The eventful NBL season 2022-23 finally comes to an end. The Sydney Kings won the championship by winning three of the five games of the series against the New Zealand Breakers who had a dream season.

In the first game of the series, both teams met in Sydney at Qudos Bank Arena on 3rd March. Sydney lost 87-95 in front of the home crowd in the first match.

From the first quarter of the match, Breakers started to dominate the Kings. The first half ended with a 23-30 scoreline. While Sydney also chased the game in other quarters, they could not prevent visiting team New Zealand from winning by eight points.

William McDowell-White led his side to victory in the opening match of the championship series by scoring the most points and providing the most assists of the game. He scored 19 points, along with 9 assists and rebounds. Justin Simon was the best player for Sydney, who chipped in 18 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.

In the next game, the 5th of March in the second championship series match. This time New Zealand hosted the match at Spark Arena. From the beginning, the host team had no idea how to deal with the continuous attack of the visiting team Sydney. 

The first quarter was a complete disaster for the Breakers. They were pummelled by Sydneys offence. The Kings led the game 9-21 after the end of the first half and continued dominating in the next half as well.

The Breakers tried to fight back in the second half by scoring 21 points. At the end of the second quarter, the score was 30-34. But that was not enough to win the contest for them. New Zealand held their nerve and won the remaining two periods to seal the contest by 74-81 points.

The Breakers’ Bruce Brown Jr was the top scorer of the game, earned 21 points and provided 2 assists as well for his team. Jarrell Brantley (20 points, 6 rebounds) also had a good game for the home team. Kouat Noi and Dejan Vasiljevic lead the attack of the winning Sydney team by scoring 20 and 16 points, respectively.

The third game was played on March 10 in Qudos Bank Arena. Before the game, the series was tied at 1-1. Both teams won the away match but failed to deliver in front of their home crowds.

In the third game, the first two quarters of this game was highly contested. The visiting Breakers was able to gain 2 and 4 points lead after the first and second quarter, respectively. But the home side, Kings, fought back into the third and fourth half by being solid in both attack and defence. Eventually, they won the contest conveniently with a huge margin of 91-68.

Vasiljevic (15 points), Tim Soares (14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks), Simon (13 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks), and Walton Jr (12 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists) all played their part of making this comeback happen for the Kings. For the visitor, Mcdowell-White was the best player with 11 points, 6 rebounds and a single block. 

Sydney visited the Spark Arena with a 2-1 lead in the final series of this NBL season. If the home team Breakers lost this match, visiting would win the championship with one game left to play.

The fourth game of the series started on 12 March with the dominance of the home side of New Zealand. After the end of the second half, the lead was 12 points with a scoreline of 39-27.

However, last year’s champion Sydney was back to the contest into the third quarter of the game and narrowed down the Breakers’ lead to just 2 points. At the end of the third quarter, the scoreline was 54-52, and the decider fourth half started.

From the beginning of the final period, New Zealand converted the crucial three and two-pointers and also held their defence. As a result of the all-around team performance, Breakers won the game by a margin of 10 points with a scoreline of 80-70.

In this game, the Breakers were led by Jarrell Brantley (23 points and 5 rebounds). Brown Jr (20 points, 3 assists) and White (19 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) also contributed to this all-important win for their side. Walton Jr. again proved his value to the Kings by scoring 18 points and providing 4 assists.

The series was level at 2-2 and all set for the fifth and final match in Qudos Bank Arena. The New Zealand were totally dominated the match’s first period. After this quarter, they scored twice as much as the Breakers.

The second period started with an 11-22 scoreline. However, the home side started to pick the momentum from the beginning of the second half. Sydney showed the proper team performance and finished the quarter just a single point behind New Zealand with a scoreline of 35-36.

Sydney players showed their true character in the third period by equalling a score of 56 each before the last quarter set the stage for a thrilling final.

However, the Breakers got a dream start to the fourth quarter. A seven-point lead and all the momentum were theirs with five minutes remaining. But from there, New Zealand players started to feel the pressure.

In the final minutes, the Kings went stunning 14-0, led by Angus Glover, to clinch the championship. Brown Jr scored 22 points for the Breakers, while Walton Jr (21 points, 6 assists) and Xavier Cooks (19 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists) were the influential players for the winning side.

Upon winning the match, the winner Sydney Kings lifted the trophy for the fifth time in front of a record NBL crowd. Derrick Walton Jr. was named Finals MVP for leading his side to victory with a gutsy performance in the pressure situations.

This was the highest NBL attendance in 27 years, with over 984,000 fans attending across the season. The largest crowd ever for an NBL game was 18,124 fans for game five, while 9,728 fans attended game four. This was the largest New Zealand crowd ever for an NBL game.