Get ready for "a hell of a game"

Former Illawarra Hawks Damon Lowery has called anyone who can tip a winner in tonight’s Play-In Game as “brave”, and believes fans are in for “a hell of a game” when the Illawarra Hawks host the New Zealand Breakers.

The winner of Monday night's clash will earn a Playoff berth against the top-seeded Melbourne United, while the losers will have their season brought to a close.

Illawarra lost its Seeding Qualifier to Tasmania last week, while the Breakers’ win over the Kings has seen them advance to this stage.

“It is a brave man who tips this one, it’s going to be a hell of a game,” Lowery said on NBL Now.

“Mody Maor is the admiral of adversity. As soon as things go sideways for this team, as soon as the proverbial hits the fan, this guy knows how to galvanise his team.

“They’ve been doing it for the entire season, PJC (Parker Jackson-Cartwright) has been the one constant for the entire year, it seems like everybody else has had their injury run, yet this team can go on the road and get it done when it looks like they’re not supposed to ... I just love the way they go about it and it’s going to be very, very hard to count them out. Ever.

“In saying that the Illawarra Hawks have shown they’ve got some minerals, they showed some minerals on the road in the Perth and in Sydney, and now they have the chance to have the crowd in their favour now.”

Should the Breakers advance to the Playoffs, it will be due in no small part to the contribution of Jackson-Cartwright.

The diminutive guard hit headlines following New Zealand’s win over the Kings for his apparent distaste with his ranking in Derek Rucker’s Top 15 that was released prior to the game.

Jackson-Cartwright has since come out to cool any perception of an issue between himself and the former NBL MVP, and Lowery believes the Hawks’ best chance of winning rests on how they’re able to contain the NBL24 MVP nominee, in a similar fashion to how they contained Perth’s Bryce Cotton during the regular season.

“First and foremost, they have to get back in transition because this guy is a one-man human fast break. If you can keep him in the half court and prevent that transition, you have a chance of slowing him down,” Lowery said.

“The one thing Bryce Cotton doesn’t have over PJC, is PJC has got the ball form baseline to baseline. The Wildcats have to get the ball to Bryce on a lot of occasions. PJC can get around every single human being in the league, you have to hope he misses.

“He doesn’t come from the school that thinks the mid-range shot is a bad shot. That’s his best shot. You keep him on his left hand, but I also saw him shoot threes out of his right hand and going around people off of his right hand. The guy is an absolute nightmare to guard, and when he’s making his three-ball I don’t know what to tell you.

“By slowing him down, I’m talking 20 points.”

The Play-In Game between Illawarra and New Zealand will tip off live on ESPN via Kayo at 7:30pm AEDT. Coverage will start from 7pm.