Kings too strong for Wildcats in dominant home win

By Matt McQuade

Result: Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 96 Perth Wildcats 81

Stats that matter: Rebounding count Kings 47 Wildcats 31; Kings 14 three-pointers; Wildcats 13 turnovers; Kings 18 points from turnovers

Kings MVP: Jaylen Adams. A near triple double in a stunning display.

Turning Point: Shaun Bruce’s fourth quarter playmaking when the Wildcats were making a big charge.

The game was over when: Jaylen Adams took over and closed it out down the stretch.

Trending in the right direction: It was arguably the Kings’ best four-quarter effort all season, particularly at the defensive end.

Just call them streak-busters.

The Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings have put a long losing run to the Perth Wildcats to bed with an emphatic 96-81 victory on Sunday afternoon at Qudos Bank Arena.

Sydney came in to the ballgame having lost their previous six games to Perth overall and their last four straight at the Q, but led for all but a minute in an outstanding performance that was easily their best of the season.

“I’m really proud with the way our guys came out and guarded them,” said an elated Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings Head Coach Chase Buford.

“That’s an elite offensive team obviously; probably the best two scorers in the competition in Vic Law and Bryce Cotton, and I really thought our guys did a hell of a job on them.”

“They’re really good players, and the way we guarded I think frustrated them for a lot of the night. Our shifts were great and our help defence was terrific. It was tough for them to execute, especially in the first half.”

“I think our defence was terrific for the majority of the game.”

The win was set up by the Kings’ best half of NBL22; a devastating 20-minute stretch where the team did just about everything right in establishing 55-38 lead at the main break, their 55 points the most from the purple and gold in a first half this season.

Led by the Big Three of Jaylen Adams (30 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, two steals, two blocked shots), Jarell Martin (22 points, eight rebounds) and Xavier Cooks (13 points, eight rebounds), Sydney shot the ball at 52% in the opening stanza and outrebounded the Wildcats 30-14 in what would be a recurring theme.

The Kings expanded their lead to 19 points with three minutes gone in the third before Perth centre Matt Hodgson lost his composure and slapped Dejan Vasiljevic (13 points) twice, after the two came together and were jawing at one another, Hodgson’s actions resulting in a melee and Hodgson’s ejection from the game after a long discussion between the officials.

Initially, it was Perth who responded the better after the in-game delay, going on a 10-0 run fuelled by Bryce Cotton (20 points, six assists, two steals) and Majok Majok (five points), forcing Coach Buford to call a timeout.

It was a smart move from Chase, and it got his troops refocused, with a 7-0 run putting the home team back in control before a jumper at the end of the quarter from Vic Law (20 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots) made it 72-59 Kings with ten minutes remaining.

The beginning of those final ten minutes was wild, as the teams nailed five straight triples between them, including an audacious Adams’ bomb that banked in off the glass.

And when Xavier Cooks fouled out with more than seven minutes remaining after a typically strong effort at both ends of the floor, the Wildcats looked like they were going to add to Sydney’s recent fourth quarter woes, slicing the margin to just four points on the back of a three pointer from Todd Blanchfield (11 points, four steals).

But Shaun Bruce (nine points) stepped up for the Kings with a remarkable sequence of plays.

First, he stole the ball from Cotton in the backcourt, leading to an Adams feed to Martin for a vicious one-handed alley-oop jam.

Then he took a charge from Law to stymie another Wildcat possession.

And finally, he nailed a gut-check triple to steady the ship and get the Kings back in control with a nine-point lead midway through the quarter.

“I’m really proud of ‘Brucey’,” Coach Buford said.

“He made some huge plays for us, composed us when we needed it, made a huge steal when we needed it, just made big plays when we needed him to.”

“There was a possession where we went small and he guarded Vic Law at the end. He just shut him down in a possession that seemed like it was (Perth’s) last stand.”

“It was a terrific game from Brucey tonight.”

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Adams, who was absolutely spectacular with his near triple double, followed up with another long-range bomb to extend the margin out to double figures, and after Perth’s Mitch Norton (10 points, four assists) hit a three to briefly give the Wildcats some late hope, Sydney’s brilliant import floor leader put the game to bed with another three-point play, nailing another bomb late to put some icing on the cake.

“I think it’s finally starting to click for us, especially defensively,” Jaylen said afterwards.

“I think we did a great job tonight defending Vic and Bryce, and the biggest thing is we’ve got to keep defending like that, so we can string some wins together.”

“And I really wanted to protect home court. Our motto tonight was we wanted to put a show on for the fans and get the W.”

“We got it done at the defensive end, and that’s the most joy I’ve had playing defence in a long time; just out there helping and making other guys beat us.”

Sydney’s win took them to 5-6 and fifth place on the NBL ladder. It was their second straight victory and had the additional benefit of knocking the Wildcats out of top spot in the standings.

The team shot the ball at a solid 49% from the field, knocked down 14 three-pointers at a 42% clip and made 14 of 15 from the free throw line, the sole miss the only thing denying the team just the fifth perfect outing from the charity stripe in franchise history.

Importantly, the Kings’ stifling defence held Perth to just 37% from the field and 38% from three-point range, although the Wildcats made 19 of 22 from the foul line. The key stat was rebounding – Sydney demolished Perth 47-31 on the glass and held the visitors to just six offensive rebounds.

“The Wildcats were tops or second in offensive rebounding percentage, and for them to have six offensive rebounds on 44 misses was really, really good,” Coach Buford said.

“That was a terrific job by our guys.”

Sydney faces a tough road/home double in Round 10. On Friday 4 February, the purple and gold will head to Hobart to take on the Tasmania JackJumpers at MyState Bank Arena, with tipoff scheduled for 7:30pm AEST. Then, on Sunday 6 February, the Kings will do battle with the Adelaide 36ers at Qudos Bank Arena, with tipoff at 1:00pm. Tickets for the Sydney home game are available via Ticketek.

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BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 96 (Adams 30, Martin 22, Cooks 13, Vasiljevic 13)
PERTH WILDCATS 81 (Cotton 20, Law 20, Blanchfield 11) at Qudos Bank Arena.

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