Dynamic Kings Turn It On With Wildcats Thumping

The Sydney Kings have delivered their most complete, dominant and emphatic performance of this NBL season to hammer the Perth Wildcats 102-80 at RAC Arena on Saturday night.

The 'Cats certainly weren’t lacking motivation coming into their third of nine straight home matches to close #NBL22 following Thursday's loss to the Tasmania JackJumpers, but they were simply blown off the floor by the Kings.

Sydney were on fire right from the outset and their 34 points in the opening quarter was the best start to a game in the NBL for three years. The Kings never let up from there and added another 30 points in the second term to be up 64-39 at the half.

They were able to answer every challenge form the 'Cats in the second half as well to hand Perth their second biggest ever loss at RAC Arena to the tune of 22 points.

The Kings are now without question the hottest team in the league having won nine in-a-row and they replace Perth in second spot on the NBL table at 14-7. The Wildcats are 14-8 having lost twice in three days in front of the Red Army.

Seven Sydney players all scored six points or more with Jaylen Adams delivering 20 points and eight assists, Ian Clark 19 points and four rebounds, DJ Vasiljevic 16 points and five boards, Jarell Martin 16 points and seven rebounds, and Makur Maker 15 points and 10 boards.

Xavier Cooks marked his return with eight points, four rebounds, two assists and a block in just 14:30 with Angus Glover contributing six points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists.

However, afterwards it was the defensive performance that coach Chase Buford was delighted with to limit the Wildcats to shooting 32 per cent from the field and 17 from deep on 7/39.

"We made some shots but our offence wasn’t what impressed me at all, it was our defence right from the get go. We had a game plan to come in to try and limit Bryce a little bit because we saw what he did to us last time, and we didn’t really want to let him get going," Buford said.

"We tried to contain him the best we could and I was really pleased with our defensive effort overall. They still got to the line too much and we have to do a bit of work to clean that up, but I'm really proud of that defensive effort to hold that group to 80 points."

Luke Travers was the shining light for Perth with 20 points, eight rebounds and two steals on 7/13 shooting including 3/8 from deep. Bryce Cotton added 20 points and Vic Law 16 to go with 10 rebounds.

Perth coach Scott Morrison was understandably far from happy afterwards.

"We got our butts kicked, that was pretty obvious. I think everyone made some mistakes including myself but I think our team needs to realise that perhaps we're not as talented as some people would like to think, or that our record stated before this weekend," Morrison said.

"We have to really approach the game like we're the underdogs and by that I mean putting more emphasis on execution and our effort, and our connectivity on defence especially to try and be the most efficient team possible."

The Kings arrived in Perth on a mission and put that on full show from the outset with two buckets to Makur Maker and five points to DJ Vasiljevic for the 9-4 advantage after three minutes.

Sydney was just warming up too with Jaylen Adams hitting a three and Vasiljevic draining a couple more shots to go to 10 for the quarter. 

Adams then connected from deep again to get to double-figures and all of a sudden Sydney scored the highest opening quarter in the NBL for three years to silence the Red Army with the 35-14 quarter-time advantage.

Perth tried to wrestle back some momentum with a Jesse Wagstaff and-one to open the second quarter, but it was to no avail. Before long Maker knocked down a triple, Vasiljevic made three at the line, Xavier Cooks produced a putback and when Ian Clark hit from downtown, it was a 26-point ball game.

Maker finished the half with his second three-pointer and then a buzzer-beating dunk and the Kings were in command leading 64-39 having shot 64 per cent from the field, 60 per cent from deep and with Vasiljevic, Adams, Maker and Clark all in double-figures.

They also dominated the glass with 26 rebounds to 16 with Bryce Cotton still managing 16 points for Perth but as a team the 'Cats shot 11/36 at 30 per cent from the floor and 3/17 at 17 per cent from downtown.

The second half then couldn't have started any worse for the home team with a triple for the Kings to Vasiljevic to make it a 28-point lead. Adams then hit from deep too to make it 31, but Perth then slowly crept back into it.

Luke Travers scored 10 points in the quarter and the 'Cats went on an 11-0 run at one point but still by three quarter-time the Kings were up 19.

The Kings extinguished any chance of a Wildcats fightback with the opening six points of the final quarter through Angus Glover and Adams to lead again by 25, and go on to win by 22.

The Wildcats now have a bit of a break before another monster clash with Melbourne United next Monday back at RAC Arena. The Kings remain on the road for another crucial clash too next Sunday away to the Tasmania JackJumpers.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 17

PERTH WILDCATS 80 (Cotton 20, Travers 20, Law 16)

SYDNEY KINGS 102 (Adams 20, Clark 19, Vasiljevic 16, Martin 16) 

BOX SCORE