Kings retain Freeway Series trophy but Hawks have bigger fish to fry

The Result

Illawarra Hawks 73 - Sydney Kings 79

The Story

A huge home crowd of over 3,200 turned out to witness a thrilling encounter at the WIN Entertainment Centre between a desperate Sydney Kings side and the finals bound Illawarra Hawks.

It wasn't the best start for the home side, with news filtering through just before tip off that star guard Tyler Harvey would miss the game to acquire some much needed rest.

The California native taking his place on the bench to start this one - with the Hawks offence seemingly plonking itself right there next to him, the home side spluttering their way through one of their worst scoring quarters of the season.

In his absence, Illawarra could only manage only a solitary basket in the opening six minutes, with 'Next Star' Justinian Jessup putting up the home side's first four points in an early and lonely offensive hand.

The Kings had no troubles scoring as Jarell Martin, Xavier Cooks, Jarrad Weeks and Jordi Hunter all chipped in a few buckets each.

The Hawks finally returning to normal programming after back-to-back buckets from Deng Deng. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="in" dir="ltr">Bang Bang, <a href="https://twitter.com/DengDeng19?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DengDeng19</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarraProud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarraProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://t.co/PUgweTYUfx">pic.twitter.com/PUgweTYUfx</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball - x (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1400391173714313217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The crowd roaring to life as the Hawks reduced the margin to six to only trail 21-15 at the first break.

The second quarter saw a couple of local Hawks heroes instigate an offensive explosion.

First Tim Coenraad knocked down a well-taken three, before the Woonona wonder - Lachie Dent - almost lifted the roof off the place with two triples in succession to hand the Hawks the lead.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">FLAME ON <a href="https://twitter.com/lachlandent_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@lachlandent_</a> ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarraProud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarraProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://t.co/tdElFvV89Y">pic.twitter.com/tdElFvV89Y</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball - x (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1400392943546953728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

But it was the Kings who finished the half best, with Martin the chief destroyer to lead all scorers with 16 points as the Kings went into the sheds ahead 45-38.

The second half started a lot better for the home side, with a flurry of scoring from Hawks guard Isaac White helping fill the breach left by Harvey's absence. 

The Adelaide-born shooter - normally known for skirting around the perimeter - finding his way to the hoop on this drive, before having the piece of mind to fake and finish in the air.

cript><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Too big ? Too strong ??<a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacLewisWhite?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IsaacLewisWhite</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IllawarraProud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IllawarraProud</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://t.co/Yl127ZJ6mS">pic.twitter.com/Yl127ZJ6mS</a></p>&mdash; Illawarra Hawks Basketball - x (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1400405028775464963?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Hawks holding the slenderest of leads at three quarter time, 60-59.

The final frame was a huge one for a Kings side desperately trying to keep their season alive.

Justin Simon and AJ Ogilvy failed to return after three quarter time as coach Brian Goorjian looked to re-energise some troops.

Martin and Cooks continued to take the Hawks to school, the latter enjoying his time back on court in front of his home fans as he helped Sydney regain the lead midway through the term.

Another Coenraad bomb brought the Hawks within three with three to play, before a Cooks bomb followed by a Shaun Bruce three kicked the Kings lead back out to nine.

Emmett Naar hit one last big shot, but it was too little too late as the Kings ran out 79-73 winners - the win helping them claim the Freeway Series and retain the Dr Adrian Hurley Cup.

The Stats

A quick squiz at the stat sheet shows there wasn't much between Sydney and Illawarra tonight, with free throws the only real difference between the two sides.

The Kings made 22 trips to the charity stripe, while the Hawks only got their on 10 occasions. In general play, both squads shot 41% from the field and 34% from beyond the arc. 

The Kings had more boards (43-39) and assists (19-16), but the home side once again showed off their defensive chops, dominating steals (8-6) and blocks (5-2).

The Hawks bench showed out tonight, with a near season-high 39 points coming from the reserves. The likes of White (12), Naar (12) and Coenraad (9) getting extra burn as Harvey and Simon sat.

The Fallout

"We did our job against Perth and tonight it's our fourth game in eight days. Danger signs there for a guy like [Tyler] Harvey, carrying a Bryce Cotton load and the fact the games have come so rapidly. So to get through tonight, and get Justin [Simon] some rest, get [AJ] Ogilvy some rest, and take Harvey off the floor and still be competitive and get some more energy out of that young group, we got everything that we wanted out of the game except obviously it would have been great to win," Hawks coach Brian Goorjian said.

"We've been so desperate for so long and I know even in myself tonight I wasn't the least bit nervous coming into the game. No tightness at all, kind of a free spirit, playing the game with the houses money, enjoying the competition and make sure everybody gets a nice run and stay on the positive road," Goorjian said.

"I think there's a lot we can do to improve. We haven't had a block of time like this to make some adjustments...some different pieces, different lineups out there. Maybe we can get a little more structure in there offensively and then on the other side of it, which we haven't been able to do these last four games, is actually prepare for your opposition. That's such an advnatage where you've got four or five days, go through film, walk through what they do and then defend it over a period of time," Goorjian said.

"It's nice to put it all on the floor in a real game and stuff like that. Obviously I've been preparing for a pretty long time, it's been a long preeason and what not, so I've been getting reps at practice and stuff all that. So yeah, as Goorj said, it was tough but i tried to put all my energy towards being ready for when my name was called. and then it's been nice, actually seeing the results on the floor, seeing the plus minus of how I can actually help the team and a lot of that came from picking up the ball in the full court. So my role's been kind of clear cut the last couple of weeks which makes my job easy, and I really appreciate the opportunity and I love being out there with team," Hawks guard Isaac White said.

"Super excited. Obviously what we've been working for for such a long time. We talk about it a lot, we started in Albury-Wodonga, we went up to Cairns, we went all around the shop so to kind of get the results and get the reward for that is awesome. We're super confident, we think we can be really dangerous in the playoffs so we're going to rest up and crack into next week," White said. 

The Road Ahead

The Hawks finish the regular season with a 20-16 record and currently sit in third place on the NBL ladder. The remainder of the season will conclude over the next few days, and only then will the Hawks know who they face in the first round of the playoffs.