Kings shoot down hot-starting Breakers

A shock upset looked on the cards early with the New Zealand Breakers starting on fire but the Sydney Kings wore them down and overpowered them to score the 96-78 NBL Cup win to open the second week of action in Melbourne.

It has been a week to forget for New Zealand, who had previously been rocked by the loss of Rob Loe (personal reasons) and suffered a hammer blow with star import Lamar Patterson going down with an MCL injury that will see him sidelined for up to eight weeks.

Combine that with the fact that they have been away from home for two and-a-half months and the hearts of the basketball community is with them, and warmed the hearts to see them start Thursday's game so strongly at John Cain Arena.

The adversity meant that brothers Tai and Corey Webster were able to start together for the first time in the NBL. There was another brotherly connection with Jaylin and Kyrin Galloway getting minutes on opposing sides.

In the first quarter, the defiant Breakers were breathing fire and shot out to a 13-point lead that had the Kings reeling. It all unravelled after that as their stoic resistance faded into paper-thin defence that allowed Sydney to run riot.

The Kings have their own injury concerns with the likes of Xavier Cooks, Angus Glover and Jarell Martin all sidelined but it mattered little when Jordan Hunter (24 points, four rebounds) and Rookie of the Year contender DJ Vasiljevic (20 points, 10 rebounds) were able to score at will.

Seasoned veteran Casper Ware continued his good form with 19 points, four rebounds and five assists with Craig Moller chipping in with 11 late points off the bench. 

After conceding 113 points in their last-start loss to the Perth Wildcats, Kings coach Adam Forde praised the 26-6 second quarter which he said was a defensive effort they could build on.

"We have had a couple of those quarters now, we held Illawarra to an 11 point quarter and Adelaide to an eight-point quarter, we have shown moments of brilliance in that aspect when we are trying to kill the momentum of the opposition," he said.

"The second phase of that is to generate points and to do so in games is something we have been preparing for since day one."

Guard Shaun Bruce, playing in his 200th NBL match, said the goal was to make those defence efforts more of a consistent thing.

"We started slow but our ability to turn it around and focus more on the defensive end I was really proud of," he said.

"It is something that we have been talking about a lot and we have got to get a lot more consistent at that end. It was a great adjustment by the fellas and we need to keep that going and be consistent."

The Webster brothers combined for 42 points (Corey with 24 points and Tai with 18 points, four rebounds and five assists), over half the entire team total of the Breakers with no one else stepping up to help turn the tide.

Breakers coach Dan Shamir said the losses of starting players Loe and Patterson was like "another two punches to the stomach" but said talking about any positives from the first quarter would be "childish".

"It would be a little bit embarrassing for me to talk about the first quarter when this was another game where we weren't competitive," he said.

"It does show that we still have some good basketball in us, but it gets tougher and tougher every day. It only means that each and everyone needs to step it up and keep fighting.

"The first thing we need to improve is our one-on-one defence... the way to stop the bleeding or not to bleed any further is to take it a bit personally on a one-on-one level.

"The bottom line is it's tough, the hole gets deeper and we will fight harder."

The odds were stacked against the Breakers but someone forgot to tell that to Corey Webster early who splashed back-to-back triples as his side stormed out to a 10-2 early lead.

Vasiljevic tried his best to wrestle his side back in the match but it was all Breakers - and all Corey Webster - in the first quarter as New Zealand took a 30-20 lead into the first break.

It was a completely different Kings that took to the floor in the second term, though, locking down the Breakers with their defence and completely erasing the 10 point deficit. Hunter was the spark the Kings had been looking for and Vasiljevic provided the gravy with consecutive triples that pushed the Kings back into the lead.

Rattled and reeling, the Breakers had zero answers as the turnovers mounted up and the shots wouldn't drop. At one point their confidence was so shot, no one even wanted to attempt a field goal.

"Don't crack over there, execute over here," Breakers coach Dan Shamir implored in a time out.

It counted for little as the Kings flipped the script and took a 46-36 lead into halftime while the Breakers were shot to pieces.

The Webster brothers combined for consecutive triples to give the Breakers a glimmer of hope, but more was required than just blazing away from the perimeter. The Kings were in complete control and took a 68-55 lead into the final change.

The Breakers' frustration cost them even further as their bench was issued a technical foul for their behaviour, the final nail in the coffin for the match.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 7
NBL CUP WEEK 2

SYDNEY KINGS 96 (Hunter 24, Vasiljevic 20, Ware 19)

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS 78 (C Webster 24, T Webster 18, Abercrombie 9) 

POINTS AWARDED – Sydney Kings 6, New Zealand Breakers 1

BOX SCORE