BOXSCORE

A Patty Mills-inspired Melbourne Tigers have thumped the Sydney Kings 94-76 on Friday night in Sydney.

Melbourne were in control from the outset, their Boomers point guard a continual thorn in Sydney's side on his way to 20 points and eight assists.

Aaron Bruce was a bright spark for the home side, posting a game-high 25 points as he battled valiantly to stem the flow of Tiger points.

That flow started early in the first quarter as Mills and small forward Ron Dorsey hit the floor running.

“For a large part of tonight we didn’t need to run any plays,” Mills said post-match. “We just needed to get the rebound or turnover and we were off to the races.

“We might not be one of the biggest teams in the league, but we’re fast and it happened for us tonight.”

Kings import Kevin Ratzsch made back-to-back baskets late in the period to give the Kings hope, but the second and third quarters turned into an exhibition of fast, free-flowing transition basketball spearheaded by Mills and Cam Tragardh.

“We’ve got players across the team that can score and we always say to keep passing the ball until someone’s open and tonight it worked well for us,” Tigers coach Trevor Glesson said.

While Mills’ efforts showcased his talents as one of Australia’s best basketballers, Kings superstar Julian Khazzouh had a night to forget.

A second-quarter implosion saw the big Kings centre fail to register a single point or rebound. He would finish with 13 points on 5/14 shooting and 16 rebounds.

The lead blew out to 28 in the third quarter on the back of some magic from Mills and Ayinde Ubaka, as the Tigers picked off repeated Sydney turnovers and steamrolled their opponents in the open court.

Ubaka’s inventiveness with the ball and effortless penetration continually hurt the home side, resulting in easy points under the boards.

While Bruce continued to dominate in the final quarter the damage had been done and Melbourne cruised to the easiest of victories.

Sydney Kings 76 (Bruce 25, Ratzsch 14, Khazzouh 13)
Melbourne Tigers 94 (Mills 20, Tragardh 15, Ubaka 12)

Crowd: 6,010 at Sydney Entertainment Centre