Bogut sparks NBL table topping Kings

Sunday, 20 October 2019:

ANDREW BOGUT of the Dallas Mavericks poses for a portrait during the Dallas Mavericks Media Day held at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
ANDREW BOGUT of the Dallas Mavericks poses for a portrait during the Dallas Mavericks Media Day held at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.


Reigning NBL MVP Andrew Bogut has produced two dominating rebounding efforts to help lift Sydney Kings to the top as Melbourne's two clubs have made surprising starts to their campaigns.

The Kings' back-to-back victories over the New Zealand Breakers moved them to 4-0, above record-setting new franchise South East Melbourne Phoenix (3-0).

Perennial contenders Melbourne United have slumped to 0-3, after losing 95-93 at home to Perth on Sunday.

Sydney followed up Friday's 96-91 home win with a 76-66 victory in Auckland on Sunday.

Former NBA top draft pick Bogut came into the round under a injury cloud with a back issue preventing him from training, but it didn't seem to affect him .

He racked up 11 points 15 rebounds, five blocks and four assists on Friday and 13 points and 16 boards, two days later.

Bogut shot nine from 14 across the weekend, while some of the other most watched players from the two teams struggled to find their shooting stroke.

Sydney's Casper Ware and the Breakers' Scotty Hopson scored 27 on Friday with the former leading Sydney again on Sunday with 17, though he shot just 14 from 42 across the two matches.

The games also featured the first NBL appearances of Next Star program players, the Breakers' RJ Hampton and the Kings' Didi Louzada.

Hampton scored seven in each game and Brazilian Louzada tallied eight and 11, but made only six of his 29 field goal attempts across the two clashes.

Phoenix set a new mark for the best start by an expansion team as they scored a 106-102 home win over Illawarra in front of more than 10,000 at Melbourne Arena on Saturday.

Once again it was import guard John Roberson (26 points, 10 assists) and Mitch Creek (23 points, six rebounds and five assists) leading the way for the fledgling franchise.

Perth rebounded from a 99-78 home loss to Cairns on Friday, when they suffered their biggest ever loss at RAC Arena.

Superstar guard Bryce Cotton nailed the game-winning shot on Sunday to complete a Perth fightback after they trailed by eight in the final quarter.

On Friday, Cameron Oliver and Majok Deng both scored 14 points for the Taipans, who notched their first win of the season.

Adelaide won 104-98 at home to Brisbane, with import forward Eric Griffin topscoring for the 36ers with 22.






AAP