Kings fall short to Adelaide in overtime

By Matt McQuade

Result: Adelaide 36ers 97 Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 88 in overtime.

Stats That Matter: 36ers 20 offensive rebounds; 36ers 33 second chance points; Rebound count 36ers 57 Kings 40; 36ers 16 three pointers.

Kings MVP: Jarell Martin was a force offensively for much of the night.

Turning Point: A 13-2 Adelaide third quarter run got the 36ers back into the ballgame.

The game was over when: Daniel Johnson splashed his third triple of the overtime period.

Trending in the right direction: Jarrad Weeks played with energy off the bench in his first game back with the Kings.

A late three-point Adelaide barrage has given the 36ers a 97-88 win in overtime over the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings on Sunday afternoon at Qudos Bank Arena.

After the game was tied at 81 in regulation, Adelaide forward Daniel Johnson (20 points, eight rebounds, two assists) knocked down three consecutive triples in the extra session to give the visitors their third straight victory in a result that keeps them in the NBL21 playoff hunt.

Throughout the game, the 36ers hurt the Kings from both the perimeter and inside the paint, knocking down 16 three pointers including 12 in the second half and overtime, and Adelaide pounded Sydney on the glass 57-40, including 20 offensive rebounds that led to 33 second chance points.

Still, for the Kings, it was a game that got away from them after they led for virtually the entire first half and took a 47-34 advantage into the rooms, following an 11-2 run at the end of the second quarter fuelled by two threes from Shaun Bruce (12 points, three rebounds, four assists) and five points from Tom Vodanovich (13 points, five rebounds).

Jarell Martin was sensational in the first half, leading the Kings with 18 of his game-high 25 points, and the fans cheered the home team off the court at the main break as they appeared in complete control, holding the 36ers to just 28% shooting from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

That 13-point margin was extended to a game-high 16 with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. But Adelaide responded once their head coach Conner Henry went to a smaller line-up, and they produced a 13-2 run that got them back in the contest.

The 36ers pulled even at 58 with the Kings on a three pointer from Tony Crocker (12 points) to close the third period – a quarter where they held Sydney to just 11 points – and they took their first lead of the game with 8:09 remaining in the fourth quarter thanks to a three pointer from Brandon Paul (19 points, six rebounds) that gave them a 65-62 advantage.

The final period then turned into a back-and-forth arm wrestle with no less than eight lead changes. Casper Ware (17 points, four rebounds, eight assists) came up with some huge outside shots to offset a number of Adelaide long range bombs and a Vodanovich triple gave the home team an 81-76 lead with 2:40 remaining.

Unfortunately, the Kings wouldn’t score again in regulation. The brilliant Josh Giddey (11 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists) scored a lay-up followed by a corner triple from Isaac Humphries (11 points, nine rebounds, six blocked shots), and despite Sydney having several opportunities to take the lead, they couldn’t execute when it mattered.

Nonetheless, even right at the end, and despite being outplayed in the second half, the Kings still had one final chance to get across the line. After a great defensive stop from Jordan Hunter (13 points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots) gave the Kings the last possession, Ware got into the paint but had the ball stripped with two seconds left.

Daniel Kickert recovered the loose ball, turned and fired a short jumper at the buzzer, but it was off the mark and the game was headed for another five minutes.

Unfortunately, a clearly tiring Sydney outfit was overrun in the overtime period, with Johnson and Sunday Dech (three points, nine rebounds, nine assists) controlling the action and sending the home team to their second straight loss.

Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings Head Coach Adam Forde was disappointed in the defeat, but pointed to his group’s lack of depth and obvious fatigue as reasons for the team’s second-half fadeout.

“There’s a part of me that wants to go into that change room and be upset, but we’re tired,” he said.

“The guys are exhausted. They are fighting hard, they’re trying, Casper has to take their best defender and is doing a great job for us defensively, and then we’re expecting him to do everything for us.”

“I know it was an overtime game, but we played him 40 minutes, and we’ve got eight games left, so that’s going to be taxing on him after a while.”

“I want to be upset, but I can’t fault the guys for how hard they are playing, and in the end that’s probably all you can ask for.”

The Kings, who despite the loss stay in the NBL top four with a 14-14 record, face a difficult road/home double in Round 18. First up is a Thursday night clash on 13 May against the Brisbane Bullets at Nissan Arena in Brisbane with tipoff scheduled for 7:30pm AEST, before a return home on Sunday 16 May against the Adelaide 36ers at Qudos Bank Arena, with tipoff scheduled for 5:00pm AEST.

Rise With Us Sydney.

ADELAIDE 36ERS 97 (Johnson 20, Paul 19, Crocker 12)
BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 88 (Martin 25, Ware 17, Hunter 13, Vodanovich 13) in overtime at Qudos Bank Arena.

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