This year’s NBL26 Championship Series has produced everything we could possibly want from it, and the deciding game of all will be played just this afternoon.
This Sunday, the Sydney Kings are playing against the Adelaide 36ers in the Game 5 of their best of five series at the Qudos Bank Arena. The tip off time is scheduled at 2.30pm AEST on Easter Sunday.
As the series stands right now, each team won two games in what could be called a roller coaster ride of events.
Sydney managed to win the first game against the Adelaide 36ers convincingly with a 112 to 68 score.
However, in the following match Bryce Cotton made an incredible buzzer beater that led his team to victory in Adelaide by 91 to 89.
On Thursday night, Sydney managed to get a massive crowd of 18,373 to witness their 106 to 93 victory.
Torrey Craig was fouled with the Kings down two points with just 2.8 seconds left on the clock.
He managed to make his first free throw but missed the second, resulting in an incredible one point victory for the Thunder by having center Isaac Humphries grab the rebound.
The playoff series is built around two top notch guards who have been playing their best basketball of late.
Kendric Davis went off for an unprecedented 34 points and 15 assists in Game 3.
He became the first NBA player ever to register 30 points and ten assists in a championship series game in the league’s history.
This season has seen Davis and Cotton’s rivalry provide a running storyline.
In a previous game of this year’s season, Davis was vocal about being frustrated that Cotton beat him to win the league MVP award and the pair have been competing intensely at both ends of the floor.
The Adelaide Hawks, led by their coach, Mike Wells, seem increasingly confident in their ability to use Cotton’s drives effectively against various types of defensive plays.
On the other hand, Brian Goorjian Kings’ coach, used Matthew Dellavedova as a tough defender against Cotton, face guarding him in a very aggressive manner.
The Transport NSW Authority has encouraged fans to plan ahead, as there will be thousands of Easter Show spectators contributing to the traffic around the area.
If Sydney wins, it means they have won their sixth title and their first under Goorjian in his second tenure as coach of the team.
If Adelaide wins, it means that they have had an amazing turnaround after being knocked out twice on their own court in the finals.
Whichever team wins, Australian basketball comes out victorious. This is a championship series that lives up to its billing.
