Kings destroy Breakers in NZ

No Xavier Cooks, no Bul Kuol and no worries for the Sydney Kings as they put in a completely dominant performance at both ends to embarrass the New Zealand Breakers on their home floor, winning 103-62.

The Kings arrived at Auckland's Spark Arena without two of their most important players in the form of defensive menace Kuol (knee) and former league MVP Cooks (ankle) and coming off two straight losses to be just clinging to fourth spot.

What they would deliver was a complete domination of the Breakers to end up winning by 41 points but it was the second quarter that summed up the contest.

New Zealand went more than six minutes without scoring while either side of quarter-time, Sydney went on a 22-0 run before outscoring the Breakers 27 points to four to be leading by 29 at half-time.

In that quarter alone, the Breakers not only scored just four points, but shot 2-of-20 from the field including missing all 10 three-point attempts and didn’t get up a single free-throw while coughing up seven turnovers.

There was no mercy from the Kings in the second half either as they cruised to the 41-point win to improve to 14-9 and close in on the third placed Melbourne United (15-9) who they host on Sunday.

Kouat Noi already had 13 points and six rebounds in the first half for Sydney to set the tone on his way to 18 and seven for the game with Tim Soares standing tall as well in the absence of Cooks for 15 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

Tyler Robertson moved into the starting five for 14 points with 4/7 three-point shooting with Jaylin Galloway contributing 16 points and seven rebounds, Makuach Maluach 15 points and seven boards, and Kendric Davis largely took a backseat with 10 points and seven assists.

The season prospects of New Zealand could be over now at 8-15 and there was precious little to like as they shot 34 per cent while going 6/37 from downtown and only having 10 free-throw attempts.

Next Star Karim Lopez top-scored with 11 points and five rebounds with Izaiah Brockington adding 10 points.

Gun point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright highlighted their woes with three points and four turnovers with 1/9 shooting.

It remained a tight affair through most of the first quarter until the Kings scored the last five points with a triple to Tyler Robertson and a bucket to Kouat Noi to set the tone for what was to come.

The Kings turned that 5-0 run into a 22-0 streak by scoring the opening 17 points of the second quarter which included superstar point guard Kendric Davis taking, and making, his first shot of the game.

Noi and Makuach Maluach made up the other 12 points in that run to open the second quarter for the Kings and in more than six minutes, New Zealand went scoreless from nine shot attempts to go with having six turnovers.

Eventually the rot was ended with Carlin Davison completing an alley-oop on the pass from Izaiah Brockington, but it mattered little with Sydney still scoring the last five points of the half to outscore the home team 27-4 in that 10 minutes to go into half-time in control at 50-21.

There were no signs of a New Zealand fightback in the second half either even with them scoring 19 points in the third quarter.

Sydney still scored another 25 to be up by 35 at three quarter-time and then closed the deal on the emphatic 41-point victory.

Both teams back up on Sunday with one more game each before HoopsFest in Perth next week with the Breakers first up away to the Illawarra Hawks while the Kings are at home to Melbourne United.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 62 (Lopez 11, Brockington 10, Te Rangi 8)

SYDNEY KINGS 103 (Noi 18, Galloway 16, Maluach 15, Soares 15)

BOX SCORE

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