'They have firmed as championship favourites'

While the individual battles of Sunday’s fiery contest between South East Melbourne and Sydney took most of the headlines, the game itself, especially in the first half, was electric.

Both teams traded blows in a back-and-forth contest that felt like Playoffs fixture.

One who agrees and hopes there are more matchups in the near future is 2009 NBL champion Mark Worthington.

“If we get a five-game series of what we saw [on Sunday], all I can say is that would be great entertainment,” Worthington said on Tuesday’s episode of NBL Now.

As well as being a thrilling contest, the John Cain Arena matchup also helped Sydney’s case for two of the competition’s major awards.

“Sydney has placed itself firmly as the championship favourites as of this point,” Worthington said.

“But if I'm South East Melbourne, I'm not that deterred [by the loss]. They still played a really good brand of basketball.

“While KD (Kendric Davis) definitely did to himself no harm [in the MVP race] with his performance on the weekend, again moving closer to Bryce [Cotton], but I am still going to go Bryce.

“[In saying that] Kendric has impressed me lately, not only with his 30-point scoring, but also with his ability to get high assist totals. It shows he's really started to mature his game a lot more, where it doesn't always have to be a shot. It can be something that leads to a much higher percentage shot.”

The Kings return to the hardwood on Friday night, playing Illawarra in Wollongong from 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.