Brittle Breakers cracked by Kings
Down in the series, and down two key starters with injury, the Sydney Kings stepped up and showed their championship qualities at a sold-out Spark Arena yesterday to level the Australian NBL’s grand final at a game apiece.
A 2-0 lead was theirs for the taking, but Mody Maor’s New Zealand Breakers froze in front of the 8900 fans who packed the downtown Auckland venue in the expectation of something special.
Unfortunately, it was the visitors who produced the heroics as their side came up with their worst performance of the postseason, and were outplayed by the defending champions who led from pillar to post.
The Breakers, who shot an abysmal 37% from the floor (26 of 71) and 31% from beyond the arc (11 of 35), clearly have a lot to think about as they prepare for game 3 in Sydney on Friday.
Top of the list will be finding a rhythm in their offence which was notably absent in a defeat that continues the theme of the road side winning every contest between these two clubs this season.
Led by a brilliant 20 points off the bench from backup power forward Kouat Noi, the undermanned Sydney Kings shrugged off the inability of stars Xavier Cooks and Derrick Walton Jr to play any more than just a few minutes early and produced a gritty, gutsy performance to regain home advantage in the best-of-five series.
Shooting guard Barry Brown Jr caught fire late to pace the Breakers with 21 points on 7-of-17 shooting, including 4 of 9 from deep, and power forward Jarrell Brantley added 20 points (8/17 FG) and 6 boards for the Breakers in front of their fourth highest attendance in club history.
But their support was notably lacking, with Izayah Le’afa – another who made shots late when the contest was done – the only other double-figure scorer with 14 points (on 4-of-8 sooting), 3 rebounds, 3 dimes and 3 turnovers.
Game 1 hero Will McDowellWhite had a poor night with just 7 points (on 2-of-8 shooting) and 6 turnovers, while there was also too little of note from Tom Abercrombie (2 points at a 1-of-6 clip), Dererk Pardon (6 points, 11 rebounds) and Rob Loe who failed to score in 7 minutes off the pine.
The Kings were paced by that 20 points from Noi who stepped up brilliantly in Cooks’ absence, while sharpshooter Dejan Vasiljevic added 16 points, import Juston Simon 12 points and 6 steals (four coming in the third period) and Angus Glover a key dozen points off the bench.
Cooks and Walton Jr played a combined 13 minutes in the opening period, and sat the rest of the game as their team-mates did the business splendidly.
The Breakers could not have started worse, held to just nine points in the opening quarter as they made just 4 of 18 shots, had 9 turnovers and trailed by a dozen (21-9) at the end of a term best forgotten about.
On a warm Auckland day, the home team were as cold as ice, missing their first eight shots before Brantley broke the lid on the bucket with a triple at the 5:04 mark.
The Kings had their own offensive issues early on, but found some rhythm over the back part of the opening stanza to knock down three treys, and six shots in total, to take the early initiative.
The home side found a better offensive flow in the second quarter, making eight of 15 shots to battle back into the contest with a 21-13 second term, and trail by just four (34-30) at the major break.
The Breakers were led by 7 points in the period by McDowellWhite and 5 from Brantley as they continued to make life difficult for the visitors whose turnover count hit double-digits (11) for the half.
The Kings made an important 9-0 run late in the third to take a 16-point lead (57-41) into the final break, and though the Breakers made somewhat of a run in the final term, the visitors always had the cushion to cruise to the series-levelling victory.