36ers Beat Kings at Home to Stay Alive.. Just

It might not quite have been the sizeable win they ideally wanted, but just getting the result keeps the Adelaide 36ers' painfully slim NBL playoff hopes alive with a 115-108 victory against the Sydney Kings.

After snapping a five-game losing slide with a win in Cairns on Monday night, Adelaide maintained the slimmest of possibilities to still reach the top six to close NBL23, but they needed to win both their remaining games.

By sizeable margins too, but the first task was to win and that was never going to be easy on Friday night in front of another sell out Adelaide Entertainment Centre crowd of 9558 people against the defending champion Kings.

Sydney have already locked up the regular season championship and MVP candidate Xavier Cooks didn’t play, but still the Kings took control late in the third quarter after two triples from DJ Vasiljevic to lead by eight.

It had been a first half full of offence and not a lot of defence with the teams combining for 118 points and scores tied at 59-59, but the Kings assumed a degree of control going into the fourth.

Antonius Cleveland once again willed the 36ers to the victory with 10 points in the fourth quarter and with help from Ian Clark against his old team and then Robert Franks, the Sixers scored the game's last eight points to go from a point down to winning by seven.

The Sixers still need a near miracle to reach the top six with Perth having to lose to Cairns and Sydney this weekend, and they need to beat Melbourne United at John Cain Arena.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Caught &#39;em slippin&#39;. <br><br>? - <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> <a href="https://t.co/EdfEmeDCsT">pic.twitter.com/EdfEmeDCsT</a></p>&mdash; Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1621452118300434434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Cleveland again finished with 23 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals for Adelaide on shooting 9/16 from the floor and 4/7 from beyond the arc.

Franks added 19 points and five rebounds, Clark 18 points, three boards and two steals, Anthony Drmic 13 points, four rebounds and four assists, Mitch McCarron 12 points and five assists, and Daniel Johnson 12 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Sixers coach CJ Bruton was especially happy with how his team came out to produce a stronger defensive performance for most of the second half.

"My half-time speech talked about some things I didn’t like from the jump," Bruton said.

"While we managed to find our way and find our feet, and get back in the ball which we've done all year and have struggled to fight back, there were some signs there I wasn’t happy with.

"But we were able to get it together and we hung tough. It was 59-all at half-time which is still high, but we were playing a team who can shut teams down and we were doing a very good job of scoring at that point in time, and did a much better job in a number of areas in the second half."

Tim Soares had his best offensive output of the season for Sydney with 24 points to go with seven rebounds while DJ Vasiljevic added 18 points, Justin Simon 15 points and seven rebounds, Kouat Noi 13 points and five boards, and Jaylin Galloway 11 points.

Kings coach Chase Buford gave credit to how well Adelaide shot the ball for the game to end up getting an important victory for them.

"It was just a game of big runs and big swings," Buford said.

"Obviously we played some funky line-ups and a couple of times it really bit us in the butt in terms of allowing them to go on big runs with groups of people we don't usually have on the floor together. 

"But credit to Adelaide, they made a ton of shots both in the paint and at the three-point line. Especially in the first half they couldn’t miss but even in the second half they shot well. It wasn’t a great defensive game from either team, but it was a big game of big swings and runs."

Ian Clark got off to a hot start against his old team scoring the Sixers' first seven points, but the Kings kept pace and triples from DJ Vasiljevic and Tim Soares had them up 13-7.

Vasiljevic pushed Sydney out to a 17-10 advantage but Adelaide went on a stunning offensive burst going on an 18-4 run which included three-pointers to Antonius Cleveland, Daniel Johnson and Sunday Dech.

Kyrin Galloway hit a three just before quarter-time to help Adelaide go into the break leading 35-29 with both teams combining for 64 points with the Sixers shooting 65 per cent and 6/9 from deep. The Kings going 50 per cent and 11/12 at the free-throw line.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Making a statement ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/rFRy3oMJBy">pic.twitter.com/rFRy3oMJBy</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1621445128140505092?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The points kept flowing throughout the second quarter and it was largely Galloway and Cleveland helping Adelaide maintain an eight-point lead before Sydney scored the next nine points beginning with a Derrick Walton Jr three ball to reclaim the lead.

Both teams kept trading buckets heading to half-time and couldn’t be separated with scores at 59-59 with the 36ers still shooting 56 per cent and going 9/17 from downtown. The Kings were still shooting 50 per cent as well while 5/11 from three-point land and 16/18 at the charity stripe.

Sydney came out with the opening eight points in no time including another three ball to Soares. He then responded with his third three of the game to Cleveland knocking one down for Adelaide and by the time Vasiljevic landed consecutive triples just before three quarter-time, the Kings' lead grew to eight.

Robert Franks hit a three to bring the Sixers back within five at three quarter-time and it was again Cleveland putting the team on the back to start the fourth.

Even though Daniel Johnson's three started things off, Cleveland then threw down a dunk in transition, scored strongly again and then converted a three-point play to put his team on top by five with seven minutes to play.

The 36ers did get out to a seven-point edge but the Kings wouldn’t go away even without Xavier Cooks, Vasiljevic and Walton out on the floor. They went on a 10-2 run topped off with a Shaun Bruce three ball to grab the lead with 2:50 to go.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">CLEVELAND IS KEEPING ADELAIDE&#39;S SEASON ALIVE ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/0T5v8tTGMZ">pic.twitter.com/0T5v8tTGMZ</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1621449451952029697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Cleveland and Franks combined to regain the lead for Adelaide before Clark put them up three with a minute to play. Eventually with 16 seconds to go, Kyrin Galloway hit a free-throw to make the margin four and it was enough to secure the eventual seven-point win.

Both teams play again on Sunday with the 36ers taking on Melbourne United while the Kings head to Perth to play the Wildcats in the last game of the regular season.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 18

ADELAIDE 36ERS 115 (Cleveland 23, Franks 19, Clark 18)

SYDNEY KINGS 108 (Soares 24, Vasiljevic 18, Simon 15)

BOX SCORE