Preview: Illawarra v Adelaide (Round 6)

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Thursday 3 November, 2022
Where: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong
Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Foxtel; Sky NZ

Who won the last time?

Adelaide 90 (Randall 28, Cleveland 16, Franks 16) d Illawarra 80 (Deng 18, Harvey 16, Froling 12) – Round 3 at Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Illawarra looked a genuine chance of a significant upset at the AEC when they led Adelaide by four late in the third term, with Tyler Harvey, Lachie Dent and Deng Deng all hot from range. But enter the Craig Randall show and it was all the home side from there, the electric import dropping 15 points in five fourth-quarter minutes to blow the game wide open.

What happened last game?

Randall came to life late again in Melbourne, scoring 23 points in the final 24 minutes to have the Sixers on the brink of a huge road win. It wasn’t enough though, going down in overtime and setting up a crucial Round 6 road-home double. The Hawks had their own near miss against Melbourne, coming from nowhere to force OT but giving up a six-point lead in the first extra period and falling in the 50th minute. While it wasn’t a win, it showed the Hawks are a different team with Peyton Siva on board.

What’s working?

Kai with the stars – To sustain their fast style, Adelaide need to be on the right side of the turnover count, but they are -78 this season, forcing a league-low 10.2. The issue is, without a genuine centre it’s hard to be an aggressive defensive team. Against South East Melbourne, bench big Kai Sotto played five third-quarter minutes alongside Randall, Robert Franks and for some time Antonius Cleveland, during which they peeled off a 13-4 run, allowing just 2/10 shooting and forcing two cough-ups. Is Kai's size the rim protection Adelaide’s stars need?

Controlling the tempo – Illawarra looked a completely different team against United. They brought in an uber-experienced European-style point guard and played a controlled European-style offence, where the ball was in Siva’s hands a lot. The result was just 12 turnovers – well below their per 50 minute average of 17.9 – and only 12 opposition points from turnovers, compared to an average of 21.8 in their previous five outings. Siva had 11 dimes and will stop Adelaide getting into rhythm unless the can disrupt him defensively.

What needs stopping?

Having the tempo controlled – If Adelaide can’t generate speed, they struggle to generate points. While Randall’s absence will hurt offensively on Thursday, the silver lining is the ability for Sunday Dech and Anthony Drmic to have a bigger impact with their defensive intensity. It’s no surprise that pair rank one and two on the 36ers’ plus-minus charts, and them on the court with Cleveland is a defensive delight that can create open-court scores.

Missing make-ables – Lindsay Gaze immortalised the saying ‘operation successful, patient died’, meaning a well-run offence is a good thing, but if the shot doesn’t it drop means nought. Last Saturday, Deng Deng, Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, George King and Siva shot a combined 4/25 from range, and across the season the Hawks are shooting a league-low 31 per cent. If they want win number two, they’ve got to knock in more open looks.

Who’s matching up?

Deng Deng v Robert Franks – Deng shot a respectable 33 per cent from outside last time he was a Hawk, but so far this season he is 7/27 and not punishing the collapsing defence. Coach Jacob Jackomas would have loved his 20 boards across Round 5, while CJ Bruton would have been relieved to see Franks grab nine caroms against South East Melbourne after a solitary board in the loss to New Zealand. Now, if the 4/20 Robo can rediscover his 39 per cent long-range clip from last season the 36ers might be able to cover for Randall’s absence.

Sam Froling v Daniel Johnson – Froling was a beast against Melbourne, taking out the frustration of a slow start to NBL23 with 27 points at 77 per cent and 15 boards, with 24 of his points from within five feet or the foul line. Johnson would be feeling some frustration, and it doesn’t reflect well on the 36ers that their legendary scorer is shooting 37 per cent from range but averaging just 9.8ppg. Can Sam dominate the inside, or does DJ finally get the scoring opportunities his deadly jumper needs with Adelaide a starter short?

Tyler Harvey v Sunday Dech – Harvey was another man to break the shackles in the double-overtime classic, finishing with 21 points on 5/11 triples after making just 4/20 from long range the previous three games. Expect former Hawk Dech to run T-Raw off the arc at every opportunity, given he went 3/13 from two-point range across two games last round, with Harvey’s patented floater yet to find its range in NBL23.

Who’s saying what?

Last Saturday was certainly bitter-sweet for Hawks young gun Sam Froling, who had arguably the game of his life but missed the chance to seal the W from the free-throw line.

“It’s a little frustrating, I'm a bit frustrated myself, one free throw and that game’s over. Peyton was harsh on himself, two turnovers at the end,” Froling said.

“That was a big one we could have got and probably should have got, so it hurts.”

Once the pain subsided though, all Hawks fans would have been relieved to see Samson put some poor form behind him and dominate Melbourne, and they have veteran Kevin White to thank.

“Whitey had a good talk to me this morning, he said I’d been in my own head, especially the last game, and he said you’ve got to come in like you're the best big man in this league,” Froling revealed post-game.

“I believe I can be, obviously there are very talented players playing for other teams, but I came in with the mindset that Humphries isn’t going to stop me and it paid dividends.”

That’s the type of approach coach Jacob Jackomas has been encouraging from his entire team.

“We came in fearless, we've got a young group and what we preach to them is being fearless,” he said.

“I want to praise them a lot, it’s that time where they’ve been taking a lot of kicks, they're not happy about it, we do have winners in that room and we've just got to figure it out.”

The puzzle master may well turn out to be Siva. Jackomas liked what he saw from his highly-touted floor general, and hopes his savvy will turn close losses into Ws as the match fitness kicks in.

“We’ve had a couple of (close) games like this, but now Peyton’s here,” he said.

“Tyler (Harvey) had 21, Sam had 27 and (Siva) had 11 assists. We've got to be careful, we don’t want to disrespect the guys who have played in that sport but that’s what he does, that’s why we brought him in.”

Froling feels the same way.

“The first day he came in he said to me, ‘I'm going to be looking for you a lot off the pick-and-roll’, that was music to my ears,” Froling said.

“Tonight he dropped it off a lot and I finished a lot better than I did the other night. He's been here a week, as we gel and get some practice in as a team we’ll just get better.”

Adelaide coach CJ Bruton wants his team focused on getting better and ignoring the noise generated by an inrcedible NBLxNBA display and an up-and-down start to NBL23.

While it’s easy to lump two Round 5 losses together, the fight they showed after quarter-time in their overtime road loss at the Fire Pit was exceptional.

“I thought our guys responded from taking a butt-kicking at home, to playing this one all the way out to the end, which sent us to overtime and we had every chance to win that game,” Bruton said.

“We know where we sit and we need to continue to get better and keep improving on certain situations, but it’s a team game.

“It’s not one individual it’s a team, and we have to plug up a few things as we keep moving forward.

“It’s early in the season and I like to think that where our guys are right now, what we’ve had to go through from our preseason to right now, that was a good response.”

Likewise, experience point guard Mitch McCarron is keeping things in perspective, knowing his team is only 2.5 games behind first place.

“It’s about consistency, finding an identity offensively, finding identity defensively. We have had our struggles on defence but it’s going to take time, we are not losing patience with it,” he said.

“It’s no point losing our minds now, we are 2-3, Tassie were 0-3 and everyone was talking about how they were doing, then they go on a four-game streak and are the best team in the league.”