Hawks throw old form "out the window"

“The old us is out the window”. That’s the sentiment from Hawks interim head coach Justin Tatum following Illawarra’s comeback Christmas Day win against the Sydney Kings.

Illawarra fell to the wrong side of an 18-point deficit midway through the second quarter in a hostile Qudos Bank Arena, but a comeback later in the second term, before a dominant third quarter, set the resurgent Hawks up for a famous victory.

Illawarra had lost their previous eight games against the Kings in a record that dated back to April of 2022, where a Hawks side led by Brian Goorjian and containing the likes of Antonius Cleveland, Duop Reath and Justinian Jessup registered a three-point win.

“The old us is out the window,” Tatum said after the game.

“This group, you’re starting to see competing. It doesn’t matter if they’re 18 down or 18 up, you’re going to get their all. I’m just happy to get a win out of these guys and not go home and take a spanking.”

“It’s a tough place to play, every single game we play against Sydney is a battle. To come in here – we had a good turnout in the crowd – to win that game for them, especially on Christmas, we’re all sacrificing a lot to play today, everybody wants to be with their families but we get to play the game we love,” Tyler Harvey added.

“Our fans were here tonight and it was a big win for us, it’s a good momentum building win for us. We were down 18 in the second quarter and usually that goes south pretty quickly for us, but not anymore.

“We kept going, JT (Tatum) kept us engaged and we just trusted the game plan throughout. Eventually it cracked open for us.”

Harvey may have been named the Foot Locker Player of the Game in the victory, but plenty of praise in the fallout of the game has been saved for young center Lachie Olbrich for his game-changing impact on proceedings.

Olbrich added nine points and 10 rebounds from the bench – with five of those boards coming on the offensive end.

He also rounded out the game with two assists, a block and two steals.

“Lachie Olbrich was MVP tonight, I wanted to make sure I gave him a shoutout for that,” Tatum said. “We told him at half-time and at the end of the game he was the MVP of this game.

“He was the reason we started to spark. Gary (Clark) and Sam (Froling) didn’t have it going early, the ball was rattling in and out but he came in and gave us some energy and life.

“He was the MVP of this and that’s what’s special about this group – you don’t know who is going to show up.”

Illawarra’s Round 12 clashes against Tasmania and Sydney were seen as crucial heading into the NBL’s Christmas fixtures, and the win over the Kings has seen the Hawks maintain the pace and stay within touching distance of the top six.

The Hawks will next play Adelaide on New Year’s Eve at 5:30pm AEDT, with the game live on ESPN via Kayo.