Preview: Adelaide v Illawarra

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Illawarra are undermanned but locked in on defence, while Adelaide are desperate to make amends for Thursday's horror home opener.

When: 5.30pm (AEDT), Saturday 15 October, 2022
Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Foxtel, Sky NZ

Who won last time?

Illawarra 87 (Reath 18, Jessup 17, White 14) d Adelaide 71 (Dech 18, Johnson 13, Withers 13) – Round 13, NBL22 at WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

This Round 13 roller-coaster ride began with an even first quarter, saw Illawarra burst 19 clear in the second term behind 12 straight points from Justinian Jessup, watched the 36ers draw level in the third thanks to 15 points from Sunday Dech and Daniel Johnson, before the Hawks pull away for a 16-point victory sparked by back-to-back Isaac White triples.

What happened last game?

There wasn’t much of a roller-coaster for Adelaide in their season opener on Thursday, smashed early by Josh Magette to be 22 down at quarter-time and never getting back within single figures as the JackJumpers punished them from the arc. Illawarra were never out of their Round 2 clash in Perth, still leading by five points with four minutes to play, but undone by a string of trifectas from Bryce Cotton, Luke Travers and Corey Webster.

What’s working?

George King – With almost four minutes gone in the opening quarter in Perth, the Hawks had scored two points on 1/4 shooting and coughed up three turnovers. Thankfully, George of the Jungle had just checked in and he went to work, dropping three treys in less than 40 seconds to set his team on its way to a double-figure lead. King is averaging 18.3ppg, hitting 3.7 triples at 58 per cent to be the man carrying the can in Justin Robinson’s absence.

Anthony Drmic – The Drm reaper was one of the few things keeping Adelaide alive against Tasmania. While his six point, three-rebound stat-line isn’t extravagant reading, he brought the energy many of his teammates were lacking, with the 36ers +11 in his 17 minutes and -36 in the other 23. Interestingly, in three games against Tassie, Oklahoma City (0 and -33) and Phoenix (+11 and -1), Adelaide are +22 with Drmic on the floor and -70 when he is on the bench.

What needs stopping?

Late defensive slumps – Illawarra are +14 in first halves this season and -16 after intermission, with their final quarter defence appearing to be the culprit. In the last 10 minutes of games the Hawks are conceding an average of 26 points per quarter, compared to just 19.7 in the opening three terms. Of note, opponents are knocking down 3.7 triples at 50 per cent in final stanzas, compared to 1.6 at 25 per cent in other periods.

Leaving the arc exposed – In their past two games against OKC and the JJs, Adelaide have allowed 35 three-pointers at 45 per cent, being outscored a staggering 105-48 from the arc, with both opponents’ hottest two marksmen combining for 22/32. While credit goes to the hot shooters, the 36ers must take ownership of their inability to locate and shut down the hot hand, especially given Illawarra are draining 11.3 at 38 per cent in NBL23.

Who’s matching up?

Daniel Johnson v Sam Froling – DJ was clearly not 100 per cent on Friday night, and Tasmania duly and mercilessly exploited him. No doubt Harvey will put him in plenty of ball-screens, while Froling will look to do damage from the short roll with his passing and finishing. CJ Bruton gave Kai Sotto just five minutes on Thursday against an undersized opponent, will he get more burn against Froling, Mangok Mathiang and Co.

Craig Randall v Tyler Harvey – It was not a promising start to Randall’s NBL career, openly arguing with teammates, going 2/10 from outside and burping the ball up five times. Can he re-set effectively in 48 hours and play a more efficient team game? Harvey certainly knows how to put an off-night behind him, averaging 18.3ppg after outings where he’s scored 14 or less in his NBL career. After going 2/11 in Perth, expect him to bounce back hard.

