Wake-up calls don’t come more painful

Wake-up calls don’t come more painful, or dramatic, than the one Illawarra wore square on the chin against Cairns in Wollongong on Friday night. 

In what was unquestionably the upset of the season, some extraordinary late twists saw the Taipans level up at 105 apiece on the final buzzer through Rob Edwards after a costly late turnover from Will Hickey. 

It left the Hawks two seconds, and their last timeout, to find a go-ahead shot. An errant final pass from the hosts saw the ball fall into the hands of Taren Armstrong, who attempted a final Hail Mary from just outside his own three-point line. 

As it turned out the prayer was answered, with Hyunjung Lee called for a blocking foul on the full-court heave with just 0.1 of a second on the clock. It allowed Armstrong to march up the floor and ice the game, going 3-3 from the line to seal a 108-105 win and snap a 15-game losing streak for the Snakes.

It left the Hawks faithful, who were banking on a typical bounce-back showing from their team, stunned, and coach Justin Tatum forced to swallow consecutive home losses for just the second time in his head coaching tenure. 

Looking to bounce back from a game effort in defeat to the Phoenix on New Year’s Eve, the Hawks looked sluggish from the jump, going 1-8 from the field, with a Tyler Harvey mid-ranger the only Hawks field goal through almost four minutes. 

It forced Tatum into an early timeout, something he was subsequently forced to do less than two minutes into the second and third terms. His team looked to have come good in time when it led by three, in the bonus, with 12 seconds left. 

In the end, Edwards was the beneficiary of Hickey’s attempt at a full-court pass, and Armstrong of Lee’s last foul to take back the game.  

While there were fourth-quarter moments the Hawks would no doubt like back, the bulk of the damage was done in the third term claimed by the visitors 40-21, just the second time this season a team has managed 40 in a term. 

It turned an 11-point deficit into an eight-point three-quarter-time lead, while the final box score showed the Taipans grabbed a staggering 20 points from turnovers and 15 points in transition, with the Hawks uncharacteristically slow getting back on defence for much of the evening. 

Undermanned, sitting 10th on the ladder, and riding a 15-game losing streak into a showdown with the league leaders, one could make the argument that the Taipans were playing with house money, but Tatum didn’t mince words when asked about the performance. 

“You’ve got to question your guys and what their motives are,” Tatum said. 

“Are they still in it to finish out strong or are we just going through the motions? You’ve got to question your guys ‘are we going to waste our season not finishing it like how we started?’  

“I tip my hat off to Cairns for coming in here, executing a game plan, and finding a way to win in our place, but I definitely won't accept [our performance]. A couple of guys made some mistakes out there, I'm sure they'd like to get that back.  

“Cairns did a great job of executing, we turned the ball over at crucial times and whatever type of call it was at the end to award them three free throws, they finished it, they won.”  

Right idea, poor execution at the death 

With the Hawks in the bonus and looking for a go-ahead bucket with three seconds on the clock, most expected the ball to find Tyler Harvey despite the skipper enduring a 9-22 night from the field. 

Instead, with Taipans lone big Tanner Groves fouled out, the Hawks drew up a play for Darius Days to get to either the bucket or the foul-line with the scores tied and overtime seemingly the worst-case scenario.  

The play created the desired mismatch with Days on Armstrong, but the inbound pass from Trey Kell was wayward. 

“We tried to get it over the top to Darius because we wanted to either get on the free-throw line or get a layup,” Tatum said. 

“We felt Darius was probably the best option for it since they had so many [big] guys fouled out, but the pass and the catch wasn't there.”  

No time to lick wounds 

The loss to the last-placed Taipans could have a major bearing on the Hawks hard-won position at the top of the ladder, which could well be on the line when reigning champions Tasmania head to Wollongong on Tuesday. 

The Hawks blew the JackJumpers out by 33 points in their last meeting at the Sandpit, but Tatum said only recent history matters as his side looks to rebound from two home defeats on the bounce. 

“It depends on what [Hawks] team comes out on Tuesday,” Tatum said. 

“If we keep getting the same team that’s going to keep allowing teams to score over a hundred points and give up wins towards the end, that’s not good for our fans to come and support that group. 

“They want to support the team they saw that’s hard-working, diving on the floor, finishing games, and finding ways to win at home on the road. We owe our fans that and hopefully that team shows up on Tuesday.    

“[Tasmania are] on a roll right now, [they’ve won] eight or nine in the row, so the champions are the champions. Last time when we met, we throw that right out the window. We're going to get a different team on Tuesday, so we’ve just got to be up for a challenge.”  

Tip-off against Tasmania at the WIN Entertainment Centre on Tuesday is at 7.30pm