Preview: Sydney v Illawarra (Round 15)

Friday, January 13, 2023

Sydney are sizzling, but nobody is getting an easy W against the Hawks right now. Who will prevail in the final instalment of the Freeway Series for NBL23.

When: 4pm (AEDT), Sunday 15 January, 2023
Where: Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
Broadcast: 10 Peach; 10 Play; ESPN; Foxtel; Kayo; Sky NZ
LIVE SCORES & STATS

Who won last time?

Sydney 86 (Cooks 21, Soares 18, Vasiljevic 17) d Illawarra 79 (Harvey 19, Siva 15, Froling 13) – Round 11 at WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong

In true Freeway Series fashion this game had high-speed momentum swings, the Hawks leading by 10 early in the second term with Peyton Siva the conductor, Sydney going 10-ahead in the third as Xavier Cooks made his influence felt, and then Illawarra surging back within a bucket in the final minute on a Tyler Harvey step-back triple. Shaun Bruce iced it with a three-point play with 20 seconds to go and the Kings went to 3-0 in the season series.

What happened last game?

Sydney had their game in Brisbane iced somewhere during the second quarter as Cooks again dominated and the Bullets provided precious little resistance, allowing the Kings to stay 1.5 games clear of Cairns in first place. The Taipans copped plenty of resistance from Illawarra, who overcame a rare quiet night from Sam Froling to be in the game until the final minute, where their inexperience once again led to a narrow loss.

What’s working?

Paint points – It’s often Sydney pantsing opponents by 20-plus inside, but Illawarra are one of only two teams to pip the Kings on PiPs this season, and are only -5.3 per game in the season series. The Hawks are +46 in their past five contests thanks to the work of Froling, while Harvey’s renewed floater game helped deliver 12 paint points in Cairns. That pair have scored at 59 per cent in the key in these teams’ past two meetings, can they deliver again?

Bench points – The Hawks’ reserves have stood tall in recent weeks even as they’ve lost members to the starting five, averaging 30.8ppg in their past four – six above their season average – highlighted by 41 in the Far North on Friday with Mathiang, Will Hickey and Dan Grida accounting for 39. Sydney’s bench is much-acclaimed, but in this season series they’ve been outscored 93-60, so this should be an intriguing battle within the battle on Sunday.

What needs stopping?

Tim Soares – When teams key on Cooks others have to step up, and the big Brazilian has done just that the past three games, averaging 15ppg at 71 per cent inside and 50 per cent outside, 5.7 rebounds, 2.0 o-boards and 1.7 blocks in under 22 minutes per night. He’s compiled 30 points and 14 rebounds in 45 minutes in the past two outings against Illawarra, and is +30 overall in a season series, while Sydney are -13 with him resting.

Mangok Mathiang – Many wouldn’t know big Mangok averaged double-doubles in the tough Italian Serie A and Turkish BSL competitions in 2019 and 2020 respectively. It’s been a long road back from two years off, but his 14-point, eight-rebound, three-block performance in Cairns suggests his best is close. He’s averaged 9.6ppg at 64 per cent, 6.3rpg and 2.0 o-boards in less than 20 minutes per night his past eight outings, and swatted six shots in his previous 40 minutes of play thanks to that powerful athleticism around the rim.

Who’s missing key men?

Illawarra is expected to have the same line-up as Friday night in Cairns, while Sydney are expected to be at full strength.

Who’s matching up?

Justin Simon v Tyler Harvey – In Round 7, when Illawarra were only late free throws away from the upset of the season, Harvey had 32 points at 64 per cent inside and 4/9 from deep while turning it over just once. In the other two losses to Sydney by a combined 16 points, he’s shot 45 per cent inside, 4/17 outside, coughed it up six times and gone -26. The ability of Simon and Co to force the Hawks’ star into tough looks is critical to the outcome.

