Shane Heal guided the South Dragons to the most comprehensive display of their short history as the Philips Championship's newest Australian franchise pulled off a stunning 113-92 upset at Vodafone Arena on Monday night.

The last-placed Dragons made a mockery of the two teams' ladder positions as they set up their 21-point win with a stunning 25-5 surge either side of half-time.

They led by as much as 24 points in the third term before the Kings clawed their back within 10 in the final quarter.

Heal helped his side settle with a trademark three-pointer and some nerveless shooting from the free-throw line to help the home side topple the third-placed Kings.

"We're not going to get carried away about tonight but we want the fans to come back and we have to give them a reason to come back and tonight was a start for us in that process," Heal said.

"There's a lot of things that we have to work on to become a great team but I think we have the potential."

Heal was simply superb. He shot a game-high 26 points, including six three-pointers, and was flawless from the charity stripe.

He was well served by Kavossy Franklin (25 points), while Rosell Ellis nailed 19 points and, although wasteful from the stripe with three from 10, he was strong within the key with nine boards to his name. Frank Drmic nailed a double-double.

For the Kings, Luke Kendall hit 20 points and made seven assists, while David Barlow had 16 and six as the Kings failed to flatter.

The fizz and fire which have been the trademarks of some of the Dragons' opening terms was absent against the Kings but the home crowd would not have been complaining about the 22-18 scoreline at quarter-time.

The Dragons sunk just one from eight from outside the perimeter but their defence was tight against last year's finalist as they triggered six turnovers, two of which resulted in Joe Ingles and Ellis making swift transitions to the other end of the court.

While Ellis provided plenty of drive inside the key, his shooting from the charity stripe was not inspiring, netting just one of six free throws.

The Kings were not making the most of their chances either, shooting five from 19 as they battled against the Dragons' tight defence.

"Our defence, we really grinded it in. We challenged them to really beat us from the perimeter. I think we're starting to execute our offence a lot better," Heal said.

The Kings made a terrible start and finish to the second term, a stanza which they bookended with a technical foul against Brian Goorjian and being on the wrong side of a 0-13 run to trail 35-48 at the main break.

A staggering 18-9 rebound count against the Kings put them under enormous pressure as Drmic controlled the paint with four offensive rebounds.

It was a remarkable turnaround given the Kings had clawed their way back to the lead for the first time since early in the quarter when they led 32-31 with 6:17 remaining.

Just when the Kings looked to have got on top, they fell asleep at the wheel. Their defence was non-existent when the Dragons managed to collect four offensive boards in a row as they launched their paralysing burst.

"I've been saying for about two or three weeks now that I've been worried about and disappointed in how we've been playing. I knew coming in here we were walking into a hornet's nest," Goorjian said.

"For about two weeks now, we've been flopping around and going through the motions and not playing with any sting at all. And tonight it was all exposed."

"I haven't seen this with a Sydney team since I've been here. We've had four years of guys being really excited to be a part of the team and been driven. This team hasn't shown that."

The Dragons' show rolled into the second half and they blew the lead out to 24 points (78-54) when Franklin landed a long-range bomb moments after sending the crowd, and himself, into a frenzy when he combined with Ellis for an alley-oop.

But the Kings have not won three of the past four Philips Championship games without showing resolve under adversity.

Some strong rebounding from Ian Crosswhite and Barlow, the latter sinking eight points for the term, allowed the Kings to pull the margin back to 14 (69-83) by the last break.

"Our three goals from every game, we achieved two out of those three. We looked after the ball, we kept them to a low field-goal percentage and unfortunately they got too many offensive rebounds and missed too many free throws," Heal said.

That margin got cut back to as little as 10 before Heal stepped in.

The player-coach sank important buckets, was strong from the charity stripe and handed out an assist to Brent Hobba as the Dragons blew the margin back out to 24 points with just over two minutes left.

Goorjian said the Dragons were hungrier and played like a team that had a point to prove.

"They've got a bunch of reasons to want this and we came here with a bunch of guys that have had a lot of opportunities, a lot put on their plate. They've received a lot. They've been given a lot," he said.

"There's four or five guys in our group, they've made the national team, they've been poster boys."

"I just think they're feeling a lot better about themselves than who they are. These guys were hungry, nasty, ready to put the gloves off and fight, do anything it takes to win."

"I think that is a huge factor in this before the ball goes up."

The Dragons are aiming for two straight next Saturday night when they host Townsville, while the Kings' round-eight road trip continues to Challenge Stadium in Perth.

South Dragons 113 (Heal 26, Franklin 25, Ellis 19)
Sydney Kings 92 (Kendall 20, Barlow 16, Sheridan 12)