Valentine's day as Kings post crucial win over Taipans

Denzel Valentine has shrugged off losing his spot in the Sydney Kings' starting five and inspired the reigning NBL champions to a much-needed 101-82 win over the Cairns Taipans.

Staring down the possibility of their first three-game losing streak in almost two years, Sydney kicked their habit of leaky defensive performances to keep in touch with the NBL's current ladder leaders.

The Kings gave up only 36 points in Friday night's second half at Qudos Bank Arena, having bled an average of 105 across four quarters in their past five losses.

While Valentine's performance stood out at the offensive end with his NBL best of 29 points on the back of making 5-of-10 from downtown to go with eight rebounds, it was the effort areas where the Kings' improvement came.

Sydney dominated the glass with 62 rebounds to 42 for the game including pulling down 24 offensive boards and forcing the Snakes into 16 turnovers.

That all helped the Kings to take 21 extra field goals than the Taipans and now Sydney could head into 2024 as high as third position depending on other results before hosting Melbourne United on Thursday..

The Taipans will need to shrug off the performance quickly having shot just 39 per cent from the floor when hosting Melbourne on New Year's Eve in their traditional biggest home game of the season.

Outside of Valentine, nobody really caught fire for the Kings but it was in the effort and defensive areas where they shone.

Valentine top-scored with those 29 points with Jaylen Adams adding 15 to go with six rebounds, three assists and two steals despite shooting 3-of-15 from the floor.

Former Snake DJ Hogg added 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists with Jordan Hunter finishing with 13 points and a career-best 16 rebounds.

Patrick Miller top-scored for the Taipans with 18 points to go with six rebounds and six assists. Tahjere McCall added 17 points and six assists but the backcourt pair combined for 14-of-33 shooting.

Bul Kuol had 15 points and Sam Mennenga 12 along with six rebounds.

Valentine kicked off a 12-3 run late in the second quarter, sinking two floaters and a three-pointer in a minute and a half to give the Kings a 12-point half-time lead.

In the third, he hit a corner three out of a timeout that gave the Kings what was then a game-high 13-point advantage, before sinking a buzzer-beater that sent them to the final break up by 12 points.

But the Taipans were left to rue first-half turnovers that prevented them from kicking clear when they were the better team early in the game.

Both teams now focus on playing Melbourne next, Cairns hosting the league-leaders on Sunday and the Kings at home to them on Thursday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 13

SYDNEY KINGS 101 (Valentine 29, Adams 15, Hogg 14)
CAIRNS TAIPANS 82 (Miller 18, McCall 17, Kuol 15)

BOX SCORE