The Illawarra Hawks defied the stifling heat to secure a thrilling 82-81 win over the Cairns Taipans to keep their NBL playoff hopes alive at the AIS Arena on Saturday.

Hawks coach Rob Beveridge was in overdrive on the rotation front and he was made to sweat when Cairns had a chance to steal the win on the final play but a game-winning block from Jordair Jett saved the day.

How Illawarra's veterans would deal with the searing heat inside an arena with no air-conditioning on a 41 degree day was one of Beveridge's biggest concerns - but he needn't have worried too much.

At the helm is Kevin White, never destined to be one of the most talented players to grace the hardwood but always respected through more than 200 NBL games. For Beveridge, he is "one of the greatest leaders I have ever coached".

There is David Andersen, a four-time Olympian back where it all began in Hawks colours two decades ago. Beveridge labels him "the most successful Australian player in the history of the game".

Then of course there is Cedric Jackson, a league MVP and a three-time championship-winner, "at the end of his career but he can still flat out play and lead".

But White's hard-nosed style, Andersen's experience while battling a minor back injury, and Jackson's flair can be hard to come by in temperatures not so foreign to the Taipans.

"I really felt the game was going to be survival of the fittest," Beveridge said.

"We could hardly move, the guys were sucking it in massively. It was a case of who mentally was going to have the ability to get it done. We did that in the end, but we put ourselves in a pretty tough situation.

"Both teams didn't cope very well with the heat. Percentages dropped off massively... we were missing shots usually we would make. It really did help by having an extra timeout and extra rest here and there.

"It didn't get into a track meet, it started off that way. We had to slow it down and play a slightly different style of game than we normally do.

"I had to make an adjustment as a coach, if I did that, the players, their health could have been in jeopardy because it was extremely hot."

The NBL took counteractive measures in extending quarter-time breaks from two to three minutes while half-time was bumped from 12 to 15 minutes.

The two sides warmed up in the dark after lights were kept off for as long as possible to minimise the heat in the building - but the Hawks brought it early with a blistering opening quarter.

Cairns wouldn't die wondering as the cellar dwellers fought their way back to level the scores heading into the fourth.

Down by one with 9.5 seconds left on the clock, Cairns had one chance to steal the unwinnable game after Todd Blanchfield was called for travelling.

It was dreadlocked cult-hero Jett that came up with the game-winning block to secure a gritty win fitting of the Beveridge mould.

A "development coach my whole life", the Hawks mentor isn't blessed with the budget that saw him lure future Boomers to Perth but he is making things work as Illawarra cling to their playoff hopes ahead of a trip to meet the Wildcats.

"Playing over [in Perth] will give us a lot of confidence if we get that one, especially after last time we were there," Hawks rookie Daniel Grida said.

"Last time we were there, we were really banged up, really tired. Hopefully we can come in fresh and give it a really good crack."

AT A GLANCE

NBL: ILLAWARRA HAWKS 82 (Brian Conklin 15, Todd Blanchfield 11) bt CAIRNS TAIPANS 81 (Melo Trimble 24, DJ Newbill 17) at AIS Arena.