Casper, DJ shoot Kings over 36ers in NBL Cup

Take out one of their three stars of the NBL season so far and the Sydney Kings only grew another leg with Casper Ware spearheading a 19-0 game breaking third quarter run to inspire the 94-77 win over the Adelaide 36ers.

Both teams were playing their first games of the NBL Cup in Melbourne on Sunday to close the double-header at John Cain Arena, but at half-time it was Kings coach Adam Forde demanding better from his team even though they were down just three.

Sydney had shot 58 per cent in that first half with DJ Vasiljevic producing 17 points on 4/5 shooting from deep, but they lost the possession game after being outrebounded and with seven turnovers, and that's what Forde wanted to see tidied up.

He would have been a delighted man by the end of the game with the Kings outscoring the 36ers 46 points to 26 in the second half to end up claiming six of the seven points on offer as part of the NBL Cup.

In fact, he still wasn’t overly happy post-match.

"Even at the end of the game we talked about how we can't pick and choose when we want to play. We take possessions off and we can't afford to do that," Forde said.

"We didn’t have a great second quarter and we gave up 29 points in the process which is unacceptable. We have to set a standard and adhere to it. The boys have got a creed with what they see as valuable to winning games and also growing as a unit. 

"They need to hold each other accountable for that and I felt like they did for the most part especially in the second half."

The Kings came into the game minus import centre Jarell Martin who had been providing 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds in a dynamic trio with rookie Vasiljevic and superstar point guard Casper Ware, and the two remaining players of that trio came up huge.

Ware caught fire with three triples in no time in the third quarter including one from the Kmart logo over Isaac Humphries' outstretched hand. That was on the way to his 23 points with Vasiljevic finishing with 22 while they each went 3/6 from long-range.

Without Martin, Tom Vodanovich gave full energy for 17 minutes before fouling out with nine points and three rebounds including hitting 3/4 from beyond the arc.

The league's oldest player Daniel Kickert returned for the first time this season and showed how valuable a big man who can shoot is by hitting 3/5 from deep for 11 points.

Didi Louzada was building some confidence too with nine points while Brad Newley added eight to go with six rebounds and four assists. Jordan Hunt also had six points, nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks.

As many positives as there were for the Kings, the opposite was the case for the 36ers who backed up a 19-point loss at home to Brisbane with the 17-point defeat to open the NBL Cup.

One positive was an improved outing from import small forward Tony Crocker who finished with 15 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Isaac Humphries still had 14 points, six rebounds and three steals but was down on his usual influence as was Daniel Johnson (six points, 1/8 shooting).

Sunday Dech battled away again for 13 points and five assists while Josh Giddey had 10 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks but they can't gain the services of Brandon Paul quick enough.

Sixers coach Conner Henry was happy with how his team responded to the slow start with the strong second quarter, but was frustrated by the second half.

"Clearly we didn’t start well but we played really well in the second quarter and had great energy on the defensive end, and pushed the tempo to get the ball through hands and wrestled it back to even," Henry said.

"But then we walk out in the third period and have zero energy, and we quit doing the good things of moving the basketball. 

"We end up with 13 turnovers in the second half and only six assists, and defensively we broke down. Our communication was poor and it snowballed for us. It didn’t look good and that's where we're at."

Sydney opened the game in blistering form with a Tom Vodanovich triple which turned into them hitting the first seven points, and then leading 9-2.

Adelaide worked back into it with triples from Sunday Dech and Tony Crocker before Keanu Pinder had a good period with a couple of baskets. But the Kings caught fire again with Daniel Kickert dropping two threes, and Vodanovich another to give them a 30-22 lead after one.

The 36ers took over the in second term, though, and they opened proceedings with a 9-2 run. An Isaac Humphries three-point play and Crocker triple put them in front, and another 7-0 streak had them up six soon after, and they still led by three at the half.

Then from the moment Adelaide led 55-52 three minutes into the second half, it was all Sydney with their taking over of the game sparked by three huge three-pointers in a minute from Ware. 

That took them from three points down to six points up and it ended up turning into a game breaking 19-0 run to take the game away from the 36ers.

It was then all academic early in the fourth with Kickert and Didi Louzada adding threes and Sydney's lead grew to as much as 20 before settling at 17.

Both teams back it up on Tuesday with the Kings facing the Perth Wildcats while the 36ers take on the hot South East Melbourne Phoenix.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 6
NBL CUP WEEK 1

SYDNEY KINGS 94 (Ware 23, Vasiljevic 22, Kickert 11)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 77 (Crocker 15, Humphries 14, Dech 13) 

POINTS AWARDED – Sydney Kings 6, Adelaide 36ers 1

BOX SCORE