Kings overpower Taipans in Round 1

Result: Sydney Kings 111 Cairns Taipans 90

Stats that matter: Kings 54.9% FG; Kings 40 points in the paint; Kings 20 assists; Kings 31 bench points

Kings MVP: Kendric Davis has been in Sydney for just over a week but played like he’d never been away.

Turning Point: After Cairns dropped 53 first half points, Sydney made the appropriate defensive adjustments at intermission and were never seriously threatened in the final 20 minutes.

The game was over when: Triples from Davis, Makuach Maluach and Matthew Dellavedova late in the third period pushed the Sydney lead into double figures and it became a bridge too far for the Taipans in the fourth.

Trending in the right direction: Andrew Carr made a solid debut as the new Kings’ import and will be better for the run.

What a way to celebrate the events of last season.

After a beautiful pregame ceremony which saw both the NBL26 title banner raised and the returnees presented with their championship rings to commemorate a wonderful season in the life of the organisation, the Sydney Kings began their quest for back-to-back NBL crowns with a powerful 111-90 statement win over the Cairns Taipans on Sunday afternoon at Afterpay Arena.

A monster crowd of 13,632 – the third-largest attendance of a Sydney Kings home season opening game in franchise history – saw their heroes control the action in a second half that should give all fans of the purple and gold enormous confidence that this version of the Kings is going to be tough to stop in NBL27.

“It was an all-around game with contributions from everybody,” Sydney Kings Head Coach Brian Goorjian reflected afterwards.

“I thought we’re getting our feet in the paint more and getting more to the foul line than we did last year; we’ve got much more of an interior presence.”

“I liked the way we handled ourselves and I liked the camaraderie amongst the group.”

Indeed, that all-around game was reflected in the fact that an astounding seven Kings’ players finished with double-figure scoring nights, led by the NBL26 Championship Series Most Valuable Player Kendric Davis, who despite being in the country for less than a fortnight and having just two practice sessions prior to the game, played like the champion he is with a stat-sheet stuffing performance of 26 points, six assists and five rebounds.

“It was nice to have KD back,” Coach Goorjian said.

“Winning is everything to him. To me, when you talk about greatness, it’s a team sport and when he’s on the floor and the others are better because he’s there, that’s a big thing.”

Not that the victory was easy by any means. The visitors jumped the home team early, racing to an early six-point advantage before Makuach Malauch had seven of his 10 points in the first quarter to help the Kings steady the ship and pull ahead after an entertaining first quarter.

And despite the best efforts of Taipan big man Keanu Pinder (27 points, five rebounds, four assists), Sydney maintained a narrow lead at intermission, going into the rooms with a six-point break, up 59-53.

“I felt like we almost came out a little bit flat,” ‘Goorj’ admitted.

“They got us with pace, and they got us at the rim.”

“I thought we got better with our defence and the matchup with Pinder in the second half.”

And that second half showcased the immense potential of a new squad that features three talented rookies – with big man Harry Wessels (six points, four rebounds) and point guard Will Johnston (10 points, three assists) in particular making impressive debuts.

Cairns showed creditable resilience and hung around for a while in the third quarter, cutting the margin to less than four points with less than five minutes remaining in the frame, but a flurry of long range bombs from Matthew Dellavedova (12points, six assists, four rebounds and a stellar defensive job on Cairns’ star forward Jack McVeigh), Davis, Malauch and Johnston helped blow the game apart as Sydney closed with a 21-8 run to turn for home up 90-73 after a 31-20 third quarter.

From there, the fourth quarter was just a formality, as the Kings’ superstars in Davis, Xavier Cooks (18 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots) and Torrey Craig (13 points, three rebounds) did as they pleased, allowing Coach Goorjian to clear his bench midway through the period with Sydney cruising to the impressive W.

On a night where the fans showed out again, just as they did in that remarkable 2025/2026 season, the Sydney Kings showed in no uncertain terms that the pundits who have already dismissed their championship credentials in NBL27 may be about to eat their words.

Next up for the defending champs is a blockbuster matchup with arch-rivals the Illawarra Hawks next Sunday afternoon at Afterpay Arena, with tipoff scheduled for 6:00pm AEST.

Tickets are available via Ticketek.

SYDNEY KINGS 111 (Davis 26, Cooks 18, Craig 13)
CAIRNS TAIPANS 90 (Pinder 27, Lewis 13, Bruce 13) at Afterpay Arena.

BOXSCORE

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