Preview: Brisbane v Sydney

Friday, October 14, 2022

Aron Baynes and Tyler Johnson finally make their home debut, but to get the Bullets' first win they must overcome a Sydney side smarting from their loss to Cairns.

When: 4pm (AEDT), Sunday 16 October, 2022
Where: Nissan Arena, Brisbane
Broadcast: ESPN; Foxtel; Kayo; 10 Peach; 10 Play; Sky NZ

Who won last time?

Sydney 100 (Cooks 23, Walton 21, Simon 14) d Brisbane 90 (Baynes 16, Cadee 16, Sobey 15) – Round 2 at Qudos Bank Arena

When the Kings pulled 12 clear during the third term, while dominating in the paint, things looked ominous for Brisbane, but Jason Cadee checked in and turned the game with 11 points and two dimes in five minutes as the visitors drew level with 10 minutes to play. That was just the entrée for the Xavier Cooks and Derrick Walton show, however, Sydney’s superstars racking up 17 points in the fourth as they eased their way to victory.

What happened last game?

The Bullets appeared to have bounced back strongly from that loss, racing to a 16-point advantage in Hobart as they exploited the undersized JackJumpers. But they went away from what worked, and fell in overtime despite the heroics of Tyler Johnson. Sydney also built a double-figure lead in their home date with Cairns, but the Taipans constricted their transition game and Chase Buford’s men ran out of ideas in the half-court.

What’s working?

Transition attacks – Against Cairns, 55 of the Kings 78 points came from defensive possession plays, with 35 direct from d-boards and 20 from turnovers, while they shot just 9/28 at 32 per cent after Taipans’ scores. In the Round 2 meeting with the Bullets, Sydney had just four points from turnovers and d-boards in the third term, which they lost 21-28, compared to 39 points from those two sources in the other three periods, which they won 79-62.

Inside catches – In the first 23 minutes of Brisbane’s OT loss in Tasmania, the Bullets had 18 catches inside the three-point line and scored 26 points from 'ones and twos' to lead by 11. In the final 22 minutes they had just six interior catches, including none in overtime, scored only 12 from 'ones and twos' and were outscored by 15 points. While limited Baynes minutes in the first double of his comeback were a factor, Brisbane needs a better inside-out balance.

What needs stopping?

Soft close-outs – The Kings are leaking 40.5ppg from the three-point line and have been outscored by 36 points from outside across their four games. While coach Buford prioritises the interior, an adjustment to some soft close-outs might be needed given the Bullets are leading the NBL with 14.3 triples at 45 per cent, and six Bullets shoot above 40 per cent.

The Kings – Sydney scored 100 points last time these sides met while shooting 11/25 from the foul line. Brisbane gave up 64 per cent shooting on two-pointers, were -28 on scoring from 'ones and twos' and -24 on points in the paint. Cooks, Walton and Justin Simon shot a combined 22/31 from inside, and the Bullets need to build a wall in transition.

Who’s matching up?

Tim Soares v Tyler Johnson – This seems like a strange match-up, but hear us out. Soares leads the Kings in blocks with 2.3 per game, protecting the paint with aplomb from drops coverage. Expect Johnson to target Soares in ball-screen action, where he can get to his patented pull-up without a big man in his face and continue his 63 per cent outside clip.

Derrick Walton v Nathan Sobey – Walton scored 21 points on 8/9 shooting from two-point range last time the teams met, dishing eight dimes for good measure to be +18. Sobey was a slow starter in NBL23 coming off injury, but the past two games have delivered 15.5ppg at 53 per cent and 6/9 from the arc. Now, can he get his D back to his usual level to slow Walton?

Xavier Cooks v Aron Baynes – This is another odd duo, but whoever owns the paint best will give their club an edge. Baynes is 4/14 from inside the arc the past two games as he tries to regain touch, but if he can suck Sydney’s defence in, the Bullets shooters will capitalise. He must also clean the d-glass – where he ranks 13^th behind Bryce Cotton – after Cooks grabbed four o-boards in Round 2 en route to 23 points, 11 caroms and three dimes.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Another one from the Big Man!<br><br>Watch is live on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/kayosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kayosports</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Foxtel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Foxtel</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/hddR8AXIVI">pic.twitter.com/hddR8AXIVI</a></p>— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1578330369040031744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

It's fair to say Kings coach Chase Buford wasn’t a happy man after his team were outplayed by the Taipans on Friday.

