Shane's The Fairytale King

Sun Herald

Sunday June 7, 1998

By MICHAEL COWLEY

SITTING high in the stand at the Sydney Entertainment Centre last night was Aesop.

You know Aesop, the one associated with fables and fairytales. And, right on the buzzer, he delivered.

With just five seconds on the clock and the Sydney Kings trailing by a point against North Melbourne, the ball landed in the hands of Shane Heal. Up it went and swoosh . . . three-pointer.

What a way to say goodbye. Just 30 or so hours earlier, Heal announced he will be leaving the Kings to pursue a career in Europe. This was his farewell game to the Sydney fans, and those at the SEC last night will not forget the No 23 in a long time. In fact, it was the type of ending usually reserved for another No 23. One with the initials M J. And while Heal is no Michael Jordan - no basketball player is - he stood taller than the great one last night as the buzzer sounded and the Kings had won, 115-113.

In what was a remarkable game, the Kings led by as much as 24 during the game, and at three-quarter-time were up by 16 points.

A victory appeared secure. Appeared to be . . . but by the six-minute mark of the final quarter the Kings could no longer buy a basket, and the Giants had gone on an 18-4 run. Suddenly the scores were back to 103-101, and that victory, like next season, seemed so far away.

When the Giants hit the lead 111-110 with 1:36 to play, many in those stands would have been glad next season was five months away. Suddenly the farewell looked destined to be yet another Sydney disappointment. Enter Heal, who had spent most of the last term on the bench, and Mr Aesop.

There were no titles on the line last night, nor was there the hope of a play-off.

Instead, pride was the holy grail for the 1998 under-achieving Kings and Giants.

And the way Sydney opened up, it was clear they intended to give their dwindling loyal fans something to take into next season.

A 7-0 run from the Kings to begin the game had home fans cheering wildly but it wasn't long before the Giants had reeled them in.

But a 17-5 run for the Kings, instigated by Aaron Trahair and Scott McGregor, helped the Kings go to the break leading 38-27. Defence continued to be an absentee in the second term.

Although he started the game with Heal and Trahair in the back court, Kings coach Bill Tomlinson brought together his likely back court of next season - Kelsey Weems and Trahair - early in the second term.

As to their potency, in the few minutes they were together it was difficult to tell in such a run-and-shoot game. But whether it was Heal, Trahair or Weems pulling the strings, the trend of the game continued.

By the main break the scoreboard attendant, the scorer and the statisticians would have been as tired as the players.

Apart from Heal's buzzer-beating heroics, McGregor, playing his best game since switching from Newcastle at the end of last season, finished with a career-high 27 points (and 12 rebounds), and Trahair was at times brilliant with 21 points.