Illawarra remain firmly strapped into the NBL roller coaster

Illawarra remain firmly strapped into the NBL roller coaster after going down 103-100 to South East Melbourne on Saturday, less than 48 hours after producing arguably their best regular-season performance under Justin Tatum. 

 A 38-point win over the Breakers at the WEC on Thursday – equalling the club’s biggest winning margin of the 40-minute era – had the Hawks high on confidence heading into John Cain Arena and it showed. 

Trey Kell had two threes and a couple more from the line on a 13-2 start for the visitors, only to concede the next 13 straight on the other side of a Josh King timeout. The Hawks went 18-6 from there to lead by 10 at the first break. 

It set in motion a game of runs that would see the Hawks lead by as much as 15 in the second term, and seven at the half, while the Phoenix enjoyed their biggest seven-point cushion of the game with 5.57 left to play. 

Tyler Harvey twice drew the Hawks level at 95-95 and 97-97 with tough makes, but the Hawks never got back in front, Kell’s final attempt at a levelling three on the final possession not dropping. 

The duo of Owen Foxwell and Jordan Hunter were the chief destroyers for the hosts, combining for 45 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists on a night the Hawks kept star Phoenix duo Nathan Sobey and Derrick Walton Jr. to a combined 12 points at 5-19 from the field. 

Harvey top-scored for the Hawks with 19 points and five assists, while Kell finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists. Darius Days again showed benefits of being injected from the bench with 18 points, nine rebounds and two assists at 3-5 from long range, while Sam Froling contributed a tidy 14 points and six boards. 

“It was it was a well-fought game, South East did a good job being physical and coming back after being in a hole,” Tatum said post-game. 

“It was a game that we felt we had the momentum to win, so we wanted to come out here and play well and steal one in Melbourne.  

 “I felt, at the end day, they wanted it more and they found a way to pull it out.”  

First quarter streakiness an issue 

There were shades of Illawarra’s previous road loss to Adelaide in Saturday’s opening term. The Hawks led 10-0 in their last road outing against the Sixers, only to trail at quarter-time and go on to lose the game. 

After forcing the Phoenix into a timeout at 13-2, the Hawks conceded the next 13 straight points – more than the 12 they afforded New Zealand in the entire opening term in Wollongong two days earlier. 

They arrested the slide to still lead by 10 at QT and by as much as 15 in the second term. To ever earn that much breathing space on the road and not close the game out is a tough pill to swallow, but Tatum was more concerned with his side’s close to the showdown. 

“I’m not really worried about the first quarter, it’s the fourth,” he said. 

“I understand about [statistical] ratings and we score a lot of points here and there, but it's about stops with me. Clearly we were on path to what our normal first quarter is, but once again, that fourth quarter was not in our favour.  

“We were just coming off playing on Thursday and I can see a little fatigue in some of my guys with their decision making and their legs. That was probably a little reason behind it, but at the end of the day we’ve got to do better finishing games.” 

Tatum’s focus was on “multiple things” about how his team finished the match, not the final call to have Harvey inbound the ball following the last timeout with 2.7 seconds left, giving Kell a tough look at an equaliser.

“At the end of the day, they guarded pretty well so we had to take the shot that was given to us with two seconds left,” Tatum said.  

“Some guys understand what shot they can make on the court. Tyler's one of those guys, Trey's one of those guys. We’ve got multiple guys like that, but we want everybody else out there to help you get those shots as well.  

“There’s multiple things I could talk about, but we’ve just got to be better.” 

 Days finding his groove in bench role 

Unlocking the athletic four-man is a key piece of the puzzle for Tatum and returns of 18 points and nine rebounds, and 11 and seven, in consecutive outings from the bench for Days is encouraging.  

It’s allowing Mason Peatling to clock much higher minutes via the start, with solid defensive efforts and tidy-up on the glass proving a valuable complement to the starting group. 

Tatum’s not yet prepared to say it will be the norm, but he’s open to it continuing if it’s accompanied by wins.  

“It’s [about] what’s best for our team [first] and what’s best for Darius second,” Tatum said. 

“Mason is a high intangible guy. He's low maintenance, high reward, he does his job, he's a great communicator, he's physical, so he's somebody that definitely helps our unit while he's out there on the floor. 

“Darius had a decent showing today, 18 and nine, but we’ve got to find a way to win the game. Anything that we do with this Hawks team is to find ways to win games.”  

The loss sees the Hawks drop to 8-5 heading into their second trip to Perth this season on Friday.