THE weekend’s National Basketball League (NBL) kicked off on Friday night, with a clash between the Illawarra Hawks and the Adelaide 36ers at WIN Entertainment Centre. It was an intriguing matchup coming in, given the Hawks were seen as a more beatable opponent compared to their blistering start to the season. Despite this, Illawarra still entered this match as favourites, given the chance they could return to this early season form. However, the 36ers still came into this clash hopeful of causing an upset, but they could not get this done, with Illawarra jumping out to a significant lead in the first half and holding on to claim a 16-point triumph.

In this article, we take a look at some of the key statistical categories, and how they may have shaped the outcome of this match.

Team Stats

The Hawks dominated almost every single one of the categories listed above, which displays their ascendancy throughout the match. They shot much better from the field, but the biggest contrast in this is shown in the percentages from inside the three-point line. The Hawks made half of their attempts from this area, as they avoided a reliance on the three-point shot (as many teams have failed at this throughout the season), and this worked a treat as they established dominance inside the paint.

The Hawks were also active on the defensive end of the court, racking up more steals and blocks than their opponents. They swatted 10 attempted field goals from the 36ers, with Sam Froling and Duop Reath denying three baskets each. This was a major reason for their dominance in the second term, and allowed them to get out to such a substantial lead.

Adelaide was able to find success in the rebounding battle, outperforming their opponents in this area. They pulled down six more boards than the Hawks, which was surprising given Illawarra was the more accurate shooting side in the contest. This was led by the efforts of Cameron Bairstow, who pulled down a whopping 12 of his own, which ended up being a game-high figure.

Top Points Scorers

Reath and Dech ended up playing out quite the battle, with the pair trading buckets throughout the match. Dech was deadly behind the arc, drilling five shots from downtown, while Reath went to work in the paint to cause some serious damage inside. Jessup continued his strong form of late with another eye-catching display, while White produced 14 points in 14 minutes off the bench. Johnson and Withers provided some much-needed scoring when the 36ers were making their charge, but unfortunately fell short of pulling off the comeback.