Hawks zero in on third straight win against Phoenix

The Illawarra Hawks will continue their flight towards an NBL22 finals spot on Sunday when they take on the South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena.

Brian Goorjian's troops will head into the round 14 fixture, tipping off at 5.30pm AEDT, full of confidence following two straight wins against Adelaide and New Zealand.

"In some ways, I think it's been good for us to get on the road," said Goorjian following Tuesday's win against the Breakers.

"I don't like the idea of being bunkered down and staying at home if you had your choice.

"We know our backs are to the wall, we can't afford any more mistakes and, whether it's on the road [or not], we need to play better than we've been playing.

"I thought tonight there was more of a will, more of a want, more of an energy in everything we did, whether it was cutting, whether it running the floor, whether it was putting pressure on the ball.

"I'm just happy to get away with a win and get some momentum going here on this road stand."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hawks skipper <a href="https://twitter.com/AJ_Ogilvy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AJ_Ogilvy</a> and coach Brian Goorjian discuss Tuesday&#39;s win against the <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NZBreakers</a> at the post-game press conference.<br><br>Watch the full interview here: <a href="https://t.co/nKvTjNkmae">https://t.co/nKvTjNkmae</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreIllawarra?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreIllawarra</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/YKyTimg7wB">pic.twitter.com/YKyTimg7wB</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1498772870377312257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

As tough as the past two fixtures were, the Phoenix, who also play in Adelaide on Friday, present a different level of challenge, with Simon Mitchell's side sits in second place with a 10-5 record  - including a one-point win against the Hawks on February 7.

The keys to the Phoenix machine are forward Mitch Creek, who is currently second in the league in scoring with 21.07 points/game, and point guard Xavier Munford, who is recording 14.38 points and four assists per contest.

Other dangers for the Phoenix include sniper Ryan Broekhoff (11.2 points/game) and Chinese big man Zhou Qi (10.08 points and 2.38 blocks each match).

Tasked with going toe-to-toe with those players will be Illawarra quartet Antonius Cleveland, Tyler Harvey, Duop Reath and Justinian Jessup.

The first two are currently sitting in second and fourth in the league in steals, averaging 1.82 and 1.71 per fixture respectively.

While the latter two have been on a tear lately, being named man of the match for the two respective wins against Adelaide and New Zealand.

Australian Boomer Reath has rattled off seven straight games of double-figure scoring, while NBL Next Star Jessup notched a season-high 23 points at MyState Bank Arena on Tuesday.

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