Being The Hunted is "Fun", Says Kings Coach Buford

Friday, November 4, 2022

Sydney Kings coach Chase Buford has expressed how it feels being the hunted this season as they continue their championship defence.

“It’s fun, I think we’ve felt that going into each and every game, if we’re off our game in the slightest, we’ll get beaten because everybody else is on their A game when they come play us,” Buford said.

“We’ve been off our game a couple times and not gotten away with it, and once more this weekend where we were able to just sneak out with a win.”

The Kings are currently second on the ladder at 6-2 but that could change with their next match up against the top of the table New Zealand Breakers.

Buford also touched on handling and managing his emotions during games, which was a key talking point in the offseason.

The Kings’ coach has been seeing a psychologist to help temper his aggression on the sidelines.

“I try to take a step back and be able to analyse myself in the heat of the moment and recognise what I’m trying to accomplish with my actions (on court),” Buford said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A huge month for Xavier Cooks sees him named as 2K23 Spotlight Player for October ?<br><br>He constantly flexed his NBA 2K23 Bully Badge whenever he bulldozed through traffic to finish strong at the rim ?<br><br>He posted 17 point, five assist and nine board averages across the month ? <a href="https://t.co/MAfQBePAu8">pic.twitter.com/MAfQBePAu8</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1587723689503739906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 2, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sydney is currently last in the league for free throw shooting at 64.1% but manage to remain first in attempts with 22.6 per game.

Buford said the poor percentages is something the team is working on.

“We do a lot of competitive things in practice to work on improving free throws,” he said.

“We try to shoot as many pressure ones as we can, just something we’ve got to correct on the court.”

Sydney take on the New Zealand Breakers on Sunday at 2:00pm AEDT.