Like the fireworks that light up the sky on New Year's Eve, the NBL will farewell 2004 with a bang on Friday night.

Due to a piece of good fortune with the NBL fixture list, the league's top six teams will square off in a series of contests which could go a long way toward shaping the all-important top four.

Top of the table Sydney travels to Adelaide to take on the third placed 36ers, second placed Wollongong heads south to play the Melbourne Tigers (6th), while the Perth Wildcats' tenuous grip on fourth spot will be under threat when they meet the Brisbane Bullets (5th).

The Kings will be hoping to squeeze out one more win before guard CJ Bruton returns on Sunday to complete a formidable line-up for the two-time defending champions.

They take a four match winning streak into the Distinctive Homes Dome, including a closer than expected 102-97 home victory over last placed New Zealand on Wednesday night.

"Right now that's 9-2 at home. If we can go on the road and just play it one at a time, and eke out a few we're going to finish in that top four," Goorjian said after the game.

"They're (the 36ers) going to be a real test down there, but we've had Brisbane in Brisbane, Townsville here. All of them are hard. I don't see an easy game on the schedule."

Adelaide will also take winning form into the contest after a controversial 110-88 crushing of the Wildcats, with Perth coach Scott Fisher so incensed with the officiating he hurled an advertising hoarding onto the court.

Fisher's mood wouldn't have been helped by the loss of import Rosell Ellis before the game with an ongoing hamstring complaint and playmaker Ricky Grace two minutes into the contest with a knee injury.

Both are set to suit up on Friday night against the Bullets, but what they'll be able to contribute is uncertain.

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