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Perth Wildcats Prey On The Hawks In Do Or Die Final

Perth Wildcats take on the Illawarra Hawks on Friday night at Perth Arena in a 'Do Or Die' final

Emma Payne

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Perth Wildcats Prey On The Hawks In Do Or Die Final

Perth Wildcats take on the Illawarra Hawks on Friday night at Perth Arena in a 'Do Or Die' final

Emma Payne

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Wildcats win and they go into the Grand Final. If they lose, their season is over. It’s literally a ‘do or die’ game, and it’s going to be a big one!

If history is anything to go by (it is), this game is going to be fiery, feisty and ferocious. Not only is it a crucial win for both teams, the battles between Perth Wildcats and Illawarra Hawks are always intense and action packed.

The fact that this game is taking place in The Jungle (Perth Arena), in front of an extremely passionate and supportive #RedArmy, definitely puts the odds in the Wildcats favour. Playing at home is a powerful advantage for the Cats and the crowd involvement will help the boys to lift and play with confidence. Not to mention- the Hawks have lost the last 23 consecutive games in Perth…

Word on the street is: MVP Kevin Lisch is hopeful to play for the Hawks on Friday, after missing the last game with an ankle injury. The injury was dubbed “season ending” for Lisch when it happened, although it looks like it wasn’t as serious as first thought… OR he is just going to play through the pain. If Kevin doesn’t play, the last game showed us that the Hawks do have a game plan to execute in his absence. Can they bring it over to Perth with them though?

Wildcats are having injury woes of their own with the big man Nate Jawai struggling with a back injury. He was absent from training on Wednesday morning but will apparently take the court on Friday. I’m hoping that the time away from training will have relieved his injury in some way. He played less than 11 minutes in the last game and was clearly suffering on the court.

The Cats defence broke down a little bit in game two and the Hawks finished on triple digits. To make sure they advance into the Grand Final the Wildcats will need to come out with an aggressive mindset and limit the Hawks to a much lower score maximum.

I am SO excited for this game! I have a feeling that Jermaine Beal and Casey Prather are going to shine for the Cats on the scoring front and Damian Martin will be his usual awesome self and show us some killer defence.