Bruce keeps Kings alive with 2OT win

The Sydney Kings have kept their #NBL21 playoff hopes alive in the most dramatic of fashion after Shaun Bruce inspired a remarkable 100-98 double overtime victory against the league-leading Melbourne United.

To be any hope of still taking part in finals action this season, the Kings simply had to win this game and pull off the upset against a Melbourne team who just needs to keep winning to lock away top spot.

It turned out to be a game of remarkable runs with Bruce inspiring a 14-0 third quarter run from the Kings that saw them turn a five-point half-time deficit into a 13-point lead in no time.

But Jock Landale was equally instrumental in Melbourne responding with their own run of 15 consecutive points. Then with Jarell Martin fouling out for the Kings with seven minutes left in regulation, the game appeared to turn decidedly in United favour.

This time Bruce found a sparring partner in Tom Vodanovich and the Kings were on track to win in regulation until Melbourne scored the last two buckets to force overtime.

Shea Ili and Bruce missed potential game winners to force a second overtime, and this time the Kings wouldn’t be denied with Bruce knocking down another three, and Craig Moller hitting the ultimate winning basket in the 100-98.

The win sees the Kings improve to 17-17 on the season to remain within striking distance still of the 18-15 South East Melbourne Phoenix and Illawarra Hawks.

Bruce was the hero for the night for the Kings and he was given the license to jack up 24 shots and 14 threes on the night. He hit enough of them to be the difference including five threes to go with seven assists.

Tom Vodanovich came up huge too after Martin fouled out for 13 points with Casper Ware still managing 16 points and five assists despite outstanding Shea Ili defence.

Kings coach Adam Forde came away just so happy to be involved in the game of basketball.

"I guess it was just the appreciation for basketball more than anything. I even said it to myself halfway through the second overtime and I thought if you weren’t a fan of basketball, then you would be now," Forde said.

"Just with the way we went about it at the defensive end, it wasn’t like anybody particularly shot well and as a team we shot 37 per cent from the field. 

"But all the second chance points, defensive stops were what won us the game. I pin it down to the defensive end and you walk away from that knowing that it was just a team effort."

Jock Landale put up 23 points and 12 rebounds in a big performance for Melbourne with Chris Goulding contributing 16 points, Ili 11, Scotty Hopson 11, Mason Peatling 11, Jo Lual-Acuil 10 and Mitch McCarron nine points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

Melbourne coach Dean Vickerman could point to any number of things late in the fourth or during the two overtime periods, but ultimately he was frustrated they didn’t make more of their dominance in the first half.

"I thought we could have had a much greater margin in the first half and the things that hurt us there were the offensive rebounds and the turnovers," Vickerman said. 

"A few of those were after we secured good defensive rebounds but lost it underneath our own basket and gave them some easy ones. I thought we defended the right way but the finishing of plays defensively was what hurt us. 

"Our offence was in a pretty decent rhythm especially in that first half, and the first five minutes after the half I thought our offence became really passive. It took us until the last two or three minutes of the quarter to really start being aggressive again, so that was disappointing. 

"Then there is a lot of things that happened down the stretch where if we did this or that we could have won the basketball game. We had a layup at the end of regulation, free-throws and a million little things there. But I didn’t think we should have put ourselves in that position by the way we played in the first half."

United raced out to a 10-4 start to the game before Casper Ware snapped his field goal drought with a three to bring the Kings back into the game even though Melbourne was still up 22-18 at quarter-time.

Chris Goulding's second and third threes of the game to start the second quarter stretched Melbourne's lead further before Mason Peatling stretched the lead out to 10. They threatened to break it open but the Kings were able to live at the foul line and get back into the game to be down just five at the half.

Melbourne was still up 51-48 early in the third after a Shea Ili triple but then the game underwent a remarkable turnaround with Shaun Bruce inspiring the Kings to a 14-0 run.

He scored 10 of those 14 points himself including knocking down two from deep and suddenly the Kings went from trailing by three to leading by 13. But Melbourne responded in kind closing the third quarter with their own 12-3 stretch to suddenly be back within four again.

Jock Landale was a man possessed again to start the fourth and he converted a three-point play before also hitting a three ball and Melbourne was back on top. Jo Lual-Acuil and Sam McDaniel then stretched the lead to six and Sydney was in real trouble when Jarell Martin fouled out on a rough offensive foul call.

The Kings showed their heart again to hit the next seven points and this time it was Tom Vodanovich the hero. He would hit another five points shortly after too, and then when Bruce knocked down yet another three ball, Sydney was up 84-80 with two minutes on the clock.

The last two scores went Melbourne's way through Peatling and McCarron to force overtime after Lual-Acuil blocked Craig Moller's attempt at a game winner on the buzzer.

The teams couldn’t be split in the first overtime either and both had a shot at the winner but Ili and Bruce couldn’t make their attempts to put their teams ahead and it remained at 90-90 with five more minutes needed.

It was Ili and Bruce during the second overtime who knocked down three-pointers, with Bruce's putting Sydney up two. Ultimately four missed free-throws from Landale and McCarron proved costly for Melbourne and a Moller basket, and free-throw from Jordan Hunter sealed the deal for Sydney.

The Kings now finish their season in Wollongong against the Hawks on Thursday and then back home on Saturday to the Brisbane Bullets. Melbourne is next up on Monday also in Sydney against the Cairns Taipans.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 20

SYDNEY KINGS 100 (Bruce 21, Ware 16, Vodanovich 13)

MELBOURNE UNITED 98 (Landale 23, Goulding 16, Peatling 11, Hopson 11, Ili 11) 

BOX SCORE