Kings Prepared to "Take It up a Notch"

The Sydney Kings struggled to close out the regular season, and although they’ve since put a Playoff Series win between themselves and the back end of the campaign, Kings forward Kouat Noi believes his team is still looking to rectify some of its poorer displays.

The Kings fell off towards the back end of the season – admittedly after they had already locked up top spot – and fell to the Breakers, 36ers and twice to the Wildcats in their run home.

Their loss to the Breakers culminated in one of the most thrilling finishes of the season, and Jarrell Brantley’s banked three to seal the win was recently named as the moment of the season at the Breakers’ awards night.

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“We’re not very impressed that we weren’t the best team to finish off the season,” Noi said in an exclusive recording of NBL Today. “I feel like we’ve done so well defensively throughout the regular season, but this has been an emphasis for us this past week.

“Making sure we’re back to the mentality we were at the start of the season.

“Going into this one I feel like we’re going to take it up a notch defensively, and we’re going to show New Zealand that we’re the best defensive team in this league.”

The ‘Kings vs the world’ mentality has gripped the NBL world over the course of the season so far, but no more than in the days leading up to Game 1.

Damon Lowery summed up what seems to be the consensus mentality from swathes of the Australian and New Zealand basketball public on a recent episode of The Huddle, and that’s everyone loves an underdog story.

Noi says his side will continue to lean into its ‘villains’ storyline, and that he thrives off it.

“We’ve got such a confident group from the players to the coaches, but at the same time we back it up,” he said.

“We trust all the work we’ve put in, this is the hardest I’ve ever worked on a team from the start of the season to the Playoffs – so the confidence speaks for itself.

“There’s no ego driven in the team at all, everyone has something to prove and we have such a talented group from top to bottom.

“We like it. It puts pressure on us to go out there on the court and show the world what we’re about.

“I’m calm as a cucumber right now. I’m pumped and getting ready for tomorrow night.

“A lot of fans are going to show up … they’re going to tear the roof off of that place.”

Game 1 of the NBL23 Championship Series begins on Friday, March 3 at 7:30pm AEDT – live on Kayo Freebies.