Hawks punch post-season ticket with blowout win over Perth in Wollongong

Illawarra is playoff-bound after blowing out Perth 108-92 in front of a packed house at the WEC on Thursday night, their third win over the Wildcats this season punching their post-season ticket.

When Justin Tatum took the Hawks reins in November, the best they could seemingly finish was not last. Come the final round of the season, the lowest they can finish is fourth.

What's the highest they can finish? Who knows, but they're 12-6 under Tatum. It'd be unwise to suggest they can't complete the fairy tale under a seeming miracle worker in his first professional gig.

There's a lot more to write in that story, with a first-up date with the JackJumpers waiting on the other side of the Hawks final regular-season of game against Melbourne United on Sunday.

The opportunity to potentially head back to the Sandpit at some stage in the post-season would be mouth-watering for Hawks faithful that have never been louder than they were as their side cruised past 100 points with still three minutes to play.

Gary Clark had 26 points, while Tyler Harvey (16), Sam Froling (16), Justin Robinson (11) and Will Hickey all cracked double digits on a night every player got on the floor, including Kyle Adnam who lifted the roof with a three on his first touch after being injected 1.50 left.

"I can't even lie to you, I don't think I would have been saying we would be at this spot when I was asked to take over by the management in late November," Tatum said.

"Being here right now and being the head coach and leading these guys into the playoffs is an unbelievable feeling. Some of our guys have won grand finals, some of our guys have played NBA, some of our guys have had bad seasons.

"I think we have enough experience in there to say 'yes, we want to enjoy this', but we know what the expectation is of ourselves going into the playoffs, and that's giving ourselves a chance to win.

"We don't want to go backwards. We've built enough hype now, and I don't even think it's hype right now. We've solidified ourselves and who we are and who we can become for the next couple of weeks.

Do the Hawks have the Wildcats number?

Perennial finalists Perth will always back itself in the consequential end of season games, but their record against the Hawks this year is, frankly, abysmal.

Having been blown out by 18 points in their first two encounters, the Wildcats have now been dusted by the Hawks by a combined 52 points in three outings.

The visitors seemed to implode late, with Tai Webster, Hyrum Harris and Keanu Pinder all fouling out, while coach John Rillie was also teed up, as was the away bench on a night frustration spilled over for the visitors.

Illawarra had built their dominance over the Wildcats with incredible efforts locking down MVP-favourite Bryce Cotton, who was 3-21 from the field across two outings.

He was far better on Thursday, with 20 points through three quarters, but he struggled to find support, his side -13 in his time on the floor. Harris finished with 22, but no other Wildcat cracked double digits.

Finals is a different ballgame, but on the scoreboard, and in the psychological stakes, the Hawks won't fear a potential future meeting with Perth should.

"We knew that Bryce was going to find his way," Tatum said of Cotton's 20 points.

"He's a professional scorer, we've been lucky the first two games. At the end of the day, I'm not going say [it's] luck, I just think that we've been locked in because our guys know the plan and we have multiple guys that can kind of frustrate him.

"Stop him? Once again, he's a professional scorer, he's going to figure it out, but to slow him down and aggravate him, that's what we wanted to do.

"He kind of got in a groove today, but not a Bryce Cotton groove. As long as we were able to have him up and down a little bit here and there, I felt that we were still in control."

'Davo' Hickey the new favourite of the Hawks faithful

There's arguably no player who more epitomises the blue-collar ethos of the foundation club than Will 'Davo' Hickey.

While he notched a modest 10 points, two rebounds and two assists, six of those points came in what proved a match-winning cameo late in the third quarter.

In a spurt that showed all the attributes that have made him a fan favourite, Hickey was involved in a skirmish with Tai Webster that saw the Wildcats star hit with a technical, his fourth foul before later fouling out.

He followed up with a transition slam and another fast-break bucket, all-up contributing six points on a 14-2 run that gave the Hawks a 13-point lead at the final break.

The 24-year-old also had a baseline-to-baseline chase-down block on Ben Henshell in the hafltime buzzer that ensured the hosts took a six-point cushion into halftime.

There's a reason Tatum says Hickey represents everything his team stands for.

"With this team, you've got a lot of people to worry about," Tatum said.

"Me and my staff will say 'how do teams scout us?' because we have so many guys who can do things. Our offensive sets very from improvising and normal sets and Davo just takes advantage of that.

"You've got to worry about Tyler, Gary, Lee, J-Rob when he's on the court, but Davo's very aggressive and he's finding his ways to be effective out there."

Gary Clark still in a class of his own

He took the foot off the pedal late, but Clark was outstanding again with a tone-setting display that saw him grab 17 of his 26 points in the first half at 6-8 from the field and 4-5 from three-point range.

The former Houston Rockets big is starting to prove a problem for the entire league as a match-up nightmare. Fully fit, one can question whether any rival has a definitive answer to the 29-year-old.

Tatum makes good on promise

Prior to Thursday's clash, Tatum issued a message to the Hawks faithful via the Mercury, saying "Show up and we will show out".

"They did exactly that," Tatum said.

"They showed up and we showed out for them. I was happy that the fanbase was there and engaged from the beginning of the game.

"There were times when Perth got hot and, either took the lead, or tied the game back up, but our fans were there for us from the jump."