Round 20 Preview v Illawarra Hawks

The Adelaide 36ers having nothing to lose but can put a dent in the finals hopes of the Illawarra Hawks while showing what they are capable of moving forward in Sunday's Round 20 clash in Wollongong.

The Hawks just simply have to win this game if they want to take part in the finals but the 36ers still have plenty of talent and with no expectations or pressure, they won't be easy to push over.

The Sixers slipped out of the playoff race when they lost both in Wollongong and in Adelaide to the Hawks over the last two weeks, and now they are also without Next Star point guard Josh Giddey and imposing centre Isaac Humphries for the rest of the season.

But as the Phoenix found out on Friday night in Cairns, a team with nothing to lose can be dangerous for a team under pressure needing to win and the Hawks can't afford to take the 36ers lightly on Sunday in the 'Gong.

It's still an Adelaide team with plenty of talent and with the scoring power of Daniel Johnson, Brandon Paul and Tony Crocker, they can still put up plenty of points.

With Daniel Dillon running the offence and Sunday Dech playing his defence up against his former Hawks team, then the 36ers would love nothing more than to snap their losing run on Sunday and make reaching the playoffs that much more challenging for the Hawks in the process.

The Hawks have been able to put themselves in a prime position to reach the playoffs now currently holding an 18-15 record to sit in fourth position but to also be only percentage now behind the South East Melbourne Phoenix in third too.

If the Hawks keep winning they can't miss the finals and their last three games see them play Adelaide, Perth and Sydney all on their home floor at the WIN Entertainment Centre.

Having destiny in their own hands on their own home floor is a good place to be in for Brian Goorjian's men as he looks to continue his remarkable run of taking every single team to the playoffs that he's coached for a season in the NBL.

It has still been a bit of a rollercoaster year for the Hawks and the expected reliance on Deng Adel and Cam Bairstow never eventuated, and Next Star Justinian Jessup has been up and down with his scoring and shooting punch. 

But imports Tyler Harvey and Justin Simon have cemented themselves among the best offensive and defensive weapons in the league while AJ Ogilvy, Sam Froling and Deng Deng are doing well down low, and Isaac White, Emmett Naar, Daniel Grida and now the out of retirement Tim Coenraad are playing their roles well. 

The last meeting between the Hawks and 36ers was only nine days ago back in Adelaide in a second last home game of the season for the Sixers with Illawarra coming away with the important win to strengthen their finals prospects.

The strong crowd of 6090 at Adelaide Entertainment Centre was looking forward to their home team returning home and building on their last four double-figure wins in front of them even if playoffs were out of reach.

Josh Giddey was with the team despite now having played his last game for Adelaide as he ramps up preparations for the NBA Draft and he was joined by big man Isaac Humphries who is done for the season too, and the Sixers played like a team devoid of spirit or hope in the first half.

The Hawks just blew them away with a stunning 18-0 run to close the first quarter after a scorching Brian Goorjian timeout spray. They also finished the second term with 10 straight points and led by as much as 26 at one point.

It was 35-year-old point guard Daniel Dillon who delivered a lone four quarter effort for Adelaide starting in place of Giddey. The 2008 championship winner under Goorjian at the South Dragons finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Sixers coach Conner Henry will continue to back in his group to turn up and fight hard the rest of the season, and if they can cause an upset along the way they certainly won't complain.

"We keep showing up and we keep putting together a pretty hard effort with out depleted roster. We have to go deep into our bench now even though I relied on our first seven or eight guys in that last game," Henry said.

"We'll continue to fight and we've got two games left. We'll rest up and go to Illawarra where we can just try and be spoilers in this. We came in with a mentality of let's play for ourselves and for our teammates, and put a good effort out on the floor, and we'll continue to do that."

Since Giddey was shut down for the season in preparation of the NBA Draft, Sixers 35-year-old veteran Daniel Dillon has been handed the keys to run the offence and Henry couldn’t be happier with what he's got from him.

"Dill has been playing well for us ever since he's been backing up Josh throughout the season, and now as he's moved into the starting line-up. One thing about Dan that I keep impressing upon is that he keeps pushing the basketball because we're a team that doesn’t get a lot of easy baskets," Henry said.

"We're trying to get out and run a little bit more, and Dan's the only guy who can really push us and everybody needs to be dragged along with that. They were impressive minutes again and he was able to get to the foul line a few times, getting on the rim and made some shots from the outside. 

"I thought his overall effort was fantastic and you look at his numbers and he's 9/12, he's got 22 points, six assists and zero turnovers in 34 and-a-half minutes. He took care of the rock, tried to get us into our system and was able to get on the rim and push the ball."

Adelaide captain and now starting point guard Daniel Dillon is enjoying the increased role and is just doing whatever he can that's best for the team whether it's looking to score himself or to set up his teammates.

"It has been a while since I played 35 minutes but I was just trying to push the ball and the tempo," Dillon said. 

"The way they were playing the pick, it allowed me to get in the paint and I was trying to distribute the ball a bit but most of the guys were denying Crock and BP so it kind of opened up the gap for me to get the basket. 

"I was able to either get to the free-throw line or take it to the rim from there. I was just trying to take advantage of my minutes when I was out there by playing hard, be that guy who was rotating off my defender and doing what I could on defence, and push it in the transition. That's what I tried to do."

HUNGRY JACK'S 2021 NBL SEASON – ROUND 20

ADELAIDE 36ERS v ILLAWARRA HAWKS
WIN Entertainment Centre, Sunday 2.30pm ACDT

Broadcast – SBS Viceland, SBS on Demand, NBL TV, Twitch