The 2010 National Basketball League Championship title will be on the line tonight when the Grand Final series between the Perth Wildcats and the Wollongong ahm Hawks continues with a sold-out Game Two at the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong.
The Wildcats took a 1-0 series lead after defeating the Hawks in Game One before a sold-out crowd of 4,497 at Challenge Stadium in Perth last Friday night, 75-64.
The Wildcats can now clinch the best-of-three series and raise the Dr. John Raschke championship trophy if they win tonight and in the process would become the first team in NBL history ever to have won five Championships.
For Wollongong it’s a simple case of needing to win tonight to keep the series alive and force a deciding Game Three, which would be played in Perth at Challenge Stadium on Friday (12 March).
Fortunately for the Hawks, they will have a sold-out crowd at ‘The Sandpit’ willing them on to victory. The club announced yesterday that Game Two was guaranteed to be a sell-out and that a club season-high crowd of approximately 5,700 would be in attendance.
The series has seen some intriguing storylines unfold thus far including Perth veteran Martin Cattalini looking to become just the sixth player ever to have won four or more NBL championships, and leading Rookie of the Year contenders Tim Coenraad (Wollongong) and Jesse Wagstaff (Perth) going head-to-head.
The Hawks are an amazing story in themselves, having looked to have played their final NBL game last season due to financial problems before the community rallied to back their continued participation in the NBL. They will need the back-to-the-wall mentality that saved the club on that occasion in spades tonight if they are to deny Perth a record fifth championship title.
The battle of the State Premiers has also heated up, with New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally backing the NSW-based Hawks to win the series and Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett supporting WA team Perth. The pair has agreed to a friendly wager on the outcome of the series, with the Premier whose team loses the Grand Final set to wear the playing jersey of the winning team for a week while exercising.
Tip off for Game Two tonight will be at 7:30PM and the Hawks are encouraging fans to get to the game early to avoid queues getting into the building. Doors open at 6:00PM and auditorium doors will open at the early time of 6:30PM.
All games of the 2010 NBL Grand Final series are being shown live and exclusive on FOX SPORTS, with Game Two coverage starting at 7:30PM AEDT on FOX SPORTS 1.
