Preview: Adelaide v Sydney (Round 18)

When: 7.30pm (AEDT), Friday 3 February, 2023
Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Broadcast: ESPN; Foxtel; Kayo; Sky NZ
LIVE SCORES & STATS

Who won last time?

Sydney 97 (Soares 18, Walton 16, Cooks 15, Vasiljevic 15) d Adelaide 78 (Johnson 21, Franks 16, Sotto 15) – Round 9 at Qudos Bank Arena

The 36ers rode into Sydney two days after their miracle 19-point comeback to crush Cairns, with the memory of their early-season win over the Kings still fresh, and got a rude reality check. Derrick Walton Jr controlled the contest as Sydney built their lead to 10 in the opening term, 13 just before half-time, 15 in the third term and 21 in the final stanza, forcing Adelaide into half-court basketball and then burning them in transition the other way.

What happened last game?

It was a two-way shoot-out of the highest order when Sydney hosted South East last Sunday, both teams executing brilliantly at the offensive end en route to 217 points for the game, with only some late Phoenix misses and composed free-throw shooting allowing the Kings to escape.

The 36ers produced a road win of the highest order when they retrieved a double-digit deficit in Cairns, holding their hosts to 19 points in the final 11 minutes and riding the offensive bravado of their import trio, who scored Adelaide’s last 20 points in the final seven minutes.

What’s working?

No points from turnovers – The 36ers coughed the ball up just 10 times at the Snakepit on Monday, limiting the run-and-gun Taipans to 11 points from turnovers. It was a similar story in Round 4 at Qudos when they burped it up just 11 times and conceded only nine points off those errors en route to a memorable 92-88 victory. In Adelaide’s recent losing streak, they gave up 28 points from turnovers to New Zealand, 23 to United and 21 to Brisbane.

Points for Christmas – Do you know what the Kings found in their stocking on Christmas morning? Points. They rolled out 101 of them that night on Melbourne, and have only been kept below 90 twice since – a loss to the Breakers and near-miss against Illawarra – averaging an ominous 102.5ppg in the 2023 calendar year. When they fail to reach 90 points, Chase Buford’s men are 6-5, compared to 13-2 when they hit that mark.

What needs stopping?

The frontcourt – While Sydney’s big men have been an interior force all year, their 36ers’ counterparts have enjoyed the space on the perimeter. Daniel Johnson, Robert Franks and Kai Sotto combined for 50 points on six treys at 38 per cent in the last meeting, and DJ has shone in the season series with 19.5ppg at 64 per cent inside and 38 per cent outside. If Adelaide’s frontcourt can connect from range early, it will force some Sydney adjustments.

Derrick Walton – Where Adelaide’s frontcourt needs to step up is on the other side of the defensive ball-screen, because while NBL23 has held some challenges for Walton, Adelaide hasn’t been one. The super-strong point guard has averaged 19.5ppg at 55 per cent – including 5/9 from midrange and 7/7 at the rim – and 8.5 dimes against the 36ers, using picks expertly to shake the 36ers’ perimeter defenders and get into the paint.

Who’s missing key men?

Both teams are expected to be at full strength.

Who’s matching up?

Robert Franks v Xavier Cooks – Franks has perhaps been too perimeter happy against the Kings’ sagging schemes, firing up 16 long-range attempts at 31 per cent while taking just eight shots at the rim. While Robo’s averaged 14.5ppg and gone -24 in the season series, Cooks has also been subdued, averaging just 12ppg at 45 per cent but adding 8.5rpg and 3.5apg for good measure. Can one of these stars break the deadlock on Friday?

Antonius Cleveland v Justin Simon – Some of the Kings’ brass got their you-know-what in a knot when Simon didn’t poll top three for defensive player of the year, well here’s a chance to make a big statement. Cleveland was out of this world in Cairns with 27 points at 58 per cent inside and 4/6 outside to be +15 in a three-point win. In the Sixers’ past six wins, AC has averaged 18.2ppg, 8.5rpg, 3.7apg and 3.0 steals. This is a man who must be stopped.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">B?DIED HIM!<br><br>? - <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> <a href="https://t.co/qP3uRIV0Ln">pic.twitter.com/qP3uRIV0Ln</a></p>&mdash; Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1619987691613069313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

How would the Adelaide 36ers respond to an eight-day break after effectively dropping out of the NBL playoff race?

Well, just like their season to date, in inconsistent and unpredictable ways.

