Hawks tame Taipans as unbeaten streak continues

The Result

Hawks 90 – Cairns Taipans 70

The Story

The perfect start to the most imperfect season.

It’s the best way to sum up The Hawks fairytale opening to #NBL21 after dismantling the Cairns Taipans on the road for the second consecutive time this season.

It wasn’t the prettiest start for both sides tonight with rim rattlers, air balls and turnovers dominating the opening term.

Captain AJ Ogilvy even caught an accidental elbow early on – flooring the big man temporarily and forcing him to the sidelines for treatment.

It wasn’t until Next Star Justinian Jessup caught fire late in the first quarter that The Hawks found began to find their rhythm.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Next Star Justinian Jessup letting it fly late!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/warriors?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@warriors</a> look familiar?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarraProud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarraProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://t.co/YSinV4yvlC">pic.twitter.com/YSinV4yvlC</a></p>&mdash; Hawks Basketball (@thehawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehawks/status/1354716884604620802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Jessup (twice), Tyler Harvey and sharpshooter Isaac White all made three’s over a 54 second stretch that saw The Hawks kick out to a 10-point lead early in the second.

That was trimmed to nine by halftime – but the Taipans were seemingly starting to feel the effects of three games in six days.

Cairns did manage to pile on the pressure after the break and pulled within six at three quarter time with a clever bucket and-one conversion from Mojave King, but the class of Harvey and Jessup put paid to any Cairns comeback as The Hawks established a big enough lead to clear the bench for the final minutes of another memorable victory.

“I’m loving the scorelines and how we’re winning. I think that's gotta be the trademark long term for the future of the team, you only win in this league if you guard…I think for us as building this thing, offensively we’re a work in progress, but if we defend...it’s been a focus point since day one that we’ve gotten together that we’ve gotta guard, and we’ve gotta rebound and we’ve gotta guard without fouling,” Coach Brian Goorjian said.

The Stats

Overall it was the most well-rounded team performance of the young season and Goorjian will be able to look at the box score from tonight’s win and see contributions across the board.

Tyler Harvey again took a torch to the Taipans, finishing with 21 points and going 5/7 from beyond the arc.

Golden State Warriors draftee Justinian Jessup had 19 points on 61% shooting while Sam Froling continued his great start to the season with 14 points and 7 boards.

Defensive dynamo Justin Simon (7pts, 8reb, 5ast, 4stl ) and skipper AJ Ogilvy (6pts, 5reb, 2ast, a steal and a block) both stuffed the stat sheet, while Isaac White and Deng Deng each finished with eight points.

“I think everyone in the group is getting more through winning and being a part of this than they have before in their career in the NBL. I mean you like at Froling you look at Ogilvy, you look at Emmett Naar, you look here next to me, you look at Deng Deng, who would be disappointed," Goorjian said.

"You’re 4-0, a lot of these guys have struggled in this, and now they’re winning games, they’re getting to play, they’re a part of a new franchise, and its about team. They bought in on that and again I'm subbing to win, there’s no favourites in this group and I think everybody feels like they’re contributing,” Goorjian said.

The Hawks have now won four consecutive road games for the first time since October/November 2006.

The 20-point margin was The Hawks biggest win over Cairns since October 2003 (22 points).

And at one stage in tonight’s game The Hawks went on a 16-0 run – making it the largest unbroken run in the #NBL21 season so far.

The Casualty Ward

Star recruit Deng Adel returned for his first game since injuring a quad in the opening fixture of the 2020-21 NBL season.

Adel looked sharp off the bench, finishing with 4 points, 4 boards and 2 assists in just over 17 minutes of action.

Former Boomers big man Cam Bairstow missed his third straight game after rolling an ankle in the warmup for The Hawks Round 2 clash with Cairns. He will be further evaluated this week.

Dan Grida (leg) and Lachie Dent (shoulder) remain in Wollongong for treatment for their respective injuries.

The Road Ahead

Round 4 – Sunday 7 February at 3pm v SE Melbourne Phoenix @ State Basketball Centre

The Hawks will pack their bags and finally leave Queensland after a little over three weeks and four games in the Sunshine State.

“This road trip kinda hit its peak tonight as far as length and being under pressure and you could see it at the shootaround, everybody was a bit worn and we’re all excited about going back to the gong and putting on a game in our hometown soon,” Goorjian said.

A fifth straight road game awaits them though as they held to Melbourne where coach Brian Goorjian was in charge of the South East Melbourne Magic between 1992 and 1998.

The Phoenix swept The Hawks last season across a three game stand – with an average winning margin of just over seven points.

If The Hawks can claim a fifth straight victory – it will match the record of the 2013 Hawks side which also started the season 5-0.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We could listen to Goorj all night ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL21?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL21</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/thehawks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thehawks</a> <a href="https://t.co/YRruCMBMQo">pic.twitter.com/YRruCMBMQo</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1354740992763514883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>