Sixers respond to hammer Kings in Sydney

Pressure was mounting on both teams making for a tantalising Monday night NBL match up and the Adelaide 36ers shook off three straight 20-plus point losses to blow away the Sydney Kings for the 111-96 win.

The heat was coming on the 36ers after losing seven of the past eight games and disharmony appearing in the group.

They put that all to one side for 32 points in the first quarter at Qudos Bank Arena, another 30 in the second and converted that into the 15-point win after leading by as much as 29.

It only continues to put the pressure on Sydney with the performance again highlighting why Jaylen Adams (41 points) needs more help in the back court and how much the defence of Bul Kuol is missed.

It was always going to be fascinating how both teams came out and it was the Sixers who completely dominated from the outset.

Adelaide were already leading 32-12 by the end of one to completely silence the 11,765 home crowd before the Kings got back into the game with a 10-0 run early in the second term to cut the deficit to seven.

The Sixers were on a mission, though, and closed out the half with seven three-pointers to finish with a 25-13 run to blow their advantage out to 19 again by the break on the back of hitting 12/18 from downtown opposed to the 3/13 for the home team.

The lead ballooned to 29 points in the third quarter and the Sixers were never threatened keeping their top six prospects alive at 8-11 on the back of shooting 54 per cent from the floor and going 15/26 from deep.

Kendric Davis shone again with 30 points and nine assists with Montrezl Harrell delivering 25 points and 10 rebounds, DJ Vasiljevic 19 points, and Isaac Humphries 17 points and six boards.

"It was good to have that competitiveness and the group wanted to go out there and prove something," Sixers coach Mike Wells said.

"I couldn’t be more proud just of the effort so there was a lot of good stuff out there and a lot of has been said about our group, and there's a prideful group in there."

The Kings are still well placed in the context of the season at 11-9 but Adams was asked to do too much despite delivering 41 points on 12/24 shooting, 6/12 from three and 11/13 at the line.

Xavier Cooks did add 16 points and 15 rebounds but it was slim pickings elsewhere including star import Cam Oliver impotent once more for zero points and two turnovers in just 10 minutes.

Sydney coach Brian Goorjian took the blame on himself.

"My job coming into this game was to make sure that my guys understood what was coming and what they were going to bring to this, and making sure that they were ready," he said.

"This is on me, totally. There was no comparison from the time the ball went up as far as anything that involved competitive spirit.

"They just kicked our arse and again that falls on me."

Sydney did open the scoring thanks to Xavier Cooks but then Adelaide took over with the next seven points with two buckets inside from Isaac Humphries and Montrezl Harrell, and a three to Kendric Davis.

After Jaylen Adams scored for the Kings, the Sixers put up the next eight points with an and-one from Humphries before the next five to Davis to make it a 15-4 start for the under pressure visitors.

Keli Leaulepe steadied Sydney but Adelaide's domination continued with another run of 11 straight points including seven straight of those from Kings championship winner Jarell Martin to make it 26-6.

That was 29-8 when Harrell hit a three in the corner and the 36ers were leading 32-12 by the end of one thanks to shooting 66 per cent opposed to the 20 per cent with 5/24 from Sydney who missed all nine three-point attempts.

The Kings made a charge in the first half of the second quarter outscoring the Sixers 18 points to five, but the 36ers turned the tide back in their favour in stunning fashion to close the first half on fire with their three-point shooting.

The Sixers made seven triples to close out the half including three of them to former King DJ Vasiljevic and the last two to Davis as they went into the break leading 62-43 on shooting 12/18 from downtown.

The 36ers continued to have all the answers in the third quarter with the lead getting out to as much as 29 points and it was still at 22 by three quarter-time.

Even though Sydney got the margin all the way back to 10 late in the piece, the 36ers cruised to the win by 15 that gives them plenty to build on heading into 2025.

The Kings have the short turnaround before hosting the South East Melbourne Phoenix on Thursday night to open 2025 with the 36ers back home to host Melbourne United in a hotly anticipated match up on Saturday night.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL SEASON 2024/25

SYDNEY KINGS 96 (Adams 41, Cooks 16, Noi 12)

ADELAIDE 36ERS 111 (Davis 30, Harrell 25, Vasiljevic 19)

BOX SCORE