Cooks believes overcoming adversity is shaping Kings' title defence

In professional sports, each day is different, and teams must overcome each bit of adversity thrown their way to succeed.

The Sydney Kings are no different, who had less than 24 hours to prepare for Friday's grand final replay without coach Chase Buford.

As such, Sydney Kings star Xavier Cooks has high praise for the man that filled Buford's void, Kevin Lisch.

"I'm not going to lie to you, it was a bit of a distraction [heading into the match]," Cooks said.

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"Chase has a really big role in this team - from calling plays from the sideline to explaining different aspects during timeouts.

"As such, we were a little worried about how that hole was going to be filled and how everyone's nerves were going to be but full credit to Kevin who came into the locker room and said it was all about that 'next-man-up' mentality.

"He did a great job settling the ship."

Another dimension that helped the Hoops Capital side chalk up their 13th win of the NBL23 was the ruckus crowd at Qudos Bank Arena - with the 12,467 fans in attendance marking the club's biggest this season.

"Heading out of the tunnel, I was quite sure what the crowd would be like [due to the double-header]," the Winthrop alum said.

"As shown when we got out there though and see the top part of the arena open, it gives you energy that we can feed off - which is massive.

"Thanks to all the fans who came out and helped us get this win."

In the victory, MVP contender Cooks took home player of the game thanks to tallying 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists and one block. 

But he admitted the JackJumpers made it tough for him every time he had the ball.

"One thing the JackJumpers do really well is defending you with that 'committee' approach, where there always seems to be a couple of guys between me and the ring," the 28-year-old said.

"As such, I had to work hard to find the gaps in the defence and get through them.

"Admittedly, I had a little rough start against Jack [McVeigh] but I stuck with it and stayed aggressive every time I had the ball, which paid off for me."

The win, which cemented the Kings' spot at the top of the ladder heading into round 14, demonstrates the continued growth the group is making Cooks explained.

"I feel the group is definitely coming together great and those slip-ups we've had so far this season, have helped build the team's character," he said.

"Whenever you're winning games, things are sweet but it's when you go through those tough times, that's when you really develop bonds as a group.

"Right now we're really starting to click and I'll be the first to admit, I'm only as good as my teammates allow me to be.

"From Derrick [Walton Jr] doing a great job hitting me in the pocket to DJ [Vasiljevic] spacing out the court and doing his thing - whenever we do a great job of putting each other in positions to succeed, that's when we play our best basketball."

The next chance for Cooks and his reigning champions to shine is on Wednesday, when they host South East Melbourne from 7.30pm AEDT on Wednesday - with tickets available here.