Preview: New Zealand v Sydney (Round 10)

When: 5.30pm (AEDT), Thursday 8 December, 2022

Where: Spark Arena, Auckland

Broadcast: ESPN; Kayo; Foxtel; Sky NZ

Who won the last time?

Sydney 81 (Cooks 13, Simon 13, Soares 11) d New Zealand 77 (Brown 22, Le’afa 15, Pardon 11) – Round 6 at Spark Arena

To oversimplify it, Xavier Cooks got hot and the Kings blew this thing open, charging to a 22-point lead late in the first half as they dominated New Zealand’s interior. But Cooks got injured and the Breakers came charging back late as Barry Brown and Izayah Le’afa proved a handful. Mody Maor’s men didn’t get close enough to challenge the lead until the final 10 seconds, but that was enough to make Sydney earn it from the foul line.

What happened last game?

New Zealand were the fast starters against the Wildcats on Saturday, appearing set for another big home win when they led by double-figures in the first and second quarters, but they simply couldn’t stop Perth’s ball movement from then on and recorded loss number four. That opened the door for Sydney to move back into first place and they did it in style, outscoring the 36ers 29-18 over the final 11:30 with eight different Kings scoring in that spurt.

What’s working?

Live-ball barrage – In the Round 6 win in Auckland, the Kings scored 27 first-half points from turnovers and defensive rebounds as they racked up 45 points. In the second half, however, they managed just eight points from live-ball situations, relying on their half-court O to grind them to 36 for the half. The Breakers’ shot selection and ball security will play a huge role in deciding whether NZ gets run off the floor or can make Sydney execute through set defence.

Barry Brown – The early Best Sixth Man favourite has been en fuego the past five outings, averaging 23.4ppg at 47 per cent from the field while downing three triples per night at 43 per cent. Last time against Sydney, however, his 22 points came at 39 per cent, as Justin Simon’s length and well-executed drops defence forced him into nine mid-rangers, making just two. New Zealand need to get Brown touches after ball reversal so he can straight-line the basket.

What needs stopping?

Ball movement – The Breakers have stalled opposition offences in their tracks, but Perth tore them apart en route to 23 dimes, with 15 of those coming in 20 minutes from the midpoint of the second term as they racked up 59 points. The Wildcats dropped 12/19 from midrange to pick apart New Zealand’s paint and perimeter-focused defence, but Sydney rarely shoot longer twos, going 4/9 last time against NZ and 5/7 against Adelaide last round.

Xavier Cooks – The Kings have little need for mid-rangers when Cooks is dominating the paint, shooting 63 per cent on twos his past five games, with 26 of his 30 makes coming from within five feet. Last time against NZ he was 6/6 inside, while his teammates managed just 38 per cent on twos against the Breakers as access to the basket was regularly denied. Can Jarrell Brantley and Co keep a body on X and force others to beat them on Thursday?

Who’s matching up?

Izayah Le’afa v Derrick Walton – While D-Walt’s stats from Round 6 – nine points on 1/11, five assists and three turnovers – don’t jump off the page, he was instrumental in Sydney’s game-winning early run as he exploited Rayan Rupert. Le’afa stood tall in the second half, better forcing Walton over ball-screens where Jarrell Brantley and Dererk Pardon were waiting. Will Izayah get the job first up, or will it be Tom Abercrombie on Thursday?

Dererk Pardon v Tim Soares & Jordan Hunter – In Sydney wins, their two-headed monster averages 17.7ppg on 13.6 shot attempts, compared to just 10.3ppg on 7.7 shots in defeat, a product of how well the Kings are penetrating the paint. In the first half against NZ, they scored 10 points on 5/7 shooting, but went just 1/4 after interval. While this is undoubtedly an important job for Pardon, the whole Breakers team’s ability to wall up early is pivotal.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sky, cross, dime. <br><br>Sky Sport 4 and Prime <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UNBREAKABLE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UNBREAKABLE</a> <a href="https://t.co/HP6sPAFdcp">pic.twitter.com/HP6sPAFdcp</a></p>&mdash; Sky Sport New Zealand Breakers (@NZBreakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/NZBreakers/status/1598932505373347841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Who’s saying what?

