Harvey's big shot sees Hawks beat Kings

The stage was set with Brian Goorjian's return to Sydney against the team he last coached in the NBL and with both sides unbeaten, and it lived up to the billing as the Illawarra Hawks beat the Sydney Kings 96-89.

A crowd of 11,438 people turned out at Qudos Bank Arena as the Kings and Hawks renewed their rivalry in Sydney's first home game of the season after two wins in Perth while Illawarra had put up 215 points in their first two victories.

The Hawks started on fire racing to a 11-2 lead but it was a game set for a big finish and Tyler Harvey made the game breaking three with a minute to go for Illawarra to win by seven and improve to 3-0.

"That's what he (Harvey) does," Hawks coach Justin Tatum said.

"When he gets the ball in his hands, I just turn my back and hope that it goes in because I know it's going up. He's a gamer."

The Kings will rue two late turnovers, with Cam Oliver and then Jaylen Adams coughing the ball up as Sydney attempted to tighten the screws in the final three minutes.

A slow start also hurt the Kings, who hit only one of their first 13 attempts from deep in the face of a tight Hawks zone defence.

Harvey's fellow import guard Trey Kell III (20 points, six rebounds) was important earlier in the game, helping rebuff the Kings after they took their first lead of the day early in the third quarter.

Hawks wing Wani Swaka Lo Buluk held 2022 NBL MVP Adams well with his trademark sticky coverage at the top of the paint.

Not only did Swaka Lo Buluk take care of that defensive assignment and hold Adams to nine points on 2/12 shooting, but he also had 16 points on 6/9 himself.

Import forward Darius Days also had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks, Sam Froling 10 points and 11 boards, and Davo Hickey eight points and four assists.

Sunday afternoon's match was Xavier Cooks' first before the Kings' home crowd since leaving to pursue an NBA opportunity after the second of back-to-back NBL championships in the 2022/23 season.

Cooks (22 points, 12 rebounds) and Oliver dominated the paint early in the third term, with the former sending a reminder of his potency with a skirmish from all around the key.

He found himself in hot water at the change for three quarter-time, tech fouled for remonstrating with a match official, but nevertheless finished with a second double-double from three games back at the Kings.

Next Star Alex Toohey had 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals for Sydney as well with Oliver ending up with 15 points, seven boards and three assists.

Of greater concern for Goorjian was the drop off he's seeing in his team whenever Adams comes off the floor.

"When we take Jaylen out of the game, we struggle," Goorjian said.

"I'm not going at (Shaun) Bruce, I'm not going at me. A lot of the groups that we've played with him (Bruce) in there, we've never played together at practice.

"It's a process that we're going through and that has been a continual one of getting that right, and tonight it really hurt us at the end of the third quarter and the start of the first quarter."

The Kings are back on the road for the Brisbane Bullets home opener on Saturday night while the Hawks will be back to Wollongong that same evening hosting the Adelaide 36ers.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

SYDNEY KINGS 89 (Cooks 22, Toohey 16, Oliver 15)

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 96 (Harvey 21, Kell III 20, Swaka Lo Buluk 16)

BOX SCORE