Buford: Kings "Playing Like S**t"

They've taken all before them again in NBL23, but Sydney Kings coach Chase Buford is not happy with where his team's at.

The Kings dropped Game 1 of the Championship Series at home on Friday night, and now face the unenviable task of having to steal a victory in enemy territory to keep the dream of back-to-back titles alive. 

Following the disappointment of an 87-95 loss to the Breakers, the Kings will have to back it up in front of a fanatical, sold-out New Zealand crowd, and a team full of confidence. 

“It’s been two months now and we haven’t played good basketball,” Buford said.

“It’s a bigger concern that we were playing like s**t.”

A major factor in Sydney’s loss was on the offensive end of the court. Buford said the Kings would need to turn things around quickly ahead of Sunday's return leg. 

“Our offence was terrible,” he said.

“On the offensive end we got so pushed out and were so stagnant at times - it was hard to get anything going.

“Our best basketball this year was played a long time ago and we haven’t been able to find that for 40 minutes in two months plus.

“We’re going to have to find that quickly in the next 36 hours.

“We’ve got to compete on the ball a bit better, get better shifts, and our bigs have got to be better too.

“We allowed them (the Breakers) to push us so far out on every screen ... they were moving but we just stood there.”

Buford said he had not lost hope for the reigning champions and insists on sticking to a proven system. 

They'll be sweating on the fitness of Derrick Walton Jr. though, who missed the entire last quarter with what appeared to be cramping. 

Xavier Cooks also sat out the final two minutes of the game. 

“It's the finals ... everybody's carrying something. About 80 per cent of our team's got something they're carrying, so we'll play through it and they'll play Sunday.”

Game 2 of the Championship Series tips off at 4pm AEDT/6pm NZDT from Spark Arena. 

“It gives us confidence that we’ve been a pretty big road team for majority of the season,” Buford added. 

“We’ll just have to go out and play that much better ... (we're) not confident, but hopeful.”

Watch the game live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach and 10 play, and Sky Sport and Prime in New Zealand.