Punishing truths drive Hawks' turnaround

The threat of gruelling practices might be just the incentive the Illawarra Hawks need to build on Thursday night’s victory, according to JaVale McGee.

The response came after a disappointing 17-point home loss to the Cairns Taipans on Saturday, a game played without Jack McVeigh, Sam Waardenburg and Reyne Smith. In the aftermath, Hawks coach Justin Tatum decided it was time to get tough with his group.

That approach was aimed particularly at the starters, who suddenly found themselves wearing the red training jerseys at practice, a role usually reserved for development players and injury replacements.

Illawarra looked in danger early against the Brisbane Bullets, falling 14 points down midway through the second quarter at the WIN Entertainment Centre. But the Hawks steadied, with McGee taking control.

The big man sparked the turnaround with 10 quick points, highlighted by a flurry of dunks that lifted both the crowd and his teammates.

From there, Illawarra finished strongly, outscoring Brisbane 16–2 in the final three minutes to secure a 100–85 win and improve to 6–10 on the season.

McGee was dominant, finishing with 30 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and two blocks on an efficient 13-of-19 shooting.

He credited the bounce-back performance to Tatum’s methods and made it clear he and his teammates are keen to avoid those gruelling sessions at all costs moving forward.

"The message was received and practices were extremely hard these past two days, but we deserved it and obviously we came out with more of a spark especially in that second half," McGee said.

"Our third quarters are usually our worst quarters and I feel like if he continues to practice us like that, we're going to continue to win, because we know what happens when we lose.

"We don't want any smoke with coach, we just wanna get wins, have a great December and ride it out until the rest of the season."

McGee is now averaging 21.2 points and 10.6 rebounds this season, already having had 13 double doubles in 16 games, while also being the first player in the latest 40-minute era to have three games of 30 points and 10 rebounds in one season.

Those numbers don't mean much to McGee compared to winning and given the Hawks now only hold a 6-10 record on the season, that's what he cares about most.

"Statistically it's cool, but there's a lot of L's under my name and you usually don't go in the rafters if your team loses, even though you scored a lot of points and rebounds," McGee said.

"So if we win it this year then it will mean something, but if we don't then really all these points and rebounds really don’t mean anything at all. It's just empty stats."