Boiling Point - How the War Began

If you took a temperature check of the ongoing feud between the Sydney Kings and Illawarra Hawks in the recent past, it would have been bordering on simmering – but events in recent weeks has certainly caused the pot to boil in a big way. 

As for how it literally reached boiling point well, you only have to look back to when Kings owner, Paul Smith, labelled the Hawks “scumbags” and “idiots” during a radio interview before the pre-season began in October.

“We're ready to take them on. I grew up down that area and I’ve called Chase Buford and I said, ‘Leave nothing in the tank, mate. No secrets. I want everything thrown at those idiots’,” Smith told Sky Sports Radio.

Smith’s strong words elicited an immediate response from Hawks coach, Brian Goorjian, who told The Huddle podcast his squad was taking up real estate in the Kings’ heads.

"We're under their skin," Goorjian replied.

"All I know is this is a new franchise, we're starting a new thing and that was our deal (last season), let's go up the road and smack their front teeth in, get our hand on their jugular.

"We've got to be top (in New South Wales) before anything else and we went in there and we beat their ass on their court. Then we went into Melbourne and got them again.

"When they came down here (in the final game) and beat us we shook their hand said 'now, go watch us on TV. The finals are coming and you're not in'. It's 1-0 the Gong right now."

The bitter rivals were due to meet in the NBL Blitz last month, but a COVID-19 scare forced that match to be cancelled – leaving more time for a war of words before they hit the court in the season proper.

Things were already hot, but what happened next turned up the heat to an unprecedented level.

Newscorp published explosive claims alleging the Hawks had been caught spying on them at a recent training session. Hawks’ president, Dorry  Kordahi, strongly denied the accusation, and another verbal stoush ensued.

When asked about the situation, Goorjian admitted he was “disappointed”.

“We’ve built this thing up from last year. We had a few back-and-forth last year and now it’s gone to a new level. I like to keep it to the basketball side,” Goorjian said.

“There is a lot in this one, we want it, they want it.

“I love this rivalry, I'm nervous for it, I want to beat them with everything I've got”.

Saturday. 5:30pm. Kings. Hawks. Qudos Bank Arena. ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel.

It’s game on.