R19 Preview: Brisbane Bullets vs Illawarra Hawks

When: 5pm (AEST), Saturday 9 April, 2022

Where: Nissan Arena, Brisbane

Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Sky Sports NZ


Who won last time?
Illawarra 87 (Jessup 29, Cleveland 14, Rathan-Mayes 14) d Brisbane 70 (Digbeu 13, Franks 13, Wigness 11) – Round 18, WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

This was over in the blink of the eye as Justinian Jessup found holes in Brisbane’s changing defences and, once he got hot, didn’t stop en route to 29 points at 64 per cent, including five triples. The Bullets made a brief Tom Digbeu-inspired charge in the second term, but eight-straight Jessup points leading into half-time built a gap the visitors couldn't peg back.


What happened last start?

Jason Cadee made sure there was no slow start against Adelaide, remarkably dropping five three-pointers in the opening five minutes in one of the more memorable outbursts in NBL history. It didn’t put the Sixers away though, and it took two late Cadee treys and some cool free-throwing shooting to ice win number seven and strengthen their grip on seventh spot.

The Hawks can all-but lock in back-to-back playoff berths with a win on Saturday, but they're hunting home-court advantage now, sitting level with Sydney in second. Given their final three games are against Perth and the Kings twice, they simply must take care of business in Brisbane with their disruptive D and impressive ability to convert that into open-court points.


Who’s in form?

Tom Digbeu – The young Spaniard’s Round 18 delivered 26 points at 56 per cent, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in 47 minutes, thriving in the recently opened-up game style after an ultra-physical season had made it hard for Next Stars to shine.  The Bullets were +8 in his 22 minutes against Illawarra thanks to his aggression, and -25 with him benched.

Xavier Rathan-Mayes – No Tyler Harvey? No problem. That was XRM’s mentality as he delivered 25 points on 9/10 from inside to bury Melbourne, his bevy of fourth-quarter pull-ups beating the scout and beating the champs. Rathan-Mayes was +26 across two games last round, the Hawks -3 in the other 22 minutes as XRM dealt 13 dimes to 5 turnovers.

https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1510165916939853825

Who needs to be?

Jason Cadee – Talk about a tale of two games. Cadee went 0/5 from range and didn’t dish a single dime as he went -28 in the 17-point loss to the Hawks. Like the proud veteran he is, JC bounced back three nights later with a ridiculous 7/12 triple outing to finish with 26 points and 5 assists against Adelaide. The reality is, when Cadee is firing, so are the Bullets.

Duop Reath – The in-form big man had a quiet offensive night against Brisbane last week, but that was off-set by Jessup’s hot performance. Reath played his part in limiting the red-hot Robert Franks, whose run of seven-straight 20-plus point games came to an end with a 5/17 stinker. Whichever of this pair can get back on track could be decisive on Saturday.


Who’s statting up?

 - Brisbane are 6-3 when Cadee deals six or more helpers to get his fellow Bullets firing. In Brisbane’s past four wins he’s averaged 18ppg on 15/31 from range and 7.3 assists

 - Over the past five games, the Bullets’ starters have been outscored by 17.2 points per game, while their bench has been +9.2 on average

 - The Hawks have held Brisbane to below 41 per cent shooting in their season series, the lowest percentage the Bullets have shot against any opponent

 - In Illawarra’s past four outings, Antonius Cleveland has averaged 19.5ppg at 52 per cent, 7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.5 steals and 8.5 free-throw attempts. In those games Illawarra are +54 with AC on the floor


Who’s matching up?

Lamar Patterson v Antonius Cleveland – Early in the season this may have been seen as the superstar in Patterson against a Justin Simon-like standout role player in Cleveland. Not any more. AC is now amongst the NBL’s elite performers, scoring double-figures in 15 of his past 17 contests and averaging ridiculous all-around numbers in his past four games.

Cleveland dominated Patterson last round, turning one-on-one stops into open-court scoring opportunities as his less-nimble opponent trailed behind in transition. AC finished with 14 points at 50 per cent, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals, while Patterson had 10 points at just 28 per cent, 5 assists and 5 turnovers in a performance he’ll want to amend.

https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1509472079552593924


Who’s talking the talk?

It’s hard for the Brisbane Bullets not to get frustrated as they look over a season that might have been, featuring eight single-figure losses.

“Our attention to detail just has to be better,” forward Robert Franks said.

“Guys are getting hot on us early and they're feeling good throughout the game, that’s the reason, because we’re not putting the pressure on them to start the game.”

Over their past five, the Bullets have conceded an average of 28 points in the opening 10 minutes, on track for a whopping 112 per game.

“Slow starts, obviously we haven't been able to find the answer to the reason behind that,” coach James Duncan said.

“What I’m probably most upset about is our attention to detail and sitting down and guarding the opposing team... The top defensive teams are going to make playoffs, we have struggled (defensively) and obviously that’s not happening.”

Those slow starts are a symptom of their Nathan Sobey-less starters being completely outplayed of late, with only the energy of Deng Deng, Tom Digbeu and Co keeping the Bullets competitive.

https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1510494966681808896


“Kudos to our bench for coming in and giving us a huge boost and bringing back the lead to six or eight, but then obviously those guys get a little bit tired and it was a little bit back and forth, and we weren’t able to get over the hump,” Duncan said.

Brisbane’s underrated reserves have moved up to third in bench scoring, and they smoked their Hawks’ counterparts 41-15 last round.

A big reason for that was Xavier Rathan-Mayes being promoted into the first five with Tyler Harvey sidelined, a role in which he proved match-winner two nights later in Melbourne.

“The last quarter really I put the ball in Xavier’s hands and brought an on-ball to him and we put guys in different spots,” coach Brian Goorjian said.

“Sometimes we put AC in the tuck spot, sometimes we spread the floor, we brought Harry in to spread the floor and he ended up getting that offensive rebound.

“Xavier made plays, either in his own hand or delivering the ball those last six minutes.”

https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1510148679143165953

As their new pieces have found their place in the Hawks’ puzzle, their bench has been the biggest reason for their improvement, bringing spark and allowing their starters to defend with greater intensity.

“Last time against Brisbane it was Emmett (Naar), and tonight it was Harry Froling who’s slowly evolving for us, and the play he made down the stretch that was the winning play.

“All those pieces we didn’t have last year, and (Rathan-Mayes) is the biggest one.”

Illawarra now seem certain to make the playoffs, especially with Harvey back on board, but Goorjian isn’t counting any chickens, nor does he have any interest in entering the playoffs in anything but great form.

“We've got more coming,” Goorjian said.

“Brisbane at Brisbane, Sydney twice. One at a time and see where it goes.”

For the Bullets, it’s the old cliché.

“We are playing for individual pride, we are playing for our fans in Brisbane, our members in Brisbane,” Duncan said.

“I can tell you there’s a definite culture shift that’s going on during the course of the season that we are going to build over the rest of the season and also with one eye moving on to next season.”