason Cadee, Aron Baynes and Nathan Sobey being the first to hit the floor.

Into the third quarter Baynes scored the two with the ball continuing to be fed to him with the game plan from Vanderjagt being to shut down Harvey and eliminate his scoring potency in the second half of the game. 

However, the classy guard took two points to cut back the deficit before Cadee brought a quick five points as is expected from the reliable Bullet workhorse. 

Closing out the end of the third the visitors held the lead by single digits 73-67 with the Hawks continuing to hit back with the drive that would have you believe they were in playoff contention. 

The final quarter saw the Bullets push their lead out to double digits off the back of a eight point quarter effort from Tyler Johnson. 

In the end the Bullets would leave as victors 103-86 with leading contributions from Johnson with (23 points, three rebounds and four assists) and Harry Froling (14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists).

Pre-season dreams and hopes evaporated quite quickly with the two squads crashing to earth just as quick. 

For the Hawks, Jacob Jackomas took over coaching duties following on from his mentor and 6 x NBL champion and 6 x NBL Coach of the Year in Brian Goorjian, a tough assignment and massive shoes to fill for anybody. 

Antonius Cleveland also a noticeable loss this season with his move to Adelaide and added to the teams woes season ending injuries suffered by four imports in Justin Robinson, George King, Peyton Siva and Michael Frazier II. 

Hawks remain at the bottom of the ladder having only won three from 25 games while the Bullets sit one spot higher with eight wins for the season.

They also began their season with high, high hopes to return to the finals having not done so since the 2018-2019 where they finished the season fourth. 

They secured the services of Boomer Aron Baynes who arrived in the sunshine state ready to lead the group back to being a legitimate playoffs threat and as their marquee player for 2023. With this signing they signed American Tyler Johnson along with Harry Froling returning, DJ Mitchell playing beside the usual firm of Sobey, Cadee, Krebs and Harrison. 

The coaching merry go round of James Duncan, General Manager Sam MacKinnon and Greg Vanderjagt would not have helped either further rattling any semblance of stability for the playing group. 

The remaining fixture for both sides are not favourable with another win unlikely for either as they both face teams fighting for the play in tournament or locked in spots. 

The Hawks have a tough road trip thrown in the mix next week heading to Perth to play a resurgent Cats in front of a loud and proud Red Army.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 16

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 86 (Harvey 22, Deng 13, Grida 13)

BRISBANE BULLETS 103 (Johnson 23, White III 18, Baynes 15) 

BOX SCORE