How to watch & talking points: Sydney v Brisbane

Sydney Kings (3rd) v Brisbane Bullets (10th)
Thursday, January 14, 9.30pm AEDT (6.30pm AWST)
RAC Arena

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Talking points

Next man up
The Sydney Kings are battered and bruised, with three key pieces set to miss this game and their injury replacement, Torrey Craig, not yet in the country.

While that would be an issue for the majority of the teams in the league, it’s not for the Kings and their tremendous depth.

Brian Goorjian has been able to throw in Tyler Robertson, Shaun Bruce and Jaylin Galloway for increased roles and all three of them have delivered and helped the Kings continue to win.

Nothing to lose
There’s nothing more dangerous in professional sports than playing a team that has nothing to lose.

The Brisbane Bullets have had a rough season and now they’re trying to end it on a high and get a few wins for their fans.

With no playoffs to play for, this team is able to play loose and free and recent history has shown us that if they start with confidence, who knows what they’re capable of achieving in this game.

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What they're saying

Kings coach Brian Goorjian on team's mentality:
"It was raw emotion after the game and there was so much running through me, because I was so proud of where our guys went, especially after we lost Delly.

"The whole thing was next man up and guts [shown by our team]. You look at the two guys we lost before the season and now we're without two marquees and our big investment.

"There's still an incredible belief in this group [and that was on full display on Sunday]."

Bullets interim coach Darryl McDonald on playing the Kings:
"That's the thing, just worrying about the next game and we're preparing for that and I'm not going to say we've got it in our favour, but it might help with them not having some of their key guys.

"Last time they came up the floor on us and we struggled with it and having Maldonado in will help us with that as well, and them not having Cooks, Bul and probably Delly, it could be a different story for us.

"We just have to come in and have the same mentality, but we have to put the ball in the hole and they are the best defensive team in the league. It's pretty obvious what they do but we can't get sped up and we have to focus on penetration, kick outs and we've gotta hit shots.

"That's the one thing, I watched them against New Zealand and New Zealand couldn't knock down threes, man, and you've gotta hit shots against Sydney. If you can hit shots against Sydney I think it changes some things."

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Missing in action

Sydney
Bul Kuol - Knee - Season
Jason Spurgin - Foot - Late season
Keli Leaupepe - Knee - Season
Matthew Dellavedova - Concussion - TBC
Xavier Cooks - Ankle - TBC

Brisbane
Casey Prather - Knee - Season
Dakota Mathias - Shoulder - February
Javon Freeman-Liberty - Hamstring - Round 20
Lamar Patterson - Hamstring - Season
Sam McDaniel - Calf - Round 20
Tyrell Harrison - Concussion – TBC

>> View full injury list