R9 Preview: Sydney Kings v Illawarra Hawks

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Thursday 11 March

Where: John Cain Arena, Melbourne

Broadcast: ESPN; Sky Sports NZ; SBS On Demand; Twitch

The last time

Illawarra 85 (Harvey 25, Bairstow 13, Jessup 12, Simon 12) d Sydney 82 (Ware 21, Vasiljevic 18, Martin 15) – February 14, Qudos Bank Arena 

There was a lot going on in this one. It was Sydney's second home game within days after starting the season with a big road stretch and it marked Brian Goorjian's first return to coach against the Kings to so much success until they briefly went down following the 2008 Grand Final. In the end Goorjian kept his remarkable run of winning in NSW derbies alive with that streak stretching to 11 even though it was his first time leading the Hawks into battle against the Kings. While Justin Harvey top-scored with 25 points and Cam Bairstow had a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards, Justin Simon was most instrumental in the eventual win for Illawarra. In the last three minutes alone Simon forced two huge turnovers, grabbed two offensive rebounds for put backs and was huge in a win where the Kings showed such heart losing Jarell Martin with Tom Vodanovich and Jordan Hunter fouling out. 

The now

This will be the first ever battle between Sydney and Illawarra in Melbourne as they begin their final weeks at the NBL Cup with plenty at stake for the Kings and Hawks.

The Kings come into Thursday night's clash on a high after an impressive showing to beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Saturday while the Hawks are coming off a horror show on Sunday against the Perth Wildcats which coach Brian Goorjian felt deserved to be a 50-point loss with the way his team played before losing by 17 when his bench players brought it back late.

It's been a rollercoaster ride all season for Sydney never winning or losing more than two games in succession, and they did well to avoid a third straight loss by beating South East Melbourne on Saturday on the back of competitive and narrow losses to Melbourne United and the Cairns Taipans. At no point this season have they been near full strength and that will continue against the Hawks. While there is the positive of import centre Jarell Martin returning, veteran Daniel Kickert goes out and joins Angus Glover and Xavier Cooks still sidelined.

Sydney comes into the final week at the NBL Cup with a 3-3 record in Melbourne with 23 points to their credit to remain right in the mix for a top three finish and some prizemoney. The Kings also hold a 6-7 overall record this NBL season.

The Hawks have lost six of nine games now after starting the season winning four straight, and there was definite rough signs in Sunday's loss to the Wildcats. That came on the back of a bounce back win over the Adelaide 36ers on Thursday where Goorjian backed in Tyler Harvey, Justinian Jessup, Justin Simon, Deng Adel and Cam Bairstow to play the entire fourth quarter. But nothing worked against Perth and Goorjian was a frustrated man afterwards.

Illawarra now comes into the Sydney game with a 7-6 record still overall this season but that includes just 2-4 at the NBL Cup where they have claimed 17 points of the 42 that have been on offer to them.

The stats

- This game will be the 100th meeting in NBL history between the NSW rivals. The Kings lead the head-to-head contest with 54 wins and the Hawks 45 over the first 99 clashes that began on February 19, 1988 at Homebush's State Sports Centre. The Kings won that clash 103-95 over the Hawks with Steve Carfino hitting 24 points while Chuck Harmison had 22 in a losing effort.

- Sydney's DJ Vasiljevic and Illawarra's Justinian Jessup are right in the Rookie of the Year battle, but have had contrasting shooting form of late. Vasiljevic has been on fire for the Kings leading his team in scoring the last three games with an average of 24.3 points and in the NBL Cup he's been going at 21.3 while shooting 56.2 per cent from the field and going 20/35 at 57 per cent from deep. Jessup, meanwhile, has gone just 2/13 from deep in his last three games and is averaging just 8.0 points after putting up 16.6 points in the first 10 games where he was shooting the three ball at 53.7 per cent.

- The start to this one is going to be crucial. The Kings have been the best starting team this season leading at quarter-time in 11 of 13 matches. The Hawks haven’t been in front at quarter-time in their past six games and they have been outscored by 29 points in their last three first periods. The only time Illawarra has been in front in the last nine games at quarter-time was against Sydney.

