Heartland Hustle: A Must Win for Phoenix as They Face the Hawks

Phoenix and the Hawks are both coming off tough losses and both are in desperate need of wins to keep their finals hopes alive.

The Phoenix have been in winning positions in both of their last two losses, but final quarter lapses have seen them drop both games.

While Hawks are on the cusp of the top four, they face all the other potential finalists multiple times to close out their season. With a four-point loss to the JackJumpers last round, they will be focussed on bouncing back against the Phoenix.

(Phoenix and Hawks will meet for the second time in a fortnight.)

Check out the latest on each team.

Key Details

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 11 – 8 (5th) v SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 11 – 7 (4th)

Where: WIN Entertainment Centre

When: Thursday March 17, 7:30pm AEDT

Watch on ESPN via Kayo or Foxtel

The Teams

Phoenix

The eight-point loss to United on Sunday was made worse by an injury to key Phoenix player Ryan Broekhoff. The sharp shooter sustained a shoulder injury late in the second quarter that will see him miss the next four weeks. Lachlan Barker will be the nominated replacement player for Broekhoff.

(Barker gets another chance to play in the NBL as the nominated replacement player for Broekhoff.)

Hawks

The Hawks came out of the loss against the JackJumpers unscathed and will go into Thursday night’s battle with a full roster.

Players to Watch

Zhou Qi v Duop Reath

Zhou Qi returned to his best on the Sunday producing a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. The Phoenix big man also kept Jo Lual-Acuil Jr quiet for much of the first half. The challenge for Zhou will be to continue his good form against Reath.

Reath had a somewhat quiet game against Tasmania and will be a big focus for the Hawks. He had limited touches last game so expect the Hawks to feed the big man early and often.

(Zhou will be hoping to mimic his game from Sunday against United.)

Last 5

Phoenix: WWWLL

Hawks: LWWWL

The Stats

Phoenix

Points: M Creek, 21.67ppg (#2 in NBL)

Rebounds: Z Qi, 7rpg

Assists: X Munford, 4apg

Blocks: Z Qi, 2.25bpg (#2 in NBL)

Steals: R Broekhoff, 1.56spg

Hawks

Points: T Harvey, 14.74ppg

Rebounds: D Reath, 6.63rpg

Assists: X Rathan-Mayes, 4.05apg

Blocks: D Reath, 1.53bpg

Steals: A Cleveland, 1.84spg

The History

Regular Season Head-to-Head: 8 – 3

South East Melbourne Phoenix – Illawarra Hawks

Last time out – Rd 14, NBL22

Phoenix 77 – Hawks 83

Phoenix

Creek 18p

Broekhoff 15p

Le’afa 14p

Hawks

Rathan-Mayes 19p

Cleveland 16p

Jessup 15p

(This is a game both the Phoenix and Hawks need to win.)

Recap

Last start against the Hawks the Phoenix struggled on the back of two games in three days, going down by six points.

Jessup and Cleveland were the difference for the Hawks, poor shooting haunted the Phoenix who could only manage 8-35 from deep.

Quotes

“We are well aware of the scenario that is ahead of us, I thought we played some really good basketball tonight (against United on Sunday) and even in the Illawarra game even though we couldn’t shoot to save ourselves, I thought we played some good basketball in that game as well except for moments at the end of quarters and certainly in the fourth quarter. We've just got to eradicate these issues from our game…we go up there (Sydney) with the full expectation of playing to the best of our abilities and coming home with some wins.”

-Phoenix Head Coach, Simon Mitchell

“Well, I said to our guys, this one you can’t afford to lose this game, and you look at our schedule it’s daunting. But what gives us a chance is the actual fact that we’re playing all the teams in the four, whether it be on the road or at home…We play Phoenix at the next game if you win you are back in it, if you lose you are starting to roll where you are out of this thing.”

-Hawks Head Coach, Brian Goorjian

Tickets to Phoenix's home game against the Kings of Saturday night - CLICK HERE

Phoenix Media (16/3/22)