Hawks ready to keep season alive against Kings

The Illawarra Hawks will take on the Sydney Kings on Sunday with one goal on their minds - win the do-or-die clash and force a game three in their NBL22 semi-final series.

After losing game one on Friday at the WIN Entertainment Centre,  the Hawks know they'll need to respond in a big way, to keep their championship hopes alive.

"We didn't quit [on Friday], that's nice. It's a series, but as far as the performance goes and what we wanted to do, coming into the game and how we played, we're all very disappointed and hurting," Hawks coach Brian Goorjian said.

"But we'll re-group, get best prepared and ready for a must-win game two on their home-court."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Time to respond ?<br><br>?: <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/Foxtel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Foxtel</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TogetherWeFly?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TogetherWeFly</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreIllawarra?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreIllawarra</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/G3o902RnNI">pic.twitter.com/G3o902RnNI</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1520522853581344768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


A win for the Kings on Sunday will see them qualify for their seventh grand final (champions 2003, 2004 and 2005 and runners-up 2006, 2008 and 2020), while victory for the foundation club would send the series back to Wollongong on Tuesday night.

Working in the Hawks' favour is the fact they've beaten their arch-rivals on both occasions this campaign at Qudos Bank Arena - marking the first time ever they've won twice at that venue in the regular season.

The Kings also have not swept a finals series since they beat the Cairns Taipans 2-0 in the 2006 semi-finals. 

Goorjian, coaching in his 22^nd consecutive finals season, has never exited from a post-season without at least one win since he first qualified for the finals for the Eastside Spectres in 1990, when he was swept 0-2 by the Bullets in the semi-finals.

The Hawks though have lost their last three semi-finals under Goorjian, after beating the Wildcats in Perth in game one last season before dropping games two and three, followed by Friday's 10-point defeat.

On the flip side, Kings counterpart Chase Buford has the opportunity to be the first Sydney Kings coach to sweep their first final series with the club, something none of the previous 12 head coaches could manage.

Newly crowned league MVP Jaylen Adams is the first Kings player ever to score 30 points while making his NBL Finals debut.

Point guard rival Tyler Harvey has played 60 regular-season games and averaged 18.6 points at 41.7 per cent from the field FG and 35.9 per cent from deep, but in his four semi-final matches, has averaged 13.5 points at 31.3 per cent field goal and 30.3 per cent from downtown - highlighting how important a big game is for the Californian native to the Hawks.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It&#39;s all about the bounce back for Goorj and his <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@illawarrahawks</a> ??<br><br>Don&#39;t miss Game 2, live on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> from 3:00pm AEST tomorrow. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/OBr6JlUXJG">pic.twitter.com/OBr6JlUXJG</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1520225181578723328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Friday's win takes the Kings to a 58-49 lead all-time between the Adrian Hurley Cup rivals, with Illawarra leading the match-up 9-6 at fixtures at Qudos Bank Arena.

Highlighting how tight the match-up is, during the pair's five games in NBL22, there have been 56 lead changes.

A reassuring stat for the Hawks is that they've outscored their NSW opponents in each of the five fourth quarters this campaign.

Not only that, they won the first, third and fourth quarters on Friday, but fell due to a 30-9 second term - that 21-point differential was the Hawks' biggest in any quarter this season and lowest score in any quarter this season.
Illawarra had not been outscored by 21 in a quarter by Sydney since 1991 when they lost a fourth-quarter 38-17.

During that 10-minute period, Goorjian's troops shot 3/19 from the field, while Sydney went on a season-best 18-0 scoring run.

Another area the Hawks will be looking to improve on is their bench production, after scoring just nine points in each of their last two outings (marking an equal season-low).

In Friday's defeat, Xavier Rathan-Mayes (nine points) was the only bench player to score (on a season-high 18 shot attempts) and the previous Sunday it was the Florida State alum with six and Harry Froling three to make up their nine points.

In contrast in the last two games, Sydney has been able to pick up 24 and 32 points from their bench.

In game one, Sydney had seven scorers as Illawarra had just six scorers (while 37 per cent from the field which was their second-lowest of the season) - far below the Hawks' league-leading mark of 45.3 per cent during the regular season.

Duop Reath is the first Hawks player to have five three-point makes and three blocks in a finals game in club history.
He scored 13-points in the final quarter – half of his 26 points – while Harvey and Justinian Jessup did not score in the final quarter.

That backcourt duo, who have played together on 64 occasions, combined for one assist – their lowest combined game of their time together at the Hawks. 

Finally, both teams only coughed up the ball six times on Friday, which is the Kings' best effort all season - with 12 combined turnovers equalling a low for any game in NBL22.

Game two of the NBL22 semi-final series, tipping off at 3pm AEST, will be broadcast on 10 Peach and ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel.