Preview: Sydney vs Perth (Round 3)

Friday, October 13, 2023

Can the Wildcats head east and bounce back, or will the Kings' high-scoring offence prove too powerful?

Sunday, October 15 at 4pm AEDT | Qudos Bank Arena

Watch: Live on ESPN via Kayo Sports | 10 Peach and 10play - International viewership details
Box scores: Download the free NBL App

The Kings look to be rolling again after their disappointing loss to Tasmania at the start of Round 2, and have registered a pair of high-scoring wins over Adelaide and Brisbane.

Where the Kings are flying, the Wildcats look to be faltering though. They’ve lost two of their last three games including Friday night’s disappointing defeat to former star Luke Travers and Melbourne United.

Kristian Doolittle looked to injure his knee against Melbourne early in the first quarter, however reports have as of yet been unconfirmed by Perth.

Sydney
113-102 win over Brisbane
109-100 win over Adelaide
72-80 loss to Tasmania

Perth
81-88 loss to Melbourne
82-75 win over Adelaide
99-110 loss to South East Melbourne

Alex Toohey
Sydney’s Next Star is only going from strength-to-strength as the season progresses, and while his role will almost certainly change once DJ Hogg is fit again and back on-court, Toohey has been allowed to strut his stuff as the team's starting power forward in the season so far.

You only have to look at one of the plays he made against Brisbane to see the level of confidence this kid is currently playing with.

He ripped the ball from Bullet Chris Smith in his defensive half, carried it himself and took on Brisbane’s import with a delicate spin before throwing it down. It was the play of the game in a high-scoring clash, and it came from the youngest player on the court.

“I thought we played a good 40 minutes of basketball. In the Blitz and in some other games I think we’ve been a bit patchy and played 30 minutes, but I think we were consistent and played the full 40. A few lapses, but overall played well.” – Alex Toohey post-game.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TOOOOHEYYYY ?<br> <br>Sounds like Gazey approves ?<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/Wtu3T7AsCm">pic.twitter.com/Wtu3T7AsCm</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1712766976244994107?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Jesse Wagstaff
Perth’s long-standing captain has registered a pair of consecutive DNPs in the Wildcats’ last two games, but John Rillie has hinted the injury suffered by Kristian Doolittle in Friday’s loss to Melbourne will open the door for the six-time champion to get back onto the court for his side.

Wagstaff has remained stranded on 448 career NBL appearances with his last two DNPs, but if all goes to plan and he comes into the lineup in place of Doolittle, then he’ll likely reach the incredible 450 game milestone next week against Adelaide.

He started Perth’s Round 1 opener against Tasmania, but Father Time waits for no one, and at 37 years old Wagstaff is far closer to the end of his career than the beginning.

Whether he retires after NBL24 or continues to play remains to be seen, and at this point in the season it doesn’t really matter, but fans should enjoy watching one of the greats of the modern NBL era while they still can.

“Fortunate or unfortunate, I know what I’m going to get from Jesse. He’s been around the block so what his role evolves into with Doolittle going down, things change depending on how long Kristian is out for because there are going to be significant minutes and role at that position. Jesse knows what he’s doing, he understands what it takes to win. – John Rillie post-game.

Jesse Wagstaff runs out ahead of Friday's game against Melbourne.

Jonah Bolden vs Alexandre Sarr
The bench bigs have been getting it done across different times early in this season for both Sydney and Perth, but where Bolden had his best game since returning from retirement on Friday night, Sarr struggled to find his shot.

Bolden played more minutes than starting centre Jordan Hunter in the win over Brisbane, with the monster duo of Tyrell Harrison and Rocco Zikarsky meaning the Kings needed to keep a strong interior presence for the entire game.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jonah Bolden has eyes in the back of his head ?<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo ? <a href="https://t.co/GOfBOT1nKn">pic.twitter.com/GOfBOT1nKn</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1710215948156756236?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He ended the game with a 12-point, 12 rebound double-double and looks to be chugging back up to full speed after years out of the game.

Sarr, meanwhile, has rocketed as high as number two in a number of high-profile NBA mock drafts, and while he finished just one rebound shy of a double-double of his own – plus three blocks – he endured his worst shooting night to date in the NBL.

How the French phenom bounces back from his 3-12 shooting night will be interesting, but Bolden certainly won’t just let his cruise to the basket uncontested.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="fr" dir="ltr">Alex. Sarr. Daggers. <a href="https://t.co/uB3IUfiOoS">pic.twitter.com/uB3IUfiOoS</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1710269108355268708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Kouat Noi is one of two players in the NBL currently on pace for a 50/40/90 season. Noi has averaged a career-high 14.3 points per game so far this season on shooting splits of exactly 50/50/90.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kouat Noi and the <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SydneyKings</a> are on fire ?<br><br>Noi has 12 of the Kings' 32 first quarter points ?<br><br>Catch the action live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies | 10 Peach and 10play ? <a href="https://t.co/Wjoh4FB4L6">pic.twitter.com/Wjoh4FB4L6</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1710889694148313490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>