R9 Preview: Sydney Kings vs Perth Wildcats

When: 3.00pm (AEDT), Sunday 30 January 2022

Where: Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

Broadcast: 10 Peach; ESPN; Kayo; Sky Sport NZ

Who won last time?

Perth 81 (Blanchfield 23, Mooney 19, Travers 16) d Sydney 67 (Martin 20, Hunter 14, Cooks 10) - Round 20, 2020/21 at RAC Arena, Perth

The Wildcats were reeling from the news that Bryce Cotton might not return the rest of the season but they virtually led from go to woe to beat the finals contending Kings by 14 points. The 'Cats broke the game wide open just before half-time 14-0 run to end up making it a five-game sweep of the Kings this season.

Todd Blanchfield put up 23 points while John Mooney racked up a 22nd double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Development player Luke Travers was back to start and made the most of it setting a new career-high with 16 points and eight rebounds on 7/10 shooting.

Jarell Martin top-scored for Sydney with 20 points and six rebounds with Jordan Hunter adding 14 points and 10 boards, Xavier Cooks 10 points and seven rebounds, Shaun Bruce eight points and three assists, and Craig Moller eight points and rebounds.

What happened last start?

The Kings have had a week in between games having played four games in 10 days prior to that. A week ago they delivered their most emphatic performance of the season to beat the Brisbane Bullets at home 97-73. It was a much-needed win too with Sydney having lost from seemingly match-winning positions their previous two games to Brisbane and New Zealand to make up a four-game losing streak. But they took out those frustrations on the Bullets to lead by as much as 34 before winning by 24 on their home floor with DJ Vasiljevic on fire shooting, Jarell Martin a dominant presence and Xavier Cooks was outstanding as they won to improve to 4-6 on the season.

The Wildcats continued to impress and hold the wood over the Illawarra Hawks with a 94-80 victory on Thursday night in what was their fourth game in the space of 12 days on the back of an 18-day break. Back-to-back wins against the Hawks in Wollongong is nothing to sneeze at, especially with a combined 188-158 scoreline across the two games with the 'Cats improving to 7-2 on the season to maintain pace with Melbourne United atop the NBL ladder. In Thursday's win, the big three of Bryce Cotton, Vic Law and Todd Blanchfield were just unstoppable combining for 66 points on 22/37 from the field and 8/16 from three-point territory.

Who’s in form?

Xavier Cooks – His all-round abilities make him an invaluable member of the Kings team and he was instrumental in them opening up a 19-point lead early on last Friday against the Brisbane Bullets. However, the absence of Cooks clearly was a significant factor late in the game when they were overrun. He was there for the whole game last Sunday with 13 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks and four assists, and the Kings got their revenge on the Bullets winning by 24 points with him at the forefront of everything at both ends of the floor.

Bryce Cotton – The superstar MVP is warming into this season nicely now having missed the back end of the season last year with a hematoma in his quad. He was right back to his very best on Thursday night in the win against the Hawks with 28 points, six rebounds and two assists, but it was more than just his numbers. His explosiveness was fully on show, his killer instinct was there for all to see and when he's feeling good physically, and has that mindset he could be impossible to keep in check.

Who needs to be?

Jarell Martin – The Kings have put a lot of faith in him to carry their front court especially in the absence of Jordan Hunter, but there's every indication he is more than up to the task. He needs to continue to be aggressive, efficient and to stay out of foul trouble to stay out on the floor as well. He will like his match up with Wildcats centres Matt Hodgson and Majok Majok too even if he is giving up a bit of size on them. He's a tough guard for both those guys and he will look to take full toll on that.

Todd Blanchfield – The Wildcats couldn’t be asking any more from what they are getting from Vic Law and Bryce Cotton, they are combining for 45.6 points, 11.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists a game this season, but they need others to step up too to ensure all the opposition's defensive focus isn’t solely on them. That's where Blanch comes into it. He's that legitimate third scorer and is in good form, including 14 points on 3/4 shooting from deep on Thursday and he has to keep that going.

