It was the battle of unbeaten NBL27 teams and the Brisbane Bullets threw the gauntlet down to the Sydney Kings, but the defending champs put the clamps on from there to stay unbeaten with the 93-78 victory.

It was the opening night of the Ignite Cup by 7-Eleven on Wednesday as well with the Kings hosting the Bullets at Afterpay Arena and it was the battle of the last two remaining unbeaten teams in NBL27.

New Brisbane coach Will Weaver was also returning for the first time to Sydney having taken the Kings so close to a championship in NBL20 and his Bullets made a blistering start.

Brisbane were leading 34-23 by the end of the first quarter but the Kings took control from there and it was the defensive pressure Matthew Dellavedova applied on Bullets point guard Arnas Velička that set the tone.

Sydney outscored the Bullets 70 points to 44 over the last three quarters to turn an 11-point deficit into the 15-point win to start their championship defence 3-0.

Over the last three quarters, Sydney held Brisbane to 44 points on 17/56 shooting from the field and 8/37 from the outside.

Kendric Davis didn’t have an assist in the first half for Sydney but had seven from there along with finishing with 24 points and eight rebounds including an eye-catching alley-oop to Torrey Craig late in the piece.

Makuach Maluach continued his breakout start to the season with 19 points on 8/12 shooting with Xavier Cooks adding 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.

Andrew Carr also had 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Craig 10 points and six boards.

The Bullets are now 2-1 having lost an eight straight game to the Kings with Jaylin Williams top scoring with 19 points and eight rebounds on 4/11 shooting from the outside.

Velička was hounded for most of his 34 minutes by Dellavedova but still had 15 points and five assists with Nate Hinton contributing 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Max Mackinnon nine points and 1/7 shooting from the outside.

The Bullets had started well at home and then brought that momentum with them on the road in the first quarter by putting up 34 points with 5/10 three-point shooting and going 7/10 at the foul line.

Nate Hinton made both his three-point attempts for nine points with Jaylin Williams adding eight for them to be leading the Kings 34-23 who had seven points from Kendric Davis and five from Torrey Craig.

But Sydney got locked in defensively in the second quarter to hold Brisbane to just 10 points on 4/18 shooting while scoring 20 themselves with Davis up to 17 at the half even though he was yet to lodge an assist.

The Bullets were still clinging to the 44-43 advantage by half-time but that didn’t last long with the Kings taking control further in the third period with another 29 points to 14.

That was with the Kings shooting 10/20 from the field and with Davis dishing out three assists and with Makuach Maluach up to 14 points and Andrew Carr 12.

Sydney held Brisbane to just 14 more points on 5/21 shooting and that saw the defending champions leading 72-58 by three quarter-time.

The Kings then went on an 8-0 run early in the fourth quarter to open up a 17-point advantage and secured the 15-point win to be the last unbeaten team in NBL27.

The Bullets return to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Saturday to host the Tasmania JackJumpers with the Kings not in action until hosting the Adelaide 36ers in a Championship Series rematch on Sunday October 11.

SYDNEY KINGS 93 – BRISBANE BULLETS 78

Sydney Kings
Kendric Davis – 24 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists
Makuach Maluach – 19 points, 2 rebounds, 3/5 3PT
Xavier Cooks – 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks
Andrew Carr – 12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists
Torrey Craig – 10 points, 6 rebounds

Brisbane Bullets
Jaylin Williams – 19 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists
Arnas Velička – 15 points, 5 assists
Nate Hinton – 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
Max Mackinnon – 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists
Tyrell Harrison – 6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists

Chris Pike

Kings lock down Bullets to go 3-0