'Nasty weekend': King Oli drops 26 on Taipans

Not pretty is the best way to describe the Sydney Kings Round 10, six-point 81-75 road win win (Game Centre) against the bottom of the NBL ladder Cairns Taipans in Cairns on Friday, November 29, 2024.

"This is a nasty, tough weekend for us and we worked hard, and any way that we could get through this and come out on top and kind of move forward is a positive result for us," Sydney Kings coach Brian Goorjian said in the post game press conference.

He was clearly referencing the top-to-bottom two-game road trip the Kings are on this weekend: Sydney to Cairns (2400km, three-hour flight); Cairns to Melbourne (2800km, 3.5-hour flight); and back to Sydney (900km, 1.5-hour flight).

The Kings (8-6) play top-of-the-ladder Melbourne United (10-4) (Game Centre) at John Cain Arena on Sunday, November 31, 2024 at 2.30pm.

Against Cairns, the Sydney Kings made just 6-from-16 field goal attempts in the first quarter and 6-from-17 in the second. They were lucky to only down one — 42-41 — at the half because the Taipans, coming in 2-9, weren't much better: 14-from-40 at the half, including just 5-from-18 in the second quarter.

The Kings were pre-emptive favourites coming in the NBL25 but have struggled to find their rhythm. They closed out the first half of the season, before the FIBA break, at 7-6, including four losses on the road.

Goorjian inserted Shaun Bruce in the starting line-up in an effort to take some of the ball handling responsibility from Jaylen Adams, who is averaging 14.3 points per, 4.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists. But It didn't work. Bruce was -6 in 22 minutes on 0-for-5 shooting, with a block and steal.

Adams finished with 22-7-6 in just under 35 minutes. He was +15.

Cam Oliver poured in a team-high 26 points to go along with nine boards and a couple of assists.

"So Cam Oliver, a lot of talk has been going on about him finding a way with us and we've been a hard hand in coaching him and demanding things from him," Goorjian added.

"Tonight he was instrumental in the win and running the floor, pressuring the ball, defending the post and rebounding."

Next Star Alex Toohey played just under seven minutes but was -10, scoring six points and grabbing three boards.

Former MVP Xavier Cooks and Kings glue-buy struggled from the free throw line again, knocking down just 5-of-10 but he's a constant triple-double threat. He finished 11-8-6 in 32 minutes.

The Kings did a solid job on their scout with Taipans guard Rob Edwards, who coming in was averaging just under 20. He went 4-for-19 and scored just 10 but back-court teammate Taran Armstrong counter with a game-high 28, hitting 9-of-12 from the free throw line. His season average is 15.6 per.

Cairns Taipans coach Adam Forde said it was tough to win any ball games when you shoot 22-for-78, including 8-for-37 from downtown.

"The boys battled and I know they'll be disappointed, and our imports combined for 5/32, so I'm not using that as an excuse, but they will feel that," Forde said.

"As long as they come back to work next week and work on that, we'll continue to make the adjustments and the effort was there.

"We came in with a game plan with key areas of focus and for the most part we did really, really well.

"Availability comes into it again and we'll find out what the status is with (Sam) Waardenburg, but he was really good for us in the first quarter and then something happened where he was labouring a little bit.

"Then with Tanner (Groves) in foul trouble and Rob (Edwards) had a tough game. He had good looks in the first half, really good looks that didn’t drop, and then Sydney just turned up the physicality in the second half which frustrated him ... that broke a lot of what we were trying to do."

The Taipans (3-10) have six days off until they go on the road, down to the Apple Isle to take on the Tasmania JackJumpers (Game Centre) on Thursday, December 5, 2024 in Round 11.

— additional reporting Chris Pike, NBL.com.au