R13 Preview: Adelaide 36ers vs Sydney Kings

When: 1pm (AEDT), Sunday 27 February 2022

Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre

Broadcast: Fox Sports; Kayo; 10 Peach; 10 Play; ESPN (delayed) ; Sky Sports NZ


Who won last time?
Sydney 85 (Martin 20, Hunter 15, Ware 13) d Adelaide 75 (Johnson 23, Paul 21, McVeigh 12) – Round 18 2021, Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

In an NBL21 game whose score-line looked like the recent stock exchange, Sydney led by 11 in the opening term, Adelaide by eight early in the third, then the Kings by eight at three-quarter-time and 10 at the final hooter. Jarell Martin and Jordy Hunter combined for 35 points on 13/22 inside, while Daniel Johnson and Brandon Paul added 44 for the 36ers.


What happened last start?

Adelaide’s game in the ‘Gong was similarly topsy-turvy except the Sixers never led. Level late in the first, they trailed by 18 midway through the second, drew level again in the third before falling by 16. The 36ers were manhandled in the last quarter and couldn’t get to the free-throw line or finish through contact, as Illawarra turned their errors into easy buckets.

It was Sydney dominating the open floor last Sunday against Perth, their elite offensive stars enjoying a break from the grabbing and holding in a tightly-whistled game, running up 98 points at 61 per cent from inside. With Jaylen Adams, Martin and Ian Clark all connecting from deep, the Kings speed in transition and five-out offence made rim protection difficult.


Who’s in form?

Sunday Dech – Church sure loves playing against his old Illawarra mates, averaging 19 points on 11/18 from range in two meetings this season. Against the rest of the NBL his numbers are 9.5ppg on 8/27 from range. While another offensive outburst would be handy, his main job is to repeat Friday’s lockdown of Tyler Harvey and slow the red-hot Adams.

Jaylen Adams – When we saw red hot we mean it, his 31 points at 57 per cent, 10 assists, 7 rebounds and 2 steals against Perth eclipsing even the great Bryce Cotton on a red-hot afternoon. Adams now ranks third in the league in scoring, second in assists, fourth in free-throw attempts, fourth amongst guard in rebounding and eighth in steals. The man is hot.

https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1494982489734987779


Who needs to be?

Cam Bairstow – There can never be any faulting the Bear’s effort, but the 36ers need his scoring game out of hibernation. Bairstow has averaged 10.3 rebounds in his past six games, but just 7.3ppg at 32 per cent in the past three. On Friday, he ripped in 8 o-boards but converted that into just two second-chance points and one assist as he shot 2/8 inside.

Ian Clark – When Jaylen Adams kicked the ball ahead to Clark who, seeing Mitch Norton’s hands slightly down, fired a never-missing triple in transition, Kings fans could have been excused for looking ahead to the post-season. If Clark can continue to hit consistently from the arc then Adams, Xavier Cooks and Jarell Martin become even more dangerous attacking the hoop for scores or kickouts to their ever-improving array of shooters.


Who’s statting up?

 - Sydney have won six of their past seven contests, averaging 89.7ppg in those Ws with 17.5 assists and 10.5 three-pointers at 35 per cent. In all other games they’ve averaged 76.6ppg, 13.6 dimes and 8.8 triples at 28 per cent

 - In wins, the Kings are 9-0 and +124 on points in the paint, compared to 2-5 and -6 in losses

 - In Friday’s fourth quarter, Adelaide penetrated the paint 15 times and drew contact on out-of-position defenders eight times, but those forays only delivered 11 points and 2 free-throw attempts

 - The Hawks scored 12 points of their 25 final-quarter points directly from turnovers or d-boards. Adelaide are -77 in fast-break points this season, winning that category just twice


Who’s matching up?

Daniel Johnson v Xavier Cooks – It’s been a tough old year for DJ, who has only twice shot 50 per cent from long range – both in Adelaide wins – and in his other 11 outings has made just 9/44 outside. Last season he shot 50 per cent or better 16 times, and given the 36ers hit the fewest three-pointers of any team in the comp, they’d love the DJ of old to return.

