Illawarra head west to buck Perth hoodoo

As the NBL heads into the final round of the regular season, the Illawarra Hawks will embark on arguably their toughest road trip this campaign.

The first stop will be Perth, which hasn't been a happy hunting ground for Illawarra, with the Wildcats winning 35 of the past 37 contests out west.

But with finals positions on the line, their round 21 showdown between the third-placed Hawks and fourth-placed Wildcats looms as a classic.

The visitors at RAC Arena on Friday have won six of their past seven contests, including a last-up overtime loss to Sydney.

While Scott Morrison's Wildcats have dropped four of their past six contests - all at RAC Arena.

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian, who will bring up his 800th game as an NBL coach on Friday, embraces the Hawks' upcoming road trip - which also involves a match with arch-rivals Sydney on Sunday.

"We've been playing under pressure ever since we didn't get the job done as we would have liked during our earlier home stand," Goorjian said.

"Now we've started to build some momentum on the road and as we now head into these finals two games, we're embracing the challenge of playing really tough competition on the verge of finals.

"First and foremost, the Perth game is always extremely challenging and people are counting them out but we are expecting a Wildcats side that's extremely hungry and playing at a very high level on Friday - because they're in a position where if they don't win these matches, they might not make the Finals.

"Add in the quick turnaround for the two matches, a long flight and managing bodies - it's going to be imperative we get contributions from every single player on our squad."

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In particular, Goorjian will be counting on another strong showing from point guard Tyler Harvey, who was exceptional with an equal career-high 35 points against the Kings on Thursday.

Harvey, who is tallying 15.92 points, 3.33 assists and 1.63 steals per contest, will go toe-to-toe with three-time MVP Bryce Cotton on the night - with the latter leading the league in points with 22.38 each game.

The foundation club, which leads the league in steals per game (7.3) and sits in second in blocks per game (4.8), will also be counting on big performances from Antonius Cleveland (14.15 points, 6.19 rebounds, 1.96 steals and 1.15 blocks) and Duop Reath (15 points, 7.08 rebounds and 1.42 blocks) during Friday's fixture.

On the flip side, the Hawks will also need to slow down Vic Law, who currently sits in third in the league in scoring (20.27) as well as 8.19 rebounds and 1.31 blocks.

The 9.30pm AEST game, between last year's semi-final opponents, will be broadcast on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel.