Kings reign again over Phoenix

The Sydney Kings just keep finding away despite being short of full strength and with DJ Vasiljevic strengthening his Rookie of the Year claims, they beat the South East Melbourne Phoenix again 91-85 at the NBL Cup.

The Kings and Phoenix did battle at Melbourne's John Cain Arena to close Saturday night's double-header and by the end of it, Sydney moved ahead of South East Melbourne into fourth while still being undefeated after five encounters between the two.

Since entering the NBL last season, the only team the Phoenix are yet to beat still is the Kings. To put that into perspective, they have managed to beat the Illawarra Hawks five times and Brisbane Bullets three times. 

In this encounter, the Phoenix’s Izayah Mauriohooho-Le Afa, given a chance due to the injury of Keifer Sykes, was hellbent on stopping a key figure in four of those past losses to the Kings, Casper Ware. 

For a half, Le Afa was fantastic. Not only did he manage a career-best 11 points in the first two quarters, but he also kept Ware scoreless. 

Along with 12 points from the Phoenix’s marquee man Mitch Creek (who would finish with 22), it was enough for South East Melbourne to establish a four-point lead (47-43) at half-time. 

But as Ware found his groove in the third quarter, so too did the Kings. An 11-point outburst from Ware ignited the Kings’ to an eight-point three quarter-time margin (73-65). 

The Kings did appear to have the game under control even with time running out but there was a late scare when they were up six. The Phoenix turned over the in-bounds pass and had three good looks from three that could have made it a one possession game.

Kyle Adnam, Cam Gliddon and Le Afa all had shots at the three ball but couldn’t connect and the Kings held on to win.

It was far from a one-man effort, as the cavalcade also came for the Kings. Names like Jordan Hunter (15 points), Shaun Bruce (10) and Brad Newley (13, coming off a scoreless game) bobbed up to contribute for the Kings. 

Pleasing Sydney Kings head coach Adam Forde the most must have been DJ Vasiljevic, who is emerging as a special talent in this league.  

The 23-year-old Miami University product and Melbourne local came into this game on the back of a career-high 32 points on a perfect 5/5 shooting from three-point range against the Cairns Taipans. 

His numbers in this game weren’t as mind-boggling (19 points on 7/15 from the field, 3/5 from three-point range), but he stood up and showed maturity beyond his years when the Kings needed him most. 

This included seven points in the final four minutes of the game, which was highlighted by a big three-pointer that stretched the margin to eight points. 

Fittingly, the ball was in Vasiljevic's hand when time expired on this six-point win (91-85) for the Sydney Kings, and he threw the ball up into the air. 

Forde was happy with the win but not sure where he'd rate it in the context of the season just yet.

"It was by committee, the decision was made to come in with this type of game plan and it was great," Forde said.

"It wasn't necessarily our biggest win of the year. When we played Adelaide they were in the top four when we beat them, so I guess this was at least our second win against a top-four side. I'll have to think about that and come back to you. "

This victory took the Sydney Kings’ record to 6-7 – just one back from the .500 mark and into fourth spot even with 23 games of the season to go. 

In one worrying sign for the Kings, second-year Next Star Didi Louzada left the game towards the end of the third quarter with an injury to his lower leg. 

Mitch Creek was again terrific for the Phoenix with 22 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Yanni Wetzell fought hard for 16 points and five rebound with Reuben Te Rangi adding 13 points, Kyle Adnam 10 and Cam Gliddon nine.

South East Melbourne coach Simon Mitchell had mixed feelings about a lot of the game afterwards.

"There were elements of the game that I enjoyed about the way we did things. I thought we shot the ball pretty poorly... I felt like defensively there were some pretty good moments. Yanni's doing a good job up for the ball," Mitchell said.

Their production in the paint was really solid. We didn't really have answers and they showed a few different looks. 

"Casper's third quarter was damaging... he didn't have his best performance for the season, but he was certainly damaging when the whips were cracking in the third quarter there. 

"Some of it was self-inflicted to let him out of the box... I thought Cam Gliddon and all our guard rotation did a pretty good job on him for most of the night. He wasn't particularly efficient.  You just need to give him a small gap and he can do some damage."

The Phoenix next face the table-topping Melbourne United on Wednesday while the Kings play the Illawarra Hawks to open the final week of the NBL Cup.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 8

NBL CUP WEEK 3

SYDNEY KINGS 91 (Vasiljevic 19, Hunter 15, Newley 13)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 85 (Creek 22, Wetzell 16, Le Afa 15) 

POINTS AWARDED – Sydney Kings 5, South East Melbourne Phoenix 2

BOX SCORE