Round 20 Preview: Kings vs. 36ers

By Matt McQuade

 

Welcome home.

It’s been way too long.

But we are damn proud of you.

For the first time since Sunday, 6 March, the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings will step on their home court with an Easter Sunday battle against the Adelaide 36ers.

In that long, drawn-out period before Sunday’s game, this remarkable ballclub went above and beyond with travel to five different states, during a road trip that must have seemed interminable on occasion.

Seven games. In seven different cities.

And seven wins.

It was unquestionably the most successful road trip in the history of this franchise, capped by a game in Wollongong on Thursday night that rightfully takes its place as one of the best games ever played between the Kings and the Illawarra Hawks during their storied rivalry.

That Sydney managed to outlast Illawarra after an incredible, back and forth, overtime thriller says as much about the toughness, resiliency and professionalism of this team than anything else.

They were exhausted, beaten-up physically and emotionally drained, playing against a talented opponent who was fresher than they were, yet the ten men who took to the floor in a hostile environment simply refused to lose, despite the Hawks throwing one haymaker after the other at them in what turned into a 45-minute slugfest.

There are those games that can define a season. Don’t be surprised if Thursday night was one of them.

Now, the team faces just one more game on the road for the rest of the NBL22 regular season – heading to Cairns to take on the Taipans next Thursday – and finally gets the chance on Sunday to be feted by the great fans in the Hoops Capital with a game against an Adelaide club that is showing some real feistiness despite being long since out of playoff calculations.

The 36ers took the Kings to the limit in Round 19 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre before heading to Perth for a Thursday game at RAC Arena that was expected to be nothing less than a ritual kill by the Wildcats.

But in the upset of the season, Adelaide shocked Perth to leave the Cats’ playoff hopes in jeopardy.

Under Head Coach and Sydney Kings Legend CJ Bruton, the 36ers are showing they aren’t just in this thing to make up the numbers for the rest of the season. They are walking into every remaining game with the intention of competing hard and winning.

So, Adelaide still represents danger to a ballclub that is riding the equal second-best winning streak in franchise history and is just two wins from equalling the all-time record that has stood since 2005.

But as far as Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings Head Coach Chase Buford is concerned, this is all about what his team does right now, regardless of their opponent.

“We’ll have to go home and get some rest; I think that will be the biggest priority between now and Sunday,” Chase said after the epic in Wollongong.

“There are a lot of tired guys in our locker room.

“Ian (Clark) talked about it after the game – we played with more energy and intensity and purpose tonight than we had the last two.

“That can’t happen. We can’t let that slip. But I think if we come out and play the way we want to play and play the way we know how; hopefully playing at home will give us that juice and we’ll come out and take care of business.”

Indeed, the purple and gold will be hoping that a big Easter crowd at the Q will spur them on against the 36ers, who despite their ladder position still boast some weapons, from the stretch-the-floor ability of power forward Daniel Johnson (16.6ppg, 6.8rpg, 2.2apg) to the two-way threat of Mitch McCarron (8.0ppg, 7.0rpg, 5.3apg, 2.1spg) and Sunday Dech (11.7ppg, 4.4rpg, 2.1apg), the deadly shooting of Dusty Hannahs (12.9ppg) and even the size of Filipino hero Kai Sotto (6.9ppg, 4.4rpg), whose presence should ensure a large turnout from Sydney’s passionate Filipino community.

One of the keys to Sydney’s resurgence over the past couple of months has been a squad that doesn’t care who gets shots or touches – it’s all about sharing the ball and turning a potential good shot into a potential great one.

As a result, opponents can’t focus in on one or two guys; anyone on the Kings’ roster can blow up on any given night, and that makes this team extremely difficult to defend.

Take Dejan Vasiljevic (12.5ppg, 2.7rpg) for example. Sydney’s fifth leading scorer was the man for Sydney in their win over the Hawks with a career high 33 points including his NBL-best six made three pointers.

DJ was unstoppable in the Gong and figures to be an X-factor come playoff time – when opponents zero in on the likes of MVP favourite Jaylen Adams (19.7ppg, 5.0rpg, 6.3apg, 1.2spg), Jarell Martin (16.1ppg, 8.0rpg), Xavier Cooks (14.7ppg, 9.4rpg, 2.6apg, 1.8bpg) and Ian Clark (13.0ppg, 3.1rpg), they risk incurring the wrath of one of the competition’s most lethal perimeter weapons, as the Hawks found to their dismay.

