Preview: Illawarra v New Zealand

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Monday 17 October, 2022
Where: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong
Broadcast: ESPN; Foxtel; Kayo; Sky NZ
LIVE SCORES & STATS

Who won last time?

Illawarra 102 (Jessup 23, Harvey 19, Froling 13) d New Zealand 87 (Besson 20, Galloway 16, Randle 15) – Round 13, NBL22 at MyState Bank Arena, Hobart

A promising New Zealand start turned into yet another NBL22 nightmare for Dan Shamir and Co as a six-point third-quarter lead evaporated in the face of a 41-12 Hawks run in a tick over 11 minutes, with Justinian Jessup outscoring the entire Breakers team in that stretch. Hugo Besson added to his draft stock and the respectability of the score in the final term, but the damage had been done.

What happened last game?

New Zealand are doing their damage at the defensive end right now, conceding just 71ppg in their past two outings and holding every opponent below 40 per cent so far this season. They suffocated the Phoenix even without Tom Abercrombie, Cam Gliddon and Barry Brown. The Hawks suffered at the hands of an Adelaide offensive storm late in their City of Churches clash, once again unable to stop the rot as the 36ers pulled away for an easy win.

What’s working?

Middle penetration – The Breakers created 24 scoring attempts from middle penetration off ball-screens against South East Melbourne, racking up 32 points on 12/21 shooting thanks to the creativity of Izayah Le’afa, Will McDowell-White and Rayan Rupert. On all other plays they were 17/47, including 5/14 when they attacked sideline from ball-screens. Expect the Hawks to ice on-balls where possible, and aggressively stop the ball when it does head middle.

Sparkplugs – Hawks coach Jacob Jackomas would have liked his chances if you said sparkplugs Lachie Dent, Deng Deng and Tim Coenraad were going to combine for 37 points at 56 per cent and 6/11 from the arc. But with Tyler Harvey and George King adding just 24 points on 6/24, there wasn’t enough offence in the tank to post a winning score in Adelaide.

What needs to be stopped?

Tyler Harvey – Including the Blitz, Harvey has played three games with Justin Robinson and averaged 19.3ppg. In four games without his PG, he’s managed only 13.3 at 31 per cent. While the Hawks need a new import ASAP, they just as desperately need T-Raw to find some shooting form and help them pinch a win or two in the meantime. So far, New Zealand have held import shooting guards to 9.6ppg at 24 per cent, so he’ll have to buck that trend.

Opposition runs – In Round 1, Illawarra led by seven with 5:40 to play before Sydney peeled off a 26-10 run to seal it. The Hawks were five up on Perth with 4:19 left in the game, only for the Wildcats to go 14-3 to win it. Then Adelaide’s 26-8 run in seven minutes bracketing three-quarter-time blew the Hawks out of the water. When the opposition gets flowing, the river is running dry for Illawarra, and they must find ways to plug the damn much quicker.

Who’s matching up?

Sam Froling v Rob Loe – This is a quality match-up between two extremely high-IQ centres whose smart reads are key to their teams success. Can Froling get enough of the ball on the short roll to challenge Loe’s ability to recover? From there he has shown he knows how to finish and find open teammates. But can Loe hit from the perimeter to draw the Hawks’ leading rebounding away from the glass and open up lanes for penetration and o-boards?

Tyler Harvey v Izayah Le’afa – What’s the bounce-back factor in this match-up? Le’afa is coming off a career game and emotional win over his former team, can he produce the goods again? Meanwhile Harvey has shot 6/26 in his past two outings. He had a mixed bag against Le’afa and South East Melbourne last season, with two 20-plus outings and a rare one-point, 0/8 no show, the only time in his 72-game NBL career that T-Raw has failed to land a field goal.