Who’s statting up?

 - There's a significant gap in the scoring rates of both teams so far this season, with the Wildcats putting up 88.8 points a game in #NBL22 while the Kings are averaging just the 79.3
 
 - Neither team is fouling too much this season so far with the Kings ranked second lowest for fouls per game at 16.2 while the 'Cats are third lowest at just 16.3. Keeping key players out on the court and out of foul trouble could be a critical factor

 - Expect to see plenty of three-point shots jacked up during this game, with Sydney the most prolific three-point shooting team putting up 31.7 attempts a game while Perth is putting up 30.2 to be ranked third in terms of volume. The Kings are going at 30.3 per cent as a team to be ranked seventh and the Wildcats are fourth with 33.5 per cent

 - For a team that has formed a lot of their success around being a strong offensive rebounding team, Perth is conceding the most o-boards this season, with their opponents grabbing 13.7 of them per match. Sydney's opponents are only raking in 9.5 in comparison

Who’s matching up?

DJ Vasiljevic v Bryce Cotton – Sure, they might not actually match up on each other too often as the defence of each team will look to lockdown on them, but they are the shooting guards who could very well decide the outcome. Both players are capable of catching fire and delivering match-winning performances from their shooting, so whoever catches fire to the biggest degree could very well end up leading their team to the W.

Who’s talking the talk?

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk played the first 45 games of his career with the Perth Wildcats and was part of championship teams in 2019 and 2020, but he found himself without a home coming into #NBL22.

However, the Kings signed him as an injury replacement and he has now become a crucial member of the line-up. Now on Sunday he prepares to play his former team for the first time and he can't wait even if he is trying to play down its significance.

"I do try and just look at it as just another game for me. It was unfortunate the way it ended but everything happens for a reason and I'm glad that I'm here in Sydney now. But I am definitely looking forward to this game on Sunday and hopefully we can get the win over those guys," Swaka Lo Buluk said.

"I'm looking forward to that. It will be fun but it will be tough because they're a great team and they are always a good team. It's always good to go up against them and they've got a lot of great talent there. I'm looking forward to the challenge and we're all looking forward to it. Hopefully we get away with the win, we can outwork them and come away with the W."

When look at what it will take for the Kings to beat the Wildcats, Swaka Lo Buluk believes it all starts on the defensive end.

"It's all about our team defence. We are going to have to all be on the same page defensively and we'll have to watch scout on every one of their players because they can all play," he added.

"They have a lot of guys who can step up and we are going to do our best on the defensive end. We just have to make sure we are all on the same page because that’s where we're going to win it, defensively. As long as we make we know our coverages we should go all right."

Wildcats coach Scott Morrison was looking forward to giving his team a day off on Friday on the back of the two impressive wins against the Illawarra Hawks in Wollongong before turning attention to this clash with the Kings.

"It's a quick turnaround so we'll have to keep our scouting report and game plan pretty simple, and hope that we can bring the intensity and bring the team work, communication and stuff like that, and play together," Morrison said. 

"We have a plan for whatever we see, it's just a matter if we execute it or not. We'll turn our attention to them pretty quick after taking a bit of time to rest after the first 24 hours after this game. It's been quite a grind and we haven’t really had a day off since we left Perth apart from travel days, which don’t really count. I think it's important to be able to go in fresh to play against a team like Sydney and not worry so much about the X's and O's."

The Wildcats could understandably be feeling sorry for themselves with the prospect of not getting back home this season, but that's not the way Morrison or his team are looking at the situation.

"In short, there's no news on us getting home and there might be some people involved that are holding out hope, but we kind of put that to bed as a team – players and coaching staff," he said.

"We are just taking it one game at a time and there's no more road games or home games for us. It's not about your record at home and your record on the road, there's just your record. It's just about the games and that's how we are going to approach it so the next game is against Sydney, and that's how we are going to approach it right now."