Hawks vs Kings: By the numbers

This Friday, April 29 is exactly 21 years since the Illawarra Hawks won their only NBL championship in 2001 over the Crocs in Townsville in the deciding game three 97-94. 

The Hawks have not played on any April 29 since that famous day. 

Illawarra finished second on the ladder which is the equal highest in franchise history (with matching their efforts in 2004, 2005 and 2010).

 The Kings finished third on the ladder.

In their previous 32 seasons, the Kings have finished third just once before and that was in 2019 when they were swept 2-0 by Melbourne United.

All three previous Kings’ championships have been from a first-placed finish when they had home-court advantage throughout the finals.  

They also finished in first place in 2020 but were declared runner-up. 

The rivalry

All-time there have been 106 meetings between the two NSW-based sides, with Illawarra winning on 49 occasions, while at the WIN Entertainment Centre, the Kings have won 20 of the 39 fixtures - highlighted by the Kings winning four of their past five games in Wollongong.

Previous NBL22 meetings:

Round two: Hawks 92 defeated Kings 84 at Qudos Bank Arena

Round seven: Hawks 97 defeated Kings 89 at WIN Entertainment Centre

Round 20: Kings 107 defeated Hawks 102 at WIN Entertainment Centre in overtime

Round 21: Hawks 87 defeated Kings 84 at Qudos Bank Arena 

In those clashes, both teams had four different leading scorers. 

 Leading scorers for Hawks in games vs Kings:

• Game one: Duop Reath 27
• Game two: Sam Froling 27
• Game three: Tyler Harvey 35
• Game four: Justinian Jessup 24 

 Leading scorers for Kings in games vs Hawks:

• Game one: Angus Glover 16
• Game two: Jarell Martin 23
• Game three: Dejan Vasiljevic 33
• Game four: Xavier Cooks 20 

 The margins in those four games between these teams have been eight, eight, five and three.

The Hawks have outscored the Kings in all four fourth quarters.

The Hawks have been called for 17 more fouls leading to 40 more free-throws to the Kings 

Illawarra has averaged 94.5 points vs Sydney which is the highest any team averages against the Kings

The Hawks shot 46.6 per cent against Sydney while the Kings have held their opponents to a league-low 39.4 per cent overall. 

NSW teams in finals series

This is the first time the Hawks and Kings have played in a finals series since the championship decider in 2005 when Sydney finished on top and the Hawks second.

Brian Goorjian’s Kings won the three games by 23, 25 and 27 in the most one-sided finals series in history.  

 

Coaches' corner

Brian Goorjian, who is coaching in his 22nd consecutive semi-final series, has an all time coaching record of 801 games for 553 wins and 248 losses (win percentage of 69)

Chase Buford’s all-time coaching record is 28 games for 19 wins and nine losses (67.9%) 

773 games of experience is the biggest difference between any two coaches in an NBL match.  

Brian Goorjian is the most experienced coach in NBL history at 801 games at 68 years of age while Chase Buford is the 83rd most experienced coach in the NBL at 33 years and six months old. 

This is the first NBL final series that has not had the Perth Wildcats in it since Chase Buford has been alive (was born in 1988).

Brian Goorjian has coached 118 playoff games in the NBL for 69 wins and 49 losses (58 per cent).

Brian Goorjian made his finals debut in 1990 in the semi-finals but his Nunawading Spectres were swept by the Brisbane Bullets - who were coached by Brian Kerle and was the most successful coach to that point with four championships.

This will be just the third time that Goorjian has coached against a finals rookie and he has not lost a matchup to a newbie before. 

Brian Goorjian vs finals rookie coaches:

• 1993 beat Don Monson’s 36ers in quarter-finals (2-0)
• 2007 beat Trevor Gleeson’s Crocs in quarter-final (sudden death)
• 2022 vs Chase Buford.

Brian Goorjian has coached against 10 different teams in the post-season in his career but this will be the first time against the Sydney Kings.  

Double-doubles

There were 128 double-doubles recorded this season in 140 games played, and the Sydney Kings had the most of any team with 25. 

Xavier Cooks, who only had one double-double in each of his two previous seasons, led the NBL with 14 double-doubles for the season which was one more than the Illawarra team had for the entire season combined (13).

Illawarra product Cooks attended Holy Spirit College in Wollongong as a junior as did Kings teammate Angus Glover, Hawks development player Lachlan Dent and Wildcats guard Kyle Zunic.  

Former Hawk Glover has still not been able to make his debut for the Kings in Wollongong after being unavailable for the previous four games since switching teams.  

Glover was out for the majority of last season after knee surgery and was missing earlier because of COVID-19 protocols and was injured in warm-ups to keep him out of the round 20 game.

Glover has played 17 games at the WIN Entertainment Centre for the Hawks including his debut back in October 2016. 

Hawks' stat attack

Illawarra big man Duop Reath led the NBL in three-point shooting this season and at 211cms, becomes the tallest NBL player ever to lead the league in three-point shooting ahead of Daniel Kickert (208cm) and Oscar Forman (206cm).  

Last year’s best three-point shooter was Hawks’ Tim Coenraad (46.4 per cent). 

At the end of 2021, the Illawarra Hawks were the lowest-scoring team at 81.5 but at the end of the regular season in NBL22 they sit ranked first at 89.2ppg.

Every regular starter for the Hawks this season led the team in a different statistical category:

• Scoring average: Tyler Harvey 16.1
• Most points: Duop Reath 421
• Average rebounds: Sam Froling 7.4
• Average assists: Xavier Rathan-Mayes 4.1
• Average steals: Antonius Cleveland 1.9
• Total minutes played: Justinian Jessup  

Sam and Harry Froling at some stage in game one will be the only brothers ever to play together in the same finals game with the Hawks.

The closest that has come in the past was back in June 1984 in an Eastern Division elimination final when the Hawks lost to the Falcons in Newcastle with Tim Morrissey scoring 20-points but his brother Daniel Morrissey was listed on the scoresheet but there is no record of him playing.

Tickets for the semi-final at WIN Entertainment Centre can be bought via Ticketmaster.