Sydney slump to road defeat at hands of Sixers

The Sydney Kings fell to their third straight loss on Thursday night, losing 95-82 to the Adelaide 36ers at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. 

Despite the result, the Kings remain in fourth ahead of Sunday’s Pink Hoops double-header against New Zealand at Qudos Bank Arena. 

Match summary 

Free-throws by Jordi Hunter and Alex Toohey opened the scoring for the Kings, before Jaylin Galloway and Denzel Valentine helped the visitors go on an 8-0 run. The 36ers’ first five points all came from the charity (missing their first shots from the field), as the purple and gold led 12-5 midway through the term. Seven unanswered after a time-out by the hosts tied it all up. Seven in a row by Kouat Noi kept the purple and gold in front as the clock ticked down but bucket as time expired by Kyrin Galloway gave the Sixers a one-point lead (20-19) at the first break. 

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The Hoops Capital side struggled to score in the second, missing their first six shots before Toohey ended the drought. A three-point play Galloway was quickly cancelled out by Adelaide’s Sunday Dech, who nailed one from downtown. The Kings’ inability to score allowed the hosts to get out and run, seeing their lead grow to eight (31-23) with 4.24 to play. Following another offensive rebound, which led to a four-point play by former King Dejan Vasiljevic, Adelaide’s lead grew to 13. By the end of the period, the harbour city side only registered eight points (their lowest quarter output of the season), seeing them trail 42-27 at half-time. 

Jaylen Adams ended his scoring drought with an early drive early in the third, with an and-one by Hunter keeping the Kings’ scoreboard ticking over. But Sydney’s inability to secure the defensive rebound and contain the drives into the paint kept the lead in double-digits. Sydney’s struggles from downtown (hitting two from first 20) limited their scoring prowess, which was exploited by the in-form Trey Kell – the lead blew out to as many as 22 points. The injection of Makuach Maluach (four quick points and a forced turnover) into the game sparked the Kings on a mini-run, as the purple and gold brought it back to 70-54 at three-quarter-time. 

Jacob Wiley scored seven of the Sixers’ first 10 points, seeing their advantage extend back to 18 with 6.25, forcing Mahmoud Abdelfattah to call a time-out. Quick scores by Glover and Galloway brough it back to a 12-point game. Timely free-throws by NBL22 MVP Adams reduced it further, as did a poster dunk by Noi on Isaac Humphries late in the quarter. That meant little as Sydney couldn’t stop their opponents from scoring – eventually falling by 13. 

Where the match was decided 

Adelaide won most of the major statistical categories on Thursday, including field goal percentage (41-35), free-throw percentage (85-72), rebounds (54-46), assists (20-12), blocks (8-1), second-chance points (24-19) and fastbreak points (14-6) - while also landing five of their 33 shots from downtown.

Key moment 

Producing their worst scoring quarter of the season in the second period (losing it 22-8) was unrecoverable for the Kings in the 11th defeat of NBL24. 

Player of the game 

Adams top-scored for the Kings with 20 points, to go along with his four assists, one rebound and one steal. 

Other to reach double-figures were Glover (12), Noi (11) and Hunter (10). 

What’s next 

Mahmoud Abdelfattah’s side, who are now 10-11, now return home for the club’s first-ever Pink Hoops double-header – which is supporting the McGrath Foundation 

The Kings’ match with New Zealand at 3.45pm AEDT will follow the Flames’ fixture with Perth (1.15pm). 

Tickets for this historical afternoon of hoops are still available here.