Kings Overcome Taipans to Reach Championship Series

The Sydney Kings have been the best team this entire NBL season and they now have the chance for back-to-back titles having been pushed to the limit but beating the Cairns Taipans 79-64 in Game 3 to advance to the Championship Series.

It turned out to be three high intensity, at times spiteful and exciting games of the Playoffs Series, but ultimately the great strength of the Kings this season was on show in Game 3 at Qudos Bank Arena – their depth.

Sydney could go deep and get strong contributions from everyone who hit the floor and while the Snakes never stopped battling, playing a fifth finals game already since last Thursday and not having Shannon Scott or Keanu Pinder caught up with them.

Still, the Taipans gave themselves a chance and Ben Ayre (20 points, four assists) and Sam Waardenburg (17 points, 12 rebounds) were terrific on Sunday afternoon, but the defence of the Kings was too much and then they got enough going offensively to get the job done.

The Kings did well to limit the Taipans to 64 points on 31 per cent shooting with 8/32 from beyond the arc. Justin Simon's defensive performance to limit DJ Hogg to nine points on 3/8 was crucial in Sydney now advancing to the Championship Series with a chance to go back-to-back.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Your favourite duo doing what they do best ?<br><br>? Watch it Live &amp; free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> <a href="https://t.co/cBQ2oF7H2m">pic.twitter.com/cBQ2oF7H2m</a></p>&mdash; Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1627161091661783043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

After a rough first two games shooting to start the series, DJ Vasiljevic delivered when it mattered most for the Kings landing three crucial three-pointers on his way to 15 points and five rebounds to lead his team's scoring.

MVP Xavier Cooks shook off his rolled ankle from Game 2 with 11 points and 11 rebounds while Kouat Noi contributed 11 points and 11 boards as well. Derrick Walton Jr had 10 points and nine assists, Shaun Bruce eight points, and Simon eight points and five rebounds.

Kings coach Chase Buford paid full credit to the Taipans and was relieved to get over them.

"Our offence still wasn’t very good tonight and credit to Cairns for doing a hell of a job," Buford said.

"We're very aware that if they could have been healthier the whole series it might have looked a lot differently. Credit to Fordey and their group, they gave us all we could handle and then some. 

"He did a great job and he was my vote Coach of the Year. He did everything right this series, we just got hot for a quarter there at the end and that was pretty much the difference." 

It was yet another brave showing from a Taipans team who defied all the odds this season under Coach of the Year Adam Forde to still be a chance of reaching the Championship Series during the fourth quarter of the deciding Game 3.

It was a tough offensive afternoon, though, for the Snakes outside of Ayre's 20 points with 4/8 three-point shooting and the 17 points and 12 boards from Waardenburg.

Hogg had just the nine points on 3/8 while Tahjere McCall had a horror showing with nine points on 3/17 shooting, with all but three of those attempts coming from inside the arc.

Taipans coach Adam Forde was disappointed to lose but not in his team's performance or fighting spirit.

"Naturally it's disappointing and not in the sense of anything else that nine teams are going to be feeling this level of disappointment with your season coming to an end," Forde said.

"I'm proud of the boys, it's been a hell of a schedule and a hell of a run especially with this fifth game in 10 days. 

"We ran off adrenaline at the start but you could see with how that fourth quarter went, we were just missing layups, missing foul shots and the execution side of it was good, we just missed bunnies and had turnovers. 

"It was just the signs of fatigue so I'm not disappointed in how we played, just naturally the season has come to an end so you feel a bit disappointed."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TURN IT UP ?<br>BEN HAS 20!!<br><br>? <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cairnstaipans</a> | ? <a href="https://twitter.com/espn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@espn</a> <a href="https://t.co/7deLUDwUFn">pic.twitter.com/7deLUDwUFn</a></p>&mdash; Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1627163501218365441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Even though Cairns went up 5-2 early, the signs were encouraging for Sydney with Xavier Cooks playing through his ankle complaint to score their first four points, and then kickstart a 9-0 run to see them lead 11-5 after DJ Vasiljevic drained a rare three for the series.

The Taipans hit back in characteristic fashion, though, starting with three-pointers to Ben Ayre and Lat Mayen. When Sam Waardenburg also landed from deep, the Snakes had scored 11 straight points to be up 16-11.

After it was Jonah Antonio and Mayen to shine in the first halves on the first two games, it was Ayre's turn this time for Cairns and he scored eight points on 3/3 shooting to help the Taipans lead 26-20 after one.

While Cooks was doing his best to keep Sydney close, they did need some outside shooting and Shaun Bruce knocked one down to make it a one-point game after the Kings had been 1/10 from long-range.

The Taipans shooting dried up in the second quarter and the Kings started off with an 11-2 run to grab the lead.

The tensions again flared heading towards half-time with some niggle building once more, but it was the Kings who were able to capitalise and closed the half with another 10-4 run including three-pointers to Derrick Walton Jr and Jordan Hunter.

That saw Sydney take a 48-39 lead into the half-time break and the Kings making 15/17 at the foul line was crucial as were the seven extra rebounds while also holding Cairns to 37 per cent shooting overall and 5/17 from beyond the arc.

The Taipans opened up with a pair of threes from Ayre and Sam Waardenburg, but then McCall jacked up a couple that Sydney were happy to give him and the Snakes lost some momentum.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kouat let them all know about that slam ?<br><br>Watch live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies ? <a href="https://t.co/GWV5XyeSGd">pic.twitter.com/GWV5XyeSGd</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1627148037285105665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Kings lead was back out to seven on a strong drive from Angus Glover midway through the third quarter but Waardenburg's third long ball of the game kept the Snakes within touch.

It was the 20 points from Ayre and 15 and nine rebounds from Waardenburg that kept the Taipans close with the Kings still up 62-58 by three quarter-time.

Sydney was back up six with a strong drive and finish from Vasiljevic two minutes into the fourth quarter. A Bruce three-pointer then stretched the Kings lead to nine and things were getting tight up the other end for the Snakes.

The Taipans were just out of gas after their hectic schedule and being short on bodies. After a rough series, it was Vasiljevic who landed two three-point bombs to push the Kings lead out to 14 and they claimed the Game 3 win by 15.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL FINALS – PLAYOFFS SERIES 2, GAME 3

SYDNEY KINGS 79 (Vasiljevic 15, Cooks 11, Noi 11)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 64 (Ayre 20, Waardenburg 17, Hogg 9, McCall 9) 

BOX SCORE