Kuol now on two fouls, Toohey and cooks bringing kings back in this.

Cracking game happening here. Kings right back in this. Olbrich and Toohey are fantastic young boomers in the making.

Bruce is no longer a rotation player and can you even call what Leafa's in a slump seeming it’s still the start of the season and he hasn’t scored a single point?

Horrible foul call on Cooks. On the other side of coin, Cooks missing free throws costing kings the lead. Hawks by one at halftime. Froling can't go with Cooks.

Leafa reputation was always better than his ability. There is a fair few of these in the nbl where there reputation is far better that their ability. Quite a few who are better than their reputation as well though.

Days is better than Clarke

Adams is the best point guard in the league

No love lost between these two team, cracking game, skilful, physical.

Cooks fouled out again, kings looked tired down the stretch.

Hawks are legit

Hawks are a must watch team for mine

Hawks 96 kings 89. Unbelievable game, 11800 crowd, Harvey massive three at crunch time. Goorg is a great coach and Tatum just as good.
Congratulations to the refs, did fantastic job, it's been so much better this season.
So many great plays by both sides
Cooks free throws really hurts kings in big moments, opponents know and foul strategically
Days is fantastic fit.
Kings probably still favourites but not certainties
No Noi again, looked ready to play, Goorj likes defenders.

Sydney are an easy team to dislike.

Agreed its hard to like Sydney. As good as they are to watch there are too many cocky players and even the ownership group. Arrogance from the top down

So we now have a useful reference point. Hawks at least as good as last year so a championship series calibre team. Kings held to 89 points by a team who play solid D and leaked 96. Scored 88 against the Cats who still don't play great D. Hawks a legit shot at being top 2 like Tatum said. Some question marks about the Kings and maybe not the clear front runner we thought. But again very early days. A very interesting season unfolding.

The kings were settling a little too much for the three ball today i dont think they have anything to worry about. The hawks definitely legit and tatum has them playing to his system very well. They run deep and the role players are all making solid contributions.

Quality game. I thought the refereeing was ordinary at times, but didn't detract from an entertaining game overall. Kings missed a lot of 3s they'd typically make, but did enough to work their way back in it and make it a game. Bruce is coping a ton of flack from Kings fans online, but he actually does a good job getting the team up the court and into a set which we desperately need at times. It would be nice if he made the odd 3 outside of game winning buzzer beaters at times, though...

Harvey and Kell were the difference for the Hawks, and I thought it was another solid showing from Hickey who just finds ways to get involved and be disruptive. Days I think has drifted a little far towards being a 3pt shooting guy the last 2 games, I think he needs to be a little more aggressive inside.

Good to see a sizable Illawarra presence in the crowd again as well, just like the good old days.

Leaupepe probably needs to go to the bench for Oliver, but Oliver still shows his brain fades from Cairns is still a problem. Leaupepe has the hustle but is really struggling from deep, can't have him and Cooks as non shooters on the floor together. So because of the spacing imo Adams was fairly quiet, penetrated well at times but didn't look that interested, looked like last season's version, when things aren't going well he goes quiet. Thought Noi could have come on and seen if he could get some shooting going but ignored. Imo jury is out with Brian, ultimately buck stops with the coach, has a star studded team but looks really disjointed. Cooks just gets it done as reminded by the commentary that they don't have to run a play for him, without him it could have been a blowout. Tuohy continues to impress.
But Hawks look legit, great blend of size and athleticism, plus some fantastic role players that hustle to get those extra points and possessions. And Harvey worth every penny, some big plays down the stretch when they could have folded. And they really seem a happy bunch and love playing for Tatum.

Hawks have been great, continuing on from last season. Good time for them to land a major sponsor by now, right?

Surprised with the Tatum connection they couldn't get one of his sons sponsors to inject a little bit. I know the Olympics clashed, but a quick lightning visit would have been better than an old Melo last week.
Would be great to have a Jordan Brand team despite previous uniform deals.

"Leaupepe probably needs to go to the bench for Oliver"

Agree, it's probably time. Leaupepe has been much better than expected and the threes haven't been missing by much despite the sightly funky shooting style. He'll get there I think. He's been mostly great defensively, although Froling schooled him a couple of times early, I think he's a better perimeter defender than he is interior at this stage.

Sydney got straight up bullied.

How's the disrespect from Lo Buluk to Adams early doors, and no one came in to fly the flag.

Young Swaka should try that against United or the JJs and see what happens

Thought the Hawks also showed the benefit of having continuity in their roster and also being very much battle hardened from that semi final series against United for these types of tight finishes. That can go a long way and we saw it on show again from both teams in the JJs United game on Saturday night in terms of just how hard you have to play to succeed.

Cooks, Harvey and Kell hit some big shots but it was Lo Buluk I'll remember from this game

Hit a few shots himself and shut down Adams who had an off night.

Adams seemed unlucky on that coach challenge to me- did he even touch him?

llawarra running an 8 man rotation, most teams running 9 or 10. There are clear advantages in this approach for on-court chemistry. But, you can come undone too, if there's injuries in the playoffs and the 9+ guys haven't had the meaningful experience during the season

Great game overall and I'd say Illawarra are now #1 on the power rankings until someone proves otherwise!

The kings are deep but I 100% don't see them as certainties for the title . Leaupepe will cost them games if they continue to play him big minutes tough player but gives away stupid fouls and poor shot selection , I love kuol but gets into foul trouble way to easily same as Oliver . No doubt they are still favourites but gorj is going to actually have to coach this team