"We were not supposed to win"

Despite leading by 20 midway through the third, Justin Tatum insists the Illawarra Hawks’ showdown with South East Melbourne was still a game they were “not supposed to win”.

A JaVale McGee dunk with six seconds left in regulation forced overtime and helped the Hawks escape being victim of the biggest comeback so far this season. Their coach couldn’t have been prouder.

“24 turnovers and allowing 27 offensive rebounds, plus they (the Phoenix) shot 28 free throws. Realistically we were not supposed to win,” Tatum said post-game.

“But as long as there is time on the clock and guys believe and try to figure it out. QJ (Peterson) had an unbelievable game. We still have Davo (Will Hickey) doing his thing, T-Raw (Tyler Harvey) was effective and Swaka (Wani Swaka Lo Buluk) did a really good job defensively.

“I am proud of how they stuck together and never felt like we were done. We wanted to win this game.”

Whether the Hawks are truly back to their best is still unclear, but pushing Melbourne to the wire and then toppling South East Melbourne in back-to-back outings has injected some serious belief into the group.

“The W for us was huge,” Tatum said.

“Losing three games in a row going into the break, in this league we could not lose this. We felt if we lost this game then we were too deep in the hole to come out statistically and realistically.

“We really focused on winning this game today. The way it was, it was not how we planned it to be, but I am really proud of how my team fought through it and how we started the game. We understand there are a lot of things we need to clean up, but at the end of the day the gutsy win was huge for my group.”

The Hawks have a long way to go to fight back from a 5-9 start and eighth place on the NBL standings. But with stars of the calibre of JaVale McGee, Will Hickey, Tyler Harvey and an import quickly finding his feet, QJ Peterson (42 points), anything is possible.

“He is electric. He is electric,” Tatum said of Peterson.

“We brought him off the bench and he played 31 minutes, including overtime. He had the same amount of points that they did in the first quarter. He is electric and he is finding his way.

“He is getting better in shape and finding his teammates. Just like everyone else, you want to value the possessions and keep taking the shots the defence gives you.

“QJ has been great.”

McGee was a star again, with 29 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks, but says he and the Hawks are far from satisfied with where things are at.

“[We’re] just trying to stay together. We have a bad habit of not being able to put together 40 minutes of good basketball,” he said.

“We led for 39 minutes and eight seconds and they (the Phoenix) led for two minutes and 47 seconds. We could not stay focused for 40 minutes.

“39 is good, but that one minute matters. We have to go back to the drawing board and focus. We are glad we got the win, but we are not satisfied.”