(all images: Benjamin Parker)

Saturday night saw the Sydney Kings welcome the Gold Coast Blaze to the 'Kingdome' with much at stake. Both teams have reached a point in their season where they have proven that they have talent, but need to stamp consistency into their 2011/12 campaigns in order to instill a team character that is worthy of the NBL Finals.

The Kings eventually came away 101-96 victors in a high-powered, fast-moving battle. What did we learn from the game?

Luke Cooper: The Phantom Menace

This header is partly correct, partly false. Cooper has indeed become a complete menace to opposing teams in the past two rounds -- more than ever. However, The Phantom Menace was episode one of the Star Wars series (just ask Julian "Wookiee" Khazzouh*), but this is not the first chapter in the Luke Cooper story. 

Cooper's first chapter came with an extremely promising start to 2010/11, his rookie season. Unfortunately, that chapter came to a close with an unfortunate foot injury that ruled him out for the remainder of the season after four games where he averaged 11.5ppg, 4.3apg and 4.0rpg for the fledgling Kings.

Chapter two began at the start of this season, with less impressive results as Cooper returned to action for the Kings. He appeared to lack confidence and/or NBL-standard match practice and his performance on the court reflected this. During the first six games of the season, he averaged 2.3 turnovers, in less than 18 minutes per game. On a per minute basis, his turnover count was above those of fellow Kings point guards Aaron Bruce and Luke Martin. Around that point, his minutes began to be cut by coach Ian "Moose" Robilliard -- for six straight games, he was afforded only single-digit minutes. 

Then came chapter three. It began with the Kings woeful home performance against the Adelaide 36ers on 30 December. Sydney were shamed on their home court by the visitors, going down 96-77. The majority of the team performed dismally, but Cooper was the exception. He was all over the court, on both ends. He hassled the opposing ball-handlers and he managed 13 points on 4/7 field goals and 5/6 free throws in 22 minutes. 

Whilst his follow-up performance, the next night down in Wollongong, was not as impressive, it appeared that he had turned a corner. Against the Blaze, Cooper played arguably his best performance in Kings colours. Sure, he has put up bigger numbers in the past. He has played more minutes in the past -- although not this season. However he has never shown the composure, or made the impact that he did.

In 31 minutes, Cooper scored 10 points and created six assists (including a beautiful thread-the-needle on the break to Bruce early in the second quarter). In fact, he actually scored 13 points, though for some reason the scorers' bench (if you're out there) erroneously changed the stat sheet during the game to remove one of his three-point shots and awarded it to Kevin Ratzsch.

After the game, Blaze coach Joey Wright admitted that he may have underestimated Cooper's impact and failed to prepare his team sufficiently to defend him. Kings coach Robilliard said that he had seen an increase in confidence in the second-year guard and was pleased to see his hard work in training pay off, impressed with his game.

If Cooper can keep this production up, it will pay huge dividends for the Kings, as he provides a change of pace off the bench that can be hard for opponents to contend with. 

* whilst Jules did play a Wookiee in Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith, alongside Aussie ballers Michael Kingma, David Stiff and Axel Dench, he does not count himself as a big Star Wars fan.

Adris Deleon: important

It might sound like a ridiculous understatement, but Adris "2Hard2Guard" Deleon is very important to the Blaze's fortunes. The NBL Player of the Week for Round 8, the import point guard has a silky smooth ability to get to the basket and create for his teammates. However, of late Deleon has been slumping, committing a high number of turnovers and shooting a poor percentage.

To begin the game against the Kings, the Blaze seemingly ran everything through Deleon. It appeared that coach Wright's strategy was to put pressure on the Kings defence (particularly Bruce) to prove that they could stop 2Hard2Guard. The extent to which the team looked to Deleon on offence saw even notorious shooter James Harvey (returning from a calf injury) to pass up shots in favour of looking for his floor general coming off back screens. And that strategy was working for the Blaze, as they got out to an early lead, with Deleon leading the way.

Then foul trouble struck. Deleon sat most of the middle stretch of the game with three fouls in 9 first half minutes. As Wright admitted after the game, as Deleon goes, the Blaze goes. Foul trouble like that can kill a team and did appear to throw the Blaze off their game.

Jerai Grant: excitement machine

People need to remember, this guy is only 22 years old. He may have NBA heritage running through his veins, he may indeed have the NBA in his future, but right now he is a young kid playing the professional game. And that is what makes his continually growing performances so impressive.

Grant put up 23 points (10/14 FG), 12 rebounds, four assists and made numerous key defensive plays during this game. The Sydney Entertainment Centre statisitcs crew once again must have been looking elsewhere, as they did not credit Grant with a single steal or block in this game, despite more than one of each being noted by the media bench.

Defensively, it is hard to quantify the number of plays that Grant and Khazzouh deter in the paint. The league-leading blocks duo are a huge presence in the interior and Grant's efforts ability to out-quick big opponents with his long arms slapping away at the ball started more than one Kings fast break in this game. 

The thing is, when a big man puts in that effort on D, he is supposed to be rewarded on the other end. However, on a number of occasions, Grant had isolated smaller opponents down low, and was begging for the ball, only to be spurned by his teammates. To keep him happy, he needs to see that ball to throw down the type of dunks that have set the Kingdome crowd alight. And he slammed down his fair share in this game, in front of the 4,915 fans.

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The Kings currently sit at sixth on the NBL ladder, with an 8-9 record. With third-placed Townsville on 7-6, it is clear that every game is vitally important to the Kings' Finals hopes and that stronger performances earlier in the season would have seen them right up there in the hunt. 

For a full match report, check out Matt McQuade's account here.

Boxscore here.