Kings Roast the Pigs

After trading barbs in the media in the lead up to their derby clash it was the Sydney Kings who were able to walk the walk after talking the talk following their 142-99 hammering of bitter rivals the West Sydney Razorbacks tonight at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Both captains had plenty to say in the preceding weeks heading into their first match of the season with Jason Smith calling the Razorbacks terrible and James Harvey comparing the Kings leader to Paris Hilton, but when all was said and done it was Sydney who had the last laugh as they unleashed an offensive outburst that saw the Razorbacks humiliated yet again at their hands.

“It was a really great game. We were worried about it after the rough weekend last week, but we were ready for the to come in here a bit tired so we jumped all over them’” said former Razorback Russ Hinder who scored 16 points against his former team.

After losing in heart breaking fashion twice last weekend on the sunshine swing the Kings made sure that would not happen again as they scored the most points in the NBL since they racked up 146 points in 2001 against the now defunct Canberra Cannons. It was also their biggest ever defeat of the Razorbacks and the most point they had ever scored against their cross town rival.

David Barlow and Smith were the main instigators for the Kings scoring 25 and 21 points respectively, while new recruit Cameron Tovey impressed with 15 points and nine rebounds in his first extended stay on court this season.

West Sydney was once again led by Harvey who amassed a game high 30 points, while former Wildcats player Liam Rush was once again in the points for the Pigs scoring 17.

Coming into the season many pundits were predicting doom and gloom for West Sydney, but after a win over the Slingers last night the Razorbacks headed to the Kingdome with plenty of confidence and it showed as they exploded out of the blocks to take an early 4-0 lead.

Sydney though quickly overcame the visitors opening salvo thanks to Smith who started a three point onslaught from the Kings that saw the storm into the lead late in the first term, before young gun Cameron Tovey finished off the first period in style by scoring five quick points to give the home side a 38-30 advantage at quarter time.

The Kings continued to shoot the ball well in the second stanza hitting four consecutive long bombs to quickly push their lead out to 20 points (52-32).

With the Sydney fans already enjoying the spectacle they were left near speechless twice in a minute as both import Rodney Elliot and Australian international David Barlow performed breathtaking tip jams that will surely be in the highlight reels for many weeks to come.

A Russ Hinder dunk continued the Razorbacks misery and left them trailing by 24 points midway through the quarter, but that deficit was cut in half in a matter of minutes courtesy of Harvey who broke out of the Kings defensive shackles to unleash a 15 point burst that saw the visitors close to within 12 points before Sydney steadied the ship to take a 16 point lead into half time (73-57).

West Sydney tried their best to reel in the Kings early in the third period, but Sydney continued to have the hot hand nailing shots from all over the place to push their advantage back out to 20 points again and by three quarter time they had forged even further in front at 109-84.

With their fifth win of the season wrapped up Kings Coach Brian Goorjian used the final term to give some of his lesser lights some court time and they took the opportunity with both hands.

Little known rookie Blake Borgia ignited the crowd by scoring his first ever points in the NBL and that was followed by a crazy no look reverse lay up from Brad Sheridan that had to be seen to be believed.

When all was said and done the Kings had scored 30+ points in all four quarters and had six players reach double figures, but after the game they still weren’t happy after a poor defensive effort in the first half.

“This is the only program I have ever been in where you get screamed at for being up 16 at the half, but our defence wasn’t acceptable in the first half so it was good to come out and hold them under 100 in the end,” Hinder told Fox Sports.

The loss made it 17 straight on the road for the Razorbacks (2-3), a span that has lasted 400 days, but they won’t have a chance to break that run next round as they take on the Brisbane Bullets at Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre next Saturday night.

Sydney (5-3) will look to continue their climb back up the ladder the following Sunday when they travel to Singapore to get their first look at the Slingers.

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