Bruce's Almighty Winner One From The "Basketball Gods"

Sydney Kings guard Shaun Bruce believes the “basketball gods” were with him when he nailed a dramatic game winner in Sunday’s victory over the Illawarra Hawks.

Bruce stunned the Hawks with his corner three-pointer at the buzzer, which sent his teammates and the Sydney crowd into raptures.

The Kings were down 82-78 with 10 seconds remaining, before a Bruce lay-up, and missed Illawarra free throws, set the stage for the epic ending.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE ?<br><br>THE SYDNEY KINGS HAVE DONE IT AGAIN ?<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> live &amp; free ? 10 Peach &amp; 10play | Live on ESPN via Kayo &amp; Foxtel <a href="https://t.co/CvxWVxOkI8">pic.twitter.com/CvxWVxOkI8</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1594224331453702144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“I just saw something and went for it,” Bruce said.

“It felt pretty good. I’m not going to lie sometimes they feel good and rim out and sometimes they don’t, the basketball gods are with me today, thankful Gus (Angus Glover) made a great pass, and was able to let it fly.

“Out there on the floor you’ve got to be ready to shoot those ones, Glove did a great job to find me.

“You don’t have much choice … I didn’t know how long was on the clock.”

The Kings were behind the eight-ball during periods of the game on Sunday, which almost led to them being upset by the bottom of the ladder Hawks.

Sydney coach Chase Buford said he hopes the game serves as another lesson for his side to be aggressive from the start of games, regardless of the opponent.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It&#39;s just another Sunday in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> ? <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SydneyKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/wuJxBEpGZH">pic.twitter.com/wuJxBEpGZH</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1594227553962962944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“I hope we don’t keep having this ‘wakeup call’ at home,” Buford said.

“I think it’s too many times that we’ve just been on our back foot or let somebody come into our house and be the aggressor.

“Whether they’re going through struggles or not, we should be the aggressors, we should come in and play with a mentality presence where we intimidate other people in our house.”

The Kings are on the road next Monday to play the Cairns Taipans at 7:30pm AEDT.