Davis and Kings fire to lock in top spot

The Sydney Kings all but locked away the NBL's regular season championship and Kendric Davis did his MVP chances no harm with a 27-point first half outburst in their 117-77 win over the last placed Brisbane Bullets.

Davis delivered 27 points in the first half and 31 for the game as he led the Kings to the eventual 40-point win to wrap up the regular season at 24-9 in top spot outscoring the Bullets 91 to 44 after quarter-time.

It was last against first at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on the final night of the NBL regular season on Friday but with plenty of interest from a Kings point of view.

Arriving on a 10-game winning streak, they did need to win to guarantee top position while ahead of Monday night's awards ceremony, all the talk has been about if Davis or Adelaide 36ers superstar Bryce Cotton would be named MVP.

Cotton wouldn’t be playing in Perth later on Friday night so the game presented one last chance for Davis to further his case.

The Bullets came out with a nothing-to-lose attitude and delivered their equal best first quarter of the season with 33 points. But Davis was keeping the Kings close with 12 points already to his name despite the seven-point deficit after one.

The Kings then got rolling to start the second quarter with a 17-4 run to be leading 58-50 by the half with Davis having 27 points and four assists on 11/13 shooting.

Sydney then cruised to the 40-point win with a 59-27 second half as they gear up for a championship push following the FIBA international window and the Play-In Tournament to find out their Playoffs opponent.

Davis sat out the last 13 minutes but had 31 points and eight assists on 13/15 shooting with Makuach Maluach delivering 15 points, Torrey Craig 14 (seven rebounds), Matthew Dellavedova 13, and Xavier Cooks 13 (eight rebounds, five assists, three steals).

The only downside in the loss for Sydney was Tyler Robertson (11 points) dislocating his shoulder in the fourth quarter.

The Bullets finish the season with 13 straight losses at 6-27 with Hunter Maldonado top-scoring with 16 points and six assists with Taine Murray adding 13 points and three assists, and Terry Taylor 11 points and four rebounds.

After Kendric Davis helped Sydney to the 11-7 lead early, the Bullets really got rolling and it started once Tyrell Harrison checked into the game for the first time.

He kickstarted six straight points for the Bullets and then Tohi Smith-Milner and Alex Ducas both knocked down three-pointers in a 10-0 run to open up a 24-15 lead.

Brisbane were able to keep that momentum going too into quarter-time to be leading 33-26 on the back of a scorching 72 per cent shooting to the 59 from the Kings with Davis having the 12 points and two assists without missing a shot.

The Kings turned that momentum around to start the second period starting with a Torrey Craig triple before another 8-0 run before a Terry Taylor bucket steadied the Bullets.

Sydney were starting to feel good and scored another six points in-a-row but then Hunter Maldonado responded with a pair of three balls for Brisbane to return scores back level.

Taylor also hit from deep to return the Bullets to the lead but Sydney finished the half strongly to go into the break on top 58-50 with the 27 points and four assists from Davis.

It was a horror start to the second half from the Bullets with the Kings asserting their authority with a 17-4 run as their lead got out to 21, and it was at 30 by three quarter-time.

The Kings then scored the first 17 points of the fourth quarter including a couple of three-pointers from Shaun Bruce as the lead ballooned to 47 but Jack Purchase came on and hit three late bombs of his own for Brisbane to bring it back to 40 by the end.

The Kings now have guaranteed top spot and will wait to see who they take on in the Playoffs Series after the Play-In Tournament with home court advantage while the Bullets will now start getting ready for a bounce back in NBL27.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2025/26 – ROUND 22

BRISBANE BULLETS 77 (Maldonado 16, Murray 13, Taylor 11)

SYDNEY KINGS 117 (Davis 31, Maluach 15, Craig 14)

BOX SCORE