Hawks Hold Firm Over Machado-Led Snakes

The composure of Xavier Rathan-Mayes down the stretch has helped the Illawarra Hawks snap a two-game losing streak with a hard earned 87-81 win over a Cairns Taipans buoyed by the return of superstar Scott Machado.

Pressure was building on the Hawks who had lost three of their past four, and five of their previous seven, and had slipped out of the top four altogether following Monday night's loss at home to the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

This was already their eighth match at WIN Entertainment Centre for the season and while the Taipans were still missing Kouat Noi (knee), Nate Jawai (groin) and Jarrod Kenny (back), they had point guard Machado back for the first time since December 11 and shooting guard Mirko Djeric the first time in #NBL22.

The Hawks had to dig deep and while Rathan-Mayes' nine points and five assists don't stand out on their own, his fourth quarter performance with his poise and steadying influence was huge in holding out the Snakes.

Machado was only slated to play nine minutes on his return for Cairns, but he ended up playing 16 as he paced the Taipans scorers and gave his side a whiff of hope. 

In the end, though, a decisive 13-3 run in the third quarter gave the Hawks the cushion they needed to keep Machado and the Snakes at bay.

It was a vital match for both sides in terms of staying within reach of the top four and Cairns - confident after a huge win over Brisbane in Round 10 - fought right to the end. 

After trailing by as much as 16 points, a Tahjere McCall (17 points, seven rebounds, four assists, four steals and just one turnover) dunk slashed the margin to just four points in the final minute. A McCall intercept set up Machado to do even more damage, but his three-ball rimmed out.

Rooke Bul Kuol continued his purple patch of form with 12 points, but more importantly, he was a defensive blanket on Hawks star Tyler Harvey who only had 12 points.

With Harvey well marked, Justinian Jessup stepped up with 18 points, Antonius Cleveland was effective at both ends with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists and Boomer Duop Reath had 18 points and 11 rebounds. 

The win marked the first of a five-game home stretch for the Hawks who will look to build on this victory and steady the ship.

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian had just one word for the win but he always knew what a challenge Cairns would be.

"Relief, obviously. There was a lot of pressure on this game after the last one and where we sit right now," Goorjian said.

"The pair of those guys (Machado and McCall) are scary, they are athletic and Fordey has got them playing really hard so we knew it was going to be a battle. It was an easy one to get beat in.

"They had the preparation time, we came in here and licked our wounds and went to where we needed to go to win. The defence was difficult in the first quarter, but I thought ... the changing D helped us. We started to get stops in the second quarter and the third quarter, all-round, both sides of the ball, we were good."

Taipans coach Adam Forde would have loved to play Machado for longer, but he had to listen to his strength and conditioning team, and also be mindful of not pushing him too far.

Eventually though, it was shooting just 35 per cent from the field that he felt cost his team.

"As much as I wanted to play him as much as I could, you've also got to keep one eye on the future. He was (shooting) a point a minute, but we've got to back up for another game against New Zealand at home," Forde said.

"We missed a lot of little bunnies, a lot of shots, turned down a few looks. The guys lost confidence in their shot and we should never lose confidence in our shot. We've got our floor general back, he will help steady the ship, we got a bit stagnant at times without him."

It was a three-point party early in the first quarter, with Reath, Kuol and Jordan Ngatai chancing their arms from long range. 

It was harder work trying to find lanes to the basket, but Cleveland and McCall improvised with some plays for the highlight reel - yet little could separate the two teams on the scoreboard.

McCall and Keanu Pinder ramped up the intensity as they cannonballed their way through packs in the paint, but it was the Hawks with their noses in front 29-28 by quarter-time.

With the three-point bombs coming, both teams battled to break the deadlock and Illawarra chose to target Stephen Zimmerman and send him to the free-throw line for Cairns, where he was 1/6 and had already gifted NSW fans with Hungry Jack's cheeseburgers. 

After the Hawks went up six, the scoring clip came to a screeching halt as both sides locked down on defence, but a five-point cameo from Machado kept the Snakes in touch, trailing 52-49 at the main break.

Illawarra seized on some careless Cairns ball handling their advantage and was running roughshod over the Taipans, piling on a 13-3 run to grab the match by the horns.

The lead quickly ballooned out to 16 points before a mini resistance from Cairns was spearheaded by Machado. Only slated to play nine minutes, he remained on the court and was the general his side needed to cut the margin back to just six as the Taipans trailed 69-63 at the final break.

Cairns were their own worst enemies at times, squandering opportunities with some shots around the basket rimming out that could have narrowed the gap further. The Hawks were having no such issue, nailing tough buckets to open up a double-digit lead once more. 

It was a lead they were able to defend, although the Taipans will rue missed opportunities in the decisive final quarter.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 11

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 87 (Reath 18, Jessup 18, Cleveland 16)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 81 (McCall 17, Machado 16, Deng 14) 

BOX SCORE