Kings Get Perfect Response to Hand Phoenix First Loss

Just two nights after setting all sorts of unwanted records, the Sydney Kings responded impressively and delivered a flying start on their way to handing the South East Melbourne Phoenix their first loss of the season with the 84-73 win at Qudos Bank Arena.

The Kings coughed up the first 26 points of the game against Melbourne United on Thursday but they were back home on Saturday and determined to make amends despite the continued absence of imports RJ Hunter and Jaylen Adams.

This time around, Sydney raced to a 10-2 lead and were up 29-14 by quarter-time. While Zhou Qi did what he could as a strong presence to will the Phoenix back into the contest, the Kings had all the answers to win by 11.

Melbourne put up 26 points before Sydney even scored two nights ago, but this time around the Kings defence went up a notch to not allow the undefeated Phoenix to get to 26 points until there was three minutes to go in the first half.

Sydney scored a franchise low 47 points in Thursday's loss, but it was a different story offensively too on Saturday with Xavier Cooks leading the way not only with his 19 points but his hustle and energy was infectious. He also had 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Angus Glover hit his first three attempts from downtown in the opening quarter on his way to 15 points for Sydney while Jarell Martin battled hard for 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk provided good energy too with nine points and four rebounds while DJ Vasiljevic hit a couple of early threes for six points as he works his way back from a ruptured Achilles.

Kings coach Chase Buford couldn’t have been more pleased with the response from Thursday's horror show.

"It's a little bit of relief, a little joy. We had to respond from our performance the other night, there's no two ways about it. We couldn’t have played worse and it was encouraging and good to see the fight from our guys," Buford said.

"We came out and played with a ton of heart, we guarded our butts off and for every run they made, we had an answer for. We kept our composure, kept executing and got enough stops down the stretch to keep our lead. I thought we did a really good job guarding them throughout the whole game."

Zhou Qi was once again the standout for South East Melbourne at both ends of the floor. He scored 17 points on 6/9 shooting to go with 13 rebounds and five blocked shots as he showed he has a defensive presence like nobody else in the league.

Mitch Creek scored 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter with Izayah Le'afa adding 13 points and four assists and captain Kyle Adnam nine points.

After such an impressive start to the season, Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell couldn’t find much to like from this performance.

"I thought we were pretty poor to be honest. The obvious thing was that we shot the ball poorly and finished around the rim poorly, but those aren’t really the indicators that we pride ourselves on," Mitchell said. 

"What I was a little disappointed with from us was that we seemed like we were manhandled. They seemed a little harder at the ball and I didn’t like us giving up so many offensive boards which is kind of a key for us. 

"It was a real key focus for us going into the game to make sure we looked after the ball, and that we kept them off the boards. Usually if we get our defence right we'll go on some sort of run at some point, but it just never seemed to happen for us tonight."

It took the Kings seven minutes to score their first points on Thursday against Melbourne, but it was a different story on Saturday as they opened up on fire starting with a three from Jarell Martin.

They soon led 10-2 when Xavier Cooks was left wide open beyond the arc. Sydney would go on to hit their first four triples of the contest including Angus Glover going 3/3 to help the Kings open up a 21-11 advantage.

DJ Vasiljevic then hit consecutive three balls to close the first quarter to mark his return from the ruptured Achilles with Sydney up 29-14 by quarter-time on the back of 7/10 shooting from deep while the Phoenix just went 4/16 from the floor.

Zhou Qi was trying to inspire South East Melbourne during the second period to the delight of the Chinese fans in attendance, but Sydney remained on top 43-31 by the half-time break.

Sydney then came out and hit the first six points of the second half to see their lead grow to 18, but with Phoenix captain Kyle Adnam scoring their last nine points of the third quarter, they were able to cut the Kings lead to 11 at three quarter-time.

Sydney then started the fourth quarter on fire too with the first eight points including three-pointers from Wani Swaka Lo Buluk and Bruce to stretch the margin out to 19.

The Phoenix called a timeout and then threw everything at a comeback out of it. Izayah Le'afa and Mitch Creek hit three balls and then Zhou Qi made big plays at both ends. When Creek scored again, it was an 11-0 run and the margin was under double-figures.

However, the Phoenix couldn’t get back closer than eight points with the Kings having all the answers to win by 11.

Both teams have one more game to go before Christmas with the Kings at home to the Tasmania JackJumpers on Wednesday while the Phoenix take on the Illawarra Hawks on Thursday in Wollongong.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 3

SYDNEY KINGS 84 (Cooks 19, Glover 15, Martin 12)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 73 (Creek 22, Zhou Qi 17, Le'afa 13) 

BOX SCORE