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IF in doubt, always go with home court advantage. It's been an NBL mantra for years and certainly applies in the Perth-Illawarra best-of-three series which opens tonight in The Jungle.

But in the rival Melbourne-South East Melbourne series, all that will change between Games 1, 2 and possibly 3, is which changeroom the teams will access in Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena.

There will be no crowd, there will be no atmosphere. But will there be any Cam Gliddon for the Phoenix? He left the team almost two weeks ago to attend the birth of his second child but whether he has received the appropriate travel exemptions to rejoin SEM remains to be seen.

The Hawks have a horrendous record at The Jungle and lost their first three games of four in the regular season to Perth.

Their solitary win was the emotional 81-79 success at home in the last round which was a huge result, securing their return to the playoffs and completing coach Brian Goorjian's 21st consecutive NBL finals series.

Notably, it was the only time Illawarra played Perth with the Wildcats missing Bryce Cotton.

Cause for pause?

Not really. The Wildcats had little to play for in that fixture and if John Mooney takes a fraction more time on his last-gasp 3-point attempt, the result still may have been different.

So while it was a tremendous win for Illawarra, this Wildcats organisation heads into its record 35th consecutive finals series as an outlandish favourite to be 1-0 by the end of the night.

Can the Hawks level it up on Saturday in Wollongong? With a big home crowd and their emotional lift, that shouldn't be ruled out.

Regular Season

March 7: Perth 87, Illawarra 70         March 26: Perth 81, Illawarra 70

April 16: Perth 83, Illawarra 69         June 1: Illawarra 81, Perth 79    (Wildcats 3-1)

Tomorrow night, Melbourne should flex its muscle against a South East Melbourne team struggling with its identity.

Injuries, off-court issues, players in, players out, roles changing, roles reverting - the Phoenix at their best potentially are an NBL champion.

But they cannot find their best while players debate where they exactly fit. That said, in five "Throwdowns" this season, Melbourne won it 3-2 so obviously the Phoenix can rise for these derby adventures.

But Melbourne is deep, focused and has the best player in the league NOT considered for the MVP award in Jock Landale and there's little in the SEM bank capable of handling him.

In fact United could take this 2-0 if you rule out Phoenix somehow finding a way to use the rivalry as an extra incentive. But if you need that to get up for a final, you won't be around long anyway.

Regular Season 

Jan.31,  Melbourne 96, SEM 90         March 10, SEM 97, Melbourne 92

March 27, Melbourne 80, SEM 60     May 8, Melbourne 93, SEM 82

May 16, SEM 94, Melbourne 83         (United 3-2)

PERTH WILDCATS V ILLAWARRA HAWKS

Game 1: Tonight
The Jungle, RAC Arena, 9:30pm AEST / 7:30pm local
ESPN, SBS VICELAND SBS On Demand, Sky Sport, Twitch

Game 2: Saturday, June 12
The Sandpit, WIN Entertainment Centre, 5:30pm AEST
ESPN, SBS VICELAND SBS On Demand, Sky Sport, Twitch

Game 3 (if required): Monday, June 14
The Jungle, RAC Arena, 9:30pm AEST / 7:30pm local
ESPN, SBS VICELAND SBS On Demand, Sky Sport, Twitch

MELBOURNE UNITED V SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX

Game 1: Tomorrow
The Library, Qudos Bank Arena, 7:30pm AEST
ESPN, SBS VICELAND SBS On Demand, Sky Sport, Twitch

Game 2: Sunday, June 13
The Morgue, Qudos Bank Arena, 3:00pm AEST
ESPN, SBS VICELAND SBS On Demand, Sky Sport, Twitch

Game 3 (if required): Tuesday, June 15
The Cemetery, Qudos Bank Arena, 7:30pm AEST
ESPN, SBS VICELAND SBS On Demand, Sky Sport, Twitch