Adams the hero in Kings' miraculous win over Bullets

By Matt McQuade

Result: Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 71 Brisbane Bullets 69

Stats that matter: Kings 38 points in the paint; Kings 15 offensive rebounds; Kings 12 second chance points; Rebound count Kings 44 Bullets 37

Kings MVP: Jaylen Adams brought the late-game fireworks, but Jarell Martin was steady and dependable all night.

Turning Point: A steal from Wani Swaka Lo Buluk with 22 seconds remaining.

The game was over when: Jaylen Adams found Jarell Martin with a great feed for the bucket just before time expired.

Trending in the right direction: Biwali Bayles brought his usual great energy and made an impact off the bench.

The Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings have seen some remarkable finishes to games since they played their first NBL season in 1988.

But there’s little doubt that the finish to the game against the Brisbane Bullets on Sunday afternoon at Qudos Bank Arena enters the pantheon of the all-time greats.

Thanks to an incredible series of plays within the last 30 seconds, where the purple and gold was almost down for the count yet somehow found a way back, the Kings miraculously overcame the Bullets 71-69 in what turned into an absolute thriller.

Sydney trailed 69-67 with 22 seconds remaining and had all the odds against them given Brisbane possessed the ball with the shot clock switched off.

But with 18 ticks left, the Kings got the turnover they needed with Wani Swaka Lo Buluk forcing a miscue from Brisbane guard Anthony Drmic (eight points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals), getting the ball back for Sydney and a chance to at least send the game into overtime.

The ball was kicked to Sydney’s Angus Glover (eight points, four assists) on the left wing, who launched a three-pointer that was off the mark. However, Jaylen Adams (15 points, six rebounds, five assists) grabbed the O-board and put up a shot that was blocked out of bounds by Brisbane’s Lamar Patterson, leaving Sydney desperately needing a hero with just six seconds left.

And that man Adams answered the call with an amazing sequence that will be talked about for a very long time.

Receiving a pass from Glover after the inbound, Sydney’s import point guard went hard to the rack, launched himself into the stratosphere and threw down a hellacious dunk right over Patterson, drawing the foul in the process.

Adams had a chance to end the game right there on a made free throw with three seconds remaining, but he missed the foul shot.

However, Glover got in there and tapped the miss back to Jaylen, who rose up looking for his shot, but instead at the last possible second spotted Jarell Martin (17 points, nine rebounds) alone under the basket, who cashed in on the beautiful dime with a bucket just before time expired to send the 5,543 crowd at the Q into hysterics.

“I told the guys in the locker room that I don’t have enough hair left for finishes like that,” joked Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings Head Coach Chase Buford.

“But it was great. To have the intensity to make a play on the defensive end, to get a stop to give us a chance, we execute on the out of bounds play to get it to Jaylen who makes a hell of a play, I lose more hair on the missed free throw but ‘Gus’ competes to get a tip, Jaylen grabbing it and having the presence of mind to see Jarell in that situation – it was an unbelievable finish to a really ugly basketball game.”

Indeed, the amazing conclusion is what everyone will talk about as the Kings took their record to 8-7 on the season on the back of a three-game winning streak. However, as Coach Buford admitted, this thing was a grind.

Despite being without their prime mover Nathan Sobey, the Bullets took it to the Kings for all 40 minutes in a physical ballgame where the officials let the players fight it out amongst themselves for the most part.

Brisbane forced Sydney, a team predicated on speed and getting it down the floor as quickly as possible, into a halfcourt contest, and the Kings struggled to get anything going offensively for much of the night, especially in a first quarter where they started 1 for 9 from the field and trailed 20-17 at the opening break.

The Kings’ offence started to pick up in the second quarter with the returning Biwali Bayles sparking the team with some nice energy and a couple of baskets off the bench, and Sydney took a 39-35 lead into the change rooms.

However, the visitors came out in the second half showing greater intensity than the home team, with a 13-2 run powered by seven points from Patterson (14 points, six rebounds, five assists) giving them a six point lead.

Fortunately, the Kings responded with a 10-1 burst, but they couldn’t hold on to their momentum, with Brisbane maintaining a 57-54 advantage with a quarter to play.

And the early stages of the final quarter belonged to the Bullets, with a lay-up from import Robert Franks (18 points, nine rebounds) giving them a seven point lead with a minute gone.

Sydney’s Big Three of Adams, Martin and Xavier Cooks (15 points, 13 rebounds, two steals, two blocked shots) carried the scoring load when the Kings needed them the most, and they ensured that Brisbane wasn’t able to push their hard-won lead to dangerous levels.

Two baskets from Cooks and one from Adams tied the game at 67 before Anthony Drmic knocked down what would be his team’s final basket of the ballgame, setting up an absolutely wild conclusion.

In the end however, as Coach Buford said afterwards, it was Sydney’s defence that got them the victory – a huge turnaround from what he said on Thursday was a disappointing effort at that end of the floor in his team’s win on the road against the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

“To come out tonight and hold them to 69 and 12 in the final quarter was really impressive by our team,” Chase said.

“When things weren’t going right, we hung our hat on getting stops.”

“Credit to Brisbane, they gave us everything we could handle, and we were fortunate to come away with the win.”

“We just stuck at what we needed to do to get stops, and it’s really what got us out of the hole at the end of the day.”

Coach Buford also paid tribute to a Kings’ bench that made some key plays, but particularly Angus Glover, who nailed another clutch fourth quarter triple, just as he did at John Cain Arena on Thursday, and played stellar defence down the stretch.

“Honestly, I think ‘Glove’ especially; what he did tonight probably flew way under the radar but he was terrific defensively,” Coach Buford said.

We were a plus-21 with him on the floor, he guarded Patterson really well, he guarded Franks, he was just all over the place.”

“He made a couple of big shots for us, made some great passes when we needed it.”

“I’m just really pleased with him and he’s been finishing games well for us.”

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The Kings shot the ball at 38% from the field, made just six threes in 28 attempts for a 21% return and went 13-16 from the foul line in what was an unlikely victory. They won the rebound count 44-37 and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds in a key stat – the last O-board the biggest one of them all.

Sydney is in action for just one game in Round 12, but what a game it promises to be. The Kings will do battle with the Perth Wildcats in a blockbuster matchup on Saturday 19 February at Qudos Bank Arena, with tipoff scheduled for 8:00pm AEST. Tickets for what should be a monumental confrontation are now available via Ticketek.

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BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 71 (Martin 17, Cooks 15, Adams 15)
BRISBANE BULLETS 69 (Franks 18, Patterson 14) at Qudos Bank Arena.

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