NBL Round 11

Wollongong v Gold Coast

The last time these two teams met was back in round 5 on the Gold Coast.  Former Hawks Coach and current Blaze Coach Brendan Joyce in the lead-up to this encounter recognised that the Hawks of 2007/08 still run a large amount of the offences that he himself put in place.  The Blaze won this game 106-92.  It would be hard to envisage the Hawks coaching staff getting their troops running drastically different offences in the space of 6 weeks, which makes it hard for me to believe that this result will be much different to that of the round 5 meeting.

The Hawks' last game was a heavy loss in Perth 13 days ago.  They have lost their last 5 in a row.  Matt Campbell is still a week or two away from returning from an achilles strain.  If there is such a thing as a danger to the Singapore Slingers for the wooden spoon, it would be the Hawks.

The Blaze overcame a small half time deficit to defeat the Adelaide 36ers at home by 8 points.  Import Jason Crowe (34 points, 7/13 on 3 pointers) and James Harvey (29 points) were the standouts.  There are also a couple of former Hawks in Daniel Joyce and Casey Frank playing for the Blaze.  Whatever guidance that Coach Joyce may not be able to give his players about what plays the Hawks might run, player Joyce and Frank should be able to provide this whenever they are on the court.