今下午的赛事前瞻，还是节选，全文的话超过3000字的限制了。。。

The stats

 - Sydney’s roller-coaster has seen scores of 69, 119, 103, 75, 65, 89, 90, 69 and 84 in their past nine games

 - The defence has been no different, allowing 89, 108, 75, 73, 89, 95, 71, 73 and 98 in the past nine outings

 - Last Sunday, the Phoenix coughed up just 4 turnovers in 40 minutes and won points off turnovers 16-7

 - SE Melbourne leaked 16 o-boards to the Kings, however, while grabbing just 8 of their own, losing second chance points 18-4 in the process


The key men

Mitch Creek – The Kings simply had no answer for Creek last round, particularly in the first half. He nailed 4-of-7 from distance, pulling up with confidence in transition, but when the defence got up, Mitch Creek got his feet in the paint and his nose on the rim, drawing 10 fouls and landing 8-of-10 from the stripe.

It’s a tough defensive balance, give too much attention to Adnam and Keifer Sykes in on-balls and hand-offs and Creek gets free, not enough and the point guards are in the lane drawing defence and setting up three-point shooters. After being beaten by speed on Sunday, Sydney must sure up their d-trans and get bodies into help positions.

Casper Ware – In the Kings’ past three losses, Ware has averaged 22.3 points and 1.7 assists. In their past six wins, he’s produced 15.8ppg and 6.3apg, while taking just 5.4 three-point attempts per night. Last Sunday against SE Melbourne, Casper he racked up 20 points but didn’t dish a dime and coughed it up four times.

There is always the challenge of taking what the defence gives, but Sydney need Ware shifting the D and finding teammates, as without Vasiljevic the roster lacks players who can create for themselves and others. In the Round 8 win over the Phoenix, Ware added 11 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists, and the Kings scored 56 points in the paint.

The quotes

At the start of this season, if someone had said the Kings would be reliant on DJ Vasiljevic to lead their offence, few would have believed it.

But such has been the impact of the precocious rookie that coach Adam Forde is imploring his players to channel DJ’s lack of conscience as the 23-year-old starts the long road back from his Achilles injury.

“One thing that DJ was good at, was even if you didn’t run him something, the defence was conscious of where he was,” Forde said after his side’s loss to SE Melbourne.

“Probably the last three games, we've been hesitant to shoot it ... when it comes off the pass, especially when we drive and the defence collapses in and we kick it back out, I don’t care who it is I want you to take confidence in shooting that shot.