SF Game 2 Preview: Illawarra Hawks v Perth Wildcats

When: 5.30pm (AEST), Saturday 12 June 

Where: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

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

The last time
Illawarra 74 (Jessup 17, Simon 16, Harvey 10, Froling 10, Coenraad 10) d Perth 72 (Blanchfield 24, Mooney 13, Travers 12) – Semi Finals Game 1, RAC Arena, Perth

Game 1 on Thursday night in Perth was quite the typical grind out, defensive struggle many expected and after the Wildcats led most of the way, Justin Simon and Justinian Jessup came up huge late to put Illawarra one win away from a Grand Final berth.

Despite trailing most of the night and with a horror record as a club out west, the Hawks put all that behind them and also had to do it with Tyler Harvey having an off night going 4/21 from the field and 2/12 from deep.

They still pulled together and gained some fourth quarter momentum with a monster slam from Sam Froling in the face of Jesse Wagstaff. Then the last three minutes and it was Illawarra. Justinian Jessup had his own tough night up until then when he hit two huge three-pointers and three free-throws, but this would be Justin Simon's night.

He had been huge all night long but his putback slam on an offensive board with 15 seconds to go proved the match-winning play. Former Hawk Todd Blanchfield threw up a prayer on the buzzer but it wasn’t to be and the Hawks won 74-72 to claim Game 1.

It's a win that goes against history for Illawarra. It's just their second ever win in 24 attempts at RAC Arena and their second win in the last 36 visits overall out west against the team that has beaten them in the last five playoff series' they've matched up in over the past 11 years. 

Offensive rebounding has been a staple of Perth's success but it was Illawarra pulling in 14 of them to six while also forcing the Wildcats into 12 turnovers.

Justinan Jessup ended the night with 17 points but it was Justin Simon's night with 16 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals. Tyler Harvey had just 10 points while Sam Froling added 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Tim Coenraad 10 points on three huge three-point baskets.

Todd Blanchfield did all he could for the Bryce Cotton-less Wildcats with 24 points on 6/12 shooting from downtown while John Mooney had another double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Emerging development player Luke Travers stood up for 12 points and six rebounds too but the Wildcats needed more from others.

The now

All of a sudden the Illawarra Hawks have all the momentum on their home floor with a win to take them into the Grand Final but the Perth Wildcats have no choice but to win to keep their three-peat hopes alive.

The Wildcats led Game 1 in Perth for more than 36 minutes and the Hawks for less than two, but all that mattered was the final result and it now sets the stage for quite the tantalising Game 2 on Saturday at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

The Hawks defied a big piece of history on Thursday by winning their second ever game only at RAC Arena and just their second in their last 36 attempts out west, and now they have plenty of pain over the last 11 years to try and put behind them.

The Wildcats beat the Hawks in Grand Finals in 2010 and 2017, and also Perth eliminated Illawarra in the semi finals of 2013, 2014 and 2016. But never in any of those five series' have the Hawks been leading 1-0, they will be hoping to take advantage of that come Saturday and advance to the Grand Final on their home floor and avoid a trip back to Perth.

Meanwhile, Perth has no choice but to throw everything at winning Game 2 on the road and forcing that Game 3 back at RAC Arena on Monday where given the Hawks have won just twice in 10 years, it's a big ask for them to do it twice inside five days.

History is on the side of the Hawks and only once in the club's history have won a Game 1 and lost a series which was against the South East Melbourne Magic in 1995.

Meanwhile, the last time Perth recovered from losing the opening game of a series to win and advantage was also in 1995 in the Grand Final series against the North Melbourne Giants where they went on to win the club's third championship.

The stats

- The Wildcats are currently on a season worst three-game losing streak. If they lose, finishing a season losing four in-a-row will be their worst finish to a season since 1986 – the last time they didn’t reach the finals.

- A win for the Hawks would be the first time they have defeated the Wildcats three times in-a-row since 2006 but their score of 74 on Thursday was the lowest winning total in the 40 wins they've ever had against Perth.

- The difference in offensive output for the Wildcats minus superstar Bryce Cotton is stark. With him this season they were averaging 88.5 points a game, now without him they are going at just 74.4 and only once have gone over 80.

- Illawarra had eight more offensive rebounds than Perth in Game 1, the best by any team against the Wildcats this season. That led to an extra 14 field goal attempts for the Hawks also a beat by any team against the 'Cats in #NBL21.

The key men

Tyler Harvey – The Hawks did a tremendous job in Perth for Game 1 to win without much of a contribution from their superstar point guard, but it's hard to imagine them closing out the series without him having a big say in it. He had just 10 points on Thursday while shooting 4/21 from the floor and 2/12 from three-point territory. If he takes the same shots on Saturday, you'd expect more of them to fall and even if he doubles his scoring tally, it could be all the Hawks need to advance to the Grand Final.

