The battle for NBL finals spots is set to go down to the wire after Illawarra Hawks continued their late resurgence with Friday night's 107-96 comeback victory over the New Zealand Breakers.
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Illawarra (10-11) remained sixth but have triumphed in three of their past four games and are just two wins behind second-placed Melbourne United, such is the closeness of the top six teams.
Cairns (3-16) are the only team out of play-off reckoning, while the Breakers (8-11) are struggling to stay in contention after blowing a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Hawks.
Illawarra conquered competition leaders Sydney (13-7) twice in the past fortnight and coach Rob Beveridge remains upbeat about his team's final four prospects.
He said the Hawks look forward to meeting titleholders Melbourne United in Melbourne on Wednesday before hosting Cairns on Australia Day.
"We've beaten every team in the league and that gives us confidence going into play Melbourne and Cairns," Beveridge said.
"We have to play gritty, proactive basketball and if we do that we can beat Melbourne in Melbourne.
"Our last four games are as good as we've played. Nobody talks good about us but that's okay. There's no pressure on us at all."
Sitting just above the Hawks on the ladder are Melbourne (12-7), slumping Perth (12-9), Brisbane (11-9) and Adelaide (11-10).
Sharpshooting forward Todd Blanchfield led the Hawks with 27 points against the Breakers and is confident the playoffs remain well within reach.
"We can't look too far ahead, but anything's possible and we're going to make a run at it," Blanchfield said.
Less than 3000 spectators turned up for Friday's clash but Beveridge said it sounded like double that amount when the Hawks were in the process of out-scoring the visitors 34-11 in the final quarter.
"That was the loudest I've heard in my four years here," he said.
"People were on their feet and it was rocking and intimidating. It helped us with our confidence."
Breakers coach Kevin Braswell lamented the late collapse, saying his team "still has some growth".
Australian Associated Press