Simon inspires Hawks late over gritty Kings

He might not garner the headlines of his sharpshooting teammates or even legendary coach, but on the same afternoon he lost his starting spot, Justin Simon inspired the Illawarra Hawks to a thrilling 85-82 win over the Sydney Kings on Sunday.

The Kings and Hawks locked horns in the first battle of the NSW rivals for the season at Qudos Bank Arena and by the end of it, it was Illawarra holding on for the thrilling win to mean that in his first game for Illawarra against Sydney, coach Brian Goorjian beat the team he led to three championships.

Even more remarkably, it was his 11th consecutive win in NSW derbies even with the last 10 of those being at the helm of the Kings and with the last of them until Sunday being in 2008.

But on an afternoon where Simon didn’t start for the Hawks and with Tyler Harvey brilliant with 25 points while Cam Bairstow scored 13 (10 rebounds), Justinian Jessup 12 and his replacement in the starting five Deng Adel 11, the defensive master turned on a clinic late.

Having been in front most of the game and leading by as much as 12, the Hawks lost the lead during the fourth quarter with the Kings finding away despite losing Jarell Martin to a leg injury, and Jordan Hunter and Tom Vodanovich fouling out.

So the Hawks needed a spark and it came from Simon. In just over the last three minutes of the game alone, he forced two crucial turnovers including one on the Kings late possession on Casper Ware with Sydney down three.

Not only that, but he pulled in two crucial offensive rebounds and finished with put backs on both occasions, and then just to wrap it he secured the last defensive board to secure the win for the Hawks to snap their two-game losing streak.

Simon's numbers of 12 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists only tell part of the story as to how critical he was in the Hawks returning to the winner's list.

Those offensive boards he grabbed late proved the story of the game too. The Hawks finished with 18 offensive rebounds for 24 second chance points, virtually double what the Kings did in the same area.

Hawks coach Brian Goorjian liked his team's response from losing their opening two games of the season.

"They weren’t going to let it go and we knew they were going to make a run at us, and what I'm focused on is the last game at home when it was basket for basket down the stretch," Goorjian said.

"We didn’t handle that very well, but in this game I thought defensively and offensively we made them take tough shots down the last few minutes of the game, and we got good shots and made big plays."

It was still a brave Kings showing considering they were still without Daniel Kickert, Angus Glover and Xavier Cooks, and then had to play most of the fourth quarter minus Martin, Hunter and Vodanovich.

Casper Ware didn’t have the best final minute but up until then had 21 points and six assists for the Kings while hitting 3/5 from deep.

DJ Vasiljevic added 18 points and Martin 15 before going down with a nasty slip in the third quarter. Shaun Bruce was dangerous and effective with eight points and nine assists.

Kings coach Adam Forde was proud of his team's fight as the game wore on, but not so much to fall behind in the first place.

"The first half wasn’t great again with giving up the second chance points with the O-boards. We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole but then I can't fault the guys for really stepping up," Forde said.

"But why do we have to wait til we have a double-digit deficit or our backs are against the wall to shift that momentum. We did the same thing in Adelaide when we were down 17 and now obviously we were depleted again. We've gotta be better from the start."

Casper Ware started on fire for the Kings with an early three and and-one play but then the Hawks got rolling like only they can. It started with an AJ Ogilvy and-one before Tyler Harvey hit from deep and Justinian Jessup splashed consecutive long balls.

Cam Bairstow then hit from deep too and so did Deng Adel for a 26-20 quarter-time lead despite the nine points from Ware.

Illawarra's lead then grew to double-figures to start the second and was a game-high 12 when Harvey converted a three-point play.

But Adam Forde called for time and Sydney responded with the next eight points before it became just a five-point game with Shaun Bruce hitting another long ball. But with Illawarra dominating the glass, they responded and were up 50-42 at the main break.

The Kings then fired to start the second half with a big three-point play from Jarell Martin, triple from DJ Vasiljevic and bucket from Ware. Tom Vodanovich then hit a three late in the term too to keep it a two-point game after they shut down the Hawks high octane offence.

Vasiljevic then tied scores with a crafty and-one play before Brad Newley gave Sydney a first lead since three minutes into the game. Harvey and Ware then traded three balls, Newley got in on the act and the stage was set for a thrilling finish.

Harvey and Ware continued to make their team's big plays as the lead was traded, but then it was Simon's turn to take over the game with the turnovers he forced, his two putback baskets and Harvey helped him out with the go-ahead three with 55 seconds left.

Sydney still had one final chance with six seconds left and Newley got a good look at the corner three, 

Both teams now head to Melbourne for the NBL Cup with Illawarra's first game on Saturday against Cairns with the Kings first up on Sunday against Adelaide.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 5

SYDNEY KINGS 82 (Ware 21, Vasiljevic 18, Martin 15)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 85 (Harvey 25, Bairstow 13, Jessup 12, Simon 12) 

BOX SCORE