John Mooney – He still recorded a 24th double-double of the season on Thursday night in Game 1 and his numbers of 13 points and 16 rebounds look good enough. But the fact remains the Wildcats were only able to score 72 points for the night and it's unlikely they are going to get to a Grand Final unless they can increase their offensive output. He needs to lead that charge and if he can get his offensive game going on Saturday in the 'Gong, the 'Cats are every chance of getting Game 3 back in The Jungle on Monday.

The quotes

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian was an excited man after Thursday's Game 1 win in Perth and rightly so.

"I'm just so excited to go back to Wollongong. We talked a lot about developing this year but talk's cheap and everyone was asking what the new franchise was going to be like, what would the new ownership be like, what would they do in the community," Goorjian said.

"We've dealt with COVID, we've got a brand new team and we've said that we don't know how we are going to go, but I can guarantee we are going to scrap and fight, and represent the community and they will be proud of the team. Now in this game, whatever happens I feel going back home it's going to be the same thing. 

"This is a team that long-term the community is going to be proud of and it's an organisation where we want to be like Perth, and be consistent and get crowds like they do, and get the community by the team. The only way you can do that is by playing basketball like they do. For our first year with a young group, we've really established it and that Game 1 was a little cream on the top."

All the attention might have been on MVP fancy Tyler Harvey for the Hawks coming into the game, but without a doubt it was Justin Simon who was the match-winner on Thursday with his defence on Mitch Norton, the plays he influenced and then his contribution on the boards and offensively.

"Last time we played them at our place, Justin only played 12 minutes and we thought that his defensive presence would be real important on the ball. The last time we played him he had a huge save on the baseline to keep the ball in-bounds to eventually get us that win to be here in this series," Goorjian said.

"And in this game, there were so many things with his steals, rebounds, carrying the ball in transition and finding people, and then offensive rebounds off the doubles and the rotations that they had to do with Tyler and Justinian. He's an interesting piece and he's different than the other two but was really special in this game and probably when you think about it, he was the difference for us."

Goorjian couldn’t help but notice that the Hawks were given little hope coming into the playoffs but he couldn’t be prouder of his team for showing everyone what heart they have.

"I'll tell you what it does, I think everyone thought kinda how are we in here and we never thought that way. You get to this because you deserve it and we talked all year that if we get in, you wouldn’t want to play us and we are dangerous," Goorjian said.

"We see ourselves as having a chance and we feel good about ourselves, we feel good again. We don’t have to do anything special and even if guys don’t make shots, we held them to 72 points and if we play that defence, stay together we are going to stay in games and we'll give ourselves a chance. That's all you can ask for."

Illawarra rookie Isaac White had an interesting Game 1 fouling out before three quarter-time but he was dangerous when on the floor, and he can't wait to get back to Wollongong to try and close out the series.

"It might be the first time I've ever fouled out so it was interesting but I'm so proud of the guys. I was our biggest fan down the stretch and I'm so happy we got that result," White said.

"This is about as exciting as it gets. We're not going to deprive ourselves of enjoying that win but then we put it away and do all the right things ahead of Game 2. There aren’t too many better feelings and now we are so excited to pack out the WEC and just give it our all on Saturday."

Perth coach Trevor Gleeson knows the situation the Wildcats are now in where it's a must-win on Saturday and he knows where his team needs to give improved performances in too.

"We have to turn it around, that's it. It's the last chance we've got and if we lose, we're out. If we aren’t desperate now then we don’t deserve to go any further," Gleeson said.

"I think it all just came back to them making bad decisions. It's about now playing smarter. The guys have to take that on board and obviously it lands on my shoulders too. I thought the guys played hard and played strong, and you're in playoff basketball so every possession matters. We just got a little bit flippant with the ball and didn’t make sure of strong leads and strong passes, and of ball security when you're driving the ball to the hoop. That's basketball 101.

"Their offensive rebounding was really disappointing as well. That has been a staple of ours and it's pretty hard to get a rebound if you don't go for it. It's something that we have to address is that possession game in finals. You can't just live and die by the jump shot because if everything is rosy the ball goes in, but you need energy and hustle points and we didn’t produce that."

Wildcats star Todd Blanchfield had a good game himself in Game 1, but that comes for nought when you lose a playoff game. However, he doesn’t see anything that happened that the Wildcats now can't fix in Game 2.

"I'd take a win over playing well any day of the week, but once again it comes back to us coming together as a group and taking care of the ball. That's two games in-a-row that we've played the Hawks now where that's happened. To lead for 36 minutes of the game, it hurts that little bit more to end up losing," Blanchfield said.

"In our huddles everyone was pretty calm and everyone was together, I just think it came down to bad decisions. Everyone was sort of rushing a little bit and in the last game we played them in Wollongong, we had the same result with 15 turnovers in that game. I think once again that was the deciding factor so that's one thing we need to tidy up pretty quick.

"Now for Game 2, it's not stuff that's out of our control to be able to tidy up from the first game. It's a quick turnaround but we'll have a film session before we travel and we have to be locked into that, and we have to be able to make changes pretty quick."