Deng Deng v Jarell Brantley – Deng was superb in Adelaide with 18 points, draining three triples, one 20-footer and cramming two dunks in an energetic display. Brantley’s past two games have been excellent, scoring 32 points in 52 minutes while shooting 9/13 inside, showing patience to create looks around the hoop despite his relative lack of height. Can he defend Deng and George King on the perimeter, and can they handle him in the block?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What a way to put us in front <a href="https://twitter.com/DengDeng19?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DengDeng19</a> <br><br>? Tune into ESPN via Kayo or Foxtel!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/hawknation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#hawknation</a> <a href="https://t.co/20A2gYuEdo">pic.twitter.com/20A2gYuEdo</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1581189679759904768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

Hands up if you thought Rob Loe was done as a basketballing force.

No doubt plenty of pundits were in that category after the affable Breakers big man averaged just 4.2ppg last season, with his trusty three-ball abandoning him.

Right now, however, resurgent Rob looks like he’s loving life on the court and producing the goods to help guide his native New Zealand to a 2-1 start to NBL23.

It shouldn’t really be a surprise, this is a dude who can play. It was only three years ago he rocked the NBLxNBA floor, posting 31 points in 46 minutes on 12/15 inside shooting along with nine rebounds against Oklahoma City and Memphis.

He rocked the NZ NBL this past off-season too, averaging 17.2 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists for Auckland, and he carried that into the Breakers’ pre-season.

“Rob has gone through a tough stretch the last two years, and he has been the absolute partner since the pre-season started,” coach Mody Maor said.

“He came in ready to work, buying into his role, buying into what we wanted to do.

“I think the biggest compliment he got was he was voted into our leadership group, which meant his peers also see his work, and a big game like this was just waiting to happen.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rob Loe is still yet to miss a three in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> for the <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NZBreakers</a> ?<br><br>Don&#39;t sleep on the Le&#39;Afa dime either ?<br><br>Follow the action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/604YPIpEOT">pic.twitter.com/604YPIpEOT</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1581213865320542208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That big game was 18 points on 7/11 shooting as an undermanned New Zealand broke their Melbourne Park hoodoo, but there’s been much more to Loe’s game this season than accurate shooting.

He is second on the Breakers’ plus-minus charts in no small part thanks to his intelligent ball-screen defence and career-high 5.7 rebounds per night, crucial aspects in the new identity Maor’s team has created.

“For us, when things get shaky it gets down to defence and rebounding, when we do that well we can hang with any team in the league,” Maor said.

“What I see for sure is a bunch of people that compete the whole time, there are never possessions that we take off.

“There are areas where I want to be better defensively, some of that has to do with personnel, some of it has to do with the scheme, some of it has to do with just us being better at our stuff.

“But I definitely see a team that competes, that lays it all on the line and that’s the foundation for a good defence.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Turning into an Alex Mcnaught fan page for the night.<br><br>Sky Sport 1<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNBREAKABLE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNBREAKABLE</a> <a href="https://t.co/AYm4Cg6BuR">pic.twitter.com/AYm4Cg6BuR</a></p>&mdash; Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1581234113973223424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Illawarra have yet to find a consistent defensive formula under new boss Jacob Jackomas.

While at times they’re a fearsome unit at that end, in all four games they’ve leaked significant runs inside the final 12 minutes, proving terminal on three occasions.

During those bursts they’ve given up 86 points in 23 minutes, while scoring just 27 themselves. On Saturday in Adelaide, Craig Randall and Co blew them out of the water from long range after a tight opening 30 minutes.

“I thought we needed to find a way to get the run back, obviously we tried with the changes of defence, again there were some lapses towards the end, and maybe that’s some reps, we need some more reps to get it done,” Jackomas said of his new-look team.  

While a home loss to New Zealand on Monday will drop them to 1-4 and with their backs to the wall, Tyler Harvey has been there before with the Hawks and backs in the character of his adopted club.

“I know this team, I've been around this team for two years, we don’t have guys that will sulk and get down on themselves, we’ll find a way to turn this season around,” he said.

“Our record is 1-3 but I think we’re playing good basketball, we just have these stretches where they go on a 10-0 run and we do stuff out of character.

“It comes down to us as players, we have to be more disciplined on the court, especially late in games.

“But we’re only four games in, we will turn this thing around and we’ll look back on this and it will be a turning point in our season.”