Tip-off: Saturday, January 5, 7.30pm (local), Sydney Entertainment Centre

Broadcast: NBL.TV

Last time they met: Sydney 88 (Bruce 22, Madgen 14, White 13) d Adelaide 81 (Johnson 24, Gibson 22, Schenscher 18), Round 9, Adelaide Arena

The story
Having stepped from college basketball into the NBL, Kings guard Aaron Bruce knows the steep learning curve new Adelaide import Scott Christopherson is facing.

“It’s different in the blows you get and that the guys giving the blows are older and lot more experienced and smarter,” Bruce said.

“They know ways to use their bodies so your legs and spacing are taken away from you.”

After Sydney’s worst performance of the season last Sunday the 36ers should expect a particularly physical game this week.

“We pride ourselves on three things every week – desire, toughness and smarts – and we got beaten in all three categories,” Bruce said grimly.

As a result, coach Shane Heal has been ruthless preparing his team for their Round 13 clashes with Adelaide and then Melbourne less than 17 hours later.

“We’ve had no choice this week but to work hard,” Bruce laughed.

“We trained hard the next day after our loss to Perth and the day after that as well, so we’ve replicated what we are going to face.”

For Bruce, who formed a blistering combination with Ben Madgen earlier in the season but has fallen in an offensive hole the past five weeks, a match-up with his former team is just what the doctor ordered.

The former Australian Boomer has averaged 16.8 points against the 36ers the past two seasons, compared to 10.8 against the rest of the NBL. This season he has notched 37 points on 13-of-24 shooting and nine assists in two games against Adelaide.

“It’s maybe a certain level of comfort playing against them and a certain level is my determination,” he said.

“Obviously you love to play well against a team you used to play for and as a Victorian I always want to play well against any South Australian team.”

The stats
Bruce has averaged 9.2 points on 30 per cent field-goal shooting in the past six outings. The six games before that he produced 12.8 points at 50 per cent.

In losses the Kings average 15.8 turnovers. In wins that number falls to a low 9.6 a game.

Adelaide force opponents into just 10.6 turnovers a game – clearly last in the NBL – and have forced only 12 from the Kings in two games this season.

Luke Schenscher and Daniel Johnson have combined for 67 points at 53 per cent field-goal shooting, 29 rebounds and 12 assists in two games against Sydney.

The wrap
Much has been made of Adelaide’s recent slide taking them out of playoff contention, but should the 36ers win this game and the repeat clash in Round 14 they will own the season series and be within striking distance.

Kings coach Shane Heal uncharacteristically made some serious errors in his game-plan last week against Perth, choosing to enter a track meet with the NBL’s best open-court team.

This week he faces the dilemma of whether to exploit Adelaide’s fatigue from their Friday night meeting with Townsville, or try to keep them in the halfcourt where they have struggled.

Sydney have been at their best mixing up various styles in-game and Bruce, Madgen and Corin Henry have done an outstanding job of that. With the 36ers struggling to execute when disrupted, expect the Kings to show plenty of variation.

Perhaps the biggest key will be Ian Crosswhite making amends for his foul-prone game against Perth, because when Adelaide’s big men aren’t scoring, points can be hard to come by for the 36ers.

Prediction: Kings by 4

A red-hot performance from Ben Madgen inspired the Sydney Kings to an enthralling 86-82 win over Adelaide 36ers on Saturday night.

In a see-sawing encounter where the lead continually changed it was hard to separate the two sides.

Ignited by Madgen (30 points) and Aaron Bruce (14 points) at the start of the fourth quarter, the Kings went on a 10-point scoring run that would eventually be enough to see off a stubborn Adelaide side.

“We definitely played well and stuck to or structures more on the offense and defence, and we got away with the win,” Madgen said.

Ultimately it was Madgen’s dominating display in every quarter that powered the Kings home, although Adelaide played their part and very nearly snatched victory.

Adam Gibson (19 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds) and Stephen Weigh (16 points) provided menace from the perimeter, while Daniel Johnson (16 points) and Luke Schenscher (18 points) did the damage under the boards.

When a Schenscher hook shot reduced the Kings’ lead, which had been 10 points just moments earlier, to three with 1:20 on the clock, Adelaide looked to be snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

But it was Madgen, again, who responded, his shotclock-beating lay-up instantly restoring a five-point lead that would prove too big a hurdle for the visitors.

“At stages tonight I thought we were good, at other stages it was disappointing,” Kings coach Shane Heal said.

“It’s nice to not play overly well but still put ourselves in a good position to win.”

Fresh off a dressing down from coach Heal after last week’s big defeat, the Kings, spurred on by Madgen, started on the offensive and never let up for 40 minutes.

Perhaps most importantly, Madgen caught fire early with 11 points in the first quarter. 

“Shane let his feelings known about last week’s game, but we know it wasn’t good enough, but it was a learning experience for us and we played a lot better tonight,” Madgen said.

But with Gibson and Weigh regularly splitting the Kings defence and off-loading to Johnson and Schenscher, Adelaide stayed close throughout.

“It was a case of us giving our best effort tonight, but in a results-driven world that’s what you’re judged on,” Adelaide coach Marty Clarke said.

“There’s always going to be things that break down, but I said to the guys after the game that that was an effort to be proud of.”

No matter which side got into the ascendancy, the other would wrestle back control.

It was captivating for the near-5000 crowd, who left happy thanks to the performance of Madgen, who ensured the Kings wouldn’t be denied.

Sydney Kings 86 (Madgen 30, Bruce 14, Lazare 12)
Adelaide 36ers 82 (Gibson 19, Schenscher 18, Weigh/Johnson 16)

Crowd: 4511 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre