Basketball On The Internet.

WHAT a week that turned into for Kevin Lisch and the Illawarra Hawks.

On Wednesday, he joined the NBL's immortals as a dual-MVP award-winner.

On Friday his season buckled to a halt as Perth beat the Hawks 80-68 in Game 1 of their Swisse Semi Final Series.

With 1:56 left in the first quarter, Lisch, in hot pursuit of Wildcats forward Jesse Wagstaff, tripped and fell, hitting the floor in obvious discomfort.

Eventually assisted from the court confines, the entire flavour of the finals changed as Lisch headed to the changerooms for treatment on his ankle, returning in a moonboot and on crutches.

To that point, the Hawks had been the aggressors and looked like fulfilling some predictions - B.O.T.I.'s included - they would beat Perth and ultimately win the series.

But all optimism for an Illawarra-New Zealand Grand Final faded when the Hawks lost not only their best player, but the best player in the LEAGUE this year.

That's not someone you can replace overnight, and overnight is all the Hawks have.

"I’m devastated for the guy, absolutely devastated for him and for the team," Hawks coach Rob Beveridge said.

"When we have our 10 players on the floor, we are legitimately one of the best teams of the league.

"But it’s really hard to go against a superpower like Perth when you don’t have a player like Lisch in the team, it’s as simple as that. I don’t know how you can possibly win in this environment without your best team."

Damian Martin dominated the game for Perth, compiling nine points (3-of-5 threes!), a rebound, six assists and four steals.

He menaced the Hawks backcourt and with Casey Prather flying and Jermaine Beal connecting on 5-of-8 threes, Perth steadily pulled away.

Tim Coenraad hit a career-best 5-of-7 threes in his game-high 23 points but Kirk Penney, after taking some bad shots after halftime, then became gun shy as Perth overcame a thorough beating on the boards and a quality Hawks game-plan they just could not complete without Lisch.

TODAY: It couldn't have filled United players with a great deal of confidence when, in the aftermath of Thursday's home Game 1 semi final loss to New Zealand, coach Dean Demopoulos conceded beating the defending champs in Auckland tonight would take some doing.

"We’re going there to win the game and if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen," Demopoulos said.

It should be a ripper contest. But yes. It won't happen, the Breakers to advance 2-0.

Last night - Game 1 (Best-of-3 Semi Finals): PERTH WILDCATS 80 (Prather 19, Beal 18, Jervis 14; Jervis 8 rebs; Martin 6 assts) d ILLAWARRA HAWKS 68 (Coenraad 23, Penney 17, Ogilvy 14; Ogilvy 11 rebs; Martin 4 assts) at The Jungle, Perth Arena.

PS

That moment Lisch went down was the moment New Zealand won its fifth championship in six years. Yes, it's an early, maybe crazy call but I always expected Illawarra to oust Perth and for the Breakers to break Melbourne.

In a Grand Final Series, Illawarra would have had the edge on New Zealand. At least that's what I believe.

Perth does not, losing their season-series 2-2 and -22 points. The Wildcats have Martin, the Breakers have Vukona. There's Knight, there's the Jackson X2. Homecourt would aid Perth. But, barring the unforseen from here (e.g. Lisch recovering - which he won't in time), I'm now expecting the Dr John Raschke Trophy to stay across the Tasman for another year.