The Sydney Kings have notched their sixth NBL home win from nine games, staving off a third-quarter comeback by New Zealand Breakers to emerge 84-65 victors.
It seemed like a routine outing for the home side as they streaked to a nine-point quarter-time lead before extending the gap to 22 through the second quarter, before a change of tactics at halftime brought the last-placed Breakers back into the contest.
The fifth-placed hosts showed superior hustle, rebounding and shot selection in the first half as the Breakers lived and died by the three-point shot while their defence was punished.
Breakers coach Dan Shamir opted to switch everything and put the clamps on the Kings, resulting in a 16-9 third quarter in the visitors' favour as momentum shifted behind Ousmane Dieng's sharpshooting from beyond the arc.
The deficit got as low as seven early in the final quarter before Sydney made some adjustments, bringing the Breakers out in the high pick-and-roll and capitalising on gaps in coverage.
"Another great defensive performance - to hold them to 32 per cent shooting that's really good," Kings coach Chase Buford said.
"I thought our defence at the rim was terrific....just really, really pleased with the defensive performance and then we rebounded the ball terrifically as well."
Kings sharpshooter Dejan Vasiljevic bounced back from a quiet last outing to lead all scorers with 23 points and six rebounds, while import Jaylen Adams stuffed the stat sheet with 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block.
Yannick Wetzell top scored for the Breakers with 16 points as Dieng had a career-best 14 points with four 3-pointers.
Shamir lamented some of his Breakers' shooting and defensive work but said it should not be overlooked that his Australia-based team has never had the help of home crowd lending momentum.
"Disappointing is an understatement," said Shamir.
"We struggled defensively the whole game, with a little bit of shotmaking. Sydney's schemes are obviously pack it in, pack the paint, challenge you to shoot, to make a few shots if you're making them.
"I should mention it when everybody's thinking how bad we are and how bad they are; You never catch momentum because we've never had the push of the crowd at all ever coming home.... and it's part of it."
