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Two of the NBL’s hottest teams clash tonight, as the Illawarra Hawks travel south to take on Melbourne United for the season’s first game at the State Netball and Hockey Centre. Join The Roar from 7:25pm for live scores and updates.
Melbourne will look to avenge a Round 9 lost to Illawarra, where the Hawks smashed them to the tune of 15 points.
After a mini-form slump, United have started to regain the style of play that allowed them to fly out to a 9-0 start. They have now won two in a row, including a big home win over league leaders the Perth Wildcats.
The Hawks have overcome a slow start to the season to win four of their last five games and storm up to third on the NBL ladder, just two games behind United, with two games in hand.
The Hawks have the NBL’s best percentage, at 107.79 per cent, and theie overload of talent on the offensive end is beginning to show.
Illawarra, who posses the likes of AJ Ogilvy, Kevin Lisch and Kirk Penny on their roster, lead the league in offensive efficiency, as they score 118.7 points per 100 possessions, which is a higher rating then the defending NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors. Coach Rob Beveridge has the Hawks clicking on the offensive end of the ball, their ball and player movement has been excellent all season, and now that their shots are falling, their offensive attack is as dangerous as ever.
Despite the quality of the Hawks’ attack, Melbourne haven’t been far off – they rank second in the NBL in offensive rating, scoring 112.9 points per 100 possessions, which indicates tonight’s meeting will be a shootout.
United are mainly a jump-shooting team and are almost unstoppable when the likes of Chris Goulding, Daniel Kickert and Stephen Holt are hitting from all over the court. Goulding is the ultimate barometer of Melbourne’s success, as in wins he averages 19.54 points per game, while shooting 46.2 per cent from the field and 37.2 per cent from three-point range. In losses though, his shooting numbers dip, as he averaged 16 points per game on just 36.8 per cent from the field and 30 per cent from three-point land.
Tonight’s game will be the first for the season at United’s original home of ‘The Cage’ and after selling out multiple games at the 10,000-plus seat Hisense Arena, there should be a boisterous atmosphere at the 3500-seat venue.
“It’s a good venue and it’s going to be packed out,” United forward Kickert told Nick Smart of The Herald Sun. “One really good thing about it is, the atmosphere is probably one of the loudest, because of the smaller venue. Everyone feels like they are right on top of you, so it is a really good atmosphere and we’ll use that to our advantage to hopefully get a win.”
Kickert also referred to the Hawks as “the most in-form team at the moment”, which can be credited to the play of Ogilvy, as he is the NBL’s leader in player efficiency rating, with a PER of 30.9. With averages of 18.61 points and 8.56 rebounds per game, Ogilvy has been a star all season and will be key to the Hawks stealing a road win.
In terms of PER, some may be surprised that United forward Hakim Warrick is second in the league, with a rating of 26.4. Warrick brings energy, hustle, effort and a non-stop motor off United’s bench. When he is a making a positive impact on the court, it means good things for Melbourne.
Prediction
In what is set to be an absolute classic, United’s home advantage will just be enough for them to get redemption after that Round 9 embarrassment.
United by 4 points.
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