Basketball: New Zealand Breakers fail to fire in final quarter, lose to Sydney Kings

It's been a tough start to the NBL season for the New Zealand Breakers. Photo / Photosport

The Sydney Kings have set up a blockbuster clash against Brian Goorjian's Illawarra Hawks following a big win over the New Zealand Breakers.

All roads will lead to Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday when the Kings take on the franchise's most successful coach in Goorjian, who is now coaching arch rivals Illawarra.

Sydney head into the clash with plenty of confidence after an impressive 84-74 win over the Breakers in their first home game of the season.

The win came despite the side trailling the Breakers midway through the fourth quarter by five points, the visitors managing just 13 points in the final stanza.

Former NBA big man Jarell Martin was the standout for the Kings with 20 points and six rebounds.

The ex-Memphis and Orlando forward produced a timely tip-in dunk late in the fourth quarter while he was also solid on the defensive end for the Kings.

Star guard Casper Ware overcame some early shooting struggles to rediscover his spark with 22 points.

Ware revealed how a pre-game chat with his father helped compose him to produce his best.

"I had a talk to pop, and he said remember who you are and don't worry about none of that," Ware said post-game.

"And that is all it is, it (my shooting) is going to come and it never left.

"Every win builds confidence, but we've got a long way to go and we've got to build from this."

Kings rookie guard Dejan Vasiljevic put on a show with 17 points in another classy performance in his maiden NBL season while back-court buddy Shaun Bruce added nine.

The Kings struggled to contain Breakers guard Corey Webster, who finished with a game-high 25 points.

Webster looked unstoppable at stages as he produced his best performance of the season to date, but the Kings held on defensively to claim a crucial win.

The NBL collectively rejoiced/ nervously sighed last weekend when New Zealand's star import Lamar Patterson rediscovered his brilliant best against Cairns.

Unfortunately for Patterson, he struggled to produce his shooting stroke against the Kings.

He was 0-5 from the field in the first half and it didn't get better in the second half with the former Brisbane Bullet finishing with just six points.

Patterson also had three fouls and he needs to be more disciplined and productive to justify his pay packet as the Breakers star signing.