Peter Hooley explains the Kings' dominant defence

The Kings' defensive mindset has been as equally important as the nuclear offensive injection from Jaylen Adams in their success, NBL champion and analyst Peter Hooley believes.

The Kings have been on a tear as of late, winning nine straight games and they haven’t lost a game since early February.

Hooley was calling the game live during the Kings’ ninth straight win against the Perth Wildcats, holding them to only 39 points in the first half. Hooley sat down with Kings media this week to break down the teams’ improved defensive effort over this stretch, which he believes has been pivotal in their success.

“It’s unreal, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen something like that happen on Perth’s home floor,” Hooley said.

“A lot of it started with Wani [Swaka Lo Buluk], you could see the way he didn’t let Bryce [Cotton] use the screen. I haven’t seen a team do it consistently enough over a whole game against Bryce. They just tried to wear him down as much as they could.

“You see teams choose who they are going limit, Bryce or Vic Law, and you try to limit one but the other goes off. It was truly an incredible performance (to limit both)."

The defensive efforts of Swaka Lo Buluk, Xavier Cooks, Jarell Martin and more held Cotton to 5-12 from the field and Law to 5-16 from the field. The Wildcats shot 33 percent from the field and only 17 percent from three against the Kings on Saturday. 

Hooley explained he has been extremely impressed with the Kings' ability to adapt throughout the season, recently missing Cooks for two games and missing their projected starting centre Jordan Hunter for the entire season. But Hooley says the huge factor in the Kings’ defence staying dangerous has been Swaka Lo Buluk's improvement.

“His physicality, the way he uses his length of physicality has been incredible,” he said.

“The way he tries to dictate where he wants his player to go, I think he knows where he can be successful and he knows how to use his agility to adapt to any situation.

“It’s something over the past three years [New Zealand’s] Tom Abercrombie has done really well. I think that’s what Wani is trying to do, he’s tapped into it, and a lot of it has to do with trusting the man behind him, Xavier Cooks.”

Hooley recently ranked Xavier Cooks third in his Awards Watch column on NBL.com.au for Defensive Player of the Year. He explained why Cooks is such a good defensive player.

“I mean, it’s everything. He reads the game a possession ahead at all times off the ball,” he said.

“He shrinks the floor [with his length] and makes guards think they have nowhere to go. He is the pillar of the Kings’ defence."

Hooley described Cooks’ defence like how the Syracuse University teams in the United States NCAA competition used to play defence, with a two-three zone and blocking lanes with length.

Hooley said Cooks does that team defence by himself.

“It’s probably the best way I can imagine it,” he said.

“If you are the offence and you see Cooks behind the play and he’s clogging up everything, it's a nightmare.”

Hooley says Chase Buford’s defence has been unique to the NBL. He said that Buford's defence has forced opposition teams to act a certain way, rather than reacting to what the opposition does. Explaining the proactive approach, rather than the reactive, Hooley said that the team has forced opposition offences into being contested by Cooks and Swaka Lo Buluk.

Hooley was a part of the defensively-minded Melbourne United teams. He believes that trust on the defensive end is an important aspect of a strong team defence, and the Kings have embodied that principle.

“From the outside, it looks like the key to all of that is trust on the defensive end,” he said.

“We know championships win defence … and not every team has that level of trust.”

Hooley explained what the mindset is of a player who has trust in his teammates defensively.

“We’re executing a plan, if it doesn’t go there, I have complete faith in the other four guys on the court (to help). They are going to have their bodies in the right positions, and they are going to be jumping into those lanes.”

To see the Kings in action you can see them at Qudos Bank Arena two more times this season, on Sunday April 17 the Kigns will take on the Adelaide 36ers and on Sunday, April 24 the Kings will finish the season againast the Illawarra Hawks. Get your tickets here. 

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