Kings wrap up Blitz with victory against Breakers

The Sydney Kings wrapped up their NBL23 Blitz in Darwin with an impressive 101-93 win against the New Zealand Breakers on Friday.

Match summary

Unlike its previous two encounters, scoring didn’t prove hard to come by for the Kings in the opening term, who went on a 13-0 run in the middle part of the quarter, to lead by nine points (33-24) after one.

Period number two saw the Hoops Capital side extend their lead to double-digits (59-44), thanks to strong attacks on the fast break and solid contributions by youngsters Iggy Mitchell and Jackson Makoi (who started for the absent Walton).

The up-and-down play of Chase Buford’s troops continued in the third, regularly creating turnovers by the Breakers and turning them into points. Despite this, New Zealand managed to close the gap to single digits (80-71), thanks to eight and seven points for the period by Barry Brown and Izayah Le'afa respectively.

The Breakers slowly worked their way back into the contest in the fourth, starting the term on a 10-6 run, to close within five points midway through the period. But composed buckets down the stretch by Tim Soares sealed the Kings’ gritty 101-93 win - marking the highest score of any team at the Darwin Blitz.

Where the match was decided

An electric first quarter - the highest scoring by any team at the 2022-23 NBL Blitz - by the Kings (33-24) laid the platform for the big win. Leading the in that term, in which Sydney shot 11-15 from the field, was Kouat Noi (eight points) and Dejan Vasiljevic (seven) - who stepped up for backcourt mate Derrick Walton Jr, who was rested for the Friday fixture.

Along with that fast start, the Kings also dominated the statistical areas of field goal percentage (57 per cent to 44), free throw percentage (95 to 71), rebounds (43 to 31), points in the paint (62 to 32) and fastbreak points (17 to four).

Key moment

The athleticism of the Kings’ front court was on full display in the fourth quarter, as Xavier Cooks and Justin Simon produced a number of emphatic throwdowns in quick succession.

The former burst down the lane for a powerful two-handed jam before import Simon cleaned up a miss by Cooks and hammer it back with an offensive rebound. Soon after, Makoi found Simon with a baseline, backdoor cut before Simon climbed the ladder and threw it down.

Player of the game

Xavier Cooks was everywhere for the Kings in this fixture, tallying 14 points (7-11 from the field), nine rebounds, three assists and one steal in the win - not to mention causing plenty of disruptions on the defensive end with his length.

Other standouts were Soares (team-high 19 points along with five boards, two blocks and one dime) and Vasiljevic (14 points, three rebounds and three assists).

What’s next

The Kings, who finished their stint in Darwin with a 2-1 record, will now return to Sydney to ramp up preparations for their season opener against interstate rival Illawarra, from 8pm AEST on Saturday, October 1 - in game one on the NBL23 Adrian Hurley Cup.