Up, up and away: Craig brings showtime to Sydney

At 35, Torrey Craig can still sky for an alley-oop and still lock down the League's best playmakers, and this time he's doing it for the Sydney Kings from day one.

The defending champions have hit the ground running and are now the last unbeaten team standing at 3-0 after Wednesday night's 93-78 win over the Brisbane Bullets at Afterpay Arena.

Defence was the difference. The Kings held the Bullets to just 44 points over the final three quarters, and Craig was instrumental in shutting down Lithuanian point guard Arnas Velička.

Velička had dished out 25 assists across Brisbane's first two games but managed just five on Wednesday, with Craig and Matthew Dellavedova teaming up to deny him the pick-and-roll with Tyrell Harrison.

A Defensive Player of the Year with the Bullets back in NBL17, Craig still relishes making his mark at that end of the floor.

"Just in general we wanted to establish a level of physicality with everyone and it just happened to be me and Delly on him (Velička), but I just kinda wanted to set the tone for the whole team," Craig said.

"I think tonight especially from the second quarter through the rest of our game that was more to our standard and that's a good baseline of how good we can be when we're locked in and focused on the defensive side of the ball."

Craig arrived midway through last season, making his first appearance on January 22, so he's glad to be on board from the start of the Kings' title defence this time around.

He enjoyed being part of last season's championship run, but already feels far more a part of the group in NBL27.

"It feels good to build chemistry early with the guys and going on a couple of road trips in pre-season, and then getting together in Sydney has been great," Craig said.

"I enjoyed it last year as well, but I'm definitely enjoying it now because I remember last season was kind of off to a slow start so we've made it a big emphasis on getting these wins early because they're important."

And Craig proved he can still get up, too. Late in the game he rose on the open floor to catch an alley-oop from Kendric Davis and throw it down.

"I'm just fortunate that it went in, I'd seen an angle and I just pointed up for KD to throw it but I didn’t think he would," Craig said.

"But once he threw it, I just thought OK here we go, and I'm glad I was able to finish that and kinda get the crowd a little showtime plus the win so that was good."