Kings win 13th straight after epic in Wollongong
By Matt McQuade
Result: Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 107 Illawarra Hawks 102 in overtime
Stats that matter: Kings 15 three pointers; Kings 26 free throw makes; Kings 12 offensive rebounds; Kings 13 second chance points
Kings MVP: Dejan Vasiljevic had himself a career night. He was absolutely sensational.
Turning Point: The first two minutes of the overtime period when the Kings opened with an 8-0 run.
The game was over when: Ian Clark’s triple with less than two minutes left gave the Kings enough of a buffer.
Trending in the right direction: Xavier Cooks continues to show why he should be a walk-up starter on the All-NBL First Team.
That’s one of the all-time greats.
In an incredible, back and forth war that took an overtime period to decide the outcome, the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings covered themselves in glory with a magnificent 107-102 victory over the Illawarra Hawks at the WIN Entertainment Centre on Thursday night in what was the team’s 1000th game in the National Basketball League.
The Kings secured their 16th playoff appearance since entering the NBL in 1988 with their 18th win of the season in a performance full of character for a team that came in beaten and tired after playing two games in the last four days.
As exhausted as they were, this remarkable group of men went toe-to-toe with an Illawarra squad desperate to get a win in front of a monster crowd of 4,872, and they refused to yield at any stage, dominating the overtime period to set a new single season franchise record with their ninth consecutive victory on the road.
"If you're a neutral basketball fan and you didn't have fun tonight, I don't know what you're doing, because that was a terrific basketball game," Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings Head Coach Chase Buford said.
"Tyler Harvey played out of his skull with some of those floaters, everything - he was a monster. He wasn't the only one - (Xavier) Rathan-Mayes made some plays, so did (Justinian Jessup).
"I'm proud of our guys for battling with it and staying with it. We didn't play great defence in the first half and we were frustrated by some non-calls, We just kept our nose to the ground, kept working, and found a way to get it done."
It was the 105th game played between these arch rivals and there’s no doubt it takes its place as one of the best games ever played between the two.
There were no fewer than 26 lead changes and the game was tied on 15 occasions. Both teams made one unbelievable play after another and it felt only fitting that it went to the extra session after the game was knotted at 92.
However, in that overtime period, it was the Kings who took it to the home team, and it was all thanks, offensively at least, to two men – Ian Clark and Jarell Martin – who combined for all of Sydney’s 15 points in the last five minutes.
Clark (17 points, five rebounds, two steals) nailed a triple to get the scoring underway, and Martin (21 points, six rebounds) made a three and a layup to give the Kings an eight-point advantage in the blink of an eye.
Martin’s two free throws extended the margin to a game-high 10 points, and although Illawarra’s Duop Reath (17 points, four rebounds) knocked down a long-range bomb to reduce Sydney’s lead to seven, Clark responded with another three with less than two minutes left, a shot that would become the biggest of the night, as the Kings were able to hang on.
With the brilliant Jaylen Adams (17 points, seven assists, seven rebounds) sidelined by cramp, the Kings’ other two imports took it upon themselves to deliver their team’s 13th straight win, equalling the second longest winning streak in franchise history set between the end of the 2003 season and the beginning of 2004 – the Kings will be hoping that’s a good omen given both those years resulted in championships for the purple and gold.
But in truth, while there were many heroes in purple and gold this night, Sydney don’t win that game without the extraordinary performance of one Dejan Vasiljevic, who blasted an NBL career-high 33 points on a super-efficient nine of 15 from the field, including six of ten from deep.
DJ had eight important points in the opening period as the Hawks came out of the blocks fast through their dynamic floor leader Tyler Harvey (35 points, five rebounds, five assists), who also had eight points in a sensational opening frame with the Kings holding a razor-thin 24-23 lead at the end of the quarter.
Vasiljevic added another nine points in the second, all of them vital as Harvey had 10 of his own and Justinian Jessup had eight with the Hawks and the Kings playing some of the best basketball of the season in a superb first half, a marvellous twenty minutes ending with the game tied at 53 as both teams headed to the rooms.
"We've won 13 in a row and we played against a great Illawarra Hawks team who had the number one offence and number one defence during their win streak," Dejan said afterwards.
"To come in and play in a playoff-type atmosphere was unreal.
"It was a great game. I mean, we're tired, but we understood the assignment. We hadn't beaten these guys, and Chase emphasized that at the start of the game.
"We had to come out here and play hard. Obviously we had a sloppy first half, but we were able to gut it out, and to beat Illawarra in their own house and continue our winning streak is unreal."
In retrospect, the third period was crucial for the purple and gold as they started to take control of what had been a blistering tempo, thanks mainly to the awesome Xavier Cooks (14 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, three blocked shots), who was a force at both ends of the floor.
X blocked shots, he put heat on the rim, he got deflections, he got on the glass – he basically did it all. Dejan stayed hot with 10 points in the period and the Kings turned for home leading 75-72.
The final period, as befitting this extraordinary battle, was as intense and hard-fought as any game could possibly be. It was a heavyweight title fight as both teams landed hammer blows on one another.
A Harvey three was answered by a triple from Vasiljevic to tie the game at 83, and three free throws to Dejan gave the Kings a lead they would hold until the 1:19 mark, when Reath knocked in a tough floater to tie it at 92.
Incredibly, after a high-powered offensive masterpiece, the Kings didn’t make a field goal in the final four minutes of regulation – maybe a pointer to just how fatigued they were.
But they survived a three-point shot from Xavier Rathan-Mayes (six points, seven rebounds) that would have given the Hawks the win, and closed it out in an overtime period that capped a game for the ages.
The Kings shot the ball at 45% from the field, were 15 of 33 from three-point range and went to the free throw line 34 times for 26 makes. They had 18 assists and 34 points in the paint, although the Hawks edged them in the rebound count 48-44.
Enjoy that one Kings’ fans. That was one of the best.
The Kings are looking for 14 straight wins on Easter Sunday as they finally head home to take on the Adelaide 36ers at Qudos Bank Arena, with tipoff scheduled for 3:00pm AEST. Tickets for that clash are on sale via Ticketek.
#WE ARE KINGS
BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 107 (Vasiljevic 33, Martin 21, Adams 17, Clark 17)
ILLAWARRA HAWKS 102 (Harvey 35, Jessup 21, Reath 17) in overtime at WIN Entertainment Centre.
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