Preview: Round 19 vs Hawks | Nissan Arena

When: 5pm (AEST), Saturday 9 April, 2022
Where: Nissan Arena, Brisbane
Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Sky Sports NZ

Tickets: AVAILABLE HERE

Brisbane face Illawarra in their last home game for NBL22 presented by Bob Jane T-Marts. The Bullets will celebrate Member’s Round across the game, an acknowledgement of the fantastic contribution and commitment of our NBL22 Members.

WHO WON LAST TIME?
Illawarra 87 (Jessup 29, Cleveland 14, Rathan-Mayes 14) d Brisbane 70 (Digbeu 13, Franks 13, Wigness 11) – Round 18, WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

WHAT HAPPENED LAST START?
Jason Cadee made sure there was no slow start against Adelaide, remarkably dropping five three-pointers in the opening five minutes in one of the more memorable outbursts in NBL history. It didn’t put the Sixers away though, and it took two late Cadee treys and some cool free-throwing shooting to ice win number seven and strengthen their grip on seventh spot.

The Hawks are almost solidified an NBL22 finals spot after a win last Saturday, but they're hunting home-court advantage now, sitting level with Sydney in second. Their final three games are against Perth and the Kings twice.

WHO’S IN FORM?
Robert Franks – Robert Franks has recorded a double-double in his past five games in a row. In those five games he has averaged 20.8 points and 11.8 rebounds while shooting at 58.7% from the field, 45.8% from three and 90.5% free-throws. Robert Franks has a league leading 11 double-doubles including his last game against Illawarra with 13 points, 13 rebounds and career best five assists. 

Xavier Rathan-Mayes – No Tyler Harvey? No problem. That was XRM’s mentality as he delivered 25 points on 9/10 from inside to bury Melbourne, his bevy of fourth-quarter pull-ups beating the scout and beating the champs. Rathan-Mayes was +26 across two games last round, the Hawks -3 in the other 22 minutes as XRM dealt 13 dimes to 5 turnovers.

STATS LEADERS

BULLETS
Points: Robert Franks 18ppg (#5 in the NBL)
Rebounds: 8. 83rpg (#4 in the NBL)
Assists: Jason Cadee, 4.88apg (#8 in the NBL)

 HAWKS

Points: Tyler Harvey 14.95ppg

Rebounds: Sam Froling, 7.42rpg (#9 in the NBL)
Assists: Xavier Rathan-Mayes, 4.33apg (#11 in the NBL) 

WHO’S MATCHING UP?
Lamar Patterson v Antonius Cleveland – Early in the season this may have been seen as the superstar in Patterson against a Justin Simon-like standout role player in Cleveland. Not any more. AC is now amongst the NBL’s elite performers, scoring double-figures in 15 of his past 17 contests and averaging ridiculous all-around numbers in his past four games.

Cleveland dominated Patterson last round, turning one-on-one stops into open-court scoring opportunities as his less-nimble opponent trailed behind in transition. AC finished with 14 points at 50 per cent, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals, while Patterson had 10 points at just 28 per cent, 5 assists and 5 turnovers in a performance he’ll want to amend.

ON THE RECORD

The Brisbane Bullets will be looking to start well and have a high attention to detail during their match against the Hawks.

“Our attention to detail just has to be better,” forward Robert Franks said.

“Guys are getting hot on us early and they're feeling good throughout the game, that’s the reason, because we’re not putting the pressure on them to start the game.”

Hostplus Head Coach James Duncan praised his bench for stepping up in the absence of Nathan Sobey and Tyrell Harrison.

“Kudos to our bench for coming in and giving us a huge boost and bringing back the lead to six or eight, but then obviously those guys get a little bit tired and it was a little bit back and forth, and we weren’t able to get over the hump,” Duncan said.

Brisbane’s reserves have moved up to third in bench scoring, and they smoked their Hawks’ counterparts 41-15 last round.

For the Bullets, it’s the old cliché. “We are playing for individual pride, we are playing for our fans in Brisbane, our members in Brisbane,” Duncan said.

“I can tell you there’s a definite culture shift that’s going on during the course of the season that we are going to build over the rest of the season and also with one eye moving on to next season.”