Chase Buford may initially go with Cooks on Johnson so his star rebounder and shot-blocker has freedom to attack the glass and protect the paint without worrying about Bairstow’s dominance on the o-boards. Down the other end, DJ defending X allows the veteran Sixer to ignore the pick-and-pop, but can he stay in front of Xavier’s snake-like drives to the hoop?

https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1497144053838020614


Who’s talking the talk?

It’s taken 13 weeks into NBL22 for the 36ers and Kings to finally do battle, but new Sydney coach Chase Buford feels like he knows them already.

“Probably one of the more similar teams to us in the way they set up with their bigs and the way they guard,” he said.

“It will be a good test for us, they’ve probably been at different ends of the spectrum, when they play well they're really good and they’ve had some games where they haven't played as well.”

Adelaide have multi-skilled bigs in Daniel Johnson, Cam Bairstow and Kai Sotto, something the Kings also possess in Xavier Cooks, Jarell Martin and returning Next Star Makur Maker.

The 36ers have a strong perimeter defensive crew in Sunday Dech, Mitch McCarron, Tad Dufelmeier and Todd Withers, matched by Sydney’s Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, Jaylen Adams, Shaun Bruce and Angus Glover.

In Adams, the Kings have a guard who can create shots from inside and out with his speed and shooting, something Adelaide have in bursts when Dusty Hannahs gets going.

https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1497138944483663872


What the Sydney-siders have that their counterparts don’t is a pair of elite perimeter shooters in DJ Vasiljevic and Ian Clark.

That’s the point of difference that is turning the Kings’ offence from hard to watch to extremely hard to guard, NBA champ Clark nailing 3/4 from deep in the win over Perth.

That’s hardly surprising, given his final three NBA games for New Orleans delivered 25 points on 4.7 triples at 44 per cent.

“The first couple of minutes I was just anxious, trying to get the feel of the game, but once I got going and competing it felt great,” Clark said after his NBL debut.

“The guys give me confidence, they want to shoot, they want me to be aggressive and be the player that I am.

“Obviously I know it’s going to take time, this is my first game back, but … the way that we play is going to be free-flowing and we’re going to get shots like that.”

https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1494983081820041217


It presents a tough challenge for an Adelaide team that easily lost its way earlier in the season, but under CJ Bruton’s guidance their young line-up is developing resilience.

Against Illawarra, they received a tough run with the whistle in the final term with the game on the line, but stuck with Bruton’s plan to attack the rim, even though they didn’t get the rewards this time around.

“To fight back from that far down to get in front and build a lead, it’s always tough in any competition you play against,” Bruton said.

“I thought the legs started dying, a few shots around the rim started missing, but I thought the guys did a very good job of sticking to what was asked of them.”

After watching Sunday Dech shut down Tyler Harvey on Friday night, Bruton is feeling confident his team can slow the high-octane Kings backcourt.

“I think that I've got great defenders on my squad, and (Dech) helps lead the way in that area from the energy side to great around his teammates, bringing them together and his ability to execute both sides of the ball,” Bruton said.

“Yes (Sydney) are hot, and we are hot at home, I expect us to bring the energy that we’ve been bringing at home and continue to maintain the effort that’s given in a game to be successful, and with our fans behind us I think to think we’ll be in good hands.”

https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1497146562077949959


Buford is also enjoying watching his team mature, and understands the Sixers’ strong frontcourt is a very different defensive assignment than Perth’s mobile bigs.

“They’ve got good scorers at different positions, we’ll have to be ready to guard,” he said.

“We’ll be missing a few guys going to be the Boomers camp and the Kiwis camp so we’ll have to have a collective effort to go down there and match their size and physicality.

“I think there’s a confidence growing in this group that we know we can come out and compete with anybody in the league and we’re just fired up to come and compete every night.

“We've had some great games in there and some not so great games, but we’re figuring out the way to get it done down the stretch, which had obviously been a problem for us earlier in the season, we've got our guys back, we’re growing and responding in those moments.”