Casper goes for 40 as Kings win it in a thriller

Written by Matt McQuade for Kings Media 

Result: Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 89 Cairns Taipans 84

Stats That Matter: Kings 11 three pointers; Kings 16/18 FT (88%); Kings 13 second chance points; Rebound count Kings 40 Taipans 39

Kings MVP: Who else could it be other than Casper Ware, who carried the Kings to the W.

Turning Point: Ware’s three pointer with five minutes remaining shut down Cairns’ momentum and changed the game.

The game was over when: Daniel Kickert nailed two clutch free throws with nine seconds remaining.

Trending in the right direction: Led by Ware, the Kings hit some big perimeter shots tonight.

Casper Ware has delivered a performance for the ages in leading the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings to a thrilling 89-84 victory over the Cairns Taipans on Saturday night at Qudos Bank Arena.

Sydney’s brilliant import point guard finished with a career-high 40 points in a win that takes the purple and gold to 12-12 and fourth place in the NBL ladder. He nailed seven three pointers and went 15 of 26 from the field in what was a simply awesome effort, ultimately breaking the Sydney Kings franchise scoring record in a 40-minute NBL game.

To boot, Casper also became the first King to score at least 40 in a game since Sydney Kings Legend Matthew Nielsen scored 41 against the New Zealand Breakers in Round 15 of the 2003/2004 season.

Sydney needed every single one of Ware’s 40 points to turn back a Cairns unit that belied their last place standing to give the home team all they could handle.

“Remarkable that he was able to bail us out of some pretty average offence,” Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings Head Coach Adam Forde said of his import floor general.

“In that second, third quarter and even the start of the fourth, for us to be able to rely on his playmaking but then still get him to move the ball – we had to make Cairns defend us and we didn’t do a good enough job of that.”

“So even when he was hot, moving the ball so it comes back to him with a few more options, was massive. We needed it.”

What made Ware’s performance so special was not just the shot making – he opened the game with four first quarter threes as the Kings jumped out to an early 19-3 advantage – but it was about when he made those shots.

He showed that he remains a clutch performer, driving the Kings with 10 enormous points in the final six minutes of the game after the Taipans had grabbed the momentum and led 77-72.

A terrific crowd of 5,214 roared themselves hoarse as Ware hit one big shot after the other throughout the ballgame and carried his team to a win that at times looked out of reach for the purple and gold.

Still, despite Ware’s heroics, the Taipans made an undermanned Sydney – still missing forward Jarell Martin – fight all the way to the end.

Ware’s two triples as part of an 8-0 run gave the Kings an 80-77 lead with 3:26 on the clock, but the Taipans’ imposing big man Cameron Oliver, who produced a monster game with 27 points and 19 rebounds, hit a three of his own to tie it at 80.

Didi Louzada (11 points, seven rebounds), buried a tough fadeaway and Ware hit a jumper, answered immediately by a deuce from Scott Machado (14 points, five assists) with 48 seconds remaining.

After a Ware miss on the next possession, the Kings got the ball back and Sydney’s dynamic superstar nailed another jumper with 22 seconds remaining. Again, the Taipans answered through an Oliver dunk with 14 seconds left, and they were forced to foul, putting Daniel Kickert on the free throw line with nine seconds remaining.

The veteran big man was ice cool under pressure, knocking down two key foul shots, and when Oliver missed a triple on the next possession, Louzada grabbed the defensive rebound, was fouled immediately, and made one of two from the charity stripe to close it out.

Despite the victory, Ware’s brilliance and the heart the team showed down the stretch, Coach Forde was far from happy with his team’s overall effort after they allowed the Taipans back into the game following the Kings’ strong start, when they led 27-12 after one and dominated the opening ten minutes.

“I’m proud now, but I was pretty angry at the time because we blew an 18-point lead,” Coach Forde said.

“So, you look at it and it’s a 24-point turnaround in 2½ quarters.”

“I wasn’t happy about that, but Cairns do a great job with the physicality and pressure and I said at half time that these are the type of games we need to play and get better at. We’ve played five games against Cairns and it’s all come down to the wire against those guys.”

“They exploited a few of our weaknesses when we weren’t switched on. But it was really good to close it out with a win the way we did.”

In Round 15, Sydney faces a difficult road double against a pair of playoff contending teams. On Thursday April 22, the Kings take on South East Melbourne Phoenix at John Cain Arena in Melbourne with tipoff scheduled for 7:30pm. Then on Saturday 24 April, the team travels down the Princes Motorway to take on arch rivals the Illawarra Hawks, with tipoff scheduled for 8:00pm.

Rise With Us Sydney.

SYDNEY KINGS 89 (Ware 40, Louzada 11, Vodanovich 9)
CAIRNS TAIPANS 84 (Oliver 27, Machado 14, Ngatai 14) at Qudos Bank Arena.

BOXSCORE