Hawks Shot Down by the Bullets

The Illawarra Hawks were shot down by a winless Brisbane Bullets outfit on Monday night.

Both teams came into the clash to close Round 4 at WIN Entertainment Centre desperate for a win with the Hawks having lost three straight and the Bullets all five of their matches so far of NBL23.

Illawarra had a week to stew over a 26-point home loss last Monday, but it was Brisbane who showed its desperation racing out to an 18-6 start, and leading by as much as 18 points in the first half on the back of 13 points and nine rebounds from Baynes.

It was his best half in the NBL so far and the Bullets built off it. While the Hawks did try their best to fight back, they could never get closer than eight points in the second half.

Neither team really got rolling offensively but Brisbane still shot 42 per cent opposed to Illawarra's 30 including hitting 8/25 from deep to 7/35. The Bullets also had 52 rebounds to 41 but coach James Duncan would like to see fewer than 16 turnovers moving forward.

It was another rough night for the Hawks with Tyler Harvey finishing with 13 points on 5/18 shooting with Sam Froling adding 11 points and six rebounds, Deng Deng eight points, and Lachie Dent seven points, six rebounds and four assists.

The week off after last Monday's horror show at home to New Zealand didn’t seem to help Illawarra. Brisbane came out hitting the first five points hunting that first win before a 9-0 run really broke the game open.

The Hawks did stop the rot including George King hitting from deep, but it was all the Bullets still who led 22-13 by the end of one.

Just as it was getting to desperation times for the Hawks with the Bullets up 16 early in the third, the home team went on an 8-0 run including triples from Lachie Dent and Deng Deng to keep things interesting heading towards three quarter-time.

The two teams now back it up to do it all again on Thursday night, albeit this time at Nissan Arena for Brisbane's second home game of NBL23.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 4

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 56 (Harvey 13, Froling 11, Deng 8)

BRISBANE BULLETS 82 (Baynes 17, Cadee 16, Johnson 11, Sobey 11)

BOX SCORE