Road Warriors: Kings too strong for Taipans in Cairns

By Matt McQuade

Result: Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings 87 Cairns Taipans 77

Stats that matter: Kings nine blocked shots; Rebound count Kings 56 Taipans 44; Kings 40 points in the paint; Kings 23 bench points

Kings MVP: Redundant statement of the day: Xavier Cooks can play basketball.

Turning Point: An 18-0 run from the end of the second quarter to the five-minute mark of the third essentially decided matters.

The game was over when: An offensive rebound and stick-back from Wani Swaka Lo Buluk gave the Kings a 10-point lead with less than two minutes left.

Trending in the right direction: How about a hand for the two development players Jaylin Galloway and Jayden Hodgson, who both produced quality minutes during their time on the court.

Way to bounce back.

After a disappointing loss to Adelaide at home last Sunday, the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings guaranteed themselves at least third spot on the ladder at the end of the regular season with a hard-fought 87-77 win over the Cairns Taipans on Thursday night at the Cairns Convention Centre.

Sydney won their tenth consecutive game on the road to extend their single season franchise record and are just two wins on the road away from equalling the all-time mark of 12 set between the 2002/03 and 2003/04 seasons.

In addition, the Kings are the first team to win ten consecutive road games in the same season since the Canberra Cannons, way back in 1985.

A sensational defensive effort in the third quarter was the key to the victory. After the game was tied at 43 at the half, the Kings held the Taipans scoreless for the opening five minutes of the third period and ripped off 13 points of their own, adding to the five they closed with in the second quarter for an 18-0 surge that turned the game in their favour.

Cairns had just two field goals – a pair of desperation threes – in the third quarter and the Kings turned for home up 62-49.

Sydney expanded their advantage to 15 points early in the final period, before the Taipans made things a little interesting for a while with three consecutive triples and a deuce as part of an 11-1 run that sliced the margin to five points with seven minutes left.

But that was as close as the home team got the rest of the way as Tom Vodanovich (nine points, six rebounds) nailed a triple and Dejan Vasiljevic (15 points, four rebounds, two assists) splashed a contested jumper at the shot clock buzzer to push the lead out to 10.

From there, the Kings were never really threatened and the only remaining cheer on the night for the Orange Army was the free Hungry Jacks' cheeseburgers generously supplied by DJ, who uncharacteristically missed a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left on the clock.

Sydney’s win, their 19^th on the season, keeps them in second place on the NBL ladder and a loss by Illawarra to the Wildcats in Perth on Friday night will give the purple and gold homecourt advantage in the semi-final round of the NBL playoffs.

“(The message at halftime) was to be better defensively,” Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings Head Coach Chase Buford said.

“We had a few breakdowns and gave them easy looks.

“I thought our offence really put our defence on its heels because in the first half we were playing off some bad misses and turnovers too much.

“We just locked in and got some stops. I thought the guy next to me (Xavier Cooks) did a terrific job of contesting at the rim without fouling – he knew he was in foul trouble, but he just walled up and showed his hands.

“He did a terrific job protecting the rim that way, helped us get some easy buckets and we played off our stops.”

Indeed, Mr Cooks was spectacular, despite early foul trouble that limited his minutes to just over 23.

But you’d rarely see a more productive 23 minutes on an NBL floor, with the superstar forward going for 18 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and a career-high five blocked shots; his double-double in points and rebounds representing a league-high 13^th on the season.

What was even more impressive about the performance, as needed as it was given that the Kings were playing without prime movers Jaylen Adams and Jarell Martin for the first time this season due to illness, was the fact X picked up his third foul with less than a minute gone in the second quarter yet never got another one until the 1:27 mark of the fourth.

Cooks was brilliant yet again and will be in strong consideration for a number of NBL awards at the end of the season. But he also had plenty of help on a night when all 12 players saw court time and no one played more than Dejan Vasiljevic’s 28 minutes and 47 seconds.

Ian Clark got his first start and was predictably unstoppable. The ex-Golden State Warriors guard had his way with the Taipan defence, going for an NBL career-high 21 points on a hyper-efficient 8 of 10 from the field, adding three rebounds and a couple of assists in a controlled, dominant display.

Makur Maker produced his first NBL career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and just continues to get better after coming back from an early injury. His length, particularly defensively, caused the Taipans nightmares and he is going to be a massive key to this squad come playoff time.

“He’s huge for us now and he was huge for us when X went down,” Coach Buford said of MK.

“He started some games and was terrific for us – in Perth he was great, the game before against South East (Melbourne) he was terrific; he’s been good since.

“I think for him it’s just trusting the game, trusting his teammates, letting it slow down for him a little bit. I think he’s really embraced that mindset coming back and it’s helped him a bunch.

“He’s just making the right plays out there for the most part; guys are finding him and letting him do his thing. Ian made a great lob pass to him and he dunked it, which was terrific.”

And it was a night where everyone contributed, even development player Jayden Hodgson, who earned plaudits from his head coach for making some good defensive plays and settling the team down during the time he spent on court.

The Kings shot the ball at 42% from the field, were just 6 of 28 from three-point range and 21 of 28 from the foul line in their win. They blocked nine shots and changed countless others, had 40 points in the paint and got 23 points from their reserves in a pleasing sign.

Sydney faces just one more game in this NBL22 regular season; a blockbuster matchup against the Illawarra Hawks at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday 24 April. The game will be played on behalf of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, with a donation made to the charity for each three-pointer made by the Kings.

There is also a game being played as a curtain raiser to the main event on Sunday, featuring celebrities such as Nick Kyrgios, Dan Ewing and New South Wales Premier and number one ticketholder for the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings, Mr Dominic Perrottet.

And at halftime of Sunday’s Kings-Hawks game, the Kings will be inducting 2005 NBL Championship winner Ben Knight into the Sydney Kings Ring of Honour.

The action gets underway this Sunday afternoon at 1:45pm and it’s an event not to be missed! Tickets for that mega event are selling fast but still available via Ticketek.

#WE ARE KINGS

BRYDENS LAWYERS SYDNEY KINGS 87 (Clark 21, Cooks 18, Vasiljevic 15).
CAIRNS TAIPANS 77 (McCall 22, Kuol 16, Deng 13) at Cairns Convention Centre.

BOXSCORE