“We’re coming on Monday, we'll be ready,”

We comin’ 

With that, Justin Tatum lit the fuse for an explosive showdown with Adelaide on Monday night, three days on from Friday’s record-breaking performance against New Zealand. 

In what was perhaps the most one-sided single-digit victory in NBL history, the Hawks set a new club benchmark for the 40-minute by dropping 69 first-half points at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

It made for a 21-point lead that effectively put the game to bed at the half, the brave Breakers staying touch without ever truly making a game of it in the second stanza that finished up 108-100 to the hosts.  

Trey Kell had a 30-piece, with 24 of his 31 points coming through 20 minutes, while 14 of Darius’ Days 22 points came in an opening-term blitz. Tyler Harvey had the bulk of his 19 points in the second half, finishing 5-8 from long-range. 

It sets up a mouth-watering showdown with Adelaide. The Sixers have been decidedly hit and miss this season, but they haven’t missed Illawarra, sneaking past the Hawks by a point in Wollongong in round three before comprehensively outplaying them on the Brett Maher Court in round eight. 

It gives them the opportunity to go 3-0 against the league leaders, but Tatum made it clear post-victory on Friday that it’s not something he’s willing to cop. 

“We’re coming on Monday, we'll be ready,” Tatum said. 

“My guys understand we're not going to win every series, we gave one to South East, we gave one to Adelaide, but we're not trying to get swept, so we’re coming on Monday.” 

It was the most definitive statement to come out of a presser riddled with mixed emotions, with his team’s performance equal parts exhilarating and disappointing.

The first-half blitz was as impressive as it gets, but losing the second half 52-39 to a Breakers team without Parker Jackson Cartwright tempered the performance.  

“I don’t want to talk about the second half,” Tatum said. 

“We’ve found ways to win and lose games all types of ways, but one way we haven't is trying to dominate for 40 minutes. 

“We tried to do our best tonight, and I felt that the first five guys wanted to make sure that they set the tone for everybody else. That was probably the most pleasing part of today's game.  

“We could have finished better, but at the end of the day, the way we started and how we kept our foot on the pedal for the first half was pretty good.”  

The championship gap that must be filled   

With tempo such a huge factor in NBL basketball, it’s impossible to be both the best offensive and defensive team in the league, but championships are so often won on the defensive end. 

Friday’s encounter was the ninth time the Hawks conceded 100 or more points this campaign. It’s virtually the lone asterisk commentators and analysts have placed on their championship credentials.

“I definitely understand how the critics can see that,” Tatum said. 

“It's a privilege to be even mentioned to have an opportunity to win a championship right now, since we're still seven or eight games out. The body of work that we put in so far can give us that credit, but there’s still a lot of things we need to check off and closing the game is one of them. 

“We just gave up a hundred points to a wounded duck team in New Zealand. 

“They played their hearts out, I tip my hat off to them, but I still challenge my guys to understand, if New Zealand can score a hundred points like this, even though we scored more, then Adelaide can score a hundred, anybody can score a hundred.  

“We have to find a way to lock on in defensively because they all can score the ball.”  

Froling the man at the defensive end 

The defensive discussion around the Hawks will continue, but Sam Froling could be the key to turning that corner if his effort on Breakers giant Tacko Fall is anything to go by. 

There’s no precedent, certainly not in the NBL, for the 7 ft 6 presence of Fall, but Froling limited the former Celtics and Cavaliers big-man to just five points and four field goal attempts. 

“It’s what we applied in the scout during the week and a lot of my role tonight was just taking Tacko out of the game,” Froling said. 

“I took a bit of pride in that. That was the game plan, especially when Tacko was on, it's not going to be me scoring or even facilitating so much, it was ‘can I get Tyler and Trey open’ and then they would find guys and get Darius shots. 

“I've never played anyone that big, and who’s that coordinated. He gets to do what he wants with his arms and elbows, that's a bit hard to deal with sometimes, but it's a battle and it's fun. We did a good job on him.”  

He’s facing another stiff task on Monday against Sixers pair Isaac Humphries and Montrezl Harrell, but Froling’s confident he’s up to the task. 

“Humphries and Harrell are super talented guys, so it's another challenge defensively, but the beauty of our team is, they've also got to guard us.”