Kings fire and withstand late charge from Hawks

The Sydney Kings turned on some scintillating basketball to open their NBL pre-season campaign in the first three quarters and then withstood a spirited fightback from The Hawks to win 92-83 at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday.

The two teams were forced to play behind closed doors at Qudos Bank Arena thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak in NSW in recent days, but that didn’t stop the fierce old local rivals putting on an entertaining show for those able to tune in and watch on NBL TV.

With their key players from last season's Grand Final run Casper Ware, Didi Louzada, Shaun Bruce, Brad Newley and Daniel Kickert all showing they are again ready to fire in 2021, the Kings got on top of the Hawks early doors.

Despite conceding the game's first five points, the Kings managed to lead 22-13 by quarter-time and that lead grew to 14 early in the second period after a triple from Ware and dunk from ex-Hawk Angus Glover.

The Hawks, though, led by Justinian Jessup, Deng Deng and Sam Froling were able to stay in touch and were only six down at the half on the back of a triple from Isaac White.

But Sydney was able to open a match-winning lead in the third quarter and it started with a three-point bomb from Bruce and and-one play from Glover. Bruce then nailed another pair of threes as the lead for the Kings grew to 15, and was then 22 with Louzada also connecting from long-range.

To the credit of the Hawks and perhaps with the benefit of having already played a pair of pre-season games against the Wildcats in Perth last week, they never gave up and even had a brief sniff down the stretch.

With Justin Simon completing a three-point play after a nice spin move, the Hawks were only seven down with three minutes to go. They couldn’t get closer, though, with Dejan Vasiljevic nailing a three for Sydney to seal the deal.

Shaun Bruce ended up top-scoring for Sydney with 14 points while second-year NBL Next Star Didi Louzada had 13 points and six rebounds.

Daniel Kickert added 12 points and five rebounds, Brad Newley 10 points, Casper Ware 10 points, four assists and three steals, Angus Glover eight points and three boards, and Craig Moller eight points and eight rebounds.

There was plenty again for Hawks coach Brian Goorjian to be encouraged by especially Next Star Justinian Jessup's 21 points and three rebounds on 9/17 shooting.

Deng Deng also had 16 points and nine rebounds, Emmett Naar 12 points and three assists, Tyler Harvey 11 points and four assists, captain AJ Ogilvy eight points and eight boards, and Justin Simon eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

Sydney will now continue its preparations to start the NBL 2021 season against the Perth Wildcats in Perth on Friday January 15. The Hawks, meanwhile, open up in Melbourne against the South East Melbourne Phoenix the day prior.

NBL PRE-SEASON

SYDNEY KINGS 98 (Bruce 14, Louzada 13, Kickert 12)

THE HAWKS 89 (Jessup 21, Deng 16, Naar 12) 

BOX SCORE