The Adelaide 36ers made it six wins on the trot and left Illawarra's NBL finals hopes in serious doubt after pounding the Hawks 112-90 on Friday night.
Leading from start to finish, the Sixers were paced by resurgent Nathan Sobey who was back to his early-season brilliant best with 25 points at 78 per cent, six assists and consistent hard-nosed defence on Hawks dangerman Rotnei Clarke.
Daniel Johnson (17 points, 10 rebounds) was also influential early, while Clarke (17 points) worked his way into the match to lead Illawarra's scoring but did it the hard way, missing all seven three-point attempts with Sobey wearing him like a glove.
In 40-plus degrees conditions in Adelaide, the hottest team in the league laid the foundation for their sixth successive win with a commanding 64-45 opening half.
The 36ers held sway 32-25 at the end of a frenetic opening term that featured a bit of everything from a run of eight Adelaide points in 71 seconds on the back of consecutive inbound steals.
There was also a world-class dunk-of-the-year contender from Demitrius Conger on Mitch Creek where the Hawks import spectacularly twisted 180 degrees with a mid-air adjustment.
The pace remained fierce in the second stanza which the 36ers once again dominated 32-20, Johnson (15 first-half points) outpointed Illawarra's big men.
Clarke copped loud boos from midway through the third quarter when he bluffed his way to a trip to the foul line while appearing to milk no contact with Sobey.
But the American's theatrics couldn't prevent the 36ers from drawing further clear, 89-65 at three-quarter-time, and winning in a canter to leave the Hawks, grand finalists last year, licking their wounds.
"We had poor shot selection which allowed them to run and we turned it over nine times in the first quarter," Illawarra coach Rob Beveridge said.
"We put ourselves on the back foot right from the very start."
Adelaide assistant Kevin Brooks was pleased with the way 36ers stuck to their fast-paced style.
"We were happy with the way we executed our game plan against them," said Brooks, who spoke for the club in the post-match absence of head coach Joey Wright who was suffering from heat exhaustion.
"We've had some great battles against them and we know they feel comfortable here as a team so we knew we had to come out here an execute our stuff."
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