Three-time NBA champion JaVale McGee has starred on debut for the defending NBL champions Illawarra, but Tasmania still answered his brilliance to win a thriller 91-86.
In the opening game of their championship defence on Saturday, the Hawks raised their championship banner at the WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong but The JackJumpers spoiled the party.
They have added quite an imposing new piece for their title defence too with monster 983-game NBA veteran centre McGee, who more than lived up to his reputation.
The 37-year-old was outstanding, with his ability to catch alley-oop passes and finish them, throw down dunks and, even more impressively, to be a defensive threat, a rebounder and to run the floor well.
He had the best ever first game in the 40-minute era for Illawarra with 32 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks on 15-of-20 shooting -- but Tasmania still had the answers.
"The effort definitely wasn't where I wanted it to be and we could have given a better effort on shutting down some of those offensive rebounds that they got," said Hawks coach Justin Tatum.
"I felt that crowd deserved a better effort from us to find a way to get a win on banner drop tonight."
Despite what McGee was doing, the JackJumpers did feel in control of the game most of the way in the battle of the last two NBL champions.
Tasmania opened up an 11-point lead to start the fourth quarter with a triple from point guard Tyger Campbell. Then despite the Hawks answering with 11 straight points, the JackJumpers kept on responding.
Majok Deng came up huge with the veteran South Sudanese Olympics representative scoring seven quick points, having a huge block and being instrumental in the JackJumpers prevailing by five.
He did appear to injure a hamstring late but had 14 points, four rebounds and two blocks with Bryce Hamilton delivering another 21 points, Campbell 17 points, four boards and four assists, and Josh Bannan 11 points and seven rebounds.
The win improves Tasmania to 2-1 on the season backing up a win in Perth after a first-up loss in Hobart despite the absence of import David Johnson with a leg injury.
"Across the board guys chipped in where they needed to and the game was at a pace that we like to play at," a happy coach Scott Roth said afterwards.
"It was kind of a grinder and we have to learn how to win, and some guys picked some extra work across the board and I thought Tyger was especially fantastic in controlling the tempo and playing smartly."
The Hawks weren't quite able to celebrate their first game of the season with a home win but they got more out of McGee than even they envisioned.
Tyler Harvey had 19 points and six rebounds with Todd Blanchfield adding 12 points but new import guard Jaquori McLaughlin struggled with five points on 1-of-8 shooting, despite six assists.
