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Brisbane Bullets vs Illawarra Hawks |
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2016/17 NBL Season, 10 December 2016 |
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Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, QLD | ||
Brisbane Bullets | Illawarra Hawks | |
88 | SCORE | 98 |
22 | Q1 | 26 |
23 | Q2 | 20 |
22 | Q3 | 23 |
21 | Q4 | 29 |
The Illawarra Hawks added another road win to their ledger on Saturday night, coming away with a ten-point victory.
Final score
Brisbane Bullets 88
Illawarra Hawks 98
The Brisbane Bullets will be looking to get back to their best and stop a losing streak when they host the in-form and offensively exciting Illawarra Hawks at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:30pm (AEDT).
Less than a fortnight ago, the Bullets were the taste of the NBL having won a few games in a row, buried their offensive woes and handed the Perth Wildcats their biggest ever loss at the Perth Arena.
At that point – the start of Round 9 they had worked their way up to ninth on what is a ridiculously tight NBL ladder.
All that has come crumbling down though in the last week, losing two games straight. The first of those was at home against the Cairns Taipans in what was a major upset.
Their offence, which has been a problem all season came under intense scrutiny from the Cairns defence, before they went down to the struggling New Zealand Breakers by seven points on Thursday night away from home.
This game for the Bullets will present more issues to their defence than anything given the Hawks impressive form recently.
It’s not all that long ago the Hawks looked like the basket case of the competition. But with Rotnei Clarke turning his form around after a move to the bench and their youth – namely Mitch Norton and Nick Kay backing up well the Hawks have been able to win some big games.
Before they ran into the Sydney Kings last Monday in a game they arguably should have won given their start and level of offence, the club had won three on the trot including their first win in Perth for over a decade.
Given they still put 93 points up against the Kings, their offence has been firing on all cylinders. Rob Beveridge has done a brilliant job getting his side going, and if they can come out of the gates firing against the Bullets they could blow them off the court.
Their defence is still a problem though and while the Bullets offence has been inconsistent, the likes of Jermaine Beal could come to life at home in a big way during this match.
Prediction
This is going to be one very interesting game. Essentially it’s offence vs defence, but you just feel the Bullets offence, which does have enough weapons to get going – as they have proven a few times this season will score enough points and at home, they will pick up an important victory.
Bullets by 6.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this Round 10 NBL match from 7:30pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde