Meanwhile the Hawks will be the only team to lose to themselves by 30+
:p

The split doesn't matter, as nobody can catch Adelaide.
It will be interesting to watch their approach and mental discipline in this game.
This is a dead-rubber for Adelaide, but the Hawks are fighting for their finals-hopes. They have already lost the splits to Perth, Cairns, and Sydney. So their best hope is to try and finish clear.

My logic tells me 6ers way too strong,
My memory reminds me that White & Norton can keep it out of Randle's handles,
My hope leads me to pray the 6ers have a little lapse & the Hawkies run away with a 10+ W!

If the Hawkies are knocking down their 3s, as opposed to the 25%ish rate they've been shooting 'em at lately, they'll win.

This might reveal a little bit about the 36ers mindset.
It would be quite understandable for the players to (involuntarily) relax mentally now that top spot is secured.

The Illawarra Mercury have an article about Oscar's 200th game for the Hawks.

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/4427113/oscar-formans-career-of-long-shots/?cs=302

#happyozzieday

I hope the Sixers don't relax. The Hawks have given them trouble in the past, so I think its important to get the win psychologically. It might be a different story if they were a veteran team with proven playoff success, but this Sixers team has young legs. They need to go hard, continue to build their confidence and destroy that of their opponents.

oscars 200th and ken cole now lives in adelaide , i heard on radio this a.m

It will be interesting. 6's players would need to be incredibly disciplined to not relax a little. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. All the pressure is on the Hawks, the 6's can just play their natural game.

But yes, could reveal Joey's approach. Randle and Johnson are bother averaging over 30 minutes. Be interesting see if over the next few games he's dials that down a little.

I think there's a difference between being complacent and being relaxed though. Adelaide can afford to be relaxed but it doesn't mean they won't play hard or with any purpose. If i was the opposition i would be worried about playing a relaxed Adelaide team that still wants to fine tune and assert themselves completely before the playoffs.

If i was Joey, i would be reminding Randle about the MVP race. He could finish off in style with a bit of relief off his shoulders.

Also, i remember how Joey made sure the Bullets didn't take their foot of the pedal in that championship year so i can't see him relaxing in that sense either. He'll make sure they're playing hard.

In the first 5 mins Ogilvy takes out hodgsens legs then Kevin white clotheslines DJ, do they not think they can beat the 6ers fully fit? Hopefully the dirty plays don't continue to be a feature

Adelaide are having trouble finding a bucket, but we're currently leading 31-29.

Joey Wright already with a tech foul for dropping the F-bomb to the refs.

The Hawks seem to have a "if you can't beat them, hurt them physically" mentality in this game so far.

Kevin white with another dirty play in Jacobsen, looks like he is the designated hit man. What an absolute scrub.

Fark off Uncle Phil !

Thought it was only Perth and redhage and wagstaff? Not just Perth, wait till finals start! Wwe

BEDLAM!!

Gets dark quick to

can the hawks play better than this ?

and who of this ref crew will be in the GF series ?

No unsportsmanlike on Drmic?

Good win to the Hawks. They played hard, tough basketball and deserved to win.

No complaints from this 36ers fan. We just didn't have it tonight.

Agreed, the refs were out of their depth, but even handed, would be an interesting 5 games series if they meet in the GF.

considering we got behind, you could not ask for a better shot than what Teys got at the end. A few costly turnover were brutal. Get ready for the next game.

who were the crew ? I'm interested particularly in the one who (correctly) "T"ed Joey.

Have the Sixers found their kryptonite?

3-1 series win for Illawarra.

Adelaide didn't look like they wanted it. How did Rotnei Clarke give up a head start and out hustle two 36ers for a loose ball?

The Kevin White elbow to the guts of EJ was pretty average.

Camel you say the great man King Cole has moved back?

YES .. on radio 5aa. graham cornes , ken cole on his way.......

to live in adelaide , now , after living in usa..

Good point there Manu.

What are Randle's averages for points and field goal percentage over the four games v Illawarra this season?

Thanks Camel. That would be great if true. What he and the 85/86 team did for vasketball was sensational. They were Rockstars. Cheers

Cornesy and Cole are mates...

36ers havent won coach of the year since cole 86
looks like hell give it to joey...

Anon i don't think anyone was saying he would or should coach!

That last foul called on EJ was a disgrace. His response was understandable after he defended so well . Only contact was White's elbow fending off. Possible game outcome changer. Refs are a disgrace and have been all season. AJ 2 fouls for the game, Really! They played stat catch up as the foul count mounted on Illawarra and they seem to think reasonably even foul stats = good umpiring. Dumb and dumber. Actually a fairly common practice and most obvious just after the main break.

On the other hand congratulations to the Hawks for bringing such an intense physical effort to challenge the sixers and to keep their second place alive.

Question. Can we afford to keep Terence in our starting five. Does he deserve to be there come finals or is it a contractual arrangement? He seems to struggle with his shooting in the tougher games.

Thoughts?

Coach Bev master of intimidation and injury. Just tune in to what his young yedis of old are serving up to Melbourne right now.. Hawks his new generation.. Hawks integrity will fall to a new low a d a new Red Army will be hated on hoops..The lack of hustle and unusual lack of throwing in some tasty nugget moves and syrprise rotations to shake it up along with Joeys reletuvely calm demeanour towards the end suggests he is testing the waters and putting out the fishing line with a few different baits to see what they've got... All part of the lead up to finals.. Not worried one bit.

Looks like the Hawks are our bogey team and we should hope to avoid them like the plague in the finals.

Completely agree ajay. That call on EJ was ridiculous - he played some very good defence moving his feet, Kevin White fended off and he gets called for the foul. WTF. He should have tried to keep his cool but you can most definitely understand his reaction.

Is Kevin White the dirtiest player in the league? Nice elbow to the guts of EJ.

Case going on about the Hawks bench outscoring the Sixers bench by so much. It's not hard when your best player starts on the bench! Start J Randle on the bench and the Sixers would outscore the opposition's bench everytime too!

Can someone explain when Rotnei Clarke beat two Adelaide players to the ball and a foul got called why wasn't that freethrows as Adelaide were over the limit in fouls already.I think i heard the ref say he wasn't in possession.I thought a foul is a foul even if you don't have possession and by the way Chris Reed is the worst ref of all time.He hates the Hawks by the way he refs every time he does there games cause he canes them.Hawks are lucky to get a call from him all night.He is a deadset cheat.

Johnson - AFAIK re rules... Adelaide were in possession, inbounding the ball, therefore Adel are deemed in possession, so the foul on Drimic would have been considered an offensive foul as Hawks had not gained possession, only a deflection.

Happy to be corrected if that wasn't the case or someone sees it differently...

PS - yes, not sure how scrub man White was called for an unsportsman like foul on his off the ball hit to EJ...

Ha!! Anon #621360 - I think you'll find that most 36ers fans will agree that Hawks certainly deserved the win, umps didn't affect the result and as susual, some interesting calls both ways, but the only howler appears to be the EJ one toward the end.

Hawks fans, any from your perspective?

36ers weren't as composed as they usually are, Randle and Sobey looked a touch off, but credit Hawks D overall as they were intent and physical all night. Sobey had a few 'headless chicken' turnover moments which looked like the first time all year.

Was pleased after digging a hole (10 point deeficit) with a few mins left that we cranked up the D to get big stops and about 3 turnovers to have two shots at tying the ball game...

I think people are reading far too much into this.
Adelaide were competitive, but had not much to play for. Hawks playing for a finals berth.
Not sure how many times we need to say that the split means nothing.

Dazz, go to bed

Hawks probably deserved to win in a nice close game. Shocking tech on Jacobson. Also was there a missed goaltend at the end there on randle? Looked like Ogilvy got it after it hit the board

Hawks are probably the bogey side for Adelaide.

A competitive loss away to Illawarra can be in some respects a good way to lose. 36ers have been blown away a few times this season, but they can be chalked up to that bad start when the team was at a "different point in time" and an odd bad match vs Utd.

Adelaide were in possession, inbounding the ball, therefore Adel are deemed in possession, so the foul on Drimic would have been considered an offensive foul as Hawks had not gained possession, only a deflection.

Ingles I agree. Why did they not review that. Was it outside the 2 minutes? Hawks got the game into their mode. Grind grind grind and pinched the break to just create a buffer and hang on. They seem to be able to do that at home. But not on the road.

Kobe, I've noticed you say the word 'correct' a lot.

"Completely agree ajay. That call on EJ was ridiculous - he played some very good defence moving his feet, Kevin White fended off and he gets called for the foul. WTF."

FWIW, I've only watched about half a dozen games this season. They've all featured guards pushing off with their arms and hands to create space for shots and none have been called. It's happened multiple times in all games I've watched, to the extent that one defender was called for a flop after being pushed over with an open hand and straight arm by the player with the ball. I assumed refs were treating offensive fending off as they've always treated hooking. i.e., allowing it. It's so prevalent, I wondered whether it was about trying to encourage higher scoring.


"Is Kevin White the dirtiest player in the league? Nice elbow to the guts of EJ."
If elbowing to the guts is the criterion for dirty play, you need to include every low post player in the league. They all do it from time to time, inside the keyway with the defender on their back. Refs (and everyone else) usually ignore it.

Kobe, I've noticed you say the word 'correct' a lot.

I think Manu would like to know why given it doesn't add anything to the discussion

If anything I reckon that was outstanding for the Sixers. Not buying the Hawks are the bogey team thing - there was so much more motivation for them going into the game than Adelaide.

They really had to shoot lights-out from range, had the better of the officiating, at home and got out to a 10pt lead late in the fourth - yet Adelaide kept coming and had a chance to tie it at the death.

The Sixers can take a lot out of that game.

Haha it's a Rake reference. Anyone?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xZEJvDlOlg

One of the best TV series this country has ever produced. On Netflix, give it a whirl.

hahaha you are a man of high culture Manu. Excellent use of a Rake quote.

Haha that is brilliant!

I mean, that is correct.

"Question. Can we afford to keep Terence in our starting five. Does he deserve to be there come finals or is it a contractual arrangement?"

Joey has been smart, he's put Hodgson and Ferguson, his two biggest +/- liabilities, into the starting five with Randle, Johnson and Sobey and created a more balanced bench unit.

Since then, Adelaide have rolled and been able to apply offensive and defensive pressure for 40 mins with the line-ups they rotate through.

Also hope to see these two teams in the GF, that was a quality ball game last night. I thought John Casey was going to explode, at some points the action was just way too quick for his style of commentary!

Brad Giersch was the "t" ref.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/illawarra-hawks-overcome-adelaide-36ers-by-three-points-in-the-nbl-20170129-gu0qrj.html

Why is John Casey only doing Hawks home games?