Kings Secure Win 19, Top Spot Near Guaranteed

Monday, January 30, 2023

The Sydney Kings are close to locking away the NBL regular season championship and made the job of making playoffs for South East Melbourne Phoenix mighty tough with Sunday's nail-biting 111-106 home win.

The Sydney Kings are close to locking away the NBL regular season championship and made the job of making playoffs for South East Melbourne Phoenix mighty tough with Sunday's nail-biting 111-106 home win.

Sunday's game at Qudos Bank Arena was the last of the regular season for the Phoenix through the quirks of the schedule after they replaced the New Zealand Breakers for a game in Brisbane back in Round 12.

While they had won their past three matches against fellow playoff contenders Tasmania, Perth and Cairns, to take part in post-season action they needed to knock off the reigning champs.

A triple-double from Xavier Cooks did have the Kings in control but when he fouled out with three minutes to play, the Phoenix were able to make a charge and regain the lead with just over a minute left.

However, the Kings scored the game's last six points to win by five and improve to 19-7 to be guaranteed of finishing top two heading into next weekend's Doomsday Double.

The Phoenix now have a horrible week ahead of them to find out if their season is done or not.

The Phoenix need to wait to see how Perth goes at home to Sydney and Cairns, Melbourne performs against the 36ers and even the JackJumpers against the Hawks to find out their fate without any control over it.

Cooks put together the triple-double consisting of 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. It's the first in the NBL since Josh Giddey's for the Adelaide 36ers in 2021 and the first from a Sydney player since Dontaye Draper since 2008.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With this rebound Xavier Cooks becomes the first player in NBL23 to record a triple double, and the first since Josh Giddey in 2021 ?<br><br>He becomes the first <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SydneyKings</a> player since Dontaye Draper in 2008 to record a triple double. <a href="https://t.co/yikI4bWa1C">pic.twitter.com/yikI4bWa1C</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1619586911642980352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Derrick Walton Jr top-scored for Sydney with 22 points and five assists with DJ Vasiljevic adding 21 points, three boards and three assists on hitting 3/3 from deep, Justin Simon 12 points, Kouat Noi 11 points with three triples, and Jordan Hunter 11 points.

Kings coach Chase Buford obviously liked what Cooks produced, but wasn’t surprised by it.

"Honestly he was great but it doesn’t shock me or surprise me," Buford said.

"It almost seems like just what I come to expect from him. I know he had a triple-double but he gets close a lot of times for us and he was great at attacking the rim, great creating plays for everybody else. He was terrific."

Mitch Creek did all he could to will the Phoenix over the line playing all but two minutes of the game to finish with 29 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Trey Kell III added 18 points, five rebounds and four assists, Gary Browne 14 points and eight assists, Owen Foxwell 13 points, Alan Williams 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Reuben Te Rangi 11 points.

Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell couldn’t fault his team's effort for the most part but now will just have to endure a hell of a week finding out if they'll be there for the post-season.

"When it comes down to the game, it was punch for punch pretty much the whole way," Mitchell said.

"It was a highly competitive game so we'll rue a couple of missed assignments during the course of that because those things all accumulate and count in the end, and that's why you're down five at the end of the game.

"I didn’t like our aggression early, I didn’t think we created ourselves second shots but we got a little better with that in the second half and were a little dominant in that area.

"I'm disappointed in the fact that we've lost and that we haven't secured our playoff spot just yet even though it would be nice to hold our own destiny in our hands."

Derrick Walton Jr helped spark Sydney to an 11-6 lead early but Mitch Creek got South East Melbourne back into it and it was bringing back memories of their two-man show in Traralgon where they combined for 91 points.

Creek was instrumental in the Phoenix going on an 11-0 run to lead by six but Sydney turned the tide again with 12 consecutive points of their own to take a 28-25 advantage into quarter-time.

Neither team could really pull away during the second quarter either and by half-time it was the Kings on top 56-51 thanks to Xavier Cooks and Walton combining for the last four points.

Going into the break, Walton had 15 for the Kings and they shot 51 per cent as a team including outrebounding the Phoenix 24 to 18. Creek had 15 for the Phoenix and Owen Foxwell a crucial cameo with 10 including a couple of three-pointers.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What a start for Mitch Creek ?<br><br>Tune into <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> action live and free on 10 Peach and 10 play | Live on ESPN via Kayo Sports + Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/Ut7mFTpatw">pic.twitter.com/Ut7mFTpatw</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1619565992312721409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Alan Williams had virtually no impact on the first half, but scored six early second half points for South East Melbourne but the Kings continued to have the answers.

Sydney gradually pulled away and a pair of threes late in the third term from Kouat Noi, and another from DJ Vasiljevic helped them lead 84-78 at three quarter-time.

Jaylin Galloway and Vasiljevic combined for the first five points of the fourth quarter to put Sydney up 11 and the onus was on the Phoenix to respond with their season on the line.

South East Melbourne did hit back including with three balls to Foxwell and Reuben Te Rangi. They got back to within two with a Creek and-one and Trey Kell III free-throws.

Cooks fouled out with three minutes to go and it changed the game significantly. The Phoenix would go on a 9-2 run and suddenly after a triple from Kell and then Creek free-throws after an on-board grabbed the lead.

It only lasted a matter of seconds with Vasiljevic regaining Sydney's lead with a strong take and it was Walton who iced the win for the Kings at the charity stripe.

The Phoenix now have to watch on the last round of the season while the Kings take on the old Doomsday Double to close the regular season in Adelaide on Friday and Perth on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 17

SYDNEY KINGS 111 (Walton Jr 22, Vasiljevic 21, Cooks 16)

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX 106 (Creek 29, Kell III 18, Browne 14)

BOX SCORE