Adams leads Kings to solid win over the Taipans

By Matt McQuade

 

Result: Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 86 Cairns Taipans 77

Stats that matter: Kings 20/20 FT; Kings 12 three-pointers; Rebound count Kings 41 Taipans 40; Kings 13 points from turnovers

Kings MVP: Jaylen Adams is rapidly becoming Sydney’s version of Bryce Cotton.

Turning Point: A 14-1 Kings run in the first quarter put Sydney firmly in control.

The game was over when: Mr Adams’ three-point play with two minutes left snuffed out a Taipan rally.

Trending in the right direction: Makur Maker showed why he is rated so highly with a powerful display in his first NBL start.

 

Jaylen Adams enhanced his candidacy for National Basketball League Most Valuable Player with a superb performance on Sunday night in Cairns as he led the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings to an 86-77 victory over the Taipans at the Cairns Convention Centre.

Adams (24 points, four rebounds, seven assists) powered Sydney’s seventh consecutive win with a mix of outstanding shot-making and stellar playmaking as the purple and gold leapt to third on the NBL ladder with a 12-7 record.

Seemingly, every time the Taipans made a run, the Kings’ superstar floor leader had an answer, and he’s turning into an unstoppable force with his team beginning a run of seven straight games on the road.

“I mean, it’s what I expect from him at this point,” Head Coach Chase Buford said of his brilliant point guard.

“He made some shots and got us going.

“To me, that’s about an average game from him.

“It’s what he does, and what he should do.”

Adams nailed two monster threes in the final quarter to push Sydney’s lead out to a game-high 22, and at that stage it appeared the Kings were going to cruise to an easy W after dominating the game through the first three periods.

To their credit, Cairns fought out the game right to the bitter end; at one stage in the final quarter going on a 13-0 run and holding the Kings scoreless for nearly four minutes.

But that man Adams was in no mood for a Taipan fairy tale, and his three-point play with two minutes left effectively sealed the deal for a ballclub that is now riding its longest winning streak since February 2008; a run of success that equals the ninth best unbeaten stretch all-time for the Sydney Kings.

Even more impressively, Sydney’s other MVP candidate Xavier Cooks was unavailable due to a sprained ankle he suffered in training during the week, but in a great example of the next man up mentality, plenty of guys stood up in his place, including Next Star Makur Maker, who got his first NBL start and responded with five points and a career-high ten rebounds.

“This guy next to me was terrific,” Coach Buford said of Makur.

“I think he set the tone; protecting the rim and rebounding right from the get-go.

“I think he made (Cairns’ centre Stephen) Zimmerman’s life really tough – Zimmerman had five points on just two field goals and that says a lot about how we guarded him.”

Nine players hit the scoresheet for the Kings in a solid all-around effort, with Jarell Martin (15 points, four rebounds) restricted by foul trouble but as always, a menace in the low block; Dejan Vasiljevic (13 points) got off the chain early in the second period while Ian Clark (12 points, three rebounds) was terrific off the bench before copping an inadvertent elbow from Taipan behemoth Nathan Jawai in the third quarter that drew blood and restricted his minutes down the stretch.

Speaking of the bench – Sydney’s reserves to a man played impactful minutes, from Clark’s offensive production to some big shots from Tom Vodanovich and Angus Glover and the steadying influence of Shaun Bruce.

“I thought we missed Ian in that fourth quarter a little bit,” Coach Buford said.

“But what I love is that he’s helped Bruce. He’s helped Glove. He helps all the other bench guys play better in their roles, because he takes the pressure off them having to do too much, so they can excel in what they do.

“I think we’ve found a good little balance now with those groups and line-ups, and even without X, I think we got a lot of good value from pretty much our entire team today.”

Predictably, the Taipans came out hard after losing their previous game at home to Tasmania, a result Cairns Head Coach Adam Forde called ‘embarrassing’.

And so, it was a close contest for the opening four minutes before the Kings went on what would ultimately become a game-defining 14-1 run to take a double-figure lead they would maintain until the final five minutes. That run featured lockdown defence that stymied the Taipans at every turn.

And it was Sydney’s defence that in the end was a major factor in their victory. They held the Taipans to 35% from the field and 26% from three-point range for the game, but Cairns scored just 31 points at the half and 51 points after three periods as the Kings packed the middle and dared the Snakes to beat them from the outside – something the home team just could not do.

It was an intelligent, well-executed strategy, and after three games where he felt Sydney’s D was not up to the standard they had set themselves, Coach Buford was very happy with his team’s defensive effort against the Taipans.

“Our defence was terrific throughout the night,” Coach Buford said.

“After 35 minutes they had 62 points so that’s pretty darn good.

“I think our defence was what really did it for us tonight more than anything else.”

Sydney even found perfection from the free throw line, going an astounding 20 for 20 on the night. That represents the second-best single game free throw shooting performance in franchise history, topped only by their 21 of 21 effort against the New Zealand Breakers in Round 12 of the 2014/2015 season.

The Kings shot the ball at 42% from the field, knocked down 12 three-pointers at a solid 42% return and were the aforementioned 100% from the charity stripe. Despite being without the league-leading rebounder in Mr Cooks, they managed to edge the Taipans 41-40 in the battle of the boards and had 28 points in the paint.

So, the beat goes on for the Hoops Capital. The Kings now face a key battle in Melbourne next week as they continue their run of seven consecutive games on the road. Sydney will take on the South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena in Melbourne on Saturday 19 March, with tipoff scheduled for 8:00pm AEST.

WE ARE KINGS

 

BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 86 (Adams 24, Martin 15, Vasiljevic 13)
CAIRNS TAIPANS 77 (McCall 21, Deng 20, Kuol 15) at Cairns Convention Centre.

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