Nerves of steel keep Hawks alive

The Illawarra Hawks kept their push for the Play-In alive with a gutsy comeback win over the Adelaide 36ers on Thursday night, in a game that had coach Justin Tatum admitting he was "nervous".

“I’ve been nervous a handful of times before in my coaching career, and this is one of those days I was nervous,” Tatum said post-game.

“It’s not a bad nervous, it’s a good nervous. Because we worked our tails off this week, just trying to get guys to believe in their role.

“I’m nervous because I know we’re going to find a way to play well, and I don’t want to go back to the way we had been playing.”

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While the Hawks remain the healthiest team still fighting for sixth position on the ladder, two losses last round placed added pressure on the group to respond.

After a strong start, Illawarra found themselves down by as many as 16 points in the third quarter, with Adelaide threatening to take control.

Instead, the Hawks leaned on preparation.

“We had two really good practices again this week, where we put ourselves in situations like this, being up and then being down,” Tatum said.

“I guess it paid off because the guys never gave up and the fans stayed with us the whole time.

“It really is a good feeling to see your team improve from practice and believe in what they feel they can do.”

The Hawks’ belief carried into the closing stages, as they focused on chipping away, rather than chasing quick answers.

“Being down 16 to a really good Adelaide team, at the end of the day we could have folded like we had done in previous games,” Tatum said.

“But the guys kept believing and came back in the huddle like, ‘we got this, chip away.’”

Illawarra now travel across the Tasman for another season-defining test against the New Zealand Breakers, who are also fighting for sixth spot.

“We are who we are right now,” Tatum said of the Hawks’ outlook with four games remaining.

“We went through our struggles and you’re still going through them from time to time, but we’re learning from it.

“As long as we’ve got games and an opportunity to be in the top six, let’s keep pushing for it to see how great we can be.”