Robert Franks v George King – Franks gave Adelaide a much-needed interior scoring presence when the three-balls weren’t dropping, scoring 14 points on 6/10 inside against the JJs, with all those scores within five feet. He only grabbed three d-boards, however, and Tassie dominated the glass early to set up their lead. If King plays bulk minutes at PF it will test Franks’ ability to get to the boards, and maybe Antonius Cleveland will get this job?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BACK TO BACK TO BACK TRIPLES. <a href="https://twitter.com/2bkings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@2bkings</a> is on something else tonight ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hawknation?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#hawknation</a> <a href="https://t.co/fmMpLfqJmm">pic.twitter.com/fmMpLfqJmm</a></p>— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1578677420387098624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

It’s an understandable question, how can Craig Randall tear it up twice on an NBA court – 62 points at 57 per cent in 73 minutes – then come back and struggle in his Hungry Jack’s NBL debut?

Well if you dig into the previous comments of well-travelled Americans such as Torrey Craig, Eddie Gill, Jamar Wilson and Jae’Sean Tate, you find the answer is in the physicality.

“Coming back to the NBL, physicality is real,” coach CJ Bruton said after his team’s loss to Tasmania.

The constant bump of grind of NBL games is a great test for new players, and with things not going well, Randall’s frustration became clear.

“For Craig, since I’ve known him, yes, his body language is a certain way, which you guys can pick up on and you’ll see it a lot,” Bruton said

“For me, understanding the person who he is and how he can help contribute to the group is what I care about.”

Bruton is backing his entire team to re-set after Thursday’s loss and readjust to the different style of game in the NBL, and that means upping their intensity on defence to generate the open-court game their athletes thrive in.

“We’ve done something that was great for basketball, it was great for our league, for our club and our team,” he said.

“Right now we need to come back and switch into the NBL mode and be ready to go.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The ol' steal 'n slam.<br><br>? - ESPN + Kayo Sports <a href="https://t.co/XSA2HLTR5N">pic.twitter.com/XSA2HLTR5N</a></p>— Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1580495706292224001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

While Randall wears his emotions on the outside, Hawks import George King is quite the opposite.

However, with floor general Justin Robinson likely out for the season, the King has had to make some proclamations.

“Justin was a ‘voicey’ guy for us, and I’m a guy who’s also ‘voicey’ in times where it’s needed. I understand if you talk too much guys start to tune out, so I tend to lay low until something needs to be said.

“When I do speak my words mean so much more because George doesn’t talk that much.”

He’s doing his best talking on the floor though, his resume as a lights-out shooter going under the radar because he has always played the role his team needs in many stops around the globe, rather than trying to dominate for numbers sake.

“This is who I am, this is George King, people are realising that now because I’m new here, but this is a regular thing,” he said

“We’re obviously not going to replace Justin Robinson, he’s a valuable piece on any team.

“I think if everyone can be who they are and we can get one extra assist, one extra rebound, or one extra defensive stop, we can try to make up for him.”

So far they’ve done that pretty well with a big home win over SE Melbourne and a tight loss in Perth, but coach Jakob Jackomas knows he’s going to need more contributions from unlikely sources to keep posting Ws until a replacement arrives.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lachlan Dent could be the GOAT<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hawknation?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#hawknation</a> <a href="https://t.co/nYlxk3FTmM">pic.twitter.com/nYlxk3FTmM</a></p>— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1578696283401121792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“It's a big hole for us right now, with a short period of time that he has been with us his influence was massive, on myself as a coach and I know with the playing group,” Jackomas said.

“We've seen the best out of Lachie Dent, Sam (Froling) in a leadership role, Tyler has to carry a lot of the scoring, it hurts everyone because they’ve got to go out of their comfort zone to step up for us to win basketball games.”

Where they don’t seem to have missed a beat is with their defence, holding both the Phoenix and Wildcats to a miserly 37 per cent shooting from the field.

“What I did like was 77 points, to keep Perth on their home floor to 77 points is quite an effort,” Jackomas said.

In contrast, Adelaide leaked 97 points at 47 per cent to Tasmania in their season opener.

Point guard Mitch McCarron readily admitted their effort wasn’t at the required level, but is well aware his team has 27 games to rectify the situation.

“I got to give credit to them, they played really, really well,” he said

“Their level was a lot higher than ours, their energy was better, they executed their game plan and their scout better

“We were here for what was essentially our Round 1 game and we weren’t at the level, so it’s not good enough.”