Hawkeye - Illawarra Hawks v Sydney Kings R9 Preview

THE MUST KNOWS 

When: 7:30pm, Thursday 11 March

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Broadcast: ESPN, SBS On Demand and Twitch

Last Time They Met: Illawarra (Harvey 25, Bairstow 13, Jessup 12) defeated Sydney (Ware 21, Vasilijevic 18, Martin 15), Round 5, February 14 2021

THE PRELUDE

It's the second 'Freeway Series' clash of the 2020-21 NBL season and as is always the case with rivalry rounds - this promises to be a rip snorter of a contest.

Last time these two met, the Hawks led at every change in a game that featured 12 lead changes and a red-hot shooting night from Tyler Harvey who led all scorers on the night with 25-points.

The Hawks are in dire need of a win. Since beating the Kings in round five, the Hawks have won two of their last six games and three of their last nine since opening the season 4-0. 

The Kings on the other hand enter the game fresh off a valuable victory over SE Melbourne, while a win here will take them above the Hawks on the ladder for the first time this season.

Sydney defeated the Phoenix in their last game by six points but have only won consecutive games once this season when they beat Adelaide and New Zealand in Rounds four and five - the wins coming immediately before they lost to the Hawks at home.

The Hawks slow starts have been an achilles heel all season - the side heading into the quarter time break behind in their past six games (they've been down at quarter time by a combined 29-points in their last three). The only time the Hawks have been in front at the first change in their past nine games was when they last played Sydney.

The Kings on the other hand have been the best starters of any team this year by leading at quarter time in 11 of their 13 matches.

THE FUN FACTS

This is the 100^th match played between the Kings and the Hawks with Sydney winning 54 and Illawarra 45 so far. This is the first time the Kings have played 100 times against any other team and the third for the Hawks who done the same against Perth and Adelaide.

This rivalry began on February 19^th 1988 at the State Sports Centre at Homebush where the Kings 103 defeated the Hawks 95 in just their second ever NBL game as the newest franchise in the harbour city. Steve Carfino was the top scorer with 24-points for Sydney while Chuck Harmison had 22-points for the Hawks.

The Hawks won the last game between these teams but it has been very even of late. Both teams have won two of their last four against each other, three of the last six, four of the last eight, five of the last 10, six of the last 12 and seven of the last 14.

Illawarra’s last two defeats have been their biggest of the season – both 17-points – and in the latest loss to Perth, the club posted it's lowest score of the year (70) and made a season low six three-pointers with a season high 18 turnovers.

Hawks first seven games: For 88.1 points, Against: 83.2 points

Hawks last six games: For 88.7 points, Against 92.5 points

THE MATCH UP

Justinian Jessup v Dejan Vasiljevic

We all know what a talent 'Next Star' Justinian Jessup is. The smooth moving shooting sensation has lit up baskets all around the country in his opening two months in the NBL - but his success has brought him more attention.

Teams are beginning to put more attention into guarding the Golden State Warriors draftee who shot just 2-from-13 three pointers in his last three games, averaging only eight points a game after putting up a tad over 16 in his first 10 games of the season. Jessup may find some freedom at the free-throw line, with the young American hitting 82% of his foul shots but only shooting five free throw shots in his last seven games.

JJ's opening quarters also seem to match that of the team at the moment - with Jessup not scoring in the first quarter of his past three games. He also has failed to make a field goal in his last three final quarters.

He'll face off against arguably the hottest rookie in the league in the Kings Dejan Vasiljevic. Vasiljevic has led the Kings in scoring in their past three games at 24.3 ppg and over the past six games at the NBL Cup has averaged 21.3 at 56.2% from the field. He's also made 20-from-35 threes at 57%.

Get ready for a shootout between the young stars in what is shaping as an absolute bell ringer of a matchup.

THE SPOTLIGHT

Deng Adel -  it's fair to say the Hawks marquee player has endured a rollercoaster ride of emotion in his first season in the NBL. He arrived in Wollongong after two seasons bouncing around the NBA and G League with Cleveland, Toronto and Brooklyn - his potential obvious to whoever watched him play.

He was injured in a Hawks preason game, then reinjured in the opening game of the NBL season, forcing him to miss time. He returned via the bench (and didn't sulk about it), before finally earning his starting spot back.

He was then selected in Brian Goorjian's Australian Boomers squad for the Tokyo Olympics, before claiming an unwanted NBL record on his way to an 0-15 night against the Taipans.

Now, with the Hawks riding a rough patch of form, he's come under fire again. The spotlight firmly focused on Adel - this time from Corey 'Homicide' Williams.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@illawarrahawks</a> are still in the top four, but they not only struggling, they got SMACKED by Perth over the weekend. <a href="https://twitter.com/Foreverdeng?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Foreverdeng</a> must step up to release pressure on that back court and step up FAST. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NblOvertime?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NblOvertime</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/camluke?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@camluke</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/oAF4bn8FUi">pic.twitter.com/oAF4bn8FUi</a></p>&mdash; Corey “Homicide” Williams (@chomicide) <a href="https://twitter.com/chomicide/status/1369269020961038340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>