The key men

Jarell Martin – Now of course you don't want to expect too much too soon when a player is coming back from injury but he will make his return against the Hawks after missing the last six games with a knee injury suffered against Illawarra the last time the teams played. He had 13 points already in that game before going down and his form was building impressively. He had averaged 21.5 points and 4.5 rebounds the previous two games and was showing he was a real handful at the offensive end, but could be a good defender of bigs up the other. The Kings have missed him since despite the best efforts of Jordan Hunter, Tom Vodanovich and even Craig Moller, but with him in the line-up it gives the Kings that genuine third star alongside Casper Ware and DJ Vasiljevic.

Justin Simon – For the Hawks to be successful obviously they need Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup shooting well, Cam Bairstow and Deng Adel continuing to find their groove, and AJ Ogilvy and Sam Froling to be a presence inside, but it can't be ignored that when the Hawks play well, Justin Simon is at the forefront of it. He has the ability to dominate a game defensively while when he attacks the offensive glass that gives the chance to get extra shots for the shooters, or he is outstanding on putting it back himself. He is a real barometer for the team and there are times he's way too passive at both ends. For the Hawks to beat the Kings, he needs to be bringing his full bag of energy and hustle.

The quotes

Kings coach Adam Forde continues to be delighted with the way his team is starting games as they do strive to find that greater consistency, but he also couldn’t help but note a better rebounding effort against South East Melbourne was critical in the eventual win as well.

"We are still guilty of that one rogue quarter which was the second quarter still against the Phoenix where we gave up 33 after holding them to 14 in the first. But I'm pretty confident we're 11 wins, one draw and one loss when it comes to first quarters," Forde said.

"So we are doing pretty good there and also in fourth quarters, but it's now just about maintaining that intensity and focus. Credit to the guys in this win, they came back out in the second half with a bit more intent and we got the job done.

"We gave up 22 second chance points against Cairns and we lose, we gave up 20 second chance points against Illawarra and lose, and in all these games the deciding factor is that when the final margins are so close. 

"The boys were getting sick of it and it was good that we have gone through that stage where we recognised that defensively we're hitting our spots that we need to, and are rotating and we just have to close out the possessions.

"There was a real sense of desire amongst the group to get in there and Casper had 10 rebounds. Everyone who stepped on the floor had a rebound and that's what needs to be done, and credit to the guys for making a point of getting it done."

For a player averaging just 4.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists a game, Craig Moller is as important a piece as any at the Kings. He has had to stand tall when Sydney has needed him to play above his size and his ability find shooters from the post, hustle, rebound and defend is massive. And he likes to play that role.

"That's how we like to set up our offence with myself Xav in the post and obviously Xav has done down for now, but I assume I'm averaging a career-high in assists. It's certainly a role that I'm willing to take on to try and be that point forward because we have some elite scorers," Moller said.

"I'm happy to try and be that glue guy where I play solid D, box out and let Casper come in and scoop those boards and be that facilitator because I know they'll be getting played super tight. If they make back cuts and things like that, I'm going to find them."

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian took Sunday's loss to the Perth Wildcats hard. The eventual 17-point margin didn’t tell the full story of how much they were outplayed.

Now he hopes a few days to prepare to bounce back against Sydney will make the world of difference.

"Now that you look back at it in a different light and maybe the elephant is a little bigger than you anticipated and specifically in this game against Perth we weren’t up for the fight and didn’t want any part of it," Goorjian said.

"We got outhustled, outcoached, outplayed and it was just a really disappointing situation. That's where we sit with three or four days to get ready for Sydney. This is really hard to come out of my mouth because I really like these guys and I thought our practice leading into this was really good. I was excited for the game and it's just like a punch in the face afterwards."

Usually a coach will want to focus in on his team's defence when they are struggling and hope that flows into their offence. But it's the lack of chemistry on offence since bringing Cam Bairstow and Deng Adel into the rotation that remains Goorjian's biggest concern and that has been their major focus as they prepare to face the Kings.

"Our defence is something we're working at and it's tough for this group that has been traditionally bad defensively, and I think we've made some gains. But from those first four wins to now it's real apparent the ball isn’t moving," Goorjian said. 

"It's sticking and it's a me mindset of I'm going to get the ball and do my thing.  You ain't doing that against a well oiled machine like Perth and when we come up against Melbourne. It's been one of our trademarks in those lead up games and now that we've added a couple of guys to the rotation it's become more selfish offensively.

"So when I go to work on fixing this thing, it's more on the offensive end than it is the defensive end. And again it's those quick shots, the pull ups that some of those guys are taking where not only are they long twos and misses, but it then gives them layups up the other end so it's two-fold. It hurts our defence as well even though we are pretty good at getting back."