Bruce's career night guides Kings to victory over Taipans

The Sydney Kings recorded their first home win of NBL25 on Sunday, defeating the Cairns Taipans 99-73. 

The round four victory, played in front of 11, 076 fans at Qudos Bank Arena, moved the Kings to 4-2 on the season. 

Match summary 

An offensive rebound and putback by Alex Toohey opened the scoring for Sydney. The NBL Next Star scored or assisted on the hosts’ first seven points – which included a block and coast-to-coast bucket. Scores by Xavier Cooks and Keli Leaupepe saw the game move to 12-0 before the visitors rattled off six straight. Five quick ones from Tyler Robertson in his first career start (the first time since 2022 that the Kings haven’t started a US point guard), followed by efforts by Shaun Bruce. Izayah Le’afa’s first triple as a King, followed by Cam Oliver’s emphatic block gave the hosts a 28-18 lead at the first change. 

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A Bul Kuol shot from downtown kept the scoreboard ticking over for the Hoops Capital side, but Cairns went on to score 13 of the term’s first 17 points, to close it to 34-31. Back-to-back triples by Shaun Bruce restored the hosts’ solid lead before the two-time champion teamed up with Cooks and Leaupepe for a solid team basket. Another two triples by Bruce and a lay-in by Cooks gave the harbour city side. 

Toohey and Kuol hit early buckets for the purple and gold before Cooks converted an and-one but the Snakes stuck around thanks to Sam Wardenburg. Bruce linked up with Oliver for a huge alley-oop, to bring the crowd to their feet. An aggressive Toohey continued to attack the rack, which led to a massive tomahawk dunk, as the lead grew to 16. More triples by Bruce and Oliver ensued, with late free-throws by Jaylin Galloway capping a 24-18 period by the hosts – seeing the lead grow to 19. 

Cooks scored the first five for Sydney before Leaupepe’s continued hustle caused issues for Adam Forde’s side. Being up by more than 20 points miidway through the fourth, Brian Goorjian gave Jason Spurgin his Kings and NBL debut. The centre’s energy led to scores from Kouat Noi and Makuach Maluach down the stretch, as the Kings won by 26 points. 

Where the match was decided 

The Kings secured the win on the back of statistical victories in field goal percentage (45-36), rebounds (57-40), assists (22-13), steals (8-4), points in the paint (46-28), second-chance points (28-8), points off turnovers (15-9), bench points (41-22) and fast-break points (14-5).

Key moment  

The Kings' 12-0 run to start the game laid the platform for a big first home win of NBL25.

Player of the game 

Bruce scored an equal career-high 21 points on the night (equalling his mark against Melbourne United from NBL21), including 6/6 from downtown.

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Others to stand out in the win include Cooks (18 points, 10 boards, four assists, three steals and one block), Toohey (15 points, six rebounds, three dimes, two steals and one block), Leaupepe (10 points and 10 boards and Robertson (10 points, three rebounds and three assists).

Watch Brian Goorjian and Shaun Bruce's post-game press conference via the Sydney Kings' YouTube channel above. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe, to ensure you never miss out on any of our great videos.

What’s next 

Goorjian’s team, who are now 4-2, now head to Launceston to play the Tasmania JackJumpers on Friday, October 18 from 7.30pm AEDT – broadcast on ESPN via Kayo Sports. 

The Kings' next home game is against the Breakers on Sunday, October 27 from 2.15pm. 

Tickets to that Qudos Bank Arena clash are still available here.