The Sydney Kings have won their sixth NBL title with a dramatic 113-101 overtime defeat of the Adelaide 36ers in the decisive fifth game of the championship series.
Superstar Kings guard Kendric Davis starred with 35 points and 14 assists in front of an all-time NBL record crowd of 18,589 fans in Sydney on Easter Sunday.
It was no surprise when Davis was named championship series MVP.
Bryce Cotton led the 36ers with 35 points of his own in the final chapter of his fiery tit-for-tat with rival point guard Davis that had defined the gripping series.
The Sixers took a seven-point lead into the final change and were up by six with two minutes and 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but then Davis took over with 14 of Sydney’s last 27 points to cap his stunning finals series.
The Kings, celebrating their third title in the past five seasons, were so overjoyed that they accidentally broke the champions’ trophy.
The Kings’ celebrations knocked the figurines off th top of the NBL champions’ trophy. (Supplied: Kayo)
As captain Xavier Cooks raised it aloft and leapt up and down on the stage, figurines of two players attached to the top fell off and broke apart.
While the Kings celebrated with three separate pieces of silverware, the 36ers were left to rue a golden chance to win their first title since 2002.
Maintaining their advantage for most of the game, the 36ers still led by two when Davis slotted from under the basket in the final 30 seconds.
Davis missed a long-range jumper after that, but a Tim Soares putback tied the scores at 95-95 with six seconds remaining.
On the final possession of regulation time, Cotton drove to the basket but could not snatch victory for the Sixers with his last-second shot as he had done to win game two.
Davis once again set the tone in overtime, stealing from Cotton in the opening exchanges and adding seven points in the five-minute period.
Kendric Davis scored 14 of his 35 points after the Kings fell six points behind with 2:29 left in regulation. (Getty Images: Darrian Traynor)
When Makuach Maluach stole from Cotton and streaked away for a one-handed dunk in the final minute, the Kings had a game-high 13-point lead and were in sight of victory.
The win marks the Kings’ first championship since their legendary former coach Brian Goorjian returned with a mandate to revitalise the glamour club last season.
The Kings had been fancied to win the championship for much of the season, especially after a record-breaking 44-point game-one win this series.
But the 36ers clawed back to twice level the series, only to have their hearts broken on the biggest stage.
Look back at how game five unfolded in our live blog.
Key Events
NBL Finals game five: Sydney Kings 113-101 Adelaide 36ers
And that is where we’ll leave you
What a fitting end to an epic season, playoffs and finals.
The best team certainly won and we got to see the consensus top two players in the league go at it for five games, plus a little bit extra.
Congratulations to the Sydney Kings, commiserations to the Adelaide 36ers and, if you need more ABC Sport live blog action, please jump over to our NRL and AFL coverage.
More misery for the Adelaide 36ers
The wait goes on for Adelaide’s first championship since 2002, with this marking their third loss in the finals series since then.
Even in that pantheon of pain, this one will hurt a little more after they led by six with 2:30 left in regulation.
Bryce Cotton’s 35 points came from 9/22 shooting, including 6/13 from deep, but the rest of his outside men gave him so little help on offence.
The rest of the team shot a combined 6/29 from three while Cotton was being double teamed basically all night. (And I mean “all night”. He played every minute, as did Kendric Davis.)
Dejan Vasiljevic hit 1/11 and Flynn Cameron 1/6, while John Jenkins (3/9) was the only other Sixer with more than one made three.
Credit to Isaac Humphries for his 14 points on 6/6 shooting with 2/2 from the free throw line, while nabbing nine rebounds in his 28 minutes.
KD botches kids’ cap hand-off
Oh no, the NBL Finals MVP ends his speech and goes the wrong way off the stage, then gets called back to awkwardly stand there with his kid.
A junior player comes up to give him his championship ring, but the order is all messed up, and Davis doesn’t realise he’s supposed to give her a cap, so he just receives the ring and walks off.
He’s realised his mistake now, but it’s all a bit awkward. Hopefully that young girl gets her cap.
‘It’s my time now’: Kendric Davis is the NBL Finals MVP
Kendric Davis is perhaps the most obvious choice in history for the Larry Sengstock Trophy as MVP of the NBL Finals.
Aside from the rest of his almighty series, he scored a record 35 points tonight, including 14 after the Kings trailed by six with 2:29 left in regulation.
Davis reserves special thanks for coach Brian Goorjian, Matthew Dellavedova and some of the other veteran Kings players.
