R19 Preview: Sky Sport Breakers vs Sydney Kings

WHO: NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS vs SYDNEY KINGS 
WHEN: Tuesday 12^th April 2022, 9:30PM NZST
WHERE: Bendigo Stadium
BROADCAST: Sky Sport 1 & Prime

Sydney will remain second on the ladder with a win in this game but will drop to third with a loss. 

The Kings will play the Hawks in Wollongong on Thursday night which will go a long way to decide the order of the semi-finalists.
New Zealand will play their final two games in Hobart against Tasmania and Adelaide. 

All time 60 meetings: Breakers won 29 Kings won 31  

Previous meetings:
Round 7: New Zealand 82 def Sydney 75 at Qudos Bank Arena
Round 10: Sydney 84 def New Zealand 65 at Qudos Bank Arena  

In their first game in Sydney, the Kings looked home at 74-64 with 5:26 left but the Breakers stormed home on a 18-1 run to snatch the win. Hugo Besson and Finn Delany combined for 18 final quarter points. 

The Kings smothered them in the return meeting holding them to just 32% from the field. Dejan Vasiljevic with a season high 23-points. 

The Breakers played in Bendigo on Sunday and were beaten by the Phoenix 99-89. They were behind by 23-points at three-quarter time (54-77) but piled on 35 points in the final term – the best final quarter by any team this season. They shot an amazing 14-from-18 field goals (78%) including 4-from-5 threes.
Ousmane Dieng was the standout with a new career high 22-points with 6 rebounds and 6 assists in 30 minutes off the bench. 

New Zealand shot 52%FG, 43% threes and 100% FT’s on Sunday to become just the third team this year to shoot 50/40/90 or better in a game.  

The Breakers give up a league high 88.8 points per game while allowing a league high 48.0% from the field and 36.2% from the three-ball.  

Sydney holds their opposition to the lowest shooting mark of 39.1% but give up the most made threes at 10.6 per game by giving teams the most three-point shots at 33.4 per game.
New Zealand allow their opposition the least three-pointers at 22.9 per game but give away the most points in the paint – on Sunday Phoenix had 58 inside points. 

Current form streaks:
won 11 Sydney
won 6 Illawarra
won 3 Melbourne
won 1 Perth
won 1 Brisbane
won 1 SEM PHX
won 1 Tasmania
lost 2 Cairns
lost 4 Adelaide
lost 7 New Zealand

While Sydney’s streak has been impressive, it is even more dazzling when seven of those wins have been on the road including the last five in a row.  

Jaylen Adams leads the Kings in scoring but had a season low 10-points when these teams first met and 17 points in their second meeting.
His 13.5 ppg (at 27%FG) against the Breakers is his lowest output against any team.  

A win for Sydney in this game will give them the second longest win streak by any team in the last 13 seasons of 40-minute NBL. They are chasing the 2013 Breakers who went on to cap their three-peat that season.  

Best win streak by any first year coach in NBL:  

16 by Owen Wells for Sydney Supersonics in 1983 (playing coach)
14 by Brian Kerle for St Kilda Saints in 1979
13 by Cal Bruton for Geelong Cats in 1982 (playing coach)
11 by Murray Arnold for Perth Wildcats in 1991
11 by Chase Buford for Sydney Kings (Current)

This is the first game the Sydney Kings have played in a regional city in Australia since they played in Geelong in 1996.  

Fast Fact:
Sydney have not won on a Tuesday since 2005 
New Zealand’s last win on a Tuesday was a home game on the final game of round 19 last season against the Adelaide 36ers in Christchurch. 

Milestone:
Xavier Cooks is playing his 50^th NBL game. 
Cooks is averaging his 14.9 points and 9.3 rebounds this season – both career season highs. 
Cooks is currently second in rebounding at 9.333 per game trailing Stephen Zimmerman on 9.625. 
Assuming that Zimmerman does not play any more games, Cooks needs to average 11 rebounds per game over the Kings last 5 games to sneak in front by seasons edge.  

New Zealand Breakers Last 5 games and remaining schedule:
Round 17: Thursday 24^th March home vs Bullets (Cairns) (Lost 100-101 in OT)
Round 17: Sunday 27^th March home vs Taipans (Cairns) (Lost 90-93)
Round 18: Monday 4^th April home vs Taipans (Hobart) (Lost 77-87)
Round 19: Thursday 7^th April away to Wildcats (Lost 80-89)
Round 19: Sunday 10^th April home vs Phoenix (Bendigo) (Lost 89-99)
Round 19: Tuesday 12^th April home vs Kings (Bendigo)
Round 20: Friday 15^th April home vs JackJumpers (Hobart)
Round 21: Sunday 24^th April home vs 36ers (Hobart) 

Sydney Kings Last 5 games and upcoming schedule:
Round 15: Sunday 13^th March away to Taipans (Won 86-77)
Round 16: Saturday 19^th March away to Phoenix (Won 91-89)
Round 17: Saturday 26^th March away to Wildcats (Won 102-80)
Round 18: Sunday 3^rd April away to Jack Jumpers (Won 103-83)
Round 19: Saturday 9^th April away to 36ers (Won 84-77)
Round 19: Tuesday 12^th April away to Breakers (Bendigo)
Round 20: Thursday 14^th April away to Hawks
Round 20: Sunday 17^th April at home vs 36ers
Round 21: Thursday 21^st April away to Taipans
Round 21: Sunday 24^th April at home vs Hawks