Kings Sitting in a Pressure Cooker

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Sydney Kings forward and MVP winner Xavier Cooks admits the team will encounter a bit of pressure heading into their first game of the Playoffs after a 10-day break.

The Kings clinched top spot in the Finals and advanced directly to the Playoff series, avoiding sudden-death games in the Play-In tournament.

Hopeful to win back-to-back championships, Cooks confirmed the pressure on the Sydney siders’ backs and they’re weary of the Cairns Taipans.

The Kings will face the Taipans on Wednesday in Game 1 of their best-of-three series.

Cairns has played in the Seeding Qualifier and Play-In Game while Sydney has been resting and waiting.

“It’s a bit of a different feel in the group right now. The pressure is definitely coming,” Cooks said.

“It’s a completely different beast.”

Cooks added the Kings came into the season hot after their title win last year. But a 10-day break, along with two losses in Round 18, has slowed the Kings down slightly in the most crucial part of the year.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"Who doesn't like playing at the Q?" - the away side, probably ?<br><br>Fans have been packing out stadiums all around the country in NBL23, and the <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SydneyKings</a> faithful have been doing the ???? ?<br><br>?? Grab your tickets to the Playoff: <a href="https://t.co/84xJowkYPn">https://t.co/84xJowkYPn</a> <a href="https://t.co/V8Czh2DMyL">pic.twitter.com/V8Czh2DMyL</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1625275444198244352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“It’s a different challenge from last year where we were one of the hottest teams in the league at the time. We had grinded our way up and built-up confidence,” Cooks said.

“This year we’re kind of in the wrong direction somehow. We were really hot at the start of the year and we’ve gone a bit slow right now.”

Sydney guard Dejan Vasiljevic acknowledges the importance of remaining head strong for their game on Wednesday and urges the pressure should not faze the Kings going after the trophy.

“Now that we’ve dropped a few games I think everyone thinks, they’re a bit vulnerable at times. So we’ve got to fix that up in practice,” he said.

“We’ve always had a target on our back this entire season and we’re trying to do something elite and go back-to-back.”

Game 1 of the best-of-three series against Cairns starts on Wednesday night at 7:30pm AEDT. Watch the game live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies.