R19 Preview: Illawarra Hawks v Cairns Taipans

When: 5.00pm (AEST), Sunday 23 May

Where: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

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

The last time
Illawarra 82 (Patterson 27, Sobey 20, Drmic 15) d Cairns 80 (Moore 18, Gliddon 17, Te Rangi 12) – Round 13, WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

It was a thrilling contest in the 'Gong the last time the teams met and in fact the last two games have been close after the Hawks blew the Taipans away earlier in the season 90-70 up at the Cairns Pop-Up Arena.

But going through close games against one another is sure to have been a unique experience for head coaches Brian Goorjian and Mike Kelly after everything they experienced together including winning championships at the South East Melbourne Magic as player and coach during the 1990s.

But in that last meeting at the WIN Entertainment Centre back on April 11, it turned out one of the more dramatic games of #NBL21 with the Tyler Harvey-inspired Hawks making it consecutive two-point wins holding off a brave yet shorthanded Taipans.

With Harvey on fire, the Hawks looked to be running away with it racing to a 14-point lead to start the second quarter, but Cam Oliver and the Taipans weren’t about to lie down. Despite arriving already missing regular starters Majok Deng and Kouat Noi, and then losing superstar point guard Scott Machado to a corked leg by half-time, the Snakes continued to fight and gave themselves a chance to snatch it.

Harvey produced an unstoppable night and when he hit his fifth triple of the game to give him 35 points, the Hawks were up 76-71 with 2:40 remaining. But Taipans rookie Mojave King drained a three just seconds after development player Tad Dufelmeier did the same to keep them close. It was a two-point game before a Justin Simon putback made it four but then Jordan Ngatai's triple had it back to a one-point game with 16 seconds on the clock. Justinian Jessup hit two free-throws but still the Snakes had a chance to tie and Ngatai's good look at three looked good.

But it would rattle out and the Hawks held on for a second straight two-point win at home while the Taipans slipped to another tough loss despite the brave effort. On top of Harvey's career-best 35 points for the Hawks, Simon had 10 points and six rebounds, Deng Deng nine points, six boards and three steals, AJ Ogilvy eight points, nine rebounds, five assists, three steals and three blocks, and Jessup eight points.

Oliver was superb for Cairns with 27 points, 12 rebounds and five assists while development player Dufelmeier delivered 12 points, three steals and two rebounds, and the veteran Kenny nine points and three assists. Jawai also had nine points, Mirko Djeric eight and Ngatai seven.

The now

The Cairns Taipans continue to show heart and make no mistake Mike Kelly's competitive instinct to square the ledger against his old coach will kick in as the Illawarra Hawks host the Snakes needing to win as the playoff race heats up.

It's also fair to say the teams that Goorjian and Kelly are ending their seasons with are anything what they envisioned either. Goorjian based a lot of what the Hawks were planning around the presence of former NBA pair Deng Adel and Cam Bairstow, but neither are still playing. 

While Kelly's plans for the Snakes had a significant focus on the presence of Cam Oliver with everything he provides but also Kouat Noi as that energetic swingman turning himself into a consistent performer, but neither are playing for the Snakes now either.

Both teams played back on Friday night as well with Illawarra dominating the Adelaide 36ers on the road to end up winning 81-73 while the Taipans fought hard but couldn’t go with the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena who ended up winning 100-79.

That win for the Hawks improves them to a 16-15 record on the season and keeps them in fourth position, just ahead of the chasing Sydney Kings who are 16-16 following their win in New Zealand on Saturday. Illawarra just simply must keep winning if it wants to stay in that fourth spot and it does appear that's the only playoff position still up for grabs with Melbourne United and Perth Wildcats locked in for top two, and South East Melbourne Phoenix on a four-game winning streak in third at 18-14.

The Taipans might not be playing for a finals spot, but anytime you step onto the floor as a professional your pride in performance must kick in and you want to win. And if you don't think the competitive drive of coach Kelly to avoid losing to Goorjian for a third time this season isn’t strong, then you don't know that pair either.

The stats

- When the Taipans did beat the Hawks during the NBL Cup in Melbourne, they produced the best three-point shooting performance of any team this season going 18/35 from downtown.

- Cairns has lost its past six matches by an average of 17.6 points and a seven-game losing streak would be the worst of any team in #NBL21. The Snakes have also lost their previous eight road games to the Hawks either in Wollongong or Canberra.

- Illawarra captain AJ Ogilvy will play his 200th NBL game on Sunday. He began his career with the Sydney Kings but it's at the Illawarra Hawks where he's been since the 2015/16 season that he's made his lasting impression. He has been one of the best and most consistent centres in the league highlighted by being named to the All-NBL First Team on three occasions. 

The key men

Justinian Jessup – The Hawks pretty much know what they can rely on getting from Tyler Harvey every night, but Jessup is their second best offensive threat and is still searching for that consistency. He has done well against the Taipans so far hitting 12/22 from three-point land at 54.5 per cent and is averaging 17.0 points against the Snakes opposed to 13.1 for the season overall. But on Friday in Adelaide he had just two points on 1/8 shooting in 30 minutes. Over the last five games he's shot just 3/22 from deep as well.

Mirko Djeric – When he is taking his shots and being aggressive, chances are he is going to be hitting at a decent percentage and on the back of that, he's giving the Taipans a chance at being competitive and winning games of basketball. He drilled five three balls on Friday night in Perth and that was the first time he's made from downtown for the Snakes. He now returns to Wollongong on Sunday and his three-point shooting is going to be crucial in the Taipans being a chance of snapping their losing run or not.

The quotes

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian liked the fact that in the win in Adelaide on Friday night Tyler Harvey or Justinian Jessup weren’t too heavily relied upon offensively. Instead, Sam Froling put up 19 points, Isaac White 16 and Deng Deng 10, and he's hoping for more of that.

"It's a really good sign and we've discussed it. These guys are getting an opportunity now and it's a really important time for this new team. We haven’t played a lot of games under pressure and these last seven or eight games of the year are pressure games," Goorjian said.

"I do feel great about that without needing to rely on Tyler. Tyler and Justinian have been playing with the pressure to score pretty much all year and they are getting worn so guys down this back stretch have to step us for us to have any chance. We've won a couple of close ones at home and they've contributed huge, and now this game in Adelaide we had to get that contribution from others. That was the shining light of this game for me for sure."

Goorjian's mission on arriving to take over as the coach of Illawarra this season was to build the club back up to a power. He knew it wasn’t necessarily going to happen immediately and his initial plans for the team of #NBL21 didn’t pan out in terms of Cam Bairstow and Deng Adel, but he's proud they are now in a position to be fighting for a playoff spot down the stretch.

"I love this situation we're in wherever it goes because to build a culture you have to play in games that matter. This organisation has a great history but the last two years their season has been over mid-year and a lot of these guys have only been part of the team in that period," Goorjian said.

"To play in games of importance starts building that culture. You build situations of importance with Sydney starts building those rivalries too. It's gone totally different than I thought and I expected Deng Adel and Bairstow would be a big part of the development of these young guys and instead they've had to bite off a lot more than I anticipated coming into this first year, but as we're getting down this back stretch I get excited to see performances like these."

One area that Goorjian does want to continue to see the Hawks improve in is their execution in the half court.

"I'd like to get better in the half court. We have to execute some sets better and hopefully we've got some time to do that," Goorjian said. 

"There has been such tremendous change and we were going to play a certain style with Adel and Justin, and then Cam as our post target and we did a lot of work on entering the ball into the post and moving off that. 

"That's no longer there so we've made a lot of change and during that change I've made some mistakes. I'd like a bit of time to clean up the half court down this back stretch and get a little better there."

Taipans coach Mike Kelly can't fault the way his team are fighting for the most part including on Friday night in Perth where there were continued good signs especially from Tad Dufelmeier, Mojave King and George Blagojevic.

But any talk about accepting anything but 100 per cent effort the rest of the season is something that Kelly won't even consider, and really it's insulting to suggest otherwise.

"The guys are working hard and there are some talented young players that are still playing hard, and enjoying the minutes. We have to take heart in that and keep giving them those minutes," Kelly said.

"I actually couldn’t forgive them if they checked out early. There's no reason to. These guys play ball because they love to play and they also get paid for it so I expect commitment every day and these guys have stayed with it through losing players and teammates, and with different guys trying to step up at different times. 

"A number of them have worked hard for every opportunity and are trying to cash in when it comes. We expect them to give that effort every day and if you make shots, and the slow the other team down you always have a chance to win."

George Blagojevic fought hard firstly as a development player to earn a full contract with the Taipans, and now he tries to make the most of every minute he gets on the floor as he attempts to ensure he remains in the NBL moving forward.

With good size and length, he has the tools to be able to battle inside both to be an offensive threat and a rebounder, but he can also shoot the three ball impressively and also create off the dribble.

So he does have an impressive skill set and he tries to show what he can when he hits the court just as he did Friday night in Perth, but ultimately he wants to be part of more wins above all else.

"It wasn’t great obviously because we lost but it was good to get on the court and get a run. I just try to stay ready and when my time's called play hard and do what I can for the team, so that part of it was good," Blagojevic said.

"I think I continue to improve. It can be tough when you don’t get that many opportunities to see where you're at, but it's all about confidence and when my confidence is good I think I'm up there with the best. I'm just working hard every day and staying ready, and when my time's called again I make sure I'm ready to play.

"Personally for the rest of the season I hope we get a couple of wins, that'd be nice and then when my time is called, I want to get as many reps as I can at the highest level and then just keep trying to get better every day."