R21 Preview: Sydney Kings vs Illawarra Hawks

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Second spot and home-court advantage is on the line as Xavier Cooks' Kings and Duop Reath's Hawks go head-to-head in arguably the biggest NSW derby in 17 years.

When: 3pm (AEST), Sunday 24 April, 2022

Where: Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; 10 Peach, 10 Play; Sky Sports NZ

Who won last time?

Sydney 107 (Vasiljevic 33, Martin 21, Adams 17, Clark 17) d Illawarra 102 (Harvey 35, Jessup 21, Reath 17) OT – Round 20, WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

Tyler Harvey and DJ Vasiljevic put on a shooting show of ridiculous proportions as the NBL’s two hottest teams went head-to-head. Scores were tied at 53 at half-time and 92 after 40 minutes, but Ian Clark and Jarell Martin scored all 15 of Sydney’s points in the extra period to capitalise on a remarkable, all-around performance from Xavier Cooks and seal the W.

What happened last start?

The Kings came crashing down from that high with a tough home defeat to Adelaide, but managed to overcome Cairns thanks to a 19-6 third term. Ian Clark and Shaun Bruce covered the absence of superstar Jaylen Adams with 25 points and seven assists between them, while Cooks was everywhere again to lead Sydney to a +13 possession-point advantage.

Illawarra came up trumps in a play-off style grind in Perth to set up Sunday’s Freeway Series showdown for second place and home-court advantage in the all-NSW semi-final series. The Hawks were far from convincing late, however, going scoreless for more than three minutes down the stretch and relying on a missed, open Bryce Cotton triple to send the game to OT.

Who’s in form?

DJ Vasiljevic – After not scoring more than 16 points in his previous 11 games, Vasiljevic exploded from tip-off in the 'Gong, hitting two triples in the opening 70 seconds and not relenting until he had 33 points on 6/10 from long range. His clever off-ball movement capitalised on the Hawks’ over-helping, but there will be les of that with Adams absent.

Tyler Harvey – Not to be outdone, T-Raw dropped three floaters in the opening three minutes and didn’t relent until he had 35 points on 14/20 inside the arc, with 11 of those in the paint. Pleasingly for Hawks fans, while the floater was off-target in Perth, Harvey continued to fire from range, dropping six triples to make it 17/39 in his past five games.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TUFF back-to-back floaters by <a href="https://twitter.com/YoungTRaaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YoungTRaaw</a> ?<br><br>?: <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/WeAreIllawarra?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreIllawarra</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/WCkga35N8F">pic.twitter.com/WCkga35N8F</a></p>— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1514558247419940866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who needs to be?

Antonius Cleveland – AC hasn’t been himself the past two games, shooting 3/19 against Sydney and Perth and committing nine fouls in 55 minutes. While his defensive aggression has been a catalyst in turning around the Hawks’ season, some of his cheap fouls bordered on foolish. His 19 rebounds, seven o-boards and five blocks show why the Hawks need him on court.

Ian Clark – There’s little doubt Clark’s arrival turned the Kings’ season, his magnetism to defenders on the arc opening up the game for his fellow stars. Adams has gone from inefficient scorer to almost unguardable with Clark on board, but now with Jaylen ill, his running mate must step up and make great decisions, as he did in overtime last week.

Who’s statting up?

- Sydney are 9-1 with Clark in the line-up and 9-9 with him missing. Adams shoots 52 per cent with Clark on board, compared with 37 per cent without him

- The Hawks rank first in scoring and field-goal percentage but ninth in assists. Last week against Sydney they dished 20 dimes, while across all other losses they’ve averaged just 13.8

- The Kings are 14.7 points per 40 minutes better off with Cooks on the court, third highest in the league behind Bryce Cotton and Mitch Creek

- When Duop Reath scores 18 points or more the Hawks are 9-1, compared with 9-8 on his lower-scoring nights. He scored 17 last round in the overtime loss to Sydney

Who’s matching up?

Xavier Cooks v Duop Reath – Cooks’ past three games have been extraordinary, averaging 17.7 points, 12.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.3 blocks, confirming he is the NBL’s best two-way player and the motor that drives the Kings. He dished seven dimes against the Hawks, assuming playmaking duties with Adams targeted, and he’ll need to do more of the same on Sunday.

He didn’t have it all his own way defensively against Reath, however, who produced 17 points at 75 per cent and 3/3 from deep, but was limited to 28 minutes by foul trouble. This bigs battle has been intriguing this season, with Reath scoring 27 points matched up with Jarell Martin in the teams’ first meeting, but just six against Cook the next time around.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">He's unstoppable ?‍?? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> <a href="https://t.co/eUVszX9GT5">pic.twitter.com/eUVszX9GT5</a></p>— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1514556548882010118?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s talking the talk?

