Building the Kingdom: 'Remember this moment'

“Remember this moment in this locker room as the catalyst for our season turning around.” 

The Nissan Arena locker room was silent apart from Kings coach Chase Buford.  

As his players sat around him, heads bowed, Chase was summarising where the Brydens Lawyers Sydney Kings’ season sat on the back of a devastating loss to the Bullets in Brisbane on January 16. 

It was the Kings’ fourth straight loss and another of a run of games where the team from the Hoops Capital had blown a lead in the fourth quarter. 

“We’re 3-6 now and four of our losses we’ve been the better team for 30 minutes,” Chase lamented. 

“We have to guard. That’s who we are, that’s who we’ve been. Whether the ball goes in or it doesn’t we have to be able to get stops when it matters, and we haven’t been able to figure that out. 

“Oh my god, it f**king hurts to be a better team and lose, over and over again.  

“Just like Melbourne, in 36 hours, we’ve got a chance to go and redeem ourselves. This is gonna be our last chance at redemption, I promise you. If we don’t come out and play like it’s our last game … that might be it before we know it. 

“Remember this moment in this locker room as the catalyst for our season turning around.” 

And that is exactly what happened. 

The dramatic scene is captured and can be viewed in episode three of the Building the Kingdom documentary. The documentary is tracking the Kings’ path through the Hungry Jacks NBL season and is  available now on Kayo Freeebies.  

YOU CAN VIEW ALL THE EPISODES ON KAYO HERE

The episode captures a horror stretch for the Kings losing import RJ Hunter to a season-ending injury and losing consecutive games to Melbourne, the Hawks, New Zealand and Brisbane. 

The Kings then find redemption with a win over Brisbane ... a win that would turn the Kings season around. 

Also featured in this episode: 

*Kings great and NBL assistant coach Daniel Kickert talking candidly about the issues confronting his side and team chemistry. 

*Luc Longley speaks about why the club recruited coach Chase Buford and his “heart-on-the-sleeve" coaching style. 

The exquisitely shot footage in the documentary is being gathered by Kings videographers Sam Tolhurst and Joel Cama, who worked for the Kings associate company Total Sport and Entertainment. The pair is being given total access and travelling with the team through the season.  

Standby for episode four in coming weeks ...

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