“[Goorjian] gave me an opportunity when everybody tried to bash my name,” he says.
“He said ‘I believe in you, son. I’m gonna make you a better man’.
“It didn’t start out pretty and they stuck with us. I can’t be prouder of my teammates.”
And he finishes with a decisive: “It’s my time now.”
‘The greatest’
NBL chief executive David Stevenson doesn’t mince his words:
“That is the greatest series in NBL history.”
‘I wanted it for him’: Kings step up for coach Goorjian
Kings captain Xavier Cooks says his third championship is extra special.
“It means so much. I wanted this one so bad,” he says.
“I wanted it for Goorj [coach Brian Goorjian], I wanted it for KD [Kendric Davis], I wanted it for Delly [Matthew Dellavedova], I wanted this for Brucey [Shaun Bruce].”
Cooks had an extra long embrace with coach Goorjian and says he told him: “We did this for you.”
“I’ve seen his name get dragged through the mud the last two years with the Boomers shit our season last year and I wanted it for him,” Cooks says.
SYDNEY ARE THE KINGS OF THE NBL!
After a tense series and a brilliant game five, the Kings prove their class when it matters most in overtime to run out 113-101 winners.
The Kings trailed by six with 2:20 left in regulation but a clutch performance by Kings superstar Kendric Davis got them over the line with 7/9 points to force overtime and seven in extra time.
He finishes an amazing series with a record 35 points, and also nabbed 14 assists.
“I was at a depressed point at the beginning of the year,” Davis says.
“They had my back, I just wanted to have their back. I don’t got words right now.”
Another turnover and the Kings are celebrating
Maluach intercepts Cotton’s pass and flies up the other end for the slam!
113-100 to Sydney. This overtime has been a disaster for Adelaide.
Kings lead by 11 with a minute left
The trophy is all but in Sydney’s hands as they take a 111-100 lead into the last minute of the first overtime period.
OT1: Davis with the bucket, AND COTTON IS BLOCKED
Kendric Davis nails a two-point jumper from the baseline to make it 35 for the night.
Bryce Cotton goes up the other end and is blocked by Makuach Maluach. And then, on the fastbreak, Jaylin Galloway nails the lay-up, cops the foul and hits the free throw.
OT1: 36ers looking rattled
A couple of bad possessions to start overtime and the Adelaide offence has fallen apart.
John Jenkins and Dejan Vasiljevic force threes and are miles off the mark.
They finally get a turnover, and COTTON LOSES THE HANDLE on the fastbreak!
OT1: DAVIS GIVES THE KINGS A SIX-POINT LEAD
Xavier Cooks gets his team an extra possession and Kendric Davis makes it count with a triple from the corner to make it 106-100 to the Kings!
OT1: Kings in charge early
Nick Rakocevic fouls out for the 36ers and Tim Soares makes it a four-point lead for the Kings from the line.
Zylan Cheatham goes up the other end and gets fouled as he lats it in, adding a free throw.
Kendric Davis goes up the other end and finds two points, and Cheatham answers back with a lovely lay-up of his own.
And then Torrey Craig hustles on the offensive glass for a Kings putback.
OT1: Kings open the scoring in overtime
Kendric Davis strips Bryce Cotton on the first possession and the Kings go back up the other end, with Torrey Craig putting home an alley-oop on the fast break.
That’s his first bucket of the game!
WE’RE GOING TO OVERTIME!
For the first time in NBL Finals history, game five is going to overtime as Bryce Cotton can’t get the tough lay-up to fall.
SOARES TIES IT WITH 4.6 SECONDS LEFT!!!
Kendric Davis forces a triple, it clangs off the front of the rim, but Tim Soares cleans up and muscles back up to lay it in.
SCORES ARE TIED AT 95!!!
16.6 seconds left: Wedgie gives the Kings the ball down two
Kendric Davis’s floater reduces the deficit to two points, and Zylan Cheatham’s floater ends up wedged between the backboard and the rim. It’s Sydney ball!
43.3 seconds left: Dicey foul sees Delly ejected
Matthew Dellavedova touches Bryce Cotton’s left arm as he dribbles into a three-point attempt, but he takes it away before Cotton started his shooting motion.
Still, the referees call the foul and Cotton has three free throws as Dellavedova fouls out of the game.
And Cotton hits all three free throws to make it 95-91 to Adelaide.
Q4: DAVIS WITH A MASSIVE THREE IN THE LAST MINUTE
Kendric Davis nails a three-pointer to get the Kings within one as the clocks ticks into the final minute!