Many coaches don’t like talking too much about opposition players in the post-game press conference, but Mody Maor was happy to speak glowingly of Kings captain Xavier Cooks.

“He has a unique combination of speed and skill, combined with a very high basketball IQ,” Maor said after the teams’ Round 6 meeting.

“He has a knack of finding the right space and the right spot, and every time you put him in a situation where there is a decision to make and the ball is in his hands, the ball goes to the right place.

“These are skills you usually see in high-level point guards. Will McDowell-White is exactly like that, if you put Will in a situations where there is a numbers (advantage) somewhere on the floor, he’s going to sniff it out and the ball’s going to go there.

“It’s rare you see it in a forward. I think that’s what makes Xavier unique and I'm looking forward to playing against him again.”

It wasn’t an enjoyable experience last time, the X-man destroying New Zealand’s interior defence before his ankle injury, helped by some excellent Kings execution.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">He had that one cookin&#39;<br><br>? <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> 10Play<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/p4sOrDA6UE">pic.twitter.com/p4sOrDA6UE</a></p>&mdash; Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1599259768341909504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Chase Buford’s men were well-prepared for the Breakers’ pressure defence, and the reason for that dates back to NBL22.

The Kings walked into MyState Bank Arena in Hobart for the first time on February 4, and against a relentless defensive effort managed just 70 points and a paltry seven assists.

When they next headed south eight weeks later, it was a completely different story, running up 103 points and 26 dimes, and they averaged 96.3ppg in their final four meetings with the JackJumpers.

“The way they play ball-screens if you're able to get behind their pressure you should be playing three-on-two or four-on-three and have the numbers advantage on a lot of those,” Buford said.

“I thought we did a good job getting the ball behind their coverage, hitting the roller.”

They did the same thing in Auckland four weeks ago as they poured on 45 first-half points.

“They played their aggressive coverages, they were coming out after ball-screens,” Buford said.

“When we were able to get the ball to the roller I thought our ball movement at times in that first half was so good, hitting the slashers, kicking out for corner threes, I thought we got a lot of good looks playing behind their aggressive defence just sharing the ball.

“I might have put the brakes on, we all slowed down, that extra pass, that quick movement totally stopped in the fourth quarter.”

While they did slow down late without Cooks on court, New Zealand know they must find some better answers to reverse the result this time around.

“The offence was fine. I think we were a little bit hesitant in some spots and some places, good shots that we passed on etc. All-in-all I thought we were ok getting to our spots,” Maor said post-game.

“The defence was very bad, we leaked points in transition, we leaked points off cuts, we didn’t contain penetration, we messed up rotations which isn’t something we usually do.

“Defence was where we need to learn the lesson ... this is the message I gave to the boys after the game, sometimes shots don’t drop, it’s part of what basketball is, your backbone when that happens is your defence, and tonight in the first half we didn’t have that.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Justin Simon bringing the ???? ?<br><br>? <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNAusNZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ESPNAusNZ</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/10PeachAu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@10PeachAu</a> 10Play <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/wHGSLVUhb3">pic.twitter.com/wHGSLVUhb3</a></p>&mdash; Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1599258267464732672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The challenge of playing Sydney is any momentary chinks in your armour get converted to points very quickly.

While the Breakers showed at times they could slow the Kings’ high-paced machine to a walk, can they do it over 40 minutes?

“We know the type of team we are, it’s about making other teams feel that all the time,” Breakers skipper Tom Abercrombie said.

“We can’t take the foot off the gas and give them hope, because when we’re locked into the team we are we’re very hard to play against.”

The Kings are expecting nothing less, but with New Zealand sending the Kings to the foul line 29 times in Round 6 as the new interpretations kicked in – and gifting opponents 23.9 since that day – can they adjust to avoid Cooks, Walton and Co racking up the freebies?

“They're a real physical team, you're playing off the ball and they're bumping cutters, they're up on ball-screens, they really stick to their script and they do that well,” Justin Simon said.