Royal Flush required: This weekend is the ultimate game of Warlords and Scumbags where if the cards fall right... only when the hand of the weekend is revealed will we know - Photo credit to news.com/NBL/ABS-CBN News/Getty Images
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4-Minute Read
NBL ROUND 18
Adelaide 36ers vs Sydney Kings
When: 7:00pm (ACDT), Friday 3 February
Where: Adelaide Entertainment Centre – The Ken Cole-seum
Broadcast: Kayo Freebies, ESPN, www.nbl.com.au
LTTM: Sydney Kings 97 (Soares 18, Walton Jr 16, Cooks, Vasiljevic 15) defeated Adelaide 36ers 78 (Johnson 21, Franks 16, Sotto 13, Cleveland 12) at Qudos Bank Arena
SWOOP BACK IN HISTORY
NBL23
The last round of the NBL23 regular season sees us reflect on some of what this season has brought to us…
Key Moment of the Season
The last ten minutes of the New Years Eve game against the Taipans we’ll likely remember for the one that halted the momentum the Sixers wanted to take into the second half of the season.
Dunk of the Season
Pick anyone you want from AC this season but I can’t go past the just over halfway acceleration Cleveland threw down against United recently…
Assist of the Season
Mitch McCarron made the ball disappear with this no looker saved out of bounds to AC against the Breakers in New Zealand.
Block of the Season
Been plenty of good rim protection this season from Sotto but purely for the little aggro in it this one on Isaac White was one of my favourites.
Surprise performance of the Season
Drmic’s 21 points vs Melbourne United in Round 7 – brought into the starting lineup to replace CR II – more no doubt expected to be a role player this season the “Wizard” produced some high quality against a team the Sixers have struggled to beat on their home floor…
The “I belong in the league” rookie moment
Nick Marshall’s big moment came off the back off the career high 15 points against the Phoenix when he backed it up with 10 points in 16 minutes against the Bullets.
Masterstroke coaching move of the Season
Kyrin Galloway’s introduction against the New Zealand Breakers in Auckland yielded 13 points including a perfect three of three triples. Changed the momentum in Auckland and if not for Brown Jr banked triple nearly stole the upset win for Adelaide in New Zealand.
Team play of the Season
Every piece of this play was superb from defence to offensive execution
Key Matchups
Mitch McCarron vs Derrick Walton Jr
McCarron has had a mixed season with some high quality basketball and some games with minimal impact. Tonight I’d love to simply see an offensively aggressive Mitch to try and throw Walton Jr at the defensive end of the floor.
Walton Jr is a key cog to getting this Kings lineup rolling – he’s had also double figure scoring ten games in a row. Since his 45 points against the Phoenix he’s averaging a solid 15.6 points per game. He’s also number three of active players in the league for assists.
Antonius Cleveland vs Justin Simon
From the Sixers perspective where they send Cleveland defensively for this game will be intriguing…
It could be Dejan Vasiljevic, Walton Jr or might even spend some time on Xavier Cooks even for something different…
Then there’s Simon who didn’t make the final three in voting – he’ll be having a point to prove potentially in this one. I think he’ll rotate to whoever has the hot hand – but seeing these two matchup on each other and give as much as they get will be worth the price of admission for tonight…
Kyrin Galloway vs Jaylin Galloway
We hope both CJ and Chase will give us the matchup of the two brothers on each other for significant minutes tonight and it makes sense.
Kyrin has been struggling for minutes stuck behind Sotto and Johnson but has had some really nice moments – including the one I touched on. An outside threat and rim protector in burst is a clear role for him.
Meanwhile Jaylin attacks the rim and has had a rise in minutes averaging 17 minutes for eight points per game. He’s likely to see some big minutes tonight considering the position for the Kings on the ladder.
TWO QUESTIONS TO SWOOP ON
Where has it gone wrong to take it out of the hands of the Sixers (a reprise)?
Four five minute patches have shaped the fate of the Sixers and where they are at right now
- The overtime against the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Round 5
- The Round 10 home game last five minutes versus Perth Wildcats
- The last five minutes against Cairns on new years eve in Round 13
- Thursday night’s last five minutes of game against the Bullets
These four patches cost the Sixers four wins they should’ve gotten and didn’t because they were in winning positions at these stages of the game – that could have them in the six and creating their own fate.
But now its not…
Will the Kings rest numbers for this one?
Game situation and scenario may dictate it – but they will heed the past when teams like Melbourne United have done so and cost them momentum and ultimately a spot in the NBL championship series…
So who wins?
Although mathematically it is a very very small percentage as cited below from DB on twitter…
With the likelihood of Perth winning one of the the last two – The Sixers will come out with not a big amount of pressure and just go and play.
They’ll get the “upset” win but I don’t think the Kings will let them have a big one…
COD Prediction: 36ers by 4 points
Catch all the action tonight at the arena on Cluch Radio with Tristan “TP” Prentice and our special comments guest whether you’re at the game or watching from home
CROSS OVER DRIBBLE 