Preview: Melbourne vs Illawarra - Round 20, NBL24

Monday, February 12, 2024

With seeding still on the line for the Hawks, and United coming off a defeat, which side will stand tall?

Sunday, February 18 at 2pm AEDT | John Cain Arena

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Illawarra has joined Melbourne as being locked into the NBL24 post-season following its Thursday night win over Perth. The Hawks will realistically finish either fourth or fifth on the ladder come season’s end.

Melbourne’s defeat to Cairns on Friday relegated United to their first clean sweep at the hands of the Taipans in the club’s history. United outscored the Taipans by 14 points in the final quarter, but eventually fell by nine points.

Former Sydney Kings head coach Chase Buford stated his belief Justin Tatum should be the NBL’s Coach of the Year following the Hawks’ qualification for Finals. Buford was nominated for the award twice en route to his two championships with the Kings.

Ariel Hukporti said he felt United was not ready to compete against the Taipans from the opening tip, and the result was due to Cairns’ added desire through the opening stages of the game.

Melbourne
88-97 loss to Cairns
94-81 win over New Zealand
99-83 win over South East Melbourne

Illawarra
108-92 win over Perth
106-95 win over Sydney
85-88 loss to New Zealand

Ariel Hukporti
While the general feeling from Melbourne’s first three quarters against Cairns on Friday are likely disappointment, Ariel Hukporti put his head down and helped turn his team’s fortunes around ahead of their fourth quarter comeback attempt.

United heavily utilised their bench against the Taipans, and although he started the game seated next to Dean Vickerman, Hukporti finished the contest with more minutes played than any of his teammates – and with the way he was playing, fair enough.

The Next Star was a force on both ends of the floor, and at times his threat in the post looked like one of the only consistent weapons United could go to, in a game where the ladder-leaders never really got going until the final stanza.

He finished with 15 points on a near-immaculate 7-8 shooting, seven boards, two steals and three blocks in a game that showcased exactly why he has the potential to be a contributor at NBA level.

“I enjoyed our fight in the fourth quarter, and Ariel showed how powerful he can be and the way he went after o-boards and attacked the rim was outstanding. He altered a lot of shots down the other end, and I thought he was great.” – Dean Vickerman following the loss to Cairns.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ariel Hukporti controlled the paint in Cairns last night ?<br><br>Check out his best plays ?? <a href="https://t.co/iCWJhIRxZC">pic.twitter.com/iCWJhIRxZC</a></p>— NBL Next Stars (@NBLNextStars) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBLNextStars/status/1758674723339411800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

William Hickey
What a few weeks ‘Davo’ Hickey is having. Ever since hitting a pair of clutch free throws in Illawarra’s Round 17 win over New Zealand, the fourth-year guard has been playing like a man possessed.

Hickey is heading into this clash against his old side having registered back-to-back games with double-digit points for the first time in his career, and despite being generally underwhelming from the free throw line over his professional journey it all seems to clicking at the charity stripe.

Hickey’s influence on the Hawks’ run to Finals qualification goes far beyond points, or assists, or any other metric – although he has been contributing strongly in all areas of the box score.

He’s been providing a much-needed point of difference from Illawarra’s guard play. While he may lack the polish of the likes of Tyler Harvey and Justin Robinson, there are few players who can claim to play harder than Hickey does – and it looks like Justin Tatum is valuing the grit, grind and determination his guard has been providing.

It’s been a slow burn across three clubs, but it’s looking like everything is starting to click for the young guard – and that spells trouble for whoever comes up against the Hawks in the post-season.

“We talk about how teams scout us, because we have so many guys who can do multiple things and then our offensive sets vary from improvising and normal sets, and Davo just takes advantage of that. Most guys are like ‘you have to worry about Gary, Tyler, Lee, and J-Rob when he’s on the court, and we have to help off somebody’. Davo is very aggressive and he’s finding ways to be effective out there. Once he does that he enhances us way more.” – Justin Tatum following the win over Perth.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Davo sent the Illawarra crowd CRAZY with this slam!! ?<br><br>? Watch live on ESPN via Kayo<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeRiseTogether?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeRiseTogether</a> <a href="https://t.co/3N9I3QLLa6">pic.twitter.com/3N9I3QLLa6</a></p>— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1758071442170900794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Melbourne’s guards vs Illawarra’s guards
The strength in Melbourne’s guard rotation has been discussed with pure positivity all season long. After all, there haven’t been many teams in the history of the competition who can boast the offensive and defensive prowess contained within the ladder leaders’ ranks.

Matthew Dellavedova, Ian Clark, Chris Goulding and Shea Ili boast two NBA titles and six NBL titles between them, while Flynn Cameron adds an element of youthful athleticism to round out the group.

Illawarra’s guard rotation may not have the sparkling allure of Melbourne’s, but any one of Justin Robinson, Tyler Harvey Hyunjung Lee and now Will Hickey can prove match-altering talents – however their output tends to be far more up and down than their Melbourne counterparts.

With Melbourne, there’s almost a mentality of if Dellavedova doesn’t get you, Ili will. If Ili doesn’t get you, Clark will, and so on and so forth, while the Hawks all too often have just one or two of their incredibly capable guards perform to their highest potential.

There are so many match-winners in each of these team’s backcourts, and a look at each team’s seasons to date will show that. The question is who will step up in the final game of the regular season to build that crucial momentum ahead of Finals?

Melbourne has won each of its last 11 games following a loss, and is the only team not to have suffered back-to-back defeats at any point in NBL24. Last time United lost two games in a row was as part of a five-game losing run that ended with a Round 10 victory over Brisbane last season.

Gettyimages 2015048016
Chris Goulding.