In-form Illawarra swingman Tim Coenraad is adamant the Hawks can overcome the mountainous weight of history stacked against them and secure a shot at grand final glory on Thursday night.
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The Hawks have won four of six games against the 36ers this season with their semi-final series poised at one apiece ahead of Thursday's decider, but the other numbers don't paint an encouraging picture.
Only two of the last 28 NBL playoff series’ have been one by the lower ranked team, 21 of the last 23 have been won by the team with home-court advantage while the past 14 straight have been won by the team that claimed game one.
Illawarra have won just 11 of 51 games on the Brett Maher court, though their most recent came earlier this season, and have lost their 10 consecutive playoff games on the road.
Coenraad leader for games played for the club, has been there for nine of them but believes the numbers mean little in a season that’s repeatedly seen history turned on its head.
“We broke the Perth streak this year so there’s no better time than the present to break that streak,’ Coenraad said.
“There’s nothing better in sports than a do or die game and if you can’t get up for that than you shouldn’t be playing sport.
“They’ve got a great crowd crowd and they’ve been the form team this season so for us to be successful we need to get on top of what they do well from the start.
“They’re a team that can go on some serious runs so you need to take the crowd out of it by getting stops and just playing our game.
“We’re happy to still be playing this year but we want to take it further, we want to get to the grand final and be facing off against Perth.”
The last man signed to the Hawks roster for this season, Coenraad has been outstanding across the first two games, averaging 21 points and seven rebounds.
It’s certainly proven his worth at NBL level but, while he hasn’t looked far beyond the current series, the 31-year-old admits he’s playing every game like it could be his last in Hawks colours.
“You never know when it’s going to be your last game, especially this time round,” Coenraad said.
“It’s just the way it is. You never know in this business when it’s going to be your last game whether it’s through injury or it’s a situation like this where you’re on a [one-year] contract and you want to be remembered for the right reasons.
“I obviously feel I’ve got a lot of good basketball left in me but if it happens that Thursday’s my last game you want to be remembered the right way.”