THE National Basketball League (NBL) action continued on Friday night, with the second match of the round kicking off a big weekend on the schedule. This time it was the Illawarra Hawks playing host to the Cairns Taipans at WIN Entertainment Centre, as they looked to deliver a big win in front of their home crowd. The Hawks entered this match as favourites, but the Taipans were arguably in better form of late, given Illawarra’s inconsistency of late. However, it was the home side that was able to get the job done, claiming a dominant win to the tune of 25 points.

In this article, we take a look at some of the key statistical categories from the contest, and the impact they may have had on the final result.

Team Stats:

As expected, the Hawks dominated nearly every key statistical area on their way to a massive win. The Taipans simply couldn’t get their offence rolling and it showed in their shooting numbers. These figures also dropped big time in the second half, with the visitors only able to conjure up 17 points in the remaining two quarters of play. The 3-point percentages were a major indicator of the way the match went, with the Taipans only making three of their 27 attempts from behind the arc.

The rebounding battle was reasonably close, although the Hawks were able to still get the job done. They pulled down four more boards than their opponents, which was expected given the shooting numbers discussed above. Leading the way in this category was Sam Froling, who pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds as he fought to give his side first use. He had some handy help from Antonius Cleveland and Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who pulled down seven each in the win.

The Taipans were able to excel in one category, as they managed to make their way to the free throw line with ease for much of the contest. Despite the dominance in other areas, this was one spot that the Hawks struggled in, heading to the charity stripe just three times compared to the Taipans’ 14.

Top Points Scorers:

The duo of Reath and Cleveland proved too much for the Taipans to handle in the end, with the pair combining for 31 points in the victory. Cleveland seems to have truly hit his stride over recent weeks, emerging as one of the most athletic talents in the NBL, while Reath looked back to his early-season form. Deng fought hard to give his side a chance at winning, but did not receive enough help to get the job done.