Kings "watershed moment" to come v United

Round 14 begins with a bang on Thursday night, with a blockbuster clash between arch rivals the Sydney Kings and Melbourne United. 

Previewing the match-up on NBL Now, 1990 NBL MVP Derek Rucker swayed towards the Kings to claim a victory over the ladder leaders due to the opportunity presented to the defending champions to make a statement after an inconsistent last month. 

“I think Sydney are going to give Melbourne United problems,” Rucker said.

“I think emotionally, they’re going to be sky-high for this game…this is a watershed moment from the Sydney Kings.”

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The Kings picked themselves up after a loss to the Hawks on Christmas night to beat the savvy Cairns Taipans last Friday. Melbourne also faced the Taipans last week, and lost 95-78. 

While Sydney has hovered at the top of the standings for most of the season, Rucker believes the win over Cairns will boost the Kings' confidence at the right time. 

“I think they [Kings] took a lot of confidence from not even a great victory, but I think the margin gave them confidence,” Rucker said.

“I don’t think they played great against Cairns, Cairns looked flat. But then you see Cairns go up to their home and they beat a flat Melbourne United.

“We know that Sydney’s talent and athleticism, when they put it all together, if they’re operating at 90% of their potential, they’re one of the top two or three teams in the league.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How we walking into the New Year??<br><br>HAPPY NEW YEAR Y’ALL!! ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetItReign?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LetItReign</a> <a href="https://t.co/tqnPKn5Aez">pic.twitter.com/tqnPKn5Aez</a></p>&mdash; Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1741445564309569560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Denzel Valentine benefited from Kings' coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah's changes to the starting line-up, with the NBA veteran coming off the bench and top-scoring with 29 points in their victory over the Taipans. 

"I’m going to leave him on the bench for one more game. If he does well like he did the other night and [they] get the W, then against Brisbane on Sunday I would put him back in the starting line-up," Rucker revealed. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DENZEL’S DAY OUT?<br><br>Denzel Valentine is your Hard Yakka Nothing’s Tougher MVP, check out his highlights from last Friday?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetItReign?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LetItReign</a> <a href="https://t.co/oHHDZU7xlT">pic.twitter.com/oHHDZU7xlT</a></p>&mdash; Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1742104963046867359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

United have well and truly powered through the first half of the season, but Rucker has questioned if the squad will face some speedbumps on the way to the Finals.

“I think Melbourne United are a less emotional team and will work off their professionalism, their track record, and their infrastructure," Rucker said.

“Every team has to go through some struggles, and maybe this is Melbourne United’s patch of struggles before they get into the play-offs.”

The Kings host United tomorrow night at Qudos Bank Arena at 7:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo.