With just one game this week, Winners & Losers is back with a ‘fun sized’ edition to tide you over before NBL immortals Perth and NZ lock horns on Wednesday.   

WINNERS

Casey Prather

Casey Prather did not appreciate AJ Ogilvy’s rather confrontational, forehead-to-forehead jousting routine late in the third quarter on Friday night.

As another man stuck his face within millimetres of his own, Prather was having none of it, and soon extracted revenge in the most satisfying and emphatic fashion imaginable.

As Prather received the ball on fast break early in the fourth quarter, there was only one man standing between him and the basket.

When the Perth star realised that man was AJ Ogilvy, his pupils dilated as he launched himself skyward, throwing it down over Ogilvy with added conviction.

With one swift motion, Prather had hammered Ogilvy’s body, mind and soul with a vicious public execution.

While Taylor Swift’s partners know that misbehaviour will lead to a song being written about them, NBL players will learn that crossing Prather means they too will be exposed in a public forum.

 

LOSERS

AJ Ogilvy

Like a stay in a bedbug riddled hotel or an awkward tinder date, game three was a night to forget for AJ Ogilvy.

Ogilvy was toying with a spot in the ‘losers section’ when he instigated that silly chest puffing contest with Casey Prather.

He then cemented the dishonour when he followed the incident with two turnovers just minutes later, visibly rattled by Perth’s ferocious crowd. To be fair, even the Dalai Llama might’ve lost his composure if he came face to face with the Red Army.

Ogilvy managed just nine points, shot the ball three times all night and struggled to put his stamp on the game as Perth sent an army of physical bigs in his general direction.

Topping things off, of course, was Prather’s vengeful jam right on Ogilvy’s cranium.

The Hawks centre was a genuine MVP candidate all season, and a major part of Illawarra’s monumental resurgence, but game three in Perth was not his finest hour.

So proud to be a part of this @illawarrahawks group this year. We will be back stronger, watch this space! pic.twitter.com/jDXYV5fHWQ

— Matthew Flinn (@FlinnMatt) February 26, 2016

Oscar Forman & Tim Coenraad

Tim Coenraad was superb for Illawarra during game one, hitting a wide array of gutsy bombs, one or two of which may have been worthy of a Sam Cassell big balls dance.

Game two was Oscar Forman’s time to shine, as the Hawks skipper rose from the bench – and the ashes – to drop 21 points on 7-12 shooting amidst a major slump. It was a stunning performance which saved Illawarra’s season.

If the Hawks were going to have any chance of toppling the Wildcats in Perth, they needed their bench – and Forman and Coenraad in particular – to stand and deliver.

Despite taking turns to pull on the superman cape during the first two games, Forman and Coenraad packed their camo gear instead for the decider, vanishing in Perth’s jungle as Illawarra’s season did the same.