Trash Talk Heats Up Between Kings and Hawks

There will be no love lost in Sunday’s Freeway Series clash between the Sydney Kings and Illawarra Hawks, with both clubs trading verbal barbs ahead of the blockbuster.

Sydney defensive weapon Justin Simon, who played for Illawarra two seasons ago, has declared while he is still friends with his former teammates, he wants to lock them down on the court.

“Every time I'm on the floor man, I want to kill those guys,” Simon said in The Freeway Rivalry, a joint video production between the Kings and Hawks.

“Those are my brothers off the floor, I'm really close with a lot of those guys, talk to them daily but for the most part, when we are between those lines man, there’s no friends.

“I want to dominate I want to leave my imprint on the game, my palms on it. That's what I'm going to do.”

Illawarra sharpshooter Tyler Harvey had similar fighting words though, saying friendships will go out the window come tip-off.

“(Simon) is my guy. I got nothing but love for him, we have a good relationship and still do to this day, we still talk. Once you step between the lines, you need to push all of that aside,” Harvey said.

While many will be expecting a blowout Kings victory, Sydney coach Chase Buford isn’t getting sucked into the form lines heading into the game.

The Kings are sitting pretty on top with a 7-2 record, while the Hawks are languishing at the bottom winning just one game from their first nine.

The two sides did play out a thrilling contest in Round 1, which Sydney won, and Buford is anticipating another tight battle.

“There's a lot of the narrative around the game that's making me uneasy,” he said.

“Everyone's calling the Hawks a get right game. I know they're gonna be fired up and ready to go.

“No matter what the records are, you can almost throw them out when these two teams play. Everybody's gonna be fired up and ready to go.”

Illawarra coach Jacob Jackomas is aware of the emotion surrounding the rivalry and expects his players to step up to the occasion.

“Playing the defending champions, playing our Freeway Series rivals, there's no excuses not to play well. What we've said is, if we play well, we can beat anyone,” Jackomas said.

“The respect both ways by the players that have gone through there, it's been a great rivalry, but it's also been a respectful rivalry between the coaches and players.”

Watch the Sydney Kings take on the Illawarra Hawks from 4pm AEDT Sunday, live and free on 10 Peach & 10play. Watch every game live on ESPN via Kayo and Foxtel.