Hawks leave Kings' Finals hopes hanging by a thread

The Sydney Kings' finals hopes are hanging by a thread after falling to the Illawarra Hawks, who moved closer to a fairytale post-season berth with their 106-95 win at Qudos Bank Arena.

The back-to-back champions' seventh loss from nine starts pushes them out of the all-important top six heading into the final round of the regular season.

To make the Play-In Tournament from here, other results must fall the Kings' way and they almost certainly need to beat last-placed South East Melbourne on the road next weekend.

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That will be easier said than done, considering an undermanned Phoenix defeated Sydney fewer than three weeks ago.

The fourth-placed Hawks can confirm their own play-in spot by beating either of competition heavyweights Perth or Melbourne United in the final weekend of the regular season.

Illawarra could still make the post-season if they lost both, pending other results.

Such an outcome would be quite the turnaround for the Hawks, who sacked Jacob Jackomas and appointed Justin Tatum to his first professional head-coaching job after a 2-7 start to the season.

Former NBA forward Gary Clark (22 points, seven rebounds) hit two three-pointers during an 11-0 first-quarter run that put the Hawks in control on Sunday.

That advantage had blown out to 20 points early in the second before Denzel Valentine (21 points, five rebounds, four assists) inspired the Kings to their own 11-0 streak.

But Illawarra, with a tight zone defence and better effort on the glass, pulled the Kings back whenever they kicked away.

Sharp-shooting Tyler Harvey had 15 points by half-time and finished with 19, including four three-pointers.

The Kings hit only two of their first nine attempts from the field in the third quarter as they sought to close the gap.

The usually cool-headed Jaylen Adams (18 points, seven assists) missed an open lay-up that could have cut the lead to 10 points later in the period.

Still appearing hampered by his shoulder injury, DJ Hogg (11 points, eight rebounds) began to fire at the start of the fourth quarter but it proved too little too late for the Kings.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 19

SYDNEY KINGS 95 (Valentine 21, Adams 18, Galloway 15)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 106 (Clark 22, Harvey 21, Swaka Lo Buluk 16)

BOX SCORE