Perth faces Davis dilemma in Playoff opener

Winners of their past 11 games, the Sydney Kings are rolling right now, and the heartbeat of that momentum is Kendric Davis.

The star guard, who finished second in this season’s MVP voting, is averaging 24.4 points, 6.7 assists, and 3.9 rebounds across the campaign.

Now he looms as a pivotal piece in the Kings’ Playoffs journey, which tips off on Wednesday night against Perth.

“He's unguardable, but we already know this,” commentator Damon Lowery said on Monday’s episode of NBL Overtime.

“We’ve seen Sunday Dech try to go at him, and I’m sure we're going to see Benny Henshall and Kristian Doolittle mark him at times and try to use their size.

“But look, the guy's faster than you, shoots better. His mid range game is on point.

“Then we talk about a chip on your shoulder. How big is this chip? We're talking boulder size. It's crazy. He wants to be a champion.

“[Honestly] Perth have got their hands full.”

Fellow NBL Overtime panellist Pete Hooley agrees that Davis is “unguardable” and says John Rillie’s side should concentrate on slowing down the Kings’ other key pieces.

“He can do whatever he wants, but sometimes, great players are going to just make great plays, and that's what he [Davis] does,” Hooley said.

“We can all agree it's going to be mighty hard to slow him down, so your [best bet] is trying to stop everyone else.

“Instead, can we limit Xavier Cooks, can we limit Torrey Craig, can we stop Tim Soares? Then all of a sudden, it might be a different story.”

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To that depth, Lowery believes that’s one of the strengths of Brian Goorjian’s side.

“We haven't mentioned Kouat Noi. We know he steps up in post-season play,” he said.

“Jaylin Galloway is just quietly going about his work, and Makuach [Maluach] has been great.

“They’re loaded from top to bottom, and I feel like they have way too much firepower.”

Wednesday night’s Playoff Series opener tips off at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.