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Kings on cusp of another NBL championship after thrashing Breakers

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The Sydney Kings are one win away from clinching back-to-back NBL titles after thrashing the New Zealand Breakers 91-68 in game three of the championship series before the largest crowd in competition history.

A crowd of 18,049 turned out for Friday night’s clash in Sydney to watch what began as a see-sawing contest typical of the sides’ previous meetings this season.

But when American guard Derrick Walton Jr and NBA-bound forward Xavier Cooks took control of the game in a 24-12 third quarter, the Kings were on their way to a convincing win.

With the Kings up 2-1 in the best-of-five series, the Breakers must now win in Auckland on Sunday and Sydney on Wednesday to snatch the trophy.

Early on, the Breakers looked scratchy in the face of the tight Kings defence that thwarted them last time around. In the first quarter, they threw up two air balls, stepped out of bounds once and fell victim to a shot-clock violation.

But the Kings had their own alarming execution problems, committing 12 turnovers by half-time to the Breakers’ six.

Neither Washington Wizards recruit Cooks nor Walton showed signs of the leg injuries that forced them out of game two prematurely, but the Breakers did well to keep both quiet in the first half.

Walton did not score a point until past the halfway point of the second quarter and while Cooks had his moments, notably a two-handed dunk, it was Justin Simon who led the way for the Kings in the opening two quarters.

Defensive specialist Simon has been the Kings’ best player across the first three games of the series and finished with 13 points and six assists.

The Breakers were more willing three-point shooters than the Kings and back-to-back Barry Brown Jr (10 points) triples in the final minute of the half ensured they would take a hard-fought four-point lead into the sheds.

Will McDowell-White (11 points, six rebounds) helped open up a game-high nine-point lead for the Breakers early in the third.

But the Breakers could not go on with things as Dejan Vasiljevic (team-high 15 points) began to get his eye in from deep and Walton and Cooks finally got reward for their efforts in the paint.

Walton finished the game with nine assists and 12 points, while Cooks had 10 points and eight rebounds.

When the Breakers’ shooting prowess dried up, it was the Kings who had the ascendancy and their biggest lead of the game — eight points — at the final change.

Just when the Breakers needed a lift, Jarrell Brantley fouled out in the opening minute of the fourth term.

The Breakers never regained the lead, instead collapsing in a heap and going nearly 12 minutes without scoring a field goal between the midpoint of the third quarter and the final three minutes of the game.

AAP

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