Kings close out regular season with a bang

Written by Matt McQuade for Kings Media 

 

Result: Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 83 Brisbane Bullets 82

Stats That Matter: Rebound count Kings 41 Bullets 39; Kings 20 points from turnovers; Kings 13 offensive rebounds; Kings 40 points in the paint.

Kings MVP: Jarell Martin was dominant offensively once again.

Turning Point: Sydney turned things around with a 16-5 run in the second quarter after the Bullets led by 11 points.

The game was over when: Bullets’ forward BJ Johnson missed a shot at the final buzzer.

Trending in the right direction: Both Daniel Kickert and Brad Newley were outstanding in their milestone games.

 

The Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings have closed NBL21 on the best possible note with a thrilling 83-82 win over the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday night at Qudos Bank Arena.

Thanks to the South East Melbourne Phoenix defeat of the New Zealand Breakers in Rotorua prior to the game, the Kings were already all but eliminated from playoff contention, but it mattered little on a night when the biggest crowd of the year jammed into the stadium and created a special atmosphere.

9,267 fans roared themselves hoarse as the Kings withstood a late Brisbane run to finish with three straight wins to close the season and a 19-17 record in what was Head Coach Adam Forde’s final game with the organisation.

“We started to get the game out a little bit too early so I called a timeout and told the boys we’ve got to make it interesting,” Coach Forde joked.

“At three quarter time we knew Brisbane was going to lift the intensity and get up the lanes more. They are so good at it, and even when we knew it was coming, there wasn’t a lot we could do to stop the bleeding.”

“But we did it against Melbourne, we did it against Illawarra – it was let’s just win the game defensively.”

“And the atmosphere was awesome. The support all season has been fantastic, and to finish up with that type of crowd is the icing on the cake.”

The entire fourth period had the monster crowd on a knife edge for virtually the entire ten minutes. Sydney led 70-58 at the start of the final quarter after dominating the Bullets through the second and third periods, outscoring the visitors 53-34 after Brisbane held a 24-17 advantage at the end of the first.

But that 12-point margin was quickly whittled down to three as the Bullets ran off nine straight points to start the quarter and held the Kings scoreless for more than two minutes, before Jarell Martin made a floater to stop the run.

Martin, who was sensational all night, had another pair of buckets to extend the Sydney lead to 79-71 with 3:49 remaining, but the Bullets responded again with another 9-0 run capped by a BJ Johnson dunk that made it 80-79 Brisbane with less than ninety seconds left.

The Kings needed a hero, and Xavier Cooks answered the call, with his relentless attack on the offensive glass producing a massive rebound and stick-back for the go-ahead score, before Brisbane’s Lamar Patterson answered with a lay-up to give his team back the lead.

On the inbound pass, Casper Ware turned the ball over, but Brisbane couldn’t take advantage, with Patterson missing a jumper with 25 seconds left. On the next possession, Shaun Bruce stepped up, attacking the basket with venom and earning himself a trip to the foul line for the first time in the ballgame.

‘Brucey’ had enormous pressure on him, but he showed he had ice water in his veins by knocking down both free throws to give the Kings an 83-82 lead.

Brisbane had one more chance, and advanced the ball to inbound the ball from the front court with 14 seconds remaining. But thanks to some swarming Sydney D, Bullets’ guard Jason Cadee fumbled a pass out of bounds, and it looked like the Kings were safe with just seven seconds left.

But not so fast. Ware was called for a questionable offensive foul as the Kings tried to inbound the ball, and the Bullets earned themselves one more opportunity.

However, BJ Johnson went baseline, tried to force one up over some heavy pressure, and missed the lay-up at the buzzer, with the fans – who were on their feet in the final minute – lifting the roof with their noise on a night where the team paid tribute to the magnificent Andrew Bogut at halftime as he steps into an ownership role in the organisation and both Daniel Kickert (200 NBL games) and Brad Newley (250 NBL games) celebrated important milestones.

“I felt that emotion at the end of the game,” Kickert said.

“The last game of the year, and for it to be a milestone game for me and ‘Newls’ just felt really good.”

“You always want those milestone games to have a bit of a good memory when you think back to them. It was good that I had my family in attendance and I was really happy with that one. It was a gut it out win – it wasn’t an easy win or a blowout win, it was an earned win, and I’ll remember that one for a long time.”

The Sydney captain also paid tribute to his troops, who barely missed the NBL Finals after a season of upheaval, with multiple injuries and line-up changes a constant throughout, yet the entire unit soldiered on and never quit at any stage, even after taking one hit after another.

“I think it’s something we built in the preseason,” ‘Kicks’ said.

“It was a difficult year with Covid and all the interruptions; we knew the Hub was going to be there, we knew we were going to be away from home for a little bit, but we just dealt with that really well.”

“Dealing with injuries, dealing with Didi (Louzada) leaving – all of that stuff was a massive interruption. I think we did a really good job of handling those interruptions. It’s just a credit to the maturity of the group we have and all the things we put in place to deal with things that could have arisen.”

“That’s something I’m really proud of, to be part of a team that just took it on the chin 10, 15 times, adapted, and was competitive right to the end. One or two games go a different way and we’re in the playoffs.”

“It’s unfortunate that we’re not in that position right now but I’m really proud with how we finished the season with those three wins.”

The Kings shot the ball at 42% from the field, were 9 of 29 from three-point range and went 10 of 12 from the free throw line in their thrilling win.

Jarell Martin led Sydney with 28 points, six rebounds and two steals, but there were a host of contributors for the purple and gold. Casper Ware finished with 14 points, three rebounds and three assists, Daniel Kickert had 10 points and three boards, Xavier Cooks was sensational at both ends and filled the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals and Brad Newley had an important nine points.

Brisbane was led by Nathan Sobey, who had 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, while BJ Johnson produced 17 points and five boards, Lamar Patterson tallied 15 points and five rebounds and Harry Froling had 11 points for a Bullets club that saw their faint playoff hopes extinguished.

The Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings now head into the offseason with an exciting future ahead, given what was an excellent NBL21 campaign under very trying circumstances.

Rise With Us Sydney.

 

BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 83 (Martin 28, Ware 14, Kickert 10)
BRISBANE BULLETS 82 (Sobey 22, Johnson 17, Patterson 15) at Qudos Bank Arena.

BOXSCORE