Heroic Adams Helps Kings Break Bullets' Hearts

In the most incredible of finishes, Jaylen Adams has turned hero for the Sydney Kings with a remarkable driving dunk and clutch offensive rebound as his team snatched Sunday's win from the Brisbane Bullets 71-69.

It was a game on Sunday afternoon at Qudos Bank Arena where precious little separated the two teams. No more than seven points was ever between them and any time one of them went on a run, the other was able to pull it back.

It did appear the Bullets had done enough late to snatch the road win and make it successive wins in Round 11. They had gone on a 6-2 run culminating in an Anthony Drmic bucket to put them up two with 48 seconds left.

They were then able to force a stop and get fouled to get the ball out of bounds with 17 seconds on the clock. That's when things turned horrific for the Bullets but the Kings were able to just about give their fans reason to lift the roof off Qudos Bank Arena.

The Lamar Patterson in-bounds pass went right through the fingers of Drmic but the Kings' attempt to score ended up with the ball out of bounds.

They retained possession and it got to Adams, he drove to the hole and finished in the most scintillating fashion with the dunk in traffic. 

The drama wasn’t done. 

That levelled up the scores and he missed the subsequent free-throw, but got the offensive rebound with the Bullets set back expecting him to make it and ready to try to throw up a prayer. Instead Adams found Jarell Martin right under the bucket and Sydney won by two.

Martin finished with 17 points and nine rebounds for Sydney and Adams 15 points, six boards and five assists despite going 5/19 from the floor.

Xavier Cooks delivered another 15 points and 13 rebounds.

Kings coach Chase Buford was proud for his team's fight to not give in and find a way to pull out the win.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">SHUT IT DOWN.<br><br>JAYLEN ADAMS.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> Freebies ? <a href="https://t.co/6rDihapwJb">pic.twitter.com/6rDihapwJb</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1492737834507124739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WE&#39;RE SPEECHLESS/TWEETLESS<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL22</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> Freebies ? <a href="https://t.co/e14yjoxL47">pic.twitter.com/e14yjoxL47</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1492738261801783298?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

"I told the guys coming into the locker room that I don’t have enough hair left for finishes like that, but it was great," Buford said.

"Just our intensity to make a play on the defensive end to get a stop to give us a chance, and then we execute the out-of-bounds well and you all saw what happened. That better be No.1 on Sportscenter. 

"That was a hell of a play but then I was losing some more hair on a missed free-throw. But Gus competed to get a tip, Jaylen grabbed it and having the presence of mind to see Jarell in that situation. It was an unbelievable finish to a really ugly basketball game."

Robert Franks finished with 18 points and nine rebounds for the Nathan Sobey-less Bullets, Lamar Patterson 14 points, six boards and five assists, Jason Cadee eight points and six assists, Tanner Krebs eight points and Anthony Drmic eight points, four boards, three assists and two steals.

Bullets coach James Duncan was feeling the loss afterwards, but knows the fact they conceded just 144 in two games of Round 11 is a significant step forward.

"Yes it's tough but the build up from this week's practice with the commitment we've shown from what we did Friday night and this game, we're starting to go in the right direction," Duncan said.

"It's obviously a tough loss but there were a lot of positive signs. Two games ago we gave up 102 points, we just gave up 71 so there's obviously positives. 

"There are some execution things that we need to take care of so maybe we don’t put ourselves in a situation like that, but I take responsibility for maybe not putting the right guys in the rebound situation at the end there to get that missed free-throw. 

"Maybe we were playing in overtime, so maybe there are some things we are questioning but I can't fault the effort and that's what we've been talking about from the beginning of the season to now."

Both teams were coming off confidence boosting wins to start Round 11, and neither could make a break through the opening quarter after Brisbane's 8-2 start following triples from Tanner Krebs and Lamar Patterson.

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk answered for Sydney with an and-one and Jarell Martin hit a triple, and it was only Anthony Drmic's make from downtown that gave Brisbane the 20-17 edge at quarter-time.

The returning Biwali Bayles then also hit a three to open the second quarter for Sydney but the Bullets then scored seven straight points to go up five. The Kings hit back with the next eight.

The scoring streaks continued with a 7-2 Sydney run to put them up seven before Robert Franks led the Bullets to five in-a-row but it was the Kings up 39-35 at the half.

The game of runs continued in the third quarter. Brisbane broke away with Patterson catching fire with seven quick points including a triple. Jason Cadee also sunk one from deep for the 10-0 run and seven-point lead.

Sydney responded with their own 8-0 run including an and-one from Martin and three-pointer from Jaylen Adams. Franks then got rolling for the Bullets with a pair of three balls and they led 57-54 by three quarter-time.

That Brisbane lead was seven to start the fourth period thanks to Krebs and Franks before a Chase Buford timeout. He got the response, but that was also helped by bringing Martin and Adams back in who scored immediately.

Angus Glover sunk the open three to tie scores up and the lead continued to change hands with a 6-2 run for Brisbane had them up two which was still the case going into a timeout with 48 seconds on the clock.

It stayed that way after a couple of scrappy possessions with no fouls called and then suddenly Swaka Lo Buluk forced a steal on a Brisbane in-bounds pass. Enter Jaylen Adams.

He threw down the most spectacular one-handed dunk on his drive to the rack. He drew the foul too and couldn’t make it, but got the offensive board off that miss. He dished off the Martin and Sydney won by those two points.

The Kings are now next up at home to the Perth Wildcats on Saturday while earlier that day, the Bullets will be in Melbourne to face the South East Melbourne Phoenix.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 11

SYDNEY KINGS 71 (Martin 17, Adams 15, Cooks 15)

BRISBANE BULLETS 69 (Franks 18, Patterson 14, Cadee 8, Krebs 8, Drmic 8) 

BOX SCORE