Kings fall to Breakers in front of NBL record crowd

Despite playing in front of the NBL’s biggest crowd (14, 232) of the season, the Sydney Kings went down to the New Zealand Breakers 93-88 at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday. 

For the club’s NBL23 Heritage Round fixture, that phenomenal crowd represents a top-five all-time in the Kings’ history. 

Match summary 

After missing their first four shots, Justin Simon ended the drought with a driving lay-up to get the hosts on the board, but the Breakers had no such issues, jumping out to an 8-5 lead. Hurting Sydney more than their poor shooting (6/17) was their turnovers (five in the first quarter), which combatted by nine first-period points by Breakers forward Jarrell Brantley, seeing the visitors carry a 22-17 into the first change. 

Triples by Dejan Vasiljevic and Jaylin Galloway, and a nasty dunk by Xavier Cooks, kept Sydney’s scoreboard ticking over but scores by Will McDowell-White saw the Breakers remain in front. Strong plays by Glover and Simon were then cancelled out by buckets by Rob Loe, as the Breakers lead 44-37 with 2.07 to play. That advantage grew further, thanks to Brantley, as Mody Maor’s side (who won the term 33-24) led 55-41 at the main break. 

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Scoring was again slow to start the third, with only Tim Soares and Derrick Walton Jr registering points for Sydney through the first four and a half minutes, before Kouat Noi and Simon rattled off five points in 12 seconds, to make it 60-54. More buckets from Cooks and Angus Glover ensured it stayed close before Vasiljevic nailed another triple to make it 70-68 at three-quarter-time. 

Four early points by Vasiljevic gave the Kings their first lead since the opening period but back-to-back floaters from McDowell-White kept New Zealand’s noses in front. Walton Jr then stepped it up for the harbour city, and with the assistance of Simon, helped the harbour city regain the ascendancy. At the death, a late banked three by Brantley put the Breakers up by three with 13.5 to play before Soares missed his chance to tie the game. Brantley’s four free-throws at the death sealed the win for New Zealand 93-88, which snapped their four-game win streak. 

Where the match was decided 

The Breakers won the match on the back of statistical wins in field goal percentage (50-40 including 68 to 40 from two-point range), free-throw percentage (83-66), rebounds (40-38), assists (18-17) and bench points (28-24). 

Key moment 

A slow first half, which included a 17-4 run to end the 20 minutes, hurt the Kings and proved too big of margin to overcome in the round 16 fixture. 

Players of the game 

Walton Jr top-scored for the kings in the loss, with 17 points, to go along with his six rebounds and four assists. 

The Michigan product was one of four starters to score in double-figures, along with Simon (16 points), Vasiljevic (12) and Cooks (11). 

What’s next 

The first-placed harbour city side, who are now 17-7, hit the road in round 17 and travel to Tasmania to play the JackJumpers on Friday, January 27 from 7.30pm AEDT. 

Then two days later, the Kings return to Qudos Bank Arena for their final home game of the regular season against South East Melbourne. 

Tickets to the fixture, which tips off at 4pm AEDT and is part of a Hoops Capital double-header, are still available here