One-legged Casper the hero for Kings over Taipans

A one-legged Casper Ware has led the Sydney Kings to an 89-84 get-out-of-jail victory over the Cairns Taipans at Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday night. 

Ware banged knees with Fabijan Krslovic in the final quarter and looked clearly inhibited with his movement, but it did nothing to stop his shooting spree as he nailed three critical long-range bombs in the final quarter to steer his side to victory.

The win hoisted Sydney back into the top four, but they did everything they could to throw it away as they surrendered an 18 point lead to trail the Taipans by as many as six points in the final quarter.

It was a thrilling finish as the Kings held onto a slender two-point win with just 28 seconds left on the clock. It was fitting that it was Ware who slashed to the basket to record the winning basket, a bucket that gave him an NBL career high 40 points. 

It was a huge win for Sydney who came into the match with Jarell Martin and DJ Vasiljevic joining Xavier Cooks in the injury ward and coach Adam Forde admitted before the match he would need to try "something new" against the Taipans. 

Whatever that “something new” was did not work as Didi Louzada (11 points, six rebounds) was the only other King to reach double figures, but Ware’s heroics was enough to seal the win. 

Cairns had tasted victory just six times leading into this match, although two of those victories had come against Sydney. This time they came into the match without long-term injured stars Kouat Noi and Majok Deng, but they did welcome back import Scott Machado from a knee injury.

Machado had 14 points and six rebounds on return, but it was fellow import Cam Oliver that ran riot with a Herculean 27 points and 19 rebounds. Jordan Ngatai was also a crucial contributor with 14 points including four triples. But surrendering a 27-12 first quarter and the Ware rampage ultimately conspired to leave Cairns finishing just short.

Louzada torched the Phoenix in Sydney's last-start win and picked up where he left off here, bullying his way to the basket for the first score. Triples from Ware and Bruce put the Kings in early control and then Ware went bang, bang with two more long bombs and the Kings led 16-2 - dominating at both ends of the court.

Cairns wheeled out the tall timber in Jawai but Ware was almost unstoppable from range and the Taipans had no answers in defence. By the time the dust settled the Kings led 27-12 and Cairns had plenty of work to do.

The visitors responded out of the break with an 11-5 tear which led to two Kings timeouts and a classic Forde spray at his players, demanding that they lift. It didn't work, as Machado was left alone on the three-point line and he responded with a brace of triples to bring his side back to within five points. 

The fightback happened while Ware was taking a break and when he returned he helped put the Kings back on the right track. He was at the centre of a scuffle late in the quarter as tensions began to rise, but by halftime it was the Kings back in control with a 49-38 lead.

Cairns has shown plenty of resolve this season and they were not willing to wave the white flag, coming out with plenty of intensity in the third quarter. When Ngatai and King splashed consecutive triples, suddenly the margin was just one point.

A furious Forde asked his charges if they "wanted to go home" in the ensuing timeout, but it wasn't enough to stop Oliver from stealing the lead for Cairns. Sydney was reduced to passengers as the visitors ran riot, but did manage the final say of the quarter to set up a thrilling finish with the scores locked at 65-all.

Sydney had huge problems on the defensive end which paved the way for a brace of Dufelmeier buckets that hoisted Cairns to a six-point lead - their biggest of the match.

But Ware’s heroic blaze of glory from the perimeter snuffed out the Cairns resistance and put them back in the top four, for now.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL ROUND 14

SYDNEY KINGS 89 (Ware 40, Louzada 11, Vodanovich 9)

CAIRNS TAIPANS 84 (Oliver 27, Machado 14, Ngatai 14) 

BOX SCORE