Hawks wings clipped by undermanned Bullets

The Result

Illawarra Hawks 82 - Brisbane Bullets 88

The Story

The Hawks losing skid stretched to three tonight after a more desperate and determined Bullets outfit overcame a sluggish start to prevail 88-82 at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

'Next Star' Justinian Jessup got the Hawks off to the perfect start when he hit his side's first look of the game from beyond the arc to set the home crowd alight. 

It wasn't long before Sam Froling and Tyler Harvey got in on the action as well - dropping in buckets of their own as the Hawks shot out to an early 10-4 lead.

The Hawks defence was suffocating in the opening exchanges - the men in black and red racking up four steals and two blocks in the opening six minutes of play as Brisbane struggled to get any offensive flow.

A huge offensive board from Froling led to another Hawks possesion - Deng Adel finding his stroke and making the Bullets pay.

The Hawks up and running - and leading 20-9 at the first break.

Deng Deng continued his hot shooting form from three as he opened the Hawks account in the second term. A mini Bullets fightback bridging the gap to seven halfway through the frame before Ogilvy pulled down his fourth offensive board of the first half. The skipper calmly slotting it back in to extend his side's lead again.

A special cheer went around the stadium as Dan Grida checked in to his first game at the WIN Entertainment Centre since tearing his ACL in March last year - before the crowd nearly lifted the roof off the building when Harvey landed his first three since returning from injury.

Grida wasted no time getting in on the action either - the fresh man on the scene dropping in seven points in only five minutes of first half action and helping the Hawks take a 42-33 lead into the big break.

The second half wasn't pretty for Hawks fans as the Bullets began to work their way back into the contest.

The Hawks shots stopped falling and the defensive intensity from the first half disappeared as Brisbane went on a 17-3 run to take the lead halfway through the third.

Jason Cadee and Sam Froling's brother Harry the chief destroyers with 16 and 14 points respectively through three quarters.

The Hawks rallied back though -  Jessup popping in a leftie layup, Harvey breaking some ankles on his way to the cup for a trademark floater, before that man again hit a huge three to hand the Hawks back a 58-57 lead going into the last. 

It was the visitors who started the fourth quarter in fine fashion though - shooting their way out to a lead as big as 10 courtesy of some more Harry Froling three-balls.

Cadee and Nathan Sobey were orchestrating the offence with aplomb and it wasn't until Harvey and Jessup found their stroke again that the Hawks came rumbling back into the contest.

A tense final five minutes seeing the Hawks pull within four before Jessup missed a contested jumper that would have made it a one possession game.

Brisbane holding their nerve down the stretch and icing the game from the foul line to join Illawarra on ten wins for the season with a 88-82 victory.

The Stats

There wasn't much between both side's tonight and that shows across the stat sheet.

The Bullets held a slight edge over the Hawks from beyond the arc - shooting 11/30 three's at 36% compared to Illawarra's 8/29 at a below-par 27%.

The Hawks killed the Bullets on the boards early, but in a tale of two halves the Bullets gained the ascendency on the glass and outrebounded Illawarra 48-39.

The Bullets shared the ball more, racking up 22 assists to 16, but turned it over more too (17-11).

The Hawks bench produced 22 points to the Bullets 18 while the Hawks had more steals (8-7) and more blocks (5-3).

The Fallout

"Tonight was a real important one for us and I think everybody knew it, the guys knew it, we talked prior to the game, staying locked in and no breakdowns. I don't know if it's youth or what but we just tend to have breakdowns defensively, breakdowns offensively, Defensively I thought the start of the game we were really locked into Sobey and Cadee and then we started subbing and moving some bodies around and they got free and once they got free they got going and it was a different beast in the second half," Coach Brian Goorjian said.

"We get a 10-point lead, they make a comeback, which happens, And I don't know again if it's youth or direction or what but we fell down four and then the next three possessions are just you know, one pass shot, one pass shot, desperation, so that's a bad sign tonight, not being able to go through the grind," Goorjian said.

"I don't think physical fatigue was a factor tonight, I really don't. We've got rest, we're back at home, no more excuses on that front, it's just mentally if it's a weakness in us, just going through a grind to get a good shot, going through a grind defensively to get a good play. I thought again in the third quarter when they made a run, we had control of it. When they made a run we went to a bad place for four or five minutes and then we were playing catchup. I don't have my finger on the answer," Goorjian said.

"I like Daniel [Grida] in the group. And I liked the feel of that in Adelaide as well. It brings an energy to it, he got some easy baskets for us, he put some pressure on the ball so like I said, maybe there's an avenue there. But you can't get away from the fact we're losing consistently right now and we've been waiting for this home stand and we're up against it now," Goorjian said.

"We get a lot of extra reps up, we're always working out and stuff but it's the little things we've got to focus on like the scout and our offences. I think if we can tie all that together with all our extra reps and working out we'll have a really good shot at these next two games...our mindset is "we had a bad one tonight and we all just cant wait to get back out there on the floor and redeem ourself and get the bad taste out of our mouth". So I think everyone is pretty excited to have all three of these games at home all in one week," Guard Dan Grida said.

The Road Ahead

Round 13 – Friday 9 April at 7:30pm AEDT v SE Melbourne Phoenix @ WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong.

The Hawks will play their second game in three days when they face off against the only team they've never defeated in an NBL game - the SE Melbourne Phoenix.

In three clashes between the side's so far this season - the Phoenix has run away with each contest in pretty one-sided affairs. Coach Brian Goorjian admitted last time out the Phoenix were the Hawks 'bogey side' so it will be interesting to see how this one goes down considering both side's need to win to firm up a playoff spot.