Sydney Kings have romped to the most lopsided win in NBL championship series history, demolishing the Adelaide 36ers 112-68 in Game 1.
The 44-point margin at Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday night is the largest ever in a grand final, surpassing the previous mark of 37 points when South East Melbourne Magic thrashed Melbourne Tigers 107-70 in Game 3 of the 1996 decider.
Kendric Davis posted 25 points and seven assists for Sydney on Saturday and Tim Soares added 22 points.
The Kings shot 66 per cent to the Sixers' 35 per cent in the wire-to-wire rout, while dominating the rebounds 47-28.
"We had a nice block of time to prepare for them," Sydney coach Brian Goorjian said.
"As far as the scout goes and how we wanted to defend and play to our strengths, they executed extremely well.
"We got contributions right through the roster."
Isaac White was the 36ers' top-scorer with 11 points off the bench.
League MVP Bryce Cotton was held to just 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting, suffocated by the smothering tag-team defence of Matthew Dellavedova and Torrey Craig.
While all eyes were on Cotton and Davis, it was Craig who had the hot hand in the opening term, pouring in nine points without a miss in six minutes.
Cotton found a rare opening when he converted a three-point play in the dying seconds of the opening period, which Sydney ruled 31-23.
The Kings rattled off the first nine points of the second term to storm ahead 40-23.
Six-time league MVP Cotton was uncharacteristically rattled, finishing the half with five points and four turnovers.
At the other end, Soares scored 15 second-quarter points as the Kings continued to control the paint.
If the Sixers thought the worst was behind them, they were sorely mistaken.
The Kings hit four threes in a 14-1 start to the third frame to streak ahead 73-40.
"This defence is something special," Melbourne legend and former Kings coach Andrew Gaze said on commentary for ESPN.
Davis scored 14 for the term as Sydney followed their 28-16 second period with an even more commanding 31-17 third stanza to storm clear 90-56 at three-quarter time, before the margin continued to spiral in the fourth.
"I thought they got us early, and they got us often," 36ers coach Mike Wells said.
"They made things hard on us and they broke a lot of our rhythm on both sides of the ball."
Game 2 of the best-of-five series will be at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Friday.
