Kings head to the Grand Final after sweep of Hawks

By Matt McQuade

 

Result: Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 99 Illawarra Hawks 87

Stats that matter: Kings 47% FG; Points in the paint Kings 46 Hawks 32; Kings 15 offensive rebounds; Kings 24 second chance points.

Kings MVP: What can you say? Jaylen Adams was magnificent once again and is rapidly joining the pantheon of the best imports to have ever represented this great club.

Turning Point: The last two minutes of the second quarter. The Hawks were on top but the Kings managed to halt their momentum with the final five points of the opening half.

The game was over when: The crowd screamed MVP when you know who was at the free throw line with 30 seconds left.

Trending in the right direction: Tommy Vodanovich played an incredible two minutes to spark the purple and gold coming into halftime.

 

They’ve done it.

The Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings have reached their seventh National Basketball League Grand Final in franchise history, after sweeping aside the Illawarra Hawks 2-0 in their semi-final series with a sensational 99-87 victory in front of 9,824 fans on Sunday afternoon at Qudos Bank Arena.

Head Coach Chase Buford became the first coach in the annals of the organisation to sweep his debut playoff series with the Kings after the team grabbed control with an 89-79 win last Friday night in Wollongong and closed it out in spectacular fashion.

Sydney trailed 55-45 at intermission after the Hawks dominated much of the first half, but were not to be denied in a brilliant second half performance, becoming the first team in the NBL 40-minute era to come back and win a playoff game from a ten-point halftime deficit.

“It’s just pride in the toughness and resiliency of our group,” an elated Coach Buford said afterwards.

“I mean, to come in and be down 15 at one point and not hang our heads; stick to what helped get us here.

“And gosh, I can’t count on my hand the number of big threes and big plays this guy next to me (Jaylen Adams) made.

“He hit, Ian (Clark) hit, Jarell (Martin) hit, X (Xavier Cooks) made plays down the stretch.

“I’m just really proud of the guts of our group to find a way to get that done.”

Indeed, it was a win for the ages, built on a never-say-die spirit.

A desperate Illawarra threw everything at Sydney in the first half, particularly in a second quarter onslaught when Tyler Harvey (21 points, four rebounds, three assists) and Justinian Jessup (12 points, three rebounds), combined to launch a blistering offensive assault.

Harvey had 10 points in the quarter and Jessup had seven, and the Hawks had nine straight points at one stage to blow the margin out to a game-high 15 points, 54-39.

Crucially, with the game teetering on the edge, the Kings held the Hawks scoreless for the final two minutes of the quarter, as Tommy Vodanovich came off the bench to play highly impactful minutes.

Sydney went to the rooms with some momentum after Ian Clark (17 points, two rebounds) nailed a key three and Vodanovich knocked in two free throws.

“I thought Tommy’s two minutes were the catalyst in the game,” Coach Buford said.

“Nothing was going right; we really wanted to avoid DJ (Dejan Vasiljevic) getting a third foul, and we talked before the game that Tommy can always be a change of pace guy for us, just come in and hustle.

“He grabbed two huge offensive rebounds for us, just kept the fight in our team a little bit.”

Sydney came out with more intensity defensively after the break, and it paid off immediately, with the team getting three straight stops.

A 7-0 run courtesy of five points from the awesome Jarell Martin (23 points, nine rebounds) and a deuce from the remarkable Xavier Cooks (16 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, four blocked shots) had the Kings within three and the Hoops Capital was in a frenzy.

Illawarra responded thanks to two triples from the impressive Duop Reath (20 points, four rebounds), and regained their ten-point advantage.

But you still had the sense the impetus was with the Kings, and when league MVP Jaylen Adams (29 points, seven rebounds, three assists) knocked down a three from the right wing and was fouled by Harvey in the process, converting the rare four-point play, the tide had definitely shifted.

Martin and Clark combined for another seven points as part of a withering 11-0 burst, and when Clark nailed a jumper to cap the surge, Sydney led by one and the roof just about came off the Q.

After a bucket from Sam Froling (eight points, 12 rebounds), Clark nailed another triple to give the Kings a 69-67 lead with a quarter to play – the stage now set for one of those all-time epic finishes.

A triple from Dejan Vasiljevic (seven points) opened the scoring in the final quarter, the Kings’ lead was five and the crowd was going nuts.

But in what proved to be their last stand of NBL22, Illawarra stormed back with a 7-0 run keyed by NBL Defensive Player of the Year Antonius Cleveland (nine points, 11 rebounds, four steals), and led by four points with seven minutes remaining.

Sydney responded, as they had all second half, with a devastating 11-0 run highlighted by a monster triple from Adams that gave the Kings back the lead.

Xavier Rathan-Mayes (14 points, seven rebounds) had a pair of threes to reduce the margin to just three points, 87-84, with less than three minutes remaining and the Hawks’ NBL22 season not quite done with yet.

However, cometh the hour, cometh the man, and that man was Jaylen Adams, who stamped his authority on the game during crunch time with one spectacular play after the other, particularly his step-back straightaway triple that gave the Kings a 92-87 lead with a minute remaining.

In retrospect, that was the death blow for Illawarra.

Cooks made one of two at the line, Martin had a tough layup, and when Sam Froling was whistled for an unsportsmanlike foul on Adams, Jaylen went to the free throw line to be serenaded by chants of ‘MVP! MVP! MVP!’, from the massive crowd.

“Man, that was crazy,” Jaylen – who was presented with his NBL MVP trophy prior to the game by 2019 MVP Andrew Bogut – said in the post-game press conference.

“I was just trying to hold back a smile and just make the free throws.

“I ain’t ever experienced anything like that man; the fans, the love, that was crazy.

“I’ll never forget that moment.”

Naturally, Mr Adams made both his foul shots to set off wild celebrations among the purple and gold faithful.

Cooks closed the scoring with a lay-up, and the Kings completed a 30-point quarter, their highest scoring fourth quarter of the season and the first time in their six games against Illawarra in NBL22 that Sydney outscored Illawarra in the fourth period.

At the end it was utter jubilation, as the players and coaches hugged and Jaylen Adams ran around the court high-fiving any fan he could.

Sydney shot the ball at 47% from the field, were 12 of 29 from three-point range and 17 of 20 from the free throw line in their stunning win. They had 46 points in the paint, produced 24 second chance points and their 99 points was the team’s highest-score ever in a 40-minute NBL playoff game.

Sydney’s Grand Final opponent is yet to be determined, contingent on the result of Game Three of the Melbourne United vs. Tasmania JackJumpers semi-final series on Monday night at John Cain Arena in Melbourne. Tickets will go on sale for the first Grand Final game in Sydney once the Grand Final schedule is officially released.

#WE ARE KINGS

 

BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 99 (Adams 29, Martin 23, Clark 17)
ILLAWARRA HAWKS 87 (Harvey 21, Reath 20, Rathan-Mayes 14) at Qudos Bank Arena.

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