It doesn’t get much media publicity, but basketball in Australia is slowly and quietly making inroads.
After being the hottest ticket in town in the early 1990s, the game went through nearly two decades of decline; a drop that saw the demise of plenty of clubs.
One of the clubs to go, after a series of disastrous private owners, was the Sydney Kings.
But after two years of extinction, the purple and gold club came back to life. And it’s taken another two years to rebuild the team to a competitive one. But under the coaching of Shane Heal, this season has seen the Kings slowly re-emerge as a genuine contender.
Saturday night saw the Sydney Entertainment Centre host the Kings’ latest game in their 2012/13 campaign, a NSW derby against the Wollongong Hawks.
With plenty of families in attendance, and a respectable contingent of travelling Hawks fans, a crowd of 5,776 was in attendance. And they would be enthralled for over two hours of entertainment and sporting tension.
It was a quiet beginning, with a minute’s silence in tribute to the victims of the Connecticut shootings and a slow and mournful rendition of the national anthem.
And once the game started, the Hawks forced a string of turnovers to force the first eight points of the game, forcing Heal to call an early time-out.
As the Hawks controlled the ball, the ground announcer fired the crowd into action. “Let’s shut this down before it starts. Dee-fence. Dee-fence.”
The crowd sprung to life, the chant reverberating around the stadium. And sure enough, the Wollongong attack faltered.
“Off-fensive foul. Whose ball? Whose ball?” “KINGS BALL” replied the crowd with raised voices. They know the script.
The Kings began to lift around the court, and in no time they’d made up the early deficit and powered into the lead as they forced a string of turnovers.
Ben Madgen’s been around the team since they were re-admitted, but has had a break-out season; recognised with his selection in the All-Stars game.
Graeme Dann was with the Kings in their last season before their exclusion and returned when they were re-admitted.
One of Dann’s team-mates in that fateful last season, Ian Crosswhite, returned to Sydney this season and has been a revelation, generating plenty of spark for the team.
And then there’s the imports. Traditional NBL imports are tall, American, fond of the slam-dunk and keen to entertain. Darnell Lazare fits the mould.
But point guard Corin Henry doesn’t. Far shorter than the typical basketballer, Henry has electrifying speed and an amazing ability to draw the foul to set up shots from the strike.
Written off by many because of his height, “Mighty-Mouse” is fast becoming a cult hero among Kings fans.
The Kings had taken the lead well before quarter time, and looked to extend the margin in the second quarter. But they found themselves giving away a string of fouls, and over the team limit for the quarter, sent the Hawks to the stripe for free shots.
Not that the ground announcer was giving up. “This is our house. Make some noise” he urged the crowd, and they obliged with a roar that got louder with every shot. The free throw bounced off the ring. “You did that,” the announcer encourages the crowd.
And the chants kept coming through the night. Not always from the ground announcer. The Kings Fan Club, armed with a cowbell, were getting the crowd fired up. At the other end, the Purple Army waved their flags and singing from their repertoire of songs.
The Kings were 12 points ahead at half time, as a skipping rope troupe put on an exhibition during the break. But it was the Hawks who would clear the hurdles in the third term as they slowly but surely worked their way back into the contest.
Time-outs were called, as the teams refined their game plans and tried to stop the other building momentum. Cheerleaders danced routines. The Lion mascot sling-shot merchandise into the crowd.
Movie tickets were given away. The Kiss-Cam gave couples in the crowd an opportunity for a public display of affection.
Fans in the crowd attempted shots at goal wearing over-size boots, and jumped into giant balls to roll down the court.
The scoreboard was getting closer in the final quarter, as a succession of three-point shots by the Hawks closing the gap. And off the court, the announcer was whipping the crowd into a frenzy. “Let’s go Sydney, let’s go”, the crowd going into a mighty roar as they clapped and banged their thunder-sticks.
The Wollongong fans tried to lift their team, but they didn’t stand a chance against the ground announcer. “GO KINGS GO”, a loud, resounding, consistent beat.
The Kings’ lead was down to one point with 15 seconds to go, and one last time-out was called. The announcer put Gangnam Style on, the crowd feeling the tension but getting to their feet to dance and clap; revelling in the atmosphere that they were creating.
But disaster struck as the ball was turned over, and Mighty-Mouse was called for a foul with two seconds to go. With the Kings over the limit, Adris Delion went to the free throw stripe for two shots to win the game.
The crowd, by now hyped up, made an intense roar; which became a deafening cheer as the first shot bounced off the ring without scoring. “That’s your basket” said the announcer to the crowd. But the second shot went in, tying the scores and forcing the match into five minutes of overtime.
Music blared over the PA system, the crowd on their feet to join in the YMCA routine. And when play re-started for overtime, the Kings re-discovered the momentum that had deserted them.
Three-point shots to Corin Henry and Ben Madgen in the opening minute of overtime gave the Kings a buffer and was enough to get them over line. It had been a thriller, the crowd in voice all night and the players responding to put on a display of tension, excitement and momentum shifts.
And with the win, the Kings tighten their hold on a spot within the top four, earn a 14 day break and go into Christmas with a 9-5 record. There’s still a long way to go this season, but the purple and gold have given themselves a chance to make the finals for the first time since their re-admission.
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