Sixers clamped down in the 'Gong by Hawks

Despite a hot second quarter sparked by Tony Crocker and Jack McVeigh, the Adelaide 36ers weren’t quite able to break the shackles of the Illawarra Hawks the rest of the way on Tuesday night in Wollongong.

The Sixers came into the game in hot form with three consecutive wins and as the highest scoring team in the NBL over the past month, but the Hawks shut them down impressively in the first quarter at WIN Entertainment Centre.

Adelaide managed just 10 points in the first term on Tuesday night to be 13 down at quarter-time, but with Crocker and McVeigh combining for 15 points on their in the second term, the Sixers turned things around to be up four heading into the second half.

But the Hawks held the 36ers to just 28 points in the second half and forced them into 24 turnovers for the match to end up winning 71-66 in a match that was critical to both teams' playoff hopes.

Tony Crocker top-scored for Adelaide with 16 points while hitting 5/7 from downtown with Jack McVeigh adding 11 points while hitting 3/5 from three-point range.

Daniel Johnson finished with nine points and four rebounds, Isaac Humphries eight points and five boards, Brandon Paul six points, eight rebounds and four steals, Sunday Dech five points, Keanu Pinder five points and nine boards, Josh Giddey four points, eight assists and nine rebounds, and Daniel Dillon two points and five assists.

Sixers coach Conner Henry was as frustrated after a game as he has been this season.

"We had 24 turnovers and in that second quarter, we handled their pressure and decision-making out of their pick and roll coverages," Henry said. 

"It was really good and we picked them apart, and went into half-time discussing exactly what would take place and how they would continue to come at us with their rotations off their pick and roll rotations. 

"We just didn’t make decisions off the initial slip ups, our bigs made some poor reads and so did our guards, and there's the game. We couldn’t handle their pressure."

The first quarter didn’t start too badly for Adelaide with early three balls from Sunday Dech and Daniel Johnson, but the Hawks scored the next five points, and then after free-throws from Isaac Humphries, the home team hit the next nine points.

Jack McVeigh got a bucket back for Adelaide but then five more Illawarra points saw them lead 23-10 at quarter-time.

The Sixers had to respond coming out of quarter-time but nobody could have imagined just what a swift turnaround it would be. Brandon Paul, Tony Crocker and McVeigh all hit three balls in the opening two minutes, and then when Crocker added another scores were all square.

Adelaide wasn’t done yet. Crocker drained his third triple, and then Keanu Pinder sparked a 7-0 run capped off with McVeigh nailing another from beyond the arc. The Sixers ended up going into half-time leading 38-34 on the back of turning a 13-point deficit into that four-point edge.

Crocker and McVeigh combined for 17 points on 5/8 shooting from deep while as a team they were on top rebounding with 25 boards to 18.

A Daniel Johnson three midway through the third quarter kept the Sixers up by three and the lead got out to five when Crocker knocked down another triple, but the Hawks ended up with the last seven points of the term to go into three quarter-time leading 54-52.

The Sixers then started the fourth quarter impressively with three balls from Crocker and McVeigh to take a four-point lead. They were still up three when Sunday Dech scored shortly after, and then got back within a point twice down the stretch on scores from Josh Giddey and Brandon Paul.

But the last couple of minutes didn’t go to plan and the Hawks got the job done to win by five.

The Sixers remain in NSW to now prepare to again take on the Sydney Kings on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 18

ADELAIDE 36ERS 66 (Crocker 16, McVeigh 11, Johnson 9) 

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 71 (Harvey 23, Simon 12, Deng 10)

BOX SCORE