Hawks go down in OT thriller as legends honoured

The Result

Illawarra Hawks 75 - Sydney Kings 79 (OT)

The Story

It was a game played at finals-like intensity between two side's determined to take part in playoff basketball this season - but it was the visitors that reigned supreme 79-75 in an overtime extravaganza.

A huge home crowd made sure the Kings felt every bit of discomfort through the 40 minutes of action on a night where the Hawks 2000-01 championship team was honoured on their home court. 

13 of the Hawks championship winning side and staff making the trip to Wollongong for a special ceremony on court - with the presentation only enhancing the already electric atmosphere inside the WIN Entertainment Centre. 

Both side's got off to a rocky offensive start in this one, and with the defensive intensity ramped up a couple of notches, only 10 points were scored through the first six minutes of play.

It took back-to-back threes from Tyler Harvey and Deng Deng to crack off the shackles for the Hawks.

American star Justin Simon getting in on the action - knocking down five late quarter points to give the Hawks a 16-15 lead at the first break.

The second stanza was an arm wrestle between two side's determined to walk away victorious.

Coach Brian Goorjian was forced to dig into his bench early on with Deng Adel, Justinian Jessup and Cam Bairstow all missing through injury.

That meant the likes of Emmett Naar (two points), Isaac White (two points) and Max Darling (five points) all tasted some first half action and tipped home a bucket each. 

But it was the Kings who edged their way in front - leading 40-34 at the main break.

The Kings came out of the locker room in great nick, with the in-form Jordi Hunter dropping six points in the quarter. 

Simon pounced on an offensive board and popped the ball home for Illawara before a monstrous block from Sam Froling set the arena alight.

Deng Deng hammering home another open look from deep and suddenly the lead was cut to just two.

Kings veteran Brad Newley beat the shot clock to pop a Sydney miss home at the death, but it was the Hawks that finished the frame the better despite the Kings holding a four-point 58-54 lead.

The final quarter was an epic.

The Kings - riding on the back of Casper Ware and Hunter - pushed out to a double digit lead by the halfway mark of the frame, as the short-handed Hawks seemed destined to run out of gas. 

But it was Simon who activated defensive beast mode - peeling off steal after steal to give his side some easy buckets and all the momentum.

Emmett Naar was superb in an extended role off the bench - dropping a dozen dimes with no turnovers in nearly 30minutes of action. Naar also taking some of the load off the back of Harvey.

In doing so, Naar became the first NBL player in 18 years to have 12 assists in a game with no turnovers. Funnily enough the last player to have at least 12 dimes and zero t/o's was Damon Lowery for the Hawks v Cannons in 2003.

When Froling knocked down a five footer jumper, the Hawks were back within two, before a Jarell Martin three seemingly put the game out of reach. 

Enter Tyler Harvey and Justin Simon. A huge three from Harvey set the arena alight, before another Simon swipe and finish with 34 seconds left tied the game.

The Hawks managed one left defensive stop - before a desperate Harvey tossed up a last second game-winning attempt, that sadly rolled around the rim and fell out.

The game headed to OT - and despite the Hawks best efforts, it was an unlikely source - Craig Moller - who landed a three to give the Kings an unassailable five-point lead with only 14 seconds left. 

The Hawks unable to muster another miracle - and another epic in Illawarra was scratched into the record books as the Kings ran out 79-75 winners.

The Stats

It was a scrappy shooting display from both sides, with the Hawks (36%) and the Kings (38%) both struggling from the field. The Hawks troubles from beyond the arc continued as they shot a disappointing 6/26 from deep - with the absence of Jessup no doubt contributing to the underwhelming stat line. 

Coach Goojian spoke about executing the fundamentals post-game and it showed up in the FT stat line - the Hawks missing eight freebies as the Kings shot 80% from the stripe.

The battle of the boards was fairly even (Hawks 52- Kings 51) but a Simon inspired swipefest meant the Hawks picked off seven steals to the visitors one. 

The Hawks had more points in the paint (40-38), more fast break points (8-3) and more assists (20-15), but ultimately the Kings bench may have proved the difference, the visitors reserves outscoring the home sides by seven.

The Fallout

"Everybody's disappointed, everybody dug pretty deep and came up short. The feeling's disappointing but you take a deep breath and as a coach I'm proud of the group. We talked about not looking at the score, obviously we're going through some change and some issues and this was a very important game for us. We had a lot of guys who hadn't played a lot but had been training hard since the start of the year and they got an opportunity tonight and I thought they brought us back, got us into the game," coach Brian Goorjian said.

"We were in a big hole, start of the third quarter and made some changes into what we ran, made some changes to personnel and the guys that game in, the Max Darling's, Isaac White's, Emmett Naar, Deng Deng, those guys came in and turned it around and got us back in the game...I'm disappointed, everybody wants to win, the guys are down but I'm proud of them," Goorjian said.

"We quick shot the ball and didn't get through process, so when we fell down 15 or 16 or whatever it was I moved Tyler to the two spot, brought Emmett into the one and slowed the game down and played pick and roll. Emmett came up with 12 assists, no turnovers, we got the ball, got good shots, got our defence set and turned it into a grind out game and got back in it. Down the stretch it was just about the little things you know, they got a couple of offensive rebounds off the floor and put it back in, missed free throws, just little things that you really gotta concentrate on to finish a game like that," Goorjian said.

"It was awesome to see that team come back and I think the crowd was pretty excited for that and it was obviously a big rivalry game. Me and [Dan] Grida have even talked about how special it would be for us to come back in 20 years time if we've won a championship, that's the goal so to see that group come back and still be friends with each other...it's pretty special and it's what you want as a player. The crowd was incredible, that was one of the loudest I've heard it in here and it's got loud quite a lot of times so there was definitely a lot of energy with that team coming back and with the rivalry game" guard Emmett Naar said.

"Just trying to read the way they were playing us in the on ball. just coming out and showing, which left Frols [Sam Frolin] open on the roll a little bit and he's a great finisher and he's getting a lot better at making those decisions on the short roll so that's something we tried to exploit and obviously moving Tyler off the ball, the way they were playing him it just sort of makes it four on four, because he's getting hugged, as he should be, because he's such a great player, it just gives us a lot more space for the other four on court which gives us a bit of an advantage at times" Naar said. 

The Road Ahead

Round 16 – Monday May 3, 7:30pm AEST v NZ Breakers @ Silverdome, Launceston