“The mood in the group, from what we did in pre-season until now, it’s been up and down and it’s understanding where we’re at as individuals and a team and what we can control,” coach CJ Bruton.

“The group showed when we flew up here yesterday and hit the practice court two hours later the energy was good, where earlier in the week you would have thought there was a funeral somewhere.”

As the game in Cairns approached, the Sixers’ entire playing group locked in and produced arguably their best performance of the season.

What impressed Bruton most were the important cameos by unheralded players like Hyrum Harris, Kai Sotto, Deng Acuoth and Kyrin Galloway, particularly at the defensive end.

“You’ve got to stay the course, and what we did do, everyone on my roster played tonight which I haven't done, normally it’s eight or nine guys,” Bruton said.

“To see DA step in, even though he only played three minutes I thought his minutes were game-changing, he changed shots, he ran the floor, he got a couple of rebounds, got to the free-throw line.

“KG came in there and blocked a few shots and set the tone, clearly AC and Robo stepped up and (Ian Clark), everyone played amazing, and it was not just on the offensive end, it was the defensive end they contributed too.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DJ lobs it ??. <br>Kai puts it ????.<br><br>? - <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> + <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> <a href="https://t.co/YgYsFcaM9Q">pic.twitter.com/YgYsFcaM9Q</a></p>&mdash; Adelaide 36ers (@Adelaide36ers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Adelaide36ers/status/1619986482479140864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The versatility of Galloway and Acuoth could be important against the Kings, especially when they go to their small-ball line-up with Xavier Cooks and Kouat Noi in the frontcourt.

However, don’t be surprised to see some cross-matches with Antonius Cleveland defending Cooks, enabling him to contest Sydney’s uber-athlete, but also switch seamlessly onto Derrick Walton instead of losing him on ball-screens.

Cleveland did pretty much everything in Cairns to drive his team to victory, solidifying his status as the heart and soul of this Sixers team.

“He’s been great. Both of us are from the same city so I've known him for a long time. He’s one of those guys you hate playing against but you love having on your team and today he showed what he’s capable of,” Clark said.

“Not just what he does on the offensive end but what he gives us on defence as well, his athleticism, his anticipation and being able to guard one-through-four, one-through-five at any time, is definitely big for us.”

The 36ers did a solid job on Cooks earlier in the season, particularly in the Round 4 win.

Teams have been keying more and more on the MVP fancy, keeping him to 9.6 field-goal attempts in the past six games.

However, such is Cooks’ skillset and basketball IQ, he’s upped his passing game to average 6.0 assists in those contests, highlighted by his 16-point, 10-rebound, 10-dime triple-double against the Phoenix last week.

“It's more the defensive schemes I'm facing now, I really getting some more attention and they're clogging up the lane,” Cooks said.

“I trust my teammates, Kouat hits back-to-back threes, DJ’s doing his thing, everyone is doing their thing and my job is to keep us running and winning games and keep everyone’s mojo up.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Justin Simon knows how to pump up this crowd?<br><br>Catch all the action LIVE on ESPN, 10Peach, 10Play<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/bcF6p6G5Dd">pic.twitter.com/bcF6p6G5Dd</a></p>&mdash; Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1619565532725788673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Kings weren’t good at clogging the lane against South East Melbourne, giving up 76 points from ‘ones and twos’ as Mitch Creek and Co waltzed into the lane time and time again, giving Chase Buford something to spur his team with this week.

“Just clean up the defence,” he said.

“This team’s proven all year when we get stops we can score, even sometimes when we don’t get stops we can score, so when we do play well defensively we’re usually pretty dominant and that’s what we need to focus on going forward.”

That can’t focus too much on rim protection though, with NBL22 title-winner Clark facing his old team for the first time.

After a horror 2/20 run from the arc over Adelaide’s five-game losing streak, he came back to life with a clutch triple and classy running one-handed banker down the stretch to seal victory in Cairns.

Clark said he’ll have a brief but fond reunion with his championship buddies, before getting down to business.

“It’s another game, I'm not going to try and hype it up. We’re going with the same mindset, we want to build off tonight,” he said post-game in Cairns.

“Obviously it’s going to be fun, they're the number one seed and it’s our last home game so I'm looking forward to seeing our fans sell-out, it’s going to be a big game, a fun game.

“For me it’s going to be good to see those guys but they know how I am, they know I love to compete, it’s going to be fun to compete against them whoever’s out on the floor.”