Trevor Gleeson got just what he's been asking for with more players stepping up as the Adelaide 36ers beat the Sydney Kings led by a standout two-way showing from Matt Kenyon and then John Jenkins III doing what he's paid to do – shoot the ball.

The 36ers were in a tough spot heading to Sydney on Sunday for the first Championship Series rematch of NBL27 having lost their past three games and still without Isaac Humphries and Flynn Cameron.

Six-time MVP Bryce Cotton and import centre Nick Rakocevic have been holding down their end so far for the Sixers, but Gleeson has been calling on more of their teammates to stand up to get things on track.

That happened in spades in the 84-78 win over the Kings as they steadied their season at 3-4 in what was a standout coaching performance by Gleeson, but his players still had to carry it out.

It all started at the defensive end with Kenyon's job on limiting Championship Series MVP Kendric Davis to 16 points on 6/19 shooting with four turnovers while going 3/3 from deep himself for 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

That was the performance that Gleeson felt set the tone for the overall team performance.

"I thought it was (outstanding performance) and it's something we've worked on all pre-season but hasn’t really come on when the bright lights have been on," Gleeson said.

"We've still got some bad habits that we have to iron out, but the effort and intensity without question was there today.

"And I thought this man (Kenyon) was outstanding and Jacob (Rigoni) at the three-minute mark diving on the loose kinda set a statement for us that we were gonna be here.

"I loved that energy and I loved the guys stepping up when we're wounded with a few guys out, and we've got excuses built in. But we just kept on playing so I loved that."

Then at the offensive end, there was more help for Cotton and Rakocevic too including Kenyon, Zylan Cheatham and Rigoni combining for 27 points with seven made three-pointers.

But the big difference was a more aggressive Jenkins who was out there looking for his three-point shot at every opportunity and got up 17 attempts, made six of them and finished with 20 points.

Gleeson was even impressed to see his banked in shot inside the arc.

"He went 1/1 for the twos too and he had that little bank shot, and I haven’t seen that in six weeks," Gleeson said.

"I've never seen him play inside the twos, but he's an explosive scorer and can drop four, five threes away and break a game open.

"Especially when Bryce gets so much attention and the rollers get so much attention, and to be honest I thought he was open for three or four that he should have made especially on a couple of rebounds.

"I'm surprised he probably didn’t make eight or nine."

After things were looking bleak at half-time for the Sixers back on Wednesday night at home to Melbourne, they got stuck in defensively from there to limit United to 40 points over the second half.

That gave them a chance at snatching that win and while it didn’t quite happen, it gave Gleeson faith they had turned the corner heading to Sydney.

They went on to produce a standout defensive effort for 40 minutes to hand the Kings a first defeat of NBL27.

"The defence was outstanding and from the second half last week when we kept Melbourne to 20 points a quarter, and to keep these guys under 20 points for three of the quarters, it's pretty good and consistent," Gleeson said.

"It's something that we can build on and then we're getting shots where we want to get the shots so it's pleasing. Hopefully it's not a flash in the pan and we can build on it."

The 36ers might have lost their past three games this season heading to Sydney on Sunday, but Kenyon remained confident of what they were capable of.

He knew that it all had to start at the defensive end and that's exactly what they did led by his efforts of Davis.

"We haven't been performing the way we want to obviously, but we know what we're capable of and I think it had to start on the defensive end and being super aggressive," Kenyon said.

"We know they kinda like to pack the paint and blitz Bryce so it was about being super aggressive offensively but it really started defensively.

"That's where we get going and then offence will come from there, but we had to make it super hard for everyone especially KD because he's a great player."

The Sixers knew what they hadn’t been doing right over the past three defeats to the Hawks, Breakers and United, and Kenyon always had full faith that they had the ability to carry out what Gleeson was asking them to.

Then to see it all come to fruition on Sunday in Sydney showed to him what they're capable of and it all came back to being a much more connected unit.

"We spoke about it in pre-season and it hadn’t translated into the games, but now we've shown what we can do and we know what we can do," Kenyon said.

"We know as a group we have pretty much the exact same team bar one or two so we know what we can do, and now that's the baseline for sure.

"I think that was probably the most connected we've been in a long time and I don't think we've been connected on the court throughout most of the season so far.

"All it takes is one win to really get going and now we have to bring that every game. I loved how connected we were, it wasn’t just me on Kendric, it was everyone and I felt and could hear everyone behind me. So credit to the boys."

Kenyon has now played 168 games in the NBL and following stints at the Brisbane Bullets, Tasmania JackJumpers and South East Melbourne Phoenix, he's feeling right at home in Adelaide.

He has come into NBL27 fresh off spending time in the NBL1 West with the Mandurah Magic which was a new experience for him too, and now he's never felt more at home in the NBL.

That was clearly evident in the role he played to not only make it a tough outing for Davis, but he took his opportunities offensively too where he made all three long-range attempts and ended up with 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists – including five offensive boards.

"I feel really comfortable out there to be honest and I've been around the league for a long time, my mind's right and my body's right," Kenyon said.

"I'm at that age where I feel really good and we have a really good group so I feel good about being here and super connected to the group so it's nice.

"I think I did a pretty good job on Kendric who's obviously a great player and that's where I get going. It's nice to make shots, but I don’t really care to be honest and I want to impact the game and the defensive end is where I can impact this team.

"That's my job and I know I've been able to do that for a long time so it's nice to be able to show that again."

Chris Pike

Gleeson gets performance he's been after