We spoke as a group about keeping control of our own destiny.
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The last thing we wanted was to have to beat Sydney on Thursday to stay alive, or spend the weekend sweating on other results.
And there were so many big plays in that second half to make it happen against Perth.
Daniel Grida with the offensive rebound and putback for the and-one, the huge threes by Justinian Jessup and Tyler Harvey.
These are all moments that win you big games and it's exciting to know the Hawks have secured a place in the playoffs.
When you think just a year ago we were in administration as a club, it speaks volumes for the new owners, Brian Goorjian and the coaching staff, to make it happen in one season.
Brian instills the belief in us as players but, importantly, he finds ways for us to be successful.
He's found the recipe that's working, we've all found our roles and now it's up to us to keep it rolling on Thursday night and into the playoffs.
Every team has had it tough this season with the COVID-19 situation and the travel, but aside from the great sacrifices New Zealand made to stay in Australia, we've had it as tough as anyone.
We've been in Melbourne and Albury and Cairns, just finding ways to make the season continue and had some uncertainty along the way about returning home and how the schedule would look.
But even with changes in the roster along the way, all effort has been worth it, to come back to Wollongong and now put five wins in a row together.
The crowds on Sunday against Adelaide and then in the Perth game, considering it was a Tuesday night, have been fantastic.
Even if it's not a full house, they've been loud and on their feet, it's an atmosphere you can really feed off on court.
Again the Hawks have shown our strength is in our depth, when Justin Simon picked up some early fouls, Dan (Grida) and Isaac White stepped in and helped lift us to win.
So now we focus on beating Sydney, then we can set ourselves for playoffs, whether we play Melbourne United or Perth.
The Hawks always want to beat the Kings and we want to keep the momentum rolling in our final regular-season game.
RUN HOME
The games shaping the NBL finals picture
Wednesday night: SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE v BRISBANE
Thursday: ILLAWARRA v SYDNEY
Friday: PERTH v MELBOURNE UNITED
Saturday: NEW ZEALAND v SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE, SYDNEY v BRISBANE
Sunday: MELBOURNE UNITED v ADELAIDE
Tuesday: BRISBANE v SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE
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