The Sydney Kings are one win away from back-to-back NBL championships after a commanding 91-68 victory over the New Zealand Breakers in front of the biggest attendance in NBL history.

A sold-out crowd of 18,049 packed Qudos to witness the Kings outlast the Breakers to take a decisive 2-1 series lead.

Defensive beast – and series MVP favourite – Justin Simon continued his brilliant form for the Kings.

Simon dominated again to drop 13 points while he added six assists.

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Kings’ sharpshooter Dejan Vasiljevic produced his finest display in the grand final series.

Vasiljevic found his mojo to finish with 15 points.

Sydney big man Tim Soares proved to be the unsung hero for the Kings.

Soares defied talk of him being benched pre-game to score 14 points and add six rebounds.

In the end, though, Sydney’s win was largely due to gun duo Derrick Walton Jr and Xavier Cooks overcoming injury concerns to star.

Walton Jr was magnificent for the Kings as he stuffed the stat sheet to finish with 12 points, six rebounds and a whopping nine assists.

He also drew a key offensive foul late in the third quarter.

Cooks had 10 points, eight rebounds and two assists – fresh off signing a two-year NBA deal with the Washington Wizards this week.

You knew the NBL MVP was set for a decent game when, two minutes in, he exploded to the rim with a trademark dunk.

William McDowell-White was New Zealand’s best player with 11 points and six rebounds while Jarrell Brantley and Barry Brown Jr had 10 points each.

Brantley fouled out just minutes into the fourth quarter.

Sydney’s victory is crucial when you consider history.

Under the best of five series format, the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the championship on 11 of the 12 occasions.

The only exception came in the first best of five series in 2004 when the Kings won games four and five after losing game three against cross-town rivals the Western Sydney Razorbacks.

Sydney have come a long way since 2004, as the bumper 18,000-plus attendance at Qudos Bank Arena showed.

The previous biggest NBL crowd was in 2019, when 17,514 fans also attended Qudos to watch NBA star LaMelo Ball play for the Illawarra Hawks against the Kings.

Friday’s all-time record attendance is also the third largest crowd in Australian basketball history – only behind two exhibition games against Team USA at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium in 2019.

Sydney fed off the energy from the record crowd in the opening exchanges to force multiple turnovers on the Breakers.

Simon continued his series MVP-calibre form for the Kings with early points, assists and dog-like defence.

The Breakers stayed in the contest thanks to three-point bombs from Tom Abercrombie and Izayah Le’Afa.

This paved the way for the New Zealanders to take a slender 24-22 lead to quarter time.

New Zealand’s three-point party continued in the second quarter.

Big man Rob Loe dropped an early dagger from range.

Loe’s bomb inspired the New Zealanders to open up a four-point lead midway through the quarter.

Sydney refused to surrender, but had their hearts broken late in the second when Brown Jr knocked down consecutive threes to give the Breakers a 47-43 halftime advantage.

New Zealand exploded out of the blocks in the third quarter to surge to a 52-43 lead before Sydney responded – again.

Both teams traded blows before the Kings took over to head to the final frame with a comfortable eight-point lead.