Dazzling performances from star import Josh Childress and captain Ben Madgen delivered the Sydney Kings an emphatic 82-69 win over league leaders the New Zealand Breakers on Saturday.
Power game: Sydney Kings guard Jason Cadee goes in for a lay-up against the NZ Breakers on Saturday night. Photo: Tamika Walker
The 13-point victory comes off the back of an 11-point loss to the Breakers just one week earlier in Auckland, bringing an end to the Breakers' five-game winning streak.
In a physical and, at times, fiery matchup, the two sides produced a showdown which brought the Kingdome alive.
Speaking at the end of the game, Kings coach Damian Cotter praised the match as an exemplar of teamwork.
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"The great thing about tonight is that I felt we had a lot of contributors," he said, praising Madgen's performance, as well as his bench players.
"We can't expect Josh [Childress] to carry us like he did a few weeks ago," Cotter said, adding that the star forward had been struggling with illness throughout the match.
"When you play New Zealand or Perth, you have to play four quarters. I thought the guys showed a lot of courage."
A run of slick offensive plays gave the Kings the lead early in the first quarter, but an opportunity to stretch this lead to a dominant margin went begging with the ball failing to drop on a number of occasions.
Childress, the NBL player of the month for November, showed flashes of brilliance, stealing the ball from Breakers' hands before running unchallenged to basket and finishing with a crowd-pleasing dunk.
At the end of the first team, the King held a narrow 19-18 lead.
The Breakers caught fire early in the second quarter, putting on 10 quick points to open up a five-point lead.
While a smart containment strategy by the Breakers kept Childress from taking control of the contest, the gun import once again proved indispensable to the Kings' offence, slotting 10 points, including an impressive three pointer, to keep the home side in the match.
Complemented by a solid seven points from Madgen, the Kings headed into the half-time break with the scores tied at 36.
With a gruelling battle on their hands, both sides dug in in the third quarter, with rapid-fire end-to-end plays keeping the scores tight.
With a reputation as one of fastest offensive teams in the competition, the Breakers pushed the ball into the Kings defence, but there were more missed opportunities and blocks than brilliant offensive execution.
Capitalising on the turnovers, the Kings took the lead, Childress and Madgen asserted themselves on the match.
A decision by Cotter to call a timeout in the dying seconds of the quarter paid off, with Childress finding the net on the buzzer in a seamlessly executed play to stretch the home side's lead to 59-51.