“Turnovers are frustrating, offensive rebounds are frustrating, we spot them 10 extra possessions on five extra offensive rebounds, five extra turnovers, we were awful with the ball tonight,” he said.

“You can’t get ripped one-on-one in this league, that’s unacceptable, you're not going to win games if they just take it from you over and over. We've got to be better.

“But despite how bad we played and despite all those areas, if we make the free throws we probably win. That’s a really frustrating thing to keep happening.”

While free-throw accuracy wasn’t the decisive factor – that’s selling Cairns far too short – it is a serious issue for Sydney, who are now wallowing at 61 per cent from the charity stripe.

They got away with it last time against the Bullets, thanks to the performances of Cooks, Walton and Justin Simon when the game was on the line.

“The guys figured out a way to get it done down the stretch, Derrick and Xav made some huge plays throughout the night, I thought Justin’s whole game was really, really good,” Buford said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A little dance to finish it off <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/TLndjES0gZ">pic.twitter.com/TLndjES0gZ</a></p>— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1578332102663491584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“Credit to Brisbane, they fought really hard that whole second half and fought back and gave us everything we could handle, and it was pretty much X and Derrick and Justin making some big plays down the stretch, Jordy (Hunter) made some great plays too.”

While a 10-point win was a solid result, the Kings walked away with some challenges after giving up 90 points at 15/32 shooting from long range.

Tyler Johnson, Nathan Sobey, Jason Cadee and Devondrick Walker downed 8/17, and when Sydney helped out on the guards, Aron Baynes and DJ Mitchell dropped 6/10.

“I thought our ability get through screens tonight on the ball was great, off the ball was hit or miss at times and just led to too many open threes,” Buford said.

Ultimately though, Sydney prevailed thanks to their 52-28 points in the paint advantage, managing to shut down Baynes after an ominous start.

“He hit some threes, but I like the fact we held him to two twos, a few free throws. Obviously he’s a big body, it’s not going to be easy to handle him around the basket,” Buford said.

“We gave him a couple in the first half that I was hoping we’d swarm. There was one early in the second where X came and recognised to crowd and smashed down, and that set the tone for how we guarded him down the stretch.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JC went to work in the third! Linking up with Baynesy to tie it up heading to the 4th!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIVERCITYSTRONG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIVERCITYSTRONG</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZCI6V04ZvT">pic.twitter.com/ZCI6V04ZvT</a></p>— Brisbane Bullets (@BrisbaneBullets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets/status/1578327092176990208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Brisbane’s third quarter in that game was outstanding, as was their first half in Tasmania and their first and third quarters in Perth.

They have yet to put anything close to a full game together, however, resulting in an 0-3 record and a lonely spot in the NBL bomb shelter.

They will take heart from the way their defence generated points and their offence hummed after half-time in Sydney though, knowing they have a recipe to take it up to the Kings.

“We've been talking about playing the right way, moving the ball, screening, spacing,” coach James Duncan said.

“We found a little bit of a rhythm, guys started to see it, you could see it in their faces, ‘We've found something’.

“It was basically all about moving the ball, making the extra pass, getting on the rim and if we weren’t on the rim kicking it out for some open threes, which we did a good job of.

“Push aside all that, we were getting stops, consistent stops so that we were able to do certain things offensively.”

With Tyler Johnson nailing 24 classy points in Hobart, Sobey’s efficiency improving and Baynes fresh after a seven-day break, Jason Cadee is hopeful their fans will see a better Bullets side in their home opener.

“We’ve been away from Nissan (Arena) for a period of time now, and once we signed Baynesy and Tyler there was a whole heap of excitement about us being at home, so for us it’s exciting,” Jason Cadee said.

“We've had some teething issues with everyone trying to find their way a little bit, but the thing is we played three games in the space or basically a week, it’s really early days.”

Watch for the crafty Cadee to be feeding Baynes early and often to try and expose the Kings’ interior and open things up for Brisbane’s battalion of shooters.

“Baynesy suits up against this group well, we've just got to find him and put him in great place to be successful,” Cadee said.

“I don’t thnk we've done a good job of that so far, of just putting him in spots where he can just be dominant and be big and be Baynesy. We have to do a better job of that.”