Xavier Cooks v Deng Deng – Of course, the X-man wasn’t playing in the clash Illawarra almost pinched, and in the two meetings he has the MVP candidate ran up 45 points at 69 per cent, scoring all but three of those from within five feet or the foul line. Deng has only totalled 11 points at 3/14 in the three derby games, but the Hawks are +7 with him on the floor, mirroring his status as their number one plus/minus player over the season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">X scored or assisted on our first 14 points of the term - Here's two of the best of them ?<br><br>? LIVE on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/3xM4SbBvDA">pic.twitter.com/3xM4SbBvDA</a></p>— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1613100777299402753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

Kings coach Chase Buford only knows one type of Illawarra Hawks team.

“They’ve played us tough in the nine games I’ve ever played against them. They’ve always been good games,” he said.

“Those guys are fighting like crazy. You feel for them with the injuries they’ve had, but they scrap and they’re in every game until the end. Often times they just shoot themselves in the foot.

“We’re going to have to be ready for a challenge on Sunday, for sure.”

They need to be ready because while they sit 1.5 games clear atop the NBL ladder, they have a Perth-New Zealand road-home double next round, and things can change quickly with a couple of losses.

The other big reason they can’t be complacent ahead of Sunday’s Freeway Series finale is the Hawks truly believe they can win, regardless of their 10-game losing skid.

“To be honest I feel like every night’s our night,” Tyler Harvey said.

“Every single game coach instils in us that this is ours to get, he calls a time-out and says it to our faces and we believe it every single time he says it.

“I know this tide will turn for us, it’s a tough situation but honestly I love going to war with these guys night in, night out. It’s a pleasure playing with these guys and being coached by coach.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Working back on defence - an example set by Dan Grida ?<br><br>Follow the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/sV7rfgF7VM">pic.twitter.com/sV7rfgF7VM</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1613823945463197696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That was brilliantly exemplified in Cairns on Friday, when the Hawks trailed by 14 five minutes into the game, then led at quarter-time.

The undisputable truth about Illawarra is the tougher their run of injuries has got, the better they’ve become as a resilient unit.

“In the early stages of the year we might have just let that one go, but this guy sitting next to me (Jackomas) has done an unbelievable job of just keeping us engaged and keeping us focused on the next play,” Harvey said.

“It’s very easy at this stage for coaches and players to throw in the towel and say, ‘You know what, it’s just not our year’. He’s kept us engaged, locked in and it shows on the court. We didn’t have any let-up, even though we were down (big) early.

“That shows the growth of this team. I know we haven't got these wins, I have to be better at the end of games, I had a couple of turnovers that hurt the team and I've got to find ways to get better and win these kinds of games.”

Coach Jackomas wasn’t going to let his captain throw himself under the bus like that, however.

“It’s going to be tough for him to get the ball in the spots he wants anyway because he’s the single import and everyone’s throwing themselves at him,” Jackomas said.

“For what he’s doing at the moment and producing I can’t ask any more out of one guy ... people are really critical of Tyler, but I think he’s fricken carrying out scoring right now and everyone knows it.”

The challenge for Sunday is Sydney has a bunch of guys carrying the offensive load, led by Derrick Walton who’s had 24 assists to just seven turnovers in three Freeway Series wins.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hey Siri, play ‘Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round’ ?<br><br>All the action on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> <a href="https://t.co/UNM4EYdow9">pic.twitter.com/UNM4EYdow9</a></p>— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1613112106445856768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Scarily for the rest of the league, coach Chase Buford thinks Walton and his co-stars are only getting better and better at feeding off each other.

“What’s been great to start to see is the bonds and togetherness and chemistry, whatever you want to call it, starting to mould between Derrick and Deej and X, that starting group,” he said.

“I feel like they're starting to feel each other out a little bit more, starting to enjoy playing together. It’s fun to watch.”

For Tim Soares, it’s about being part of a club, once known as the Violet Crumbles, that now has high standards and a driven culture of improvement.

“It’s about the culture that has been put in a couple of years before us,” he said.

“It’s about playing for each other, playing for the playoffs, and as a team we've done a great job of making sure everybody’s on the same page.

“I think guys have figured out when someone’s having a great night we've got to go to this or that, (there’s) very little selfishness on our team.”