How would you describe the Freeway Series being played between the two hottest teams in the league? Fun.

“Whenever Sydney come down or we go up there it’s always fun,” underrated Hawks centre Sam Froling said after his team’s overtime loss last round.

“It’s a rivalry that’s been drilled into us from AJ and Timmy, the guys who have been here for ages.”

Froling was big time in the Round 20 clash, finishing with 14 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Coach Chase Buford is in his first year of the NSW rivalry, but he’s enjoying it too.

“If you're a neutral basketball fan and you didn’t have fun tonight, I don’t know what you’re doing, because that was a terrific basketball game,” he said.

DJ Vasiljevic has plenty of fun on his way to a career-high 33 points.

“We've won 13 in a row, we play against a great Illawarra Hawks team who had the number one offence and number one defence on their win streak, and to come in and play in a playoff-type atmosphere was unreal,” he said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DJ'S GOT A 3?0? PIECE IN THE 'GONG <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/dFRTn1yHoz">pic.twitter.com/dFRTn1yHoz</a></p>— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1514560048491790338?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Even the great Brian Goorjian, who has seen most of what there is to see in the NBL, couldn’t get too down after his team went down in such an incredible game.

“I’ve been in the NBL a long time, out and in, and the quality of basketball tonight was pretty high,” he said.

“A great game of basketball, with two very, very good, deep teams, and both teams played well.”

The best part about that? They’re doing it again on Sunday, and this time the winner takes second place and the appealing prospect of two home games in their playoff series starting later this week.

While the last clash was incredible, both teams will know they can improve, especially defensively.

The Hawks gave up 15 three-pointers at 45 per cent and 34 free-throw attempts as they struggled with the penetration of Jaylen Adams and Xavier Cooks, and were undisciplined with when to help and how to help when they did.

“When you play in a game of this significance easy baskets are huge, and easy baskets are offensive put-backs, baskets in transition and free throws,” Goorjian said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">MAKE WAY, MARTIN IS COMING THROUGH <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> & <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> <a href="https://t.co/6YXdCTM6Ok">pic.twitter.com/6YXdCTM6Ok</a></p>— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1514547027950305281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“The free-throw count (was) 34-14, and most coaches when you come in here and say that you’re talking about the referees, I'm not.

“Duop Reath twice fouled the three-point shooter. At the end of the third quarter there’s three seconds to go and we worked for the last shot, we foul them in the backcourt.

“We made a lot of irresponsible, bad fouls to put them on the line and those are easy baskets... we talked about staying down, verticality and make them play over our length, so that free-throw count was huge.”

Sydney’s ball-screen defence had no answers for Tyler Harvey’s snake-like dribbles and floaters, but they were also poor at disrupting T-Raw’s starting points so he couldn’t use the picks from Duop Reath and Froling so effectively.

“Tyler Harvey played out of his skull with some of those floaters, everything, he was a monster,” Buford said.

“We didn’t play great defence in the first half.”

Adams stepped up and made catches harder for Harvey late in the game, but with their point guard sidelined, another King must get that job done from tip-off.

“Harvey was going nuts and he said I want that match-up,” Buford said.

“I thought once he got on him he really frustrated him for a lot of that the fourth quarter and third quarter, just making it tough. He made some tough shots but Jaylen did a terrific job.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Let 'em know <a href="https://twitter.com/YoungTRaaw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YoungTRaaw</a> ?<br><br>?: <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/WeAreIllawarra?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreIllawarra</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlyAsOne?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlyAsOne</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> <a href="https://t.co/lvPzBzBXYE">pic.twitter.com/lvPzBzBXYE</a></p>— Illawarra Hawks Basketball (@illawarrahawks) <a href="https://twitter.com/illawarrahawks/status/1514562261314326528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ultimately it was Wollongong boy Cooks who made the difference for the visitors. In the final 11 minutes, when others were running in mud, X had four points, seven rebounds, two o-boards, an assist and a block and seemingly made every loose ball his own.

“He’s absolutely cooked,” Buford said afterwards, with pun presumably intended.

“I mean 14 (points), 13 (rebounds), six assists, three blocks, the defence he played, gutsy performance. I think he’ll go and live in an ice bath and hydrate for the next couple of days.”

It’s that level of desperation that will be needed to prevail at a packed Q on Sunday and lock away second spot.

“Two of the hottest teams in the league are playing each other right now,” Cooks said.

“Last time was an absolute thriller, them boys battled, and it’s going to be another great battle.

“This time it’s on the home ground, so we’re going to have a little bit of help this time, but it’s going to be a great game, I'm excited for it.”