The Sydney Kings produced an epic fourth-quarter comeback to rise to the summit of the NBL once again.
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In front of an NBL record crowd of 18,589, the Kings claimed their third title in five years, winning a thrilling Game 5 of the Championship Series.
Overcoming the nerves of failing to close out the series in Adelaide on Wednesday, Sydney recovered and responded in style with a 113-101 overtime victory at Qudos Bank Arena.
Trailing by four with 37 seconds remaining, the Kings cut the deficit to two before a Tim Soares offensive rebound and put-back sent the game into overtime.
From there Sydney lifted to another level, completely dominating their opponents and never trailing from that point on.
The Sixers were shot to bits after failing to get the job done in regulation, as the Kings ran riot with an 18-6 additional period scoreline.
Kendric Davis dropped seven of his 35 points in overtime to cement his place as the Championship Series MVP, adding 14 assists in another stellar showing.
BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT
The opening quarter was played at a break-neck speed with both sides desperate to get off to a flyer.
The crowd lifted with the players, with Sydney making it a hostile environment for Bryce Cotton and the vocal band of travelling Sixers fans showing there’s no love lost for former player Kendric Davis.
Tim Soares was the man to get things going for the Kings with seven points, before being forced to sub out with two fouls.
Opposing big Isaac Humphries got hot with six of his own before Cotton broke the shackles to lead all scorers with 11 as the Sixers held a slender 31-29 advantage.
HANGING TOUGH
Adelaide asserted their dominance in the second quarter and threatened to blow the game open
But the Kings didn’t let it get beyond six and were able to close out the term on a 9-2 run to take an unlikely one-point lead into the second half.
Xavier Cooks attacked the basket to explode with a nine-point term (15 for the half) as the Sixers went cold from long range (1-9 3P).
FINDING HIS GROOVE
After turning the ball over just three times in the entire first half, the Kings matched that number in just a 48-second span midway through the third quarter.
Matthew Dellavedova responded with two huge triples to almost blow the roof off the arena.
But despite a scoreless first half, DJ Vasiljevic closed the half with seven including a deep three as Adelaide took a resounding 76-69 lead with one quarter remaining.
ANOTHER RECORD
The sold-out banner went up long before tip-off as the Kings made it back-to-back NBL record crowds.
They bettered their Game 3 crowd of 18,373 by 216, giving the Kings the top ten biggest crowds ever to watch a game in NBL history.
On the back of a pair of sell-outs in Adelaide, the five-game series obliterated the previous attendance record for a Championship Series.
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