No

Adelaide lost last night therefore they are no chance

Bo Liu hit the court, the humiliation is almost complete I suppose.

Yeah I'd say they're back. Why not

NZ smacked them 67-48 on the boards, including 16-9 offensive boards. NZ committed 25 turnovers to 9 (points from turnovers accounted for the winning margin) and had 6 assists to 20.

I think a team that wins the board stats so convincingly but is thrashed so resoundingly in the floor game stats can safely be called a "rabble".

Sydney will need to fix its rebounding to be declared as "back".

Sorry I was distracted by the Bo Liu substitution as I was about to post on this thread... probably more appropriate in the actual game thread.

As per OP's question, no the Kings are not quite back yet. The two wins this week were more due to good fortune than brilliant strategic turnaround. Outside shots were falling in and the ref calls went more or less in their favour. Moller (of all people) hit a few three pointers and Paul Carter got 3 tech fouls in a row.

Yes, Gazey made some more small improvements today by rediscovering his transition offense and how to properly utilize Moller but those are not significant enough to claim that their championship form is back. If anything, there are still far too many issues that have yet to be addressed: too many perimeter shots, no low post strategy, lack of dribble penetration and soft interior defense.

Even the rediscovery of their transition offense is dubious as they went up against the most turnover-prone team in the competition. Gazey would have to be very concerned with the form of Powell in the last few games as well. Attitude aside, I have a feeling that Powell may not have been applying himself fully during practice or scouting reports/briefings.

I suspect what we saw is similar to what we have seen all season: When the Kings are good enough to get comfortably in front early and run with it, their quality shows throu. But when things get tough, Drewie is not up to the job.
(Undoubtedly 10x the coach I would ever be, but out-coached by everyone else in this league.)

As to the OP's stated question. The league remains very close, I don't thing the Kings ever really dropped completely out of contention, and they are definitely in the finals race.

And yes, this was an unexpectedly strong performance, and should give both them and their fans renewed confidence.

What did Paul carter do for three technicals in one go? Or was that satire?

The Kings clearly wanted it today. Whittington stayed out of foul trouble and played the best D he's played since the first month of the season, Maric was incredible in the 1st half, and although Powell couldn't buy a bucket he looked the most motivated I've seen him since he came here, and he was hustling back on D and getting out on the break on O.

Kings aren't "back" by any stretch of the imagination, but they are showing a pulse.

"What did Paul carter do for three technicals in one go?"

I'll say what I said in response to Henare's question in the telecast "What was the last one for?"

Being a dickhead

Very ordinary actions from a player whose team was down on personnel and completely selfish

If they beat Melbourne next week I think they'll make playoffs as they'll have 14 wins and the split over NZ, Cairns and United.

If they beat Melbourne next week I think they'll make playoffs as they'll have 14 wins and the split over NZ, Cairns and United.

Yeah Carter was totally frustrated by that point and wasn't entirely his fault. Kings won the game by 27 but his +/- was -37! He must've felt his teammates and the refs were letting him down hence the emotional blowup.

The actual foul sequence wasn't even clear on replay. Lisch might have tapped his arm as he put up the shot but on the way down after he rebounded his own miss Lisch's strip looked clean. The techs were mainly due to his expletives and carrying on J.

Sayonara Kings.

Sayonara Brissy, and very likely United too.

"Warranted"??

Getting yourself thrown out of the game over a nothing (missed) call like that is never warranted. Show some passion by playing hard until the end of the game, not by leaving your already shorthanded team even more shorthanded. I'll live with the "passion" of the first tech. After that he was a dickhead

Cheers for explaining what happened. Sounds like the 'well we've lost anyway so i'm going to make my point and hit the showers on my terms routine'.

Surely we have all had that moment at least once? I have no doubt he had plenty to say on more than just on potential missed and/or soft call.

May as well get your moneys worth, nothing worse than getting tossed for nothing.

the most telling moment for the Kings (v Adelaide i Think) was when a pt up, 5 secs on the clock, Powell has the ball and throws it full court and out of bounds. Opposing team scored from the throwin.

That extra win would have had the Kings "safe". Powell has had many brain explosions, but that is the biggest brain fart i have seen.

No, Kings are not back. Unconvincing win against the Bullets, but a lot more promising attitude and defence against NZ, which turned it around... If they show that against United (and Bubbles doesn't make his car park shots) to get the win, it will be a different story...

(and Bubbles doesn't make his car park shots)

I am a huge Taipans fans but the kings are a threat we gonna have to face

Kings will choke and Gaze gonna be fired to

Billy,

Based on your post a few hours ago in the Cairns v Hawks thread, I can only assume your knowledge of the Taipans is limited and that you are "huge" in respect to your physical attributes. :-)