The joy driving Sydney's Sunday hoops win

The Sydney Kings have answered their growing crop of critics in a big way following Sunday’s win over New Zealand, and head coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah believes his side’s improved performance came through the players enjoying their time on the floor.

39 points from import guard Jaylen Adams led Sydney to victory off the back of a dire loss to Adelaide earlier in Round 15. Over 16,000 fans packed into Qudos Bank Arena to celebrate the club’s first ever Pink Hoops fixture.

“Win or lose, you have to be able to adapt, and the guys did just that,” Abedelfattah said post-game.

“It’s been a tough stretch of losses but they understand and put things into perspective, life is bigger than basketball and I thought it brought some joy back to some guys and you saw it in their play today.

“It was just the guys having fun, I just want to make sure they’re having fun and it’s my job to hold them accountable to what they want to be held accountable to.

“After that the talent shows and everything will work out, so I’m glad we got the W tonight.

“Every game is a playoff game for the entire league right now. I don’t check the standings – I promise – I don’t check social media, I don’t check what’s being said, I don’t care. At the end of the day when you win, it’ll take care of itself.”

Sydney will be hoping the big victory will act as a circuit-breaker for the poor run of form that saw the Kings win just three of 11 games.

The back-to-back reigning champions are now one of three sides with an 11-11 record, and they sit between Tasmania and Brisbane on the ladder on percentage alone.

“There’s nothing more frustrating than when you practice for an entire week and then you lose, and then you have another week to think about the loss while you’re preparing for another game,” Abdelfattah continued.

“It all goes back to the guys, at the end of the day practice is for me, film prep is for me, but when they go out there and perform if they don’t want to listen to what’s being said by teammates and coaching staff or buy into what’s being done, you’ll never succeed.

“We got over the hump here, it was a great win, and I’m happy for the guys. It’s all of them.”

Sydney will next take to the floor on Sunday afternoon against the Wildcats at 2pm AEDT.