Kings' "desperation" praised

The Sydney Kings were in the firing line heading into their Round 15 Sunday hoops clash with New Zealand. Their run of eight losses in 11 games had experts questioning whether the side had given up and if the Kings could even maintain their place in the post-season positions. Against the Breakers though, they responded in a big way.

The Kings scored 63 points by halftime and ran out as eventual 29-point winners over a Breakers side that was also fighting for their Play-In lives.

Derek Rucker was among the Kings’ biggest critics following the back-to-back reigning champions’ defeat to Adelaide earlier in the round, and he praised the desperation with which the Kings attacked New Zealand.

“I’m on the hook here because I said if they lost in Adelaide it was a wrap for their season, but I might have to re-think that,” Rucker said on Moments That Matter. “Because the way they came out and convincingly stomped on New Zealand’s throat, that’s what we were expecting all year.

“When you’re desperate you’ll do crazy things to get success and we saw it case in point right here at Qudos Bank Arena.

“I thought coach Moud made some great changes in the way he’s been managing games, his decision to go earlier than later with timeouts was noticeable and overall the Kings looked a lot better and a lot stronger, that was their first convincing win I’m going to say in 10 weeks.”

While the likes of Denzel Valentine, Angus Glover and Jordan Hunter were all impressive in the victory, the night undoubtedly belonged to former MVP Jaylen Adams. He ended the game with an NBL career-high 39 points – and could have had more had Mahmoud Abdelfattah elected to keep him in the game.

Adams scored 21 points in the first half to, alongside Valentine, establish an early, insurmountable lead.

The performance came after Adams endured a tough shooting night in Adelaide on Thursday.

“Jaylen Adams finally came out and was like ‘I’m one of the best players in the competition, I’m going to go out and perform like that, I’m not waiting around. I’m going to put my imprint on this game right away’,” Rucker said.

“It was the way he was trying to press, press, press. That should have been the case all season so I’m very happy for him, it’s good to see the Kings up and about and now it really makes this whole top eight, top nine – the whole league is still in it.

“We understand the pressure cooker of Sydney Kings basketball, it’s been that way for decades, it won’t change – it’s one of the elite franchises in sport in Australia. There comes a lot more with it, but also when you play well you get significant confidence hits, you get people patting you on the back and you start to feel good about yourself. There’s a chance for the Kings to get it right and go on a tear.”

The Kings will next take to the court on Sunday afternoon when they take on the Perth Wildcats at 2pm AEDT.