Breakers and Kings Rivalry Grows Further in NBL23

The Sky Sport Breakers have again given the Sydney Kings an almighty scare but ultimately have gone down to the champions 88-81 in Auckland.

It was a top-of-the-table clash to open Round 10 in NBL23 at Spark Arena on Thursday night and it was the defending champion Kings who were in control of the contest most of the way.

Sydney went on a 14-0 scoring streak midway through the first quarter on the way to putting up 34 opening period points. Another 10 straight points late in the first half kept the Kings on top by 12 at the main break.

The Kings advantage grew to 15 by three quarter-time, but the Breakers turned up the gas in the fourth quarter. They were able to force Sydney into eight turnovers and got as close as four points with two minutes to play.

However, Walton's three-pointer a minute later proved the killer blow and the Kings held on to win by seven to retain top spot with a 10-3 record. The Breakers are now 11-5 having lost their past two games at Spark Arena to Perth and now Sydney.

It was another standout performance for the Kings by Walton as he delivered 21 points and three assists while shooting 7/12 from the field and 4/6 from beyond the arc.

Xavier Cooks put up another 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists with Justin Simon contributing 14 points, and Tim Soares 11 points and nine boards.

Kings coach Chase Buford was proud of the performance from his team to be on top the majority of the night, and then stand firm in the last two minutes.

"I thought our guys came out with the right mindset to play tonight and handled the pressure for a lot of the night," Buford said. 

"It felt like we were playing the All Blacks out there tonight with the physicality of the game even though the foul count was heavily slanted one way, but it could have been double that honestly. 

"I was really proud of our guys for handling that and things didn’t go our way in the fourth quarter, but I thought it was really good the way our team throughout the majority of the game had this presence and energy about them to handle whatever was coming."

Izayah Le'afa knocked down 5/6 of three-point attempts for 17 points, four steals and three rebounds for the Breakers with Will McDowell-White joining him in the backcourt for 16 points and eight assists.

Barry Brown Jr also had 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals, Jarrell Brantley 12 points, four boards and three assists, and Dererk Pardon 11 points, four rebounds and two blocks.

Breakers coach Mody Maor was at least glad his team fought the game out to give themselves a chance late again against the Kings, but won't be accepting giving up 34 first quarter points.

"Last time we came back into the game because Xavier Cooks got hurt and we took advantage of it, that wasn’t the case this time," Maor said.

"We played against the best version of the Sydney Kings and we played well in the second half, it's not the same thing. We didn’t start the game with the right intensity and we didn’t start the game with the right discipline on defence.

"We gave up 34 points in the first quarter. That's not something you can do and win against the defending champions."

The Breakers started on fire with a couple of early threes to Izayah Le'afa and another to Jarrell Brantley to open up a 9-3 lead, but the Kings soon took over.

The Kings would score the next 14 points of the game including a triple from Derrick Walton Jr while Justin Simon got out for a couple of buckets, and Tim Soares scored on a put back following a strong offensive rebound.

Not only were Sydney punishing New Zealand for their turnovers, but also got to the foul line 13 times in the opening quarter. By quarter-time the reigning champs had put up 34 points to lead the Breakers by nine on the back of shooting 73 per cent from the floor.

New Zealand did start the second quarter better starting with some strong energy and a couple of buckets to Tom Vodanovich. Brantley's second three of the game then had the Breakers back within three, but Sydney continued to have all the answers.

The Kings went on another 10-0 run late in the opening half to go into the break leading 54-42 on the back of still shooting 61 per cent from the floor to 51. Sydney also had 13 free-throws to four along with 20 rebounds to 11, and 12 points off the nine New Zealand turnovers.

A couple of threes to start the second half from Walton stretched Sydney's lead out to 16 points with that early stages including a monstrous throwdown through the lane from Simon for the visitors.

New Zealand tried to stay in touch with a couple of three balls to Le'afa and another later in the quarter from Cam Gliddon, but the Kings maintained control and a triple on the three quarter-time buzzer from Jaylin Galloway saw them lead 79-64.

The Breakers weren’t done with yet though. The home team lifted their intensity and by the time Will McDowell-White hit a triple and Vodanovich made two free-throws it was a six-point ball game with five minutes to play.

Simon and McDowell-White then traded three balls to keep the margin at six before the scoring really dried up until Brown got out in transition after a Cooks turnover to bring New Zealand back within four with two minutes to go.

The only other score the rest of the game was the clinching three-pointer for Sydney to Walton with his team going on to win by seven.

The Breakers next game is against the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena next Friday night. The Kings have a shorter turnaround hosting the Tasmania JackJumpers on Sunday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 10

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 81 (Le'afa 17, McDowell-White 16, Brown Jr 15)

SYDNEY KINGS 88 (Walton Jr 21, Cooks 18, Simon 14)

BOX SCORE