Oliver looms as key piece in Kings' title charge

Jaylen Adams and Xavier Cooks might be the former Sydney Kings' MVP winners for NBL25, but it could very well be Cam Oliver and Kouat Noi most pivotal to their championship quest with both impacting huge on Sunday.

The Kings once again produced a strong finish to overcome the Cairns Taipans at Qudos Bank Arena on the back of ending the game with a 16-9 run in the final three minutes.

Of those 16 points, 11 were scored by Noi as he continues to be an invaluable and reliably consistent weapon for Goorjian to turn to, as Sydney bounced back from Thursday's loss at home to Melbourne United.

That came on the back of wins over the South East Melbourne Phoenix and Brisbane Bullets, where they came from behind at three quarter-time in both, but there were plenty of questions coming into Sunday's game.

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Oliver didn’t play at all in the second half against Melbourne, and Adams was also rarely sighted in the second half. The former Finals MVP was -17 and the latter -26 in their game time to say it all.

Goorjian knows that with no third import possible now, he needs those two firing if the Kings are to be championship contenders, and the signs were good against the Taipans.

Oliver willed himself to 15 points and 17 rebounds in almost 30 minutes of court time, and the Kings being +11 with him out there. 

Adams also bounced back with 18 points and five assists, and feels that natural connection with Oliver and a responsibility to ensure he keeps him involved and gives him a chance to thrive for the Kings.

"As a point guard that's part of my job and he's also the other import so we're always around each other, talking basketball and I tell him that I'll look for him every chance that I can to get him going," Adams said.

"When he's going we're a really good team and I think I did miss him on a lob today and everyone in the gym probably heard me scream because I wanted it bad for him.

"But he was big late, he hit big shots, he played the dunker well and that kinda just makes my job easier when I can get that deep into the lane and have such a free drop off for two easy points. I'm happy for his performance today."

Watch Brian Goorjian and Jaylen Adams' post-game press conference via the Sydney Kings’ YouTube channel above. While you’re there, be sure to hit subscribe, to ensure you never miss out on any of our great videos.

While Goorjian has been hard on Oliver throughout the season including sitting him for large chunks of games, he knows that the Kings need him to be successful.

Oliver might have shown inconsistent form, but what Goorjian has been impressed with is that he has never sulked, never complained and continued to show up to work and play a role.

Then on Sunday he shook off not appearing after half-time against Melbourne to be instrumental in the win against his original NBL team.

"I keep saying that moving forward to win big and to win the games that we're getting to now, the Cam Oliver presence is really important and tonight he had 17 rebounds," Goorjian said.

"He has been a man all year and he came here for a purpose because he had developed habits that are hard to break over a period of time.

"He is committed to it and I just think that's been a rollercoaster and it's been tough on him, and it just hasn’t fallen for him, but in this game what he did on the floor really helped us win.

"He's a very good basketball player with those things being his home base and we don't win that game without it, and there was a lot of heart to hearts, but now he knows the season is coming to an end and for all of us it's D-day. You're getting past the talks and it's just the touch now."

Goorjian knows for the most part what he'll get from Adams, Cooks, Alex Toohey and Bul Kuol.

It's Noi and Oliver who provide that X-factor and match winning ability, which Noi showed once again with 11 points in the last three minutes against his former Taipans team on Sunday.

He ended the game with 27 points with 4/8 three-point shooting, and now has had 10 straight games scoring in double-figures and averaging 18.7 points over that stretch.

Noi is just about an unbackable favourite now as Best Sixth Man, and is in the best form of his 138-game NBL career, and Goorjian couldn’t speak more highly of him.

"He's been incredible and I really think he's having a career year. It's really nice to come into something and start to build it, and a guy benefits from the environment he's playing in," Goorjian said.

"We needed that third offensive weapon down the stretch and we're just really fortunate to have that weapon there, and I credit JA there for getting the ball in his hand because everyone's confident in him under pressure making big shots.

"They went after X (Xavier Cooks) and went after JA (Adams) with pressure and he was elite as that third weapon."