Silverware on the line as Hawks battle United

Saturday's clash at John Cain Arena between the Illawarra Hawks and Melbourne United will be massive in more ways than one.

Not only will it have huge finals ramifications, but it will also crown the inaugural winner of the LifeChanger Cup - as the two sides have split the season's opening two encounters.

That includes the Hawks' impressive 92-77 beatdown of United on Sunday, which is part of Illawarra's season-high four-game win streak, capped by Thursday's win over Brisbane.

On the flipside, league-leader United's come into the match fresh off a loss, just their sixth of the season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Let’s keep this rollin’ HawkHeads??<br><br>?: <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Foxtel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Foxtel</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreIllawarra?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreIllawarra</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/81SwyL9o6N">pic.twitter.com/81SwyL9o6N</a></p>— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1510027324632473600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 1, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

A win to the Hawks in this round 18 game will send them to second on the NBL ladder, which bodes well, going off their form at John Cain Arena.

The Hawks, who have won nine of their past 11, are the only undefeated team (apart from Cairns who hasn’t played there yet) at that venue in NBL22, after an 83-77 win over the Phoenix in round 14 and last week’s 92-77 win over United (which was Melbourne’s lowest score there all campaign).

But Dean Vickerman’s side has not lost consecutive matches at John Cain Arena in their past 25 games - the last time was the NBL Cup last season where they lost three in a row to Bullets, Phoenix and Hawks.

Not to mention Melbourne is the only team in NBL22 that has not lost to any opponent more than once and with Vickerman at the helm, United have never lost twice to the Hawks in the same season - shown by United’s 21-9 all-time record.

In that most recent clash, the foundation club outscored Melbourne in every quarter, marking the first time any team had done that to United in all 118 games they had played at John Cain Arena.

Furthermore to that dominant win, late in the piece, Illawarra held a 23-point lead (90-67) which was the most United had been behind in any game this season.

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After top-scoring with 20 points against United, Antonius Cleveland starred once again on Thursday night with 14-points and career highs in rebounds (nine) and assists (six) - as well as recording at least three steals in four of his last five games.

On Sunday, Cleveland had 14 free-throw attempts against United which is the most by any player in any game this season.

The Memphis product is averaging 14.2 points (at 47.2 per cent from the field), six rebounds and 2.3 assists this season which is way improved on Justin Simon's numbers from last season (8.7 points at 41.8 per cent, 5.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists) - who is the player he replaced in the line-up.

The Southeast Missouri State alum and NBL Next Star Justinian Jessup (who scored a career-high 29 points on Thursday) will be key in the Hawks’ chances on Saturday, with star Tyler Harvey being ruled out for his second straight game due to a knee complaint.

Another player Goorjian will count on will be Isaac White, who played a season-high 17 minutes on Thursday and will chalk up his 50th NBL game on Saturday.

The fixture will also see Melbourne play its 250th NBL game as United since the start of the 2015 season - a period of time in which they’ve recorded a league-best 61.8 per cent winning percentage (154 wins from 249 games).

While the Hawks won the last meeting, it was under interim head coach Jacob Jackomas, not Goorjian - who has lost his last four games coached against Melbourne United.

The super coach, who along with counterpart Vickerman are the only two coaches in the NBL that have won championships (with nine titles between them), will be out to change that from 5.30pm AEDT - live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel.