Hawks face sudden-death showdown in Wollongong after falling to JackJumpers

Disaster appeared to have struck for the hosts just moments into the game with starting centre Marcus Lee suffering a serious shoulder injury in the opening sequence.

It saw the early injection of Magnay, the JackJumpers big responding with one of the performances of the year to finish with 25 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

Illawarra could not find an answer, with Jack McVeigh also finishing with 26 points and 11 rebounds, with Jordan Crawford (20) and Sean Macdonald (10) also in double figures for the hosts.

Gary Clark overcame a slow start to lead the Hawks with 21 points, 10 rebounds and two assists, but looked compromised as he nursed an ankle injury.

Sam Froling was 4-10 for his 10 points, with Tyler Harvey 6-16 for 15 points on a night where the visitors looked to miss the jump at every turn despite staying in the fight through three quarters.

They trailed by 12 points at quarter-time and by as much as 18 in the second term only to draw back within seven at the break.

They agin reeled in a double-digit lead to trail by seven at three-quarter-time, but were blown away in the final quarter with the lead swelling to as much as 23 before time was out.

It leaves newly installed long-term head coach Justin Tatum facing a tough task to reboot his side ahead of a final roll of the dice at home on Monday night.

"We didn't match their energy early and we got ourselves into a hole," Tatum said.

"They came out physical, coach Roth had them going, they set the tone in their play. We knew we were getting ourselves into and we weren't matching their intensity.

"It felt like [we were down] 30, yes the game was at hand's reach, but our guys consistently did not play our style of basketball. I wasn't pleased at all, in any way.

"I wasn't pleased with the consistent effort for 40 minutes and the way we played. We've got to set the tone, we've got to be just as physical as these guys.

"This playoff basketball, you've got to throw everything out the window, everybody's 0-0 right now. We've got to leave everything on the floor. That's one thing I learned about this evening."

Magnay didn't lead on overall the stats sheet, but his performance was pivotal from the moment he checked into the game, grabbing 11 points and five rebounds in the opening term.

He had six of them on an 11-0 run that forced Tatum into an early timeout. The run extended to 18-2 on a deep three from McVeigh, with the Hawks trailing by 12 at the first break.

The visitors were 7-19 from the field for the term, with Tatum needing to burn another timeout early in the second when the JackJumpers lead ballooned to 18.

The Hawks cut the deficit back to seven by halftime, and did the same from 13 down in the third, but it was too big a start to give a home team in the post-season.

He'll forgive a lot of things, but Tatum said being outmuscled was not something he'll accept.

"That's what they do well and we didn't match it," Tatum said.

"We didn't beat them to the spots, we allowed them to get early dunks and offensive rebounds to keep their tone set. That physicality was something that we are used to playing, we just didn't match it today."

Clark looked hobbled early after seemingly re-injuring the right ankle he rolled in nasty fashion against Melbourne in the final game of the regular season.

It kept him to just 1-3 from the field in the opening term, with the Hawks doing most of early work with their All-NBL First Teamer a spectator on a compromised right leg.

The 29-year-old did get going from deep in the second, dropping a pair of threes on an 8-0 run for the Hawks that forced Scott Roth into his first timeout.

He had another triple and a deep two on the buzzer to cut the halftime margin back to seven. He was clearly the Hawks best on the night but appeared forced to rely on the long ball without his typical strength in the paint.

Tatum will be sweating on his star man's fitness on his return to Wollongong, but said he's not carrying more than the niggles of a long season.

"He's traveling all right," Tatum said.

"We're managing all the guys that play heavy minutes, we've been managing Gary and his ankle and other things during the course of the last couple of weeks and months. He's physically fine.

"He just played major minutes today, maybe he had a little tweak here and there, but there's nothing that we're going to manage physically, he'll be fine."

Home court is typically a Godsend, especially in the playoffs, but the Hawks will return home looking to notch their first win at the Sandpit since February 2017 under Rob Beveridge.

The Hawks past two post-season showings at home have resulted in disappointing losses.

After finishing second on the ladder in Brian Goorjian's second year at the helm, the Hawks were blown away at home by eventual champions Sydney in game one of the two-versus-three semi-final series.

A year earlier they notched a famous road win over Perth in game one only to squander to home court days later and lose the decider back in the west.

Tatum will be looking to buck that trend on Monday, but Wednesday's defeat makes the title climb almost prohibitively steep.

The Hawks entered the seeding qualifier a chance of booking a semi-final series with Perth having gone 3-0 against the Wildcats by a combined 52 points through the regular season .

Now, a grand-final showdown with league leaders Melbourne United is the best case scenario, and only if they can get past the winner of Wednesday's elimination final between Sydney and New Zealand.

The Hawks will like their chances against either rival having beaten the Breakers both home and away this season, while two trips to Sydney under Tatum produced two of the most impressive wins of the foundation club's campaign.

Still, nothing's promised in sudden-death basketball, with either the Kings or Breakers coming into the WEC with a free swing at bundling the Hawks out in straight sets.

With the final stat sheets remarkably similar on Wednesday night despite a convincing loss, Tatum said the battle will be more in mind than body for his team.

"I think it's the mental part," Tatum said.

"I think we were disengaged, some of our units that we had out there together weren't on the same page. I think we have to fix those things.

"We were a couple of shots away from either tying it up or being in the game. They were 35 to 70 from the field, we were 29 of 70, so a couple more shots made and we were right there.

"I feel it's the mental part of being able to stand their crowd and their physicality. That's what we're going to mostly adjust to on Monday.

"As far as the Xs and Os and the technical part, these guys are professionals, they know how to adjust out there, we just have to get on the same page."