Lisch Buys in to Kings' 'Next Man Up' Mentality

Kevin Lisch would not have expected to make his bow as an NBL head coach so early in his career as an assistant, but due to a suspension handed down to Chase Buford, Lisch was handed the reigns for the first time ever in Sydney’s grand final replay against Tasmania.

While Buford will return for Sydney’s upcoming clash against South East Melbourne, Lisch exits the role with a 100 per cent winning record as his side thoroughly dismantled the JackJumpers to the tune of 20 points.

Xavier Cooks led the way with 23 points for the home side as four of the team’s five starters ended the game with double-digits in the scoring column. Kouat Noi also provided a spark off the bench, finishing with 10 points on 4/4 shooting.

Lisch was characteristically humble following his maiden appearance as a head coach.

“To be honest 99 per cent of the work is done before the game itself, and the guys had done that,” he said post-game.

“Chase is doing a great job of building this program based on resiliency and that ‘next man up’ mentality, which is exactly what we did.

“It was a fun game to watch, especially with how our boys competed in the first quarter when our defence wasn’t great. We dug our heels in and said we’re not going down this route.”

The game represented something of a return to form for ailing guard DJ Vasiljevic, who has notoriously struggled to hit the scoreboard with his regular panache in recent weeks.

The Boomer ended the game with 13 points, including connecting on 50 per cent of his threes. Almost more impressively he also pulled down seven rebounds from the shooting guard position.

“Our constant attack to put pressure on the rim and not settling were big emphasises for us,” Lisch said.

“Any time you can play with pace everything looks better, but we aren’t getting too ahead of ourselves.”