They are bitter rivals who are also the two hottest teams in the NBL.
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And while the Sydney Kings and Illawarra Hawks face tricky assignments on the road to come, the anticipation is already building for the playoffs defining NSW showdowns to come to finish the regular season.
The Kings capped off a perfect 10 games with a punishing 103-83 victory over Tasmania on Sunday, while the Hawks have won 10 of their past 12 games, after overpowering competition leaders Melbourne United on Saturday.
As Sydney have announced themselves as genuine contenders and boosted by the return of Illawarra junior Xavier Cooks, they now face Adelaide and New Zealand away before travelling to Wollongong on April 14.
"It's a heck of a week coming up for us," Kings coach Chase Buford said.
"We play four games in the span of eight days, rest and recovery will be huge.
"At the end of the day, these guys want to play games, they don't want to hear me yelling at them in practice, the more games we play it's probably better for these guys in the locker room.
"Adelaide's a tough team, they rebound the ball well and have good scorers and New Zealand if they're healthy are tough and we follow that up with Illawarra, so we've got to be ready."
After outclassing the Bullets 87-70 last week, the Hawks trek to Brisbane on Saturday, then run the gauntlet to the playoffs with games against Sydney, the Wildcats in Perth and then the Kings again.
Despite United's stumbles against the Hawks, they still sit atop the NBL ladder with a 15-7 record, now joined by the Kings, with the Hawks third at 16-7 and Perth fourth (14-8).
The Hawks are three games clear of Tasmania, meaning the Hawks need to win at least two of their remaining games to secure finals action.
"All we are now, with four games to go, is we're in the mix," Hawks coach Brian Goorjian said.
"We've still got work to do."
THE RUN HOME
Remaining Illawarra Hawks games
Saturday v BRISBANE at Nissan Arena (5.30pm)
April 14 v SYDNEY at WIN Entertainment Centre (7.30pm)
April 22 v PERTH at RAC Arena (9.30pm)
April 24 v SYDNEY at Qudos Bank Arena (3pm)
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