Buford's troops ready to turn it up a gear
12 Feb
1
min read


Chase Buford and his Sydney Kings are now just two wins away from securing back-to-back grand final berths.
Standing in their way will be the winner of Sunday's Play-In game between the Taipans and Wildcats at the Cairns Convention Centre.
And although some might be doubting their championship credentials following losses to Adelaide and Perth in the final round, Buford admits his team has learnt from those two road defeats.
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"Defensively, we need to get back to who we are - giving us as many points as we did across the weekend is not typical of our style and our team," Buford said.
"Since then, there's been plenty of acceptance and ownership of the things that went wrong - which we've been able to rectify with some really good practices this week."
Further to that, Buford has complete faith in his squad and their systems, admitting they won't be changing anything, going into Wednesday's Playoff semi-final game one at Qudos Bank Arena.
"Confidence is always high in this group, which has a lot of self-belief in their abilities and our gameplan," said Buford, who was super proud of both Xavier Cooks and Derrick Walton Jr being acknowledged at the recent NBL23 awards night.
"We're a big believer in strong habits, which have carried us this far.
"Sure, after clinching our spot as early as we did, maybe saw a little complacency creep in, as our mindset shifted a little.
"But our guys have been ready for this stage of the season for some time now and we're all ready to turn it on and play some games that really matter."
Check out our NBL23 Finals hype reel above, via our Sydney Kings' YouTube channel. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe, to ensure you never miss out on any of our great videos.
Tickets to game one of the Kings' semi-final series on Wednesday, February 15 at Qudos Bank Arena are officially on sale here.

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