R14 Preview: Perth Wildcats v Illawarra Hawks

When: 9.30pm (AEST), Friday 16 April 

Where: RAC Arena, Perth

Broadcast: ESPN; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time
Perth 81 (Cotton 22, Steindl 17, Mooney 17) d Illawarra 70 (Jessup 15, Bairstow 13, Harvey 13) – Round 11, RAC Arena, Perth

The Illawarra Hawks weren’t afraid of trying to end their horror record out west in their first attempt under legendary coach Brian Goorjian, but Bryce Cotton just wouldn’t be denied in the second half.

Justinian Jessup and Tyler Harvey were playing in Perth for the first time and scored their team's first 14 points for a 14-6 start. But that old Perth trademark of offensive rebounds began to come to the fore to make it a two-point game at half-time and then the 'Cats managed to move two points up.

Still, Cotton had been well limited by Justin Simon to just nine points by three quarter-time and he hadn’t hit from deep. That sure changed in the fourth quarter. The dual MVP took over with 13 points in the quarter including three triples and some spectacular drives to the hoop.

Simon could still hold his head high, but Cotton put his team on the back and the Wildcats dominated after half-time with 42 points to 29. While Cotton shut the door on the Hawks, it was Perth's second half defence that was the difference.

At one stage, the Hawks missed 15 three-point attempts in-a-row and they went scoreless for almost six minutes of the fourth quarter with Perth extending its lead to 11, and winning by that in the end.

The now

It's another attempt for the Illawarra Hawks to start turning around their history of playing out west but with the fact that Perth have won 33 of the last 34 home games against them, it's not an easy thing to turn around.

The Wildcats saw their nine-game winning streak come to an end in Adelaide last Saturday night against the 36ers, but they responded on Tuesday night in Launceston with thrilling 85-79 victory over the New Zealand Breakers.

That was an incredible finish with Bryce Cotton backing up a 3/15 shooting night against the 36ers and struggling for three quarter, but then he started attacking the rim to gain some confidence. Then hit a stunning game tying three to force overtime and ended the game with 34 points as the 'Cats won and have now won 10 of their last 11.

That win improved the Wildcats to a 16-5 record on the season to remain in second position on the table and to remain right on the hammer of the league leading Melbourne United.

The Hawks had a hectic Round 13 in the NBL with the three games over five days all at the WIN Entertainment Centre starting back on Wednesday night with an 88-82 loss to the Brisbane Bullets.

Two days later and they bounced back with an impressive performance to defeat the South East Melbourne Phoenix 82-80 on the Friday night. And then on Sunday, they were able to squeeze out an important and narrow 82-80 victory against the Cairns Taipans.

Those two wins at home from the three home games made it a good week for the Hawks as they improve to a 12-11 record on the season to retain fourth position on the NBL table and with the Phoenix's loss to the Sydney Kings on Thursday, they aren’t too far off third spot yet either if they can find a way to win in Perth on Friday.

The stats

- In their three games last week in Round 13 all at home, the Illawarra Hawks scored 82 points in the matches against the Bullets, Phoenix and Taipans. Against the Wildcats in two games this season, they have scored 70 points both times.

- Perth has certainly enjoyed playing host to the Hawks for a long time now. The Wildcats have won 33 of the last 34 games they have hosted against the Hawks whether at RAC Arena or their previous home of Challenge Stadium. Overall, Perth has won 51 of 58 games out west against either Illawarra or Wollongong since 1982.

The key men

John Mooney – We all know what Bryce Cotton can do but John Mooney has proven his ideal wingman this season and he's firing on Friday night alongside Bryce, the Wildcats will be mighty tough to stop. But he is coming off his toughest game of the season in Launceston on Tuesday night when he had just three points and nine rebounds despite still playing over 41 minutes in the overtime game. But in home games at RAC Arena this season he has produced 16.8 points and 12.7 rebounds a game for the Wildcats, and last up against Illawarra he had 17 points and 16 rebounds.

Tyler Harvey – If anyone in the league can play match-winner for his team in a similar vein to Bryce Cotton then it's Tyler Harvey. He showed that over the three home games for the Hawks last week where he averaged 25 points a game and shot 12/27 from three-point territory. He is coming off an NBL best of 35 points on Sunday in the win over the Cairns Taipans too so he arrives in Perth in the form that suggests he can lead the Hawks to something special.

The quotess

Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson is confident that some uncharacteristic low shooting percentages from his team in recent games will start to turnaround come Friday night against the Hawks.

"We practice our shots all the time, sometimes you’re off, it’s very unusual you’ll have four shooters that don’t make a basket like we did in Adelaide, that doesn’t happen too often," Gleeson said. 

"Some nights you’ll have all four get hot and you’ll score 120 points. The guys do a lot of work on their shooting, it’s not something I’m particularly worried about, I’m just worried about the quality of shots. Making sure they come out of our offence, that we’re playing unselfish, we’re making the extra pass. When we do that we’re getting high quality possessions."

While Gleeson is confident his team's shots are going to start to fall, he is mindful of what the Hawks are capable of from a shooting perspective as well.

"They have three really good imports. Harvey and Jessup can shoot," Gleeson said.

"Simon really crashed the glass against us last time, so we know they had a good win last game, coming from behind, they have their tails up, so we’re expecting a strong showing."

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian is happy to have built some momentum at home last weekend ahead of the trip to Perth on Friday night.

"We finally got some home games together and I think the last two games were pretty good for us. We started the season off great and then had a bit of a tough patch racking up some losses so that home stand was really important for us," Goorjian said. 

"The Phoenix one was especially important for us because they are a really good team, and I think they are going to finish in the top three. Then we came back within 24 hours and won a close one against Cairns so we come in with some wins under our belt ahead of a really tough environment we know, but we are feeling good about ourselves right now."

Rather than be daunted by the challenge of potentially having 13,000 Red Army fans screaming against his team on Friday night, Goorjian is looking forward to being part of that environment and hopes his team embraces it in the same manner.

"My thoughts on this has always been and I guess by being overseas as long as I have and having experienced so many different cultures and environment, the message is that we are involved in entertainment," Goorjian said.

"You practice for all this time and you are in hubs and we've been everywhere but training and lift weights, and why you do that is to play in an environment like we are going into. That's what the game is about. That's the show and I promote it, bring it on. Some of the best games I've involved in have been in that stadium in Perth. 

"I know it's not the same venue, but I remember back to those battles with Ricky Grace and all those guys and it's the same tough environment. They have obviously of created that great environment, but credit to Trevor and everyone involved for creating the culture within their team that they have. 

"They just have a tremendous culture, everyone understands their role, they play hard and they've got the player in the competition and they have for a good period of time who knows how to run a team, how to win and makes big shots. I look forward to the challenge to play the best in the best environment, and I hope my team is embracing it in the same way. Bring it on."