Tyler Harvey has broken the Sydney Kings' hearts with a late three-pointer that sealed the Illawarra Hawks' 96-89 win and spoilt Xavier Cooks' return to the Harbour City.
Renowned for his reliability at the death and from deep, American guard Harvey (21 points) stepped back for a three-pointer with the scores locked at 89-89 as the final minute approached on Sunday.
His shot flicked into the hoop and silenced the 11,438-strong Sydney crowd, helping the Hawks take a big step to a third consecutive NBL win over their most bitter foes.
"That's what he (Harvey) does," Hawks coach Justin Tatum said.
"When he gets the ball in his hands, I just turn my back and hope that it goes in because I know it's going up. He's a gamer."
A pair of Harvey free throws sealed the win, and a 3-0 start to Tatum's first full season in charge.
The Kings will rue two late turnovers, with Cam Oliver and Jaylen Adams coughing the ball up as Sydney attempted to tighten the screws in the final three minutes.
A slow start also hurt the Kings, who hit only one of their first 13 attempts from deep and trailed by as many as 15 points in the first quarter.
Harvey's fellow American Trey Kell III (20 points, six rebounds) was also important, helping rebuff the Kings after they took their first lead of the day early in the third quarter.
Kell dominated second unit guard Shaun Bruce late in the third term, with coach Brian Goorjian saying the new-look Kings needed to refine their combinations when Adams went to the bench.
"When we take Jaylen out of the game, we struggle," Goorjian said.
"I'm not going at Bruce, I'm not going at me. A lot of the groups that we've played with him (Bruce) in there, we've never played together at practice.
"It's a process that we're going through and that has been a continual one of getting that right, and tonight it really hurt us at the end of the third quarter and the start of the first quarter."
Hawks wing Wani Swaka Lo Buluk (16 points, one steal) contained former NBL MVP Adams (nine points, nine assists) with his trademark sticky coverage at the top of the paint.
"'Swak' was MVP today. JA is an unbelievable player, he's tough to guard," Tatum said.
Sunday afternoon's match was Cooks' first before the Kings' home crowd since leaving to pursue an NBA opportunity after the second of back-to-back NBL championships in the 2022/23 season.
Cooks (22 points, 12 rebounds) and Cam Oliver (15 points, three assists) dominated the paint early in the third term, the former sending a reminder of his potency around the key.
Cooks found himself in hot water at the change for three-quarter-time, tech-fouled for remonstrating with a match official.
He finished with a second double-double from three games back at the Kings, but had his usual struggles from the free-throw line, hitting only four of nine attempts.
