Kings draw first blood in NBL Grand Final Series

By Matt McQuade

Result: Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 95 Tasmania JackJumpers 78

Stats that matter: Kings 54.2% FG; Kings 42 points in the paint; Kings 37 bench points; Kings 11 three-pointers

Kings MVP: He didn’t see the ball offensively as much as should have, but Xavier Cooks still produced an historic game.

Turning Point: Again, the third quarter, Sydney outscored Tasmania 28-18 in the frame and they were always going to be hard to run down from there.

The game was over when: Cooks’ lay-up with less than two minutes remaining sealed the deal.

Trending in the right direction: Shaun Bruce played some inspired minutes after Jaylen Adams went down.

Defend the Q.

That’s what the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings did on Friday night at Qudos Bank Arena, overpowering the Tasmania JackJumpers 95-78 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five NBL Grand Final Series.

A monster crowd of 12,765 – the biggest Grand Final crowd ever in Sydney and the fourth largest crowd for the opening game of a Grand Final series in NBL history – saw the Kings struggle early with a scrappy Tasmanian unit, who forced nine first half turnovers and kept pace with Sydney in the first half, trailing 43-40 at intermission.

But just as they did in the third quarter of the closeout game against Illawarra in the semi-final series, the purple and gold came out of the halftime break energised and more focused offensively, looking to push the pace at every opportunity.

“It was about taking care of the ball, doing a better job keeping them off the boards, and just a better job guarding,” Head Coach Chase Buford said afterwards.

“Too often in the first half we were a little soft in our coverages – obviously they shoot a lot of threes and we probably allowed them to get too many easy looks.

“We cleaned that up a little bit – I thought the defensive energy in the second half, especially in that third quarter, was great. We did a better job shrinking the floor and protecting the paint.

“It was a tough victory in a tough, physical game, and I’m proud of our guys for getting it done in the second half.”

Led by league MVP Jaylen Adams (18 points, two rebounds) and import swingman Ian Clark (17 points, two steals), the Kings imposed their will on the contest midway through the third quarter with a 10-2 run pushing Sydney’s hard-won advantage to double figures.

The Kings did a great job denying Tasmania’s import backcourt combo Josh Magette (10 points, three rebounds, eight assists) and Josh Adams (13 points, eight rebounds), and despite the best efforts of the irrepressible Jack McVeigh (14 points, five rebounds) and workhorse MiKyle Mcintosh (14 points, four rebounds), Sydney had taken control.

But at the 3:56 mark, Jaylen Adams landed awkwardly after a scramble under the basket, holding his leg as he went immediately to the rooms, and more than 12,000 fans held their breath with the superstar guard suffering an apparent injury.

Jaylen would take no further part in the game, and will be evaluated tomorrow. However, despite the loss of the NBL MVP, the Kings stayed composed and held a comfortable 71-58 advantage with one to play as the bench continued to stand up, with Shaun Bruce in his 250^th NBL game and Angus Glover both making key plays down the stretch.

Still, without Jaylen Adams, there was some uncertainty among the massive crowd. Could the Kings close this thing out without their floor leader?

The answer, of course, was an emphatic yes.

Not that the JackJumpers didn’t give the home team some nervous moments in the fourth quarter.

A thunderous dunk from the awesome Xavier Cooks (14 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists) got the party started. Cooks, who became the first player in NBL history to have a double-double with at least seven assists in a 40-minute Grand Final game, got the crowd off their seats and it looked as though Sydney were about to cruise to an easy W.

But Clint Steindl (13 points, four rebounds) drained a three and was fouled, converting the four-point play, and Jarrad Weeks buried a triple to get Tasmania within eight points of the home team.

With the JackJumpers surging, the Kings needed someone to punch back, and that man was Dejan Vasiljevic (14 points, four rebounds), who powered through the lane for a three-point play, flexing for the crowd after he made the basket, and made a tough lay-up on the next Kings possession for a personal 5-0 run that pushed Sydney’s lead back out to 13.

From there, the JackJumpers never reduced the margin to less than 10 at any stage as Cooks and Clark dominated, Vasiljevic continued to make plays, and Tasmania just couldn’t keep up with Sydney’s remarkable offensive talent.

So it’s one down and two to go for the purple and gold, and attention now shifts to MyState Bank Arena in Hobart this Sunday and just the second NBL Grand Final game ever played on Tasmanian soil – the first in Launceston way back in 1980. But this will be the first Grand Final game in Tasmania featuring a team from the state.

It will be an extraordinary atmosphere in Hobart on Sunday afternoon, but Chase Buford said his troops will be ready for the challenge.

“I think our experiences this year will help us,” Chase said.

“The games we played at the end of the season and in the finals down at Illawarra were in front of 5,000 strong, rowdy crowds; I know the JackJumpers faithful will be raucous and we have to be ready for that.

“But I think our group embraces that type of environment and those types of moments. It’s fun to play in a game where the crowd is going nuts. Yeah, you’d like to have them on your side, but at the same time that still brings a little bit more out of you, whether they are for you or against you.

“This group has really found an identity on the road, I think we believe in each other on the road, even lock in better on the road than we do at home, so we’ll need that in spades on Sunday.”

Sydney shot the ball at an impressive 54% from the field, were 11 of 23 from three-point range and 20 of 25 from the free throw line in their solid victory. They had 42 points in the paint and outrebounded Tasmania 39-37. All 10 players who hit the court scored, showcasing the team’s excellent depth.

After facing the JackJumpers in that formidable environment in Hobart for Game Two, the Kings will return to Qudos Bank Arena for Game Three of the Grand Final on Wednesday 11 May. Tickets are on sale for the third game of the Championship Series and available via Ticketek.

#WETHEKINGS

BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 95 (Jaylen Adams 18, Clark 17, Vasiljevic 14, Cooks 14)
TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS 78 (Mcintosh 14, McVeigh 14, Josh Adams 13, Steindl 13) at Qudos Bank Arena.

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