Preview: Illawarra vs New Zealand - Round 17, NBL24

Friday, January 26, 2024

The Illawarra Hawks and New Zealand Breakers come into Sunday's match up in remarkably similar situations.

Sunday, January 28 at 2:00pm AEDT | WIN Entertainment Centre

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The Illawarra Hawks and New Zealand Breakers come into Sunday's match-up in remarkably similar situations, with six games of their NBL24 campaigns remaining.

Both teams scored victories earlier in Round 17 with the Hawks snapping a three-game losing run to impressively end the six-game winning run of the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena.

The Breakers made it back-to-back home wins as well on Friday night, with a six-point victory against the third-placed Tasmania JackJumpers in Auckland.

That leaves both teams bringing winning form and confidence into Sunday's clash, while the winner will finish the round inside the top six and the loser will be on the outside looking in.

Both the Hawks and Breakers now sit on 10-12 records coming into Sunday's game with New Zealand only marginally ahead of Illawarra thanks to percentage – just 18 points separates the two teams over the course of the season.

Incredibly, both teams can finish as high a second on the NBL standings currently, albeit with everything needing to go there way from here.

Illawarra
95-77 win away to Perth
89-96 loss at home to Adelaide
92-93 loss at home to Cairns

New Zealand
94-88 win at home to Tasmania
106-75 win at home to South East Melbourne
76-105 loss away to Sydney

Justin Robinson
When you're an import point guard and you find yourself out of the starting lineup, the way you respond means plenty. You can take it on the chin and find a way to contribute, or sulk and let your struggles multiply.

To the credit of Justin Robinson with the Hawks, he held his head high when asked to come off the bench in Perth on Friday night and ended up playing a key role in their victory that snapped a three-game losing slide.

His previous two matches had been rough against the Cairns Taipans and Adelaide 36ers, shooting 0/13 from the field.

On the back of that, coach Justin Tatum had to do something and it was decided Robinson would come off the bench. It clearly worked a treat as they went on to score the stirring win in Perth.

Robinson made a good contribution in his 19 minutes as well, with nine points, four assists and four rebounds on three-of-six shooting from the field. Perhaps most telling was the Hawks outscoring the Wildcats by 17 points in those minutes.

Illawarra also has depth in that point guard position following the signing of Kyle Adnam. He might have yet to hit the floor for the Hawks since arriving, but Robinson now knows he needs to keep performing or there's somewhere there ready, willing and able to pick up any of that slack.

"J-Rob is a true professional. He accepted it because he knew that we needed something to change up in our style of play, and our lineup. It was not a demotion to him in my opinion, it was something that we thought he would give us strength off the bench, and a great voice. He is great with the scout so he does what point guards do, and understands other people's plays and what's been called. He led that second unit to give us that burst of energy that we needed and he did a great job so it was nothing they took out of context with not starting, and he still played similar minutes and was very productive," – coach Justin Tatum said after Friday's win in Perth.

Will McDowell-White
He was the hottest of properties as a free agent in the off-season with the New Zealand Breakers securing his signature, and the 25-year-old's form is building nicely as he gets closer to full health and fitness.

Numbers wise McDowell-White's season with the Breakers might not jump off the page at you, with 8.5 points, 4.6 assists and 3.0 rebounds a game, but numbers only tell part the story.

A player with less toughness or character would have missed more than the six games he has missed this season. It was the sheer fact that he was willing to play through pain to put his team's needs and interests first that is now paying off.

Having a teammate willing to sacrifice his body for the good of the team has been a big reason why everyone at the Breakers is now talking about how the chemistry within this playing group has now come together spectacularly, after a bit of a rocky start.

On top of that, McDowell-White is now feeling better physically and his production is improving as a result, including perhaps his best all-round performance of the season in the win at home to the Tasmania JackJumpers on Friday night.

He delivered 13 points, four rebounds and four assists, and perhaps most exciting for the Breakers was how well his back-court partnership with Parker Jackson-Cartwright worked, who also had 25 points and four assists.

"I think we've kinda turned a corner off the court with each other. The locker-room has been more enjoyable and I don’t think that's just because of winning, we've kinda learned things about each other that a lot of people don't do in a team and learning those sort of personal things make you go out there and want to play even harder for those guys and succeed. When it comes to playing with Parker, it's pretty easy because he likes to score and I like to pass so when you have any two people like that in a back-court it will figure itself out pretty quickly," – McDowell-White said after Friday's win against the JackJumpers

Gary Clark vs Zylan Cheatham
There are fascinating match-ups wherever you look across the floor in this one, but how can you go past the battle of former NBA forwards Gary Clark and Zylan Cheatham?

Sure, Tyler Harvey and Parker Jackson-Cartwright will be a salivating matchup, former teammates Sam Froling and Mangok Mathiang up front will be enthralling, and who can get their shot falling quicker from Hyunjung Lee and Anthony Lamb will be fascinating too.

You've then got point guards Justin Robinson and Will McDowell-White who might come off the bench again and play key roles, but you won't want to take your eyes off Clark and Cheatham.

They are two significantly different players too, with Clark more likely to use his craftiness and skill to try and fire the Hawks to another win, while Cheatham uses explosiveness, speed, power and a nice shooting touch.

Clark is still playing through a sore knee, but had 17 points, six rebounds and three assists in the win in Perth on Friday night and it was only two weeks ago he delivered an NBL-best 36 points against the Cairns Taipans.

Cheatham is now building to ominous form with the Breakers too, on the comeback trail from his fractured lower leg.

He has now played seven games back and what he produced on Friday night in the win at home to the Tasmania JackJumpers was imposing.

He had 20 points and five rebounds, but the way he used his strength, athleticism and quickness to get to the foul line 13 times meant that he was aggressive, and using his natural advantages.

If he can do that up against the Hawks and Clark, then it will go a long way to the Breakers keeping on winning, but Clark also has plenty of tricks up his sleeve.

While the Hawks have won eight of the last 11 games against the Breakers, New Zealand has won five of its previous seven trips to Wollongong against Illawarra.

The start will be crucial too, with the Hawks having lost their last 15 games in the WIN Entertainment Centre when trailing at quarter-time. The Breakers, meanwhile, have won the first quarter in seven of the last eight games they have played in the 'Gong.