Kings win thriller over Phoenix to make it eight straight

By Matt McQuade

 

Result: Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 91 South East Melbourne Phoenix 89

Stats that matter: Kings 51% FG; Kings 11 three pointers; Kings 24 bench points; Phoenix 18 offensive rebounds

Kings MVP: Jarell Martin was awesome at both ends of the floor.

Turning Point: An 11-2 run to start the third period gave the Kings a lead they would never relinquish.

The game was over when: The Kings forced a turnover off a Phoenix inbound pass with less than a second remaining.

Trending in the right direction: Tom Vodanovich’s fourth quarter was absolutely stellar.

 

Grit and grind.

That’s what it took for the undermanned Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings on Saturday night at John Cain Arena as they outlasted the South East Melbourne Phoenix in a 91-89 thriller.

Coming into the game without star forward Xavier Cooks and veteran backup guard Shaun Bruce, the purple and gold showed moxie and toughness to repel every surge from the home team.

The Kings led for all but the first 13 seconds of the second half, yet could never establish a break larger than eight points and had to survive a furious Phoenix rally in the final three minutes.

Amazingly, Sydney didn’t score a field goal for the last two minutes of the ballgame. It was their defence that saved them plus some huge plays when they needed them the most.

Jarell Martin (24 points, eight rebounds, two steals), who was outstanding on the night, made one of two at the foul line to give the Kings a two-point lead with less than a second remaining – the second free throw made accidentally when he meant to miss; the idea to give the home team no time to throw up a prayer.

Martin’s successful foul shot gave the Phoenix one last hope after a timeout, but Sydney’s swarming defence was on point when it had to be, and they forced South East Melbourne guard Kyle Adnam to throw away the frontcourt inbound pass.

On the ensuing possession, the Kings were able to get the ball inbounds to lock away the team’s eighth consecutive victory; a streak that equals the sixth-best all-time in the history of the Sydney Kings franchise.

Sydney also maintained their perfect record against the Phoenix at John Cain Arena – they are 6-0 all-time against the third-year NBL franchise in South East Melbourne’s home stadium.

And in another remarkable stat, the Kings are now a perfect 6-0 in games decided by six points or less this season.

“Our team is growing in those moments and we’re a confident group,” Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings Head Coach Chase Buford said.

“In that last game in Brisbane before the winning streak I didn’t see that confidence.

“But now when I walk into the huddles, I see that we just have a belief in our group that we’re going to make the right plays; we’re going to get the stops we need down the stretch to get it done.”

The Kings led by one at the end of a back-and-forth opening quarter thanks to seven points from Martin, and trailed by two at intermission due mainly to an offensive explosion from Phoenix import guard Xavier Munford, who had 17 of his game-high 26 points in the first half.

However, the Kings took control early in the third period with an 11-2 run featuring five points from Martin and triples from the excellent Dejan Vasiljevic (15 points, three assists) and the rapidly improving Next Star Makur Maker (11 points, three rebounds).

And led by Defensive Player of the Year candidate Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, Sydney’s defence was noticeably better in the third stanza, with Munford restricted to zero points in ten minutes.

Nonetheless, the Kings couldn’t shake their desperate opponent and led by just three points with a quarter remaining.

Jarell Martin continued to make all kinds of plays early in the fourth, with the highlight a vicious one-hand throwdown off the feed from Jaylen Adams (15 points, eight assists, four rebounds), one of two alley-oop jams that Jarell and Jaylen hooked up for.

And the big man’s coach had plenty of praise for his star import in the wake of the team’s victory.

“Jarell was terrific,” Coach Buford said.

“He hardly missed a shot; he did so many things – battled as the only big guy down there amongst the trees a lot of the night.

“He was super-impressive. I’m proud of the way he played, proud of the way he competed on defence and he stayed out of foul trouble when we needed him to.

“Just an excellent night from Jarell all the way around.”

But in truth, Sydney’s doesn’t win that game without what was nothing less than a sensational performance from backup forward Tom Vodanovich (eight points, three rebounds).

Tommy did everything for his ballclub in a brilliant seven-minute stretch in the fourth.

He nailed a triple from the right wing, attacked the rim for a monster three-point play – landing on his back in the process in a scary fall after taking a hit – then stood his ground against Phoenix forward Mitch Creek in the low post, rejecting Creek’s shot attempt, and he grabbed a key defensive rebound with less than 30 seconds remaining.

With Xavier Cooks unavailable, Sydney needed others to step up in the frontline, and boy, did Tom Vodanovich ever answer the call.

“He was huge,” Coach Buford said.

“I kind of felt it early in the fourth. I turned to our coaches and said “Hey, Tommy is giving us some good minutes, let’s ride it.”

“I probably would have ridden him more, but he got hard-fouled and was a little woozy coming up from that, so he needed (a break), but as soon as he was ready, I said “Get back out there.”

“I think he helped us tremendously down the stretch.”

What made Sydney’s win even more impressive was that Jaylen Adams didn’t score in the fourth quarter.

Not that Adams didn’t contribute in other ways though – he had three assists including a sweet dime to Makur Maker for yet another alley-oop jam – and he made a heads-up play when he ran the clock down in the final twenty seconds with his team up by one. In the end, Jaylen managed to get a shot off to leave as little time as possible for the Phoenix to score to either win or send the game into overtime.

It was a smart move, although, of course, it helped that Martin grabbed the biggest offensive rebound of the night after what became a three-point Adams miss, and Jarell’s one of two at the line was enough to continue this tremendous run for the purple and gold.

Sydney shot the ball at an efficient 51% from the field, were 11 of 29 from three-point range and 16 of 20 from the foul line. South East Melbourne won the battle of the boards 42-35, including 18 on the offensive glass, but Sydney held the Phoenix to just 40% from the field and got stops when they absolutely had to.

Sydney’s road odyssey continues in Round 17 with a blockbuster confrontation. Looking to extend their winning run to nine, the Kings head to Perth on Saturday 26 March to take on the Wildcats and their fearsome Red Army at RAC Arena, with tipoff scheduled for 8:00pm AEST.

WE ARE KINGS

 

BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 91 (Martin 24, Adams 15, Vasiljevic 15)
SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 89 (Munford 26, Creek 17, Ashley 13) at John Cain Arena, Melbourne.

BOXSCORE