That’s not to mention guys like Angus Glover, who will be a game-time decision on Sunday, Makur Maker, Biwali Bayles and Tom Vodanovich, all of whom have provided important minutes and productivity and can’t be disrespected.

One thing the Kings need to do on Sunday is speed up the 36ers, who tried to turn their game in Round 19 into a slowdown, run the shot clock, grind it out contest.

Accordingly, look for a focus on quickness at both ends from the purple and gold – offensively it’s about pace and space, grab and go; defensively they want to pressure the ballcarriers, get deflections, and run out of those to get some cheap baskets and have the scoreboard ticking over.

No matter what though, it will be great just to see the boys back in the Harbour City.

They are on an incredible roll.

And they want to keep that going in front of the best fans in the National Basketball League.

14 in a row upcoming.

Let’s do this.

 

WHO

Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings vs. Adelaide 36ers

WHEN

Sunday 17 April, 3:00pm tipoff AEST

LOCATION

Qudos Bank Arena

TV

ESPN, Kayo Sports, 10 Peach

RADIO

Cluch Radio

THE PLAYERS

Kings

Jaylen Adams (import); Dejan Vasiljevic; Wani Swaka Lo Buluk; Xavier Cooks; Jarell Martin (import)

Ian Clark (import); Makur Maker (Next Star); Angus Glover (subject to medical clearance); Biwali Bayles; Tom Vodanovich; Matur Maker; Jaylin Galloway (development player); Jayden Hodgson (development Player); Ignatius Mitchell (development player)

36ers

Mitch McCarron; Sunday Dech; Hyrum Harris; Todd Withers (import); Daniel Johnson

Dusty Hannahs (import); Tad Dufelmeier Jr; Kai Sotto; Mojave King (Next Star); Emmanuel Malou; Nick Marshall (development player); Isaac Gattorna (development player); Lachlan Olbrich (development player)

THE COACHES

Kings

Chase Buford (NBL rookie head coach, record 18-7)

36ers

CJ Bruton (NBL rookie head coach, record 8-17)

2021/2022 REGULAR SEASON SERIES

Kings lead 2-0

Kings def. 36ers 93-90 @ Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Round 13

Kings def. 36ers 84-77 @ Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Round 19

NBL LADDER

Kings 18-7, second

36ers 8-17, ninth

LAST GAME

Kings def. Illawarra Hawks 107-102 in overtime @ WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong, Round 19

36ers def. Perth Wildcats 82-70 @ RAC Arena, Perth, Round 19

KEY STATS

Kings

Points: Jaylen Adams, 19.7ppg

Rebounds: Xavier Cooks, 9.4rpg

Assists: Jaylen Adams, 6.3apg

36ers

Points: Daniel Johnson 16.6ppg

Rebounds: Cameron Bairstow, 7.8rpg

Assists: Mitch McCarron, 5.3apg

KEY MATCHUP

Jarell Martin vs Daniel Johnson

Jarell Martin would have to be one of the most understated superstars in the NBL. This is a guy with all the talent in the world, boasting size, power and mobility, and you feel like he could score the ball and dominate a lot more than he already does at this level. But he doesn’t care about points or touches – he just wants to play and win games, and that says a lot about what makes him such a fantastic teammate. For his part, Daniel Johnson has been one of the greatest frontline scorers in NBL history over his long career. He accumulates stats in every game he plays; his ability to score the ball from deep or with that patented turnaround fadeaway has always made him difficult to defend. Martin will look to attack Johnson, who is suspect defensively, at every opportunity; down the other end the Kings will throw different looks at Johnson including the occasional double team to get the ball out of his hands.

THE QUESTIONS

Will Sydney control the tempo and turn this into a high-octane transition game?

How will Adelaide try to restrict Sydney’s potent offence?

HISTORY

All-time Head-to-Head

100 games played; 36ers lead 55-45

In Sydney

48 games played; Kings lead 26-22

At Qudos Bank Arena

13 games played; 36ers lead 8-5

DID YOU KNOW?

Head coach Chase Buford already boasts the longest winning streak by a Sydney Kings Head Coach on debut with the team’s current 13-game unbeaten run, but he has a chance to equal the all-time NBL record for a first-year head coach with three games remaining in the Kings’ NBL22 campaign. That record is currently held by the late, great Owen Wells, who as a player-coach for the Sydney Supersonics in 1983 engineered a remarkable 16-game winning streak. That Supersonics unit was the first great Sydney basketball team in the NBL – they were 19-3 in the 1983 regular season and to this day remain the only Sydney-based NBL team to ever go undefeated at home during the minor rounds.

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