Kings wary of "scary" Hawks

The fortunes of the two Christmas night opponents, Sydney and Illawarra, have been very different over the past two rounds.

The Kings are riding high on a four-game win streak, after defeating Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Cairns over the past fortnight.

While the reigning champions have lost three of their past four contests, including Saturday's six-point defeat at the hands of league-leaders Adelaide.

But Kings coach Brian Goorjian says his side aren't going to take their NSW rivals lightly.

"They [Illawarra] are still the champions," Goorjian said.

"You watched them play nasty, desperate and go toe-to-toe with Adelaide, who we have the utmost respect for and are probably the best team in the competition.

"We're at the halfway mark, and if you win four or five in a row, you're right back in this thing.

“They're scary for anybody [to play], and we’re going to have to come ready to play, which I have full faith we will thanks to our leadership group.”

Sunday’s win over Cairns and Thursday’s Christmas blockbuster are just two of the Kings’ upcoming home-heavy schedule, with the Harbour City side playing eight of their next 11 at Qudos Bank Arena.

“In the time I’ve been back here, we haven’t really got going here [Qudos Bank Arena] yet,” Goorjian said.

“It’s important we continue to feed off each other’s energy and excitement, as well as the fans, over the coming weeks and play like I know we're capable of.”

Thursday’s all-NSW Christmas night showdown tips off at 8.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN and 10.