Sydney kings coach Chase Buford might not have been on the sidelines, but he would have been impressed with his side’s performance in the grand final rematch against the JackJumpers. Catch up with all the round 13 NBL action.
The Sydney Kings have won the grand final rematch over the JackJumpers despite coach Chase Buford’s suspension.
Earlier in the round, the Adelaide 36ers notched up another home win, this time over the Brisbane Bullets.
Catch up with all the NBL23 action.
– Matt Cleary
Sydney Kings coach Chase Buford was sensationally banned from overseeing his side‘s grand final rematch with Tasmania JackJumpers on Friday night after an angry door-kick triggered a one-match suspension.
On Friday, an NBL integrity officer found that Buford had kicked a door at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium on December 18 following the Kings‘ one-point, double-overtime loss to the Phoenix.
The NBL said in a statement that the Kings “were invited to make a submission” about Buford‘s suspension, adding that the NBL ”was satisfied a breach had occurred which subsequently triggered Buford’s suspended sentence.”
The original ban came about because of an incident before last season‘s finals series when Buford inferred that referee Chris Reid was biased against his team.
None of it appeared to matter to the Kings who, with assistant coach Kevin Lisch stalking the sideline, rolled over the JackJumpers 97-77 in front of a bumper crowd of 12,467 at Qudos Bank Arena.
Lisch paid tribute to his fellow coaches and said that it was a “fun game to watch”.
“You put in 99 per cent of the work before the game and the guys have done that … and the way they competed, especially after that first quarter when our defence wasn’t great, the fight and willingness to play for each other was really good to see,” Lisch said.
Captain Xavier Cooks admitted that Buford‘s dismissal was a distraction
“It was a bit of a hurdle when we heard about it this morning. Chase has a really big role in this team. He calls plays from the sidelines.
“I‘m not going to lie, we were a little bit worried about how that role was going to feel, how everyone’s nerves were going to feel.
“But Kevin did a great job of coming into the locker room and saying, ‘Yo, next man up mentality’. And he did a great job of settling the ship,”
Tasmania JackJumpers head coach Scott Roth said Buford‘s dismissal made no difference to his team’s preparation – “my cigars still tasted the same” – and paid tribute to Lisch.
“Congratulations to Kevin on his debut as a head coach. It was a good job on their part, the whole mindset of those guys was fantastic and they got after us with an old-fashioned butt-whipping. Much more aggressive. We had our butts handed to us,” Roth said.
Coming off a 21-point hiding to Melbourne United on Christmas Day and a tough first period in which they trailed by one point, the Kings dominated the visitors for the final three quarters, with Cooks – a favourite for league MVP – having a big game again with 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Dejan Vasiljevic (13 points, seven rebounds) and Derrick Walton Jnr (three rebounds, seven assists) also played big minutes with big impact.
In the second quarter, Roth was demonstrative on the sideline, waving his arms and chastising referees. The referees responded by issuing him a warning of his own.
Roth called a timeout – the Kings went ahead by six points and something had to be done. Soon enough the gap was eight.
A beautiful bouncing assist by Vasiljevic led to a monster dunk by Jaylin Galloway. Roth continued his histrionics, the referees warned him again. JackJumpers assistant coach Jacob Chance played peacemaker to ensure Roth remained on court.
Buford will return for the Kings‘ next home game against the Phoenix on Wednesday.
– Jason Phelan
It wasn’t easy, but Adelaide welcomed new import Ian Clark into the fold with a fourth home win in a row, the surging Sixers coming from behind to score a stunning three-point victory against Brisbane on Thursday night.
The Sixers inflicted a 31-point beat down on the flailing Bullets at the same venue just 13 days earlier, but the visitors led by four points heading into the last quarter.
The Bullets scored the first two points of a frenetic final term, but the Sixers went on an 11-0 run to take the lead and hold on for an 87-84 win in front of a record sellout crowd of 9,263 fans at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
Brisbane just kept coming in a brave display.
There were just three points in it with 5.4 seconds left when Tanner Krebs caused a turnover and was fouled by Anthony Drmic.
He made it a one-point game with 5.2 seconds remaining when Robert Franks was fouled and calmed frayed nerves when he iced his free throws, Tanner Johnson missing a triple that would have sent it into overtime with 1.8 seconds left.
Without ill skipper Mitch McCarron, Adelaide’s offence was humming in a 54-point first half, but the home side scored a season-low eight points in the third quarter.
Franks led the way with 18 points, Antonius Cleveland next best with 13, while Drmic registered a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Nathan Sobey had a game-high 24 points on 8-from-16 shooting, including three three-pointers, but ruined his good night with a technical foul with a minute remaining before fouling out three seconds later.
HOME, SWEET HOME
The Entertainment Centre has gone from a house of horrors for Adelaide to home, sweet home in the space of 13 days.
The Sixers were 2-4 on their home court when they hosted the Bullets on December 17, but have made every post a winner since in a packed Christmas schedule.
After an underwhelming 6-8 first half of the season, Bruton’s side is a perfect four wins from four games after the coach wiped the slate clean and declared the final 14 games before playoffs a ‘new season’.
BULLETS BETTER
The Bullets were in turmoil when they were thumped by Adelaide in Round 11, but there were promising signs for the storied franchise.
The stability the players crave came with interim coach Greg Vanderjagt appointed for the rest of the season and they’re healthier.
Tyler Johnson, Tyrell Harrison and Krebs didn’t play in the rout by Adelaide, but all were present on Thursday night.
After the Bullets snapped a five-game losing streak with an overtime win against Perth, Vanderjagt said that his team is a very different beast when closer to full strength and he wasn’t wrong.
Sobey was on fire early with a game-high 10 points in the first quarter, with Johnson joining the party to have 10 by halftime.
The Bullets went on a 9-0 run to start the second half and led at three-quarter time after Sobey got hot again.
ALL EYES ON IAN
Clark entered the game with just over six minutes remaining in the first quarter and he quickly made his presence felt when he went the length of the court and drove hard to the basket.
The NBA and NBL championship winner‘s first points as a 36er came after he landed his lay-up and converted the foul shot after wearing one on the nose from Nathan Sobey.
Clark missed his first three-point attempt in the first quarter but drained two in the second, with his first stopping a 10-0 Brisbane rally that put the visitors up by seven points.
The 31-year-old had an equal team-high nine points at halftime to help the Sixers edge back in front 54-51.
He didn’t add to his tally in the second half, but played just under 20 minutes in a promising start for his new club.
The Sixers will now hit the road for a New Year’s Eve clash against the Taipans in Cairns, while the Bullets are back in action on New Year’s Day when they host Melbourne United at Nissan Arena.
Russell Gould is a senior sportswriter with nearly 20 years’ experience across a wide variety of sports including AFL, cricket, golf, rugby league, rugby and horse racing. Starting as a sports reporter at MX, then the Herald Sun, he has written news and in-depth features as well as covering major events in both Melbourne and around the world, from the 2003 rugby World Cup, though to the 2019 Ashes in England, two US Masters at Augusta and every Boxing Day Test since 2010. Having also spent four years as the Herald Sun sports chief of staff, he is now the founding sports editor of NCA NewsWire.
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