Dejan declares 'shooting slump' over after historical night

Dejan Vasiljevic will be the first person to tell you he was in a shooting slump ahead of Wednesday’s clash with South East Melbourne.

By the looks of things that slump is well and truly over.

Vasiljevic exploded for 42 points in the absence of import guard Derrick Walton Jr, and his remarkable shooting was crucial in guiding Sydney to a high-scoring victory over an undermanned yet threatening Phoenix side.

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It wasn’t just on the scoreboard that Vasiljevic left his mark on the game though. In addition to his record shooting night – he hit a franchise record 10 threes in the game – he added six rebounds and five assists.

“You could watch the lid start to creep off the rim as the game went on,” Kings head coach Chase Buford said of Vasiljevic’s performance.

“It was clearly a night where DJ right from the get-go saw one go in, and you could tell he had a little juice.

“In a game where we didn’t have Derrick we needed some more playmaking to step up and DJ did that with his scoring in spades.

“He had five assists and he probably set up a few more good looks than just that … [it showed] a lot of maturity from DJ to recognise he had it going for a lot of the game, but still playing within the group and finding guys.”

Such was Vasiljevic’s slump ahead of last night’s incredible shooting night, it had taken him 55 attempts to hit 10 threes in the games leading up to the rust-shattering performance.

What’s never been in doubt though is his ability to bring his teammates into the game, and Vasiljevic was quick to praise the influence of his fellow Kings.

“A lot of guys stepped up tonight. ‘Brucey’ played well, Jackson Makoi off the bench was unreal,” he said.

“Everyone gave us spurts and made X’s life and my life a little easier.

"We just played great team basketball, I just think we gave up too many points.

“I give credit to my teammates and the coaching staff for finding me and keeping me hot for the game.

"I think I’m out of [that slump] now but I just need to keep doing the work – what I’ve been doing for pretty much my whole life – and keep going from there.”

Despite the offensive masterclass the Kings put on to overcome the depleted Phoenix, both Buford and Vasiljevic were quick to point out the improvements the side needs to make – particularly on the defensive end.

Kyle Adnam and Junior Madut started the game as the primary ball-handlers for the Phoenix in the absence of injured import pair Gary Browne and Trey Kell, while development player Owen Foxwell played almost 25 minutes for the game.

“Chase keeps talking about we need to get better on the defensive end, and 102 points is a lot of points [to give up],” Vasiljevic said. “That’s probably got to be the main focus.”

“It was one of those nights ... we couldn’t make threes and layups tonight,” Buford added.

“If we’d have made our layups we might have got to 150. I can’t believe we got to 118 missing as many bunnies – half of them uncontested – as we did, but that’s just the way the game goes sometimes."

Next up for the Kings is a showdown with Perth at Qudos Bank Arena from 8pm AEDT on Saturday - with tickets available here.