Kings Fall to Breakers in thriller at NBL Blitz

By Matt McQuade

Result: New Zealand Breakers 97 Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 93

Stats That Matter: Kings 21 turnovers; Breakers 27 points from turnovers; Kings 62 points in the paint; Kings 30 bench points

Kings MVP: Jaylen Adams showed he will be a force in the NBL this season.

Turning Point: A pair of fourth quarter triples from Will McDowell-White and Peyton Siva gave the Breakers enough breathing room to hold on.

The game was over when: McDowell-White made two foul shots with four seconds left.

Trending in the right direction: Sydney’s youngsters continued to shine.

After trailing for most of the way, a late fourth quarter surge by the New Zealand Breakers has given them a 97-93 win over the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings in a highly entertaining preseason game on Thursday night at the Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre.

The Kings led by three points with just over three minutes remaining after a spectacular three-point play from explosive guard Biwali Bayles, but the Breakers responded with a 12-2 run that put them ahead 95-88 with 27 seconds left.

Remarkably, Sydney forced a pair of New Zealand turnovers within 12 seconds that they converted for scores, and nearly came up with a third on the New Zealand inbound with four seconds left, but Will McDowell-White (11 points, five rebounds, five assists) was fouled and made two free throws to give his club an unlikely victory.

Sydney will rue letting a game slip that they controlled for all but the final three minutes, after jumping out of the blocks with an incredible 14-0 run to start the opening term and leading for more than 90% of the game, while playing at an extreme pace that gave the Breakers problems for most of the night.

However, that’s what preseason is for – to learn those hard lessons, and importantly there were also many positives for the Kings in their third game of the Loggins-Bruton Cup, not least of which was the debut of import point guard Jaylen Adams (16 points, six rebounds, three assists, three steals).

Sydney’s new floor leader immediately showed why many good judges believe he will make a significant impact on the National Basketball League this season, going to the rack for a deuce for his opening basket, hitting a deep three shortly afterwards, and playing with a poise and confidence that his teammates will feed off in NBL22.

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Then there were the Sydney young guns, led by Angus Glover (15 points, two rebounds), who is going to put himself in the forefront of some NBL22 awards should his outstanding preseason form carryover to the regular season.

Glover is clearly thriving in Head Coach Chase Buford’s system that is all about playing at a high tempo, and he was brilliant against the Breakers, just as he was three nights earlier in Sydney’s win over Melbourne United. His relentless attack on the rim was a highlight.

Matur Maker (six points, five rebounds) played his first minutes for the Kings and showed all the physical traits – the great size and length – that make him an NBA prospect, and he had some moments offensively that underlined his great potential.

Likewise young Jaylin Galloway (five points, five rebounds), who may be a development player but is going to put enormous pressure on the Sydney coaching staff to find him some minutes this season.

Of course, the most pleasing news for the purple and gold was the continued dominance of frontcourt stars Xavier Cooks (13 points, 11 rebounds, three assists) and Jarell Martin (15 points, five rebounds). Cooks’ length and activity gave New Zealand headaches whenever he was on the floor; there may not be another forward in the NBL with the varied offensive skillset of Martin.

And while there will be a lot to clean up for the Kings, particularly at the defensive end, they continued to show great fight and character in refusing to give in, even when things weren’t going their way down the stretch, and that may be the biggest positive of all. This is going to be an exciting unit that will make opposition teams work hard for their money this season.

The Kings shot the ball at 50% from the field, were 7 of 25 from three-point range and 8 of 11 from the foul line. 21 turnovers were a negative, but they did outrebound the Breakers 45-33 and grabbed 13 offensive boards. The team won two points in the NBL Blitz format after taking the opening quarter 26-20 and the third period 22-21.

Sydney’s final game in the Loggins-Bruton Cup is against the Illawarra Hawks on Saturday 27^th November at the WIN Entertainment Centre. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30pm and the game will be available on Kayo Freebies HERE. Tickets for the game are also on sale and available HERE.

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NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 97 (Jeremiah Martin 23, Wetzell 19, Siva 18)
BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 93 (Adams 16, Glover 15, Jarell Martin 15) at Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre.

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