Casper's new crew spark Kings revival

Forget who isn’t there for the Sydney Kings, Casper Ware is back and he's found himself a couple of handy partners who sparked a dramatic revival on Friday night with a 19-2 fourth quarter surge to secure the 84-74 win over the New Zealand Breakers.

The Kings returned to Qudos Bank Arena for a first home game of this season after going 2-3 on the road and the first time since Grand Final Game 3 on March 15 last year, but for a lot of the evening the Breakers looked capable of spoiling the homecoming.

Corey Webster delivered his best performance of the season for 25 points on 10/18 shooting and New Zealand was up five with 6:30 remaining after a Rasmus Bach three ball.

But Kings coach Adam Forde called the timeout and from that moment, Ware and his two new running mates Jarell Martin and DJ Vasiljevic took their team on a stunning run scoring 19 of the game's next 21 points.

That turned a five-point deficit into a 13-point advantage before Lamar Patterson closed the game with a three for the Breakers to end his frustrating night.

All bar two of those 19 points in that game-turning run came from that trio from the Kings with Ware showing he's right back to his MVP-contending, championship-winning best. 

He hit a huge three, another big bucket and three free-throws in that five-minute stretch on his way to 22 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Martin scored six points in that run too including a huge offensive board and putback slam to give him 20 points and six rebounds for the game. Rookie Vasiljevic also added four points as part of his first home game with the Kings for 17 points.

Sydney was still missing Daniel Kickert, Xavier Cooks, Didi Louzada and Angus Glover, but with that trio they showed they will be tough to top. Shaun Bruce also had nine points and four assists, and Brad Newley nine points and six rebounds.

Kings coach Adam Forde knows it might not have been pretty but wants his team to take heart from the result.

"It definitely was a grind and there was a bit of ugliness about it, but it's a bit of a confidence booster when you can win like that," Forde said. 

"We had a focus throughout the game that we highlighted a couple of times, and credit to New Zealand for pushing us out of the areas we wanted to capitalise in. We had three assists and nine turnovers at the half which we want the reverse of. 

"Then to be able to get those stops in the fourth that we did and use it as momentum for the offensive end means we can take a lot of confidence out of that type of win."

The Kings also were rewarded for being aggressive getting 25 foul calls to 12 going their way, and ending up taking 28 foul shots to 17 from the Breakers.

Ultimately, Corey Webster just didn’t get enough help despite his standout performance.

Younger brother Tai Webster had a tough night with 13 points, 10 rebounds and four assists while Lamar Patterson had just six points, six boards and three assists. The pair combined to shoot 5/24 from the field.

Finn Delany had 12 points and eight rebounds but the story will be New Zealand scoring just two points in a six-minute stretch where Sydney took the game away.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir wasn’t hiding from the fact he didn’t think his team's performance was good enough.

"We are struggling and it's another tough night. Obviously we were in the game and were up five with six minutes left but overall as a group we are struggling with a lot of simple actions," Shamir said.

"I think we played in control in a lot of areas and to a certain extent together, but it's not enough to win. We are much better than that and at the offensive end, it's very obvious that we must be much better. 

"We aren’t going to win many games with basically 71 points. It's something we also need to solve in our own heads. We can and should play much better." 

It was a feeling out process during the opening term and it was fitting scores were tied at 18-all by quarter-time before DJ Vasiljevic sparked the Kings with two quick threes. 

Corey Webster responded with eight quick points for the Breakers but again things stayed tight and by half-time the scores remained locked at 38-apiece.

Vasiljevic hit another triple to open the second half but New Zealand fired back with three balls of their own from Finn Delany and Tai Webster while Corey Webster continued to score at will with his driving to the hoop proving unstoppable.

But the Kings got into the bonus and lived at the foul line the rest of the third term to turn into the fourth leading by three.

The Breakers turned things around quickly though. They scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter with threes to Tai Webster and Rasmus Bach, and another Corey Webster tough make.

That had them up five with 6:30 left but out of a timeout, the Kings dominated. Corey Webster made one more basket but the Breakers wouldn’t score again aside from Patterson's buzzer-beater.

In between, Ware took over the game and whether he was earning a couple of trips to the foul line, knocking down big shots or setting up Martin and Vasiljevic, he was the star of the show.

Martin and Vasiljevic were along for the ride as was Shaun Bruce who showed how crucial he is for the Kings and it was Sydney who marked their homecoming going on that 19-2 run to win by 10.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 5

SYDNEY KINGS 84 (Ware 22, Martin 20, Vasiljevic 17)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 74 (C Webster 25, T Webster 13, Delany 12) 

BOX SCORE