Toohey and Abdelfattah praise Kings' resolve against Taipans

Sydney and Cairns played out one of the most bizarre NBL encounters in history on Thursday night, where a power outage to the scorer’s table saw the second half of the clash played without a shot clock, on a night where the air conditioning in the Cairns Convention Centre also gave out.

A delay of almost an hour at half-time saw the game continue without a shot clock in the second half, and the Kings held on against a fast-finishing Cairns to halt their two-game losing skid and earn just their second win outside of New South Wales for the season.

Watch Mahmoud Abdelfattah and Alex Toohey's post-game press conference via Sydney Kings' YouTube channel above. While you're there, be sure to hit subscribe, to ensure you never miss out on any of our great videos.

Alex Toohey continued his run of starts for the Kings despite the presence of the fit-again Jaylin Galloway, and he says the strange circumstances around the clash means it won’t be an easily forgotten contest.

“It was one of a kind and I don’t think many of us have played in that kind of environment and have that sort of stuff go on,” Toohey reflected post-game.

“But they’re the ones you remember later down the track.

“Playing in the same circumstance [as Cairns], everyone’s got to battle with it and I think everyone just got along with it.

“Having not had great results on the road this season, we figured some stuff out and just went out there and played a full 40 minutes.

“We can learn from that and understand that if we can play through that we can play through pretty much anything.”

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The Kings continued their recent trend of playing in tight games that are only decided late in the final quarter in the victory, Only one of Sydney’s games since November 5 has been decided by more than 10 points – and even that defeat to Melbourne was only blown out thanks to a Chris Goulding-inspired 40-point final quarter.

The three-point victory came off the back of two losses to Melbourne and Perth, and head coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah praised his team’s ability to fight through the strange adversity that was faced by both teams against the Taipans.

“It was one hell of a game and I’m glad the fans stuck around for that, it was fun,” Abdelfattah said.

“I’m not sure how much time was left at any time and point. Our guys battled, our last five games it was either a tied game or a one-possession game in our favour or our opponents’ favour going back to New Zealand or Brisbane.

“Melbourne, same situation, Perth, same situation, so it’s long-term and I think this is preparing us for the long run, it’s hard to win games in this league.

“Our guys did a great job this week at practice and being able to adjust what we did in the game. Hopefully, we can continue to move forward and prepare for South East.

“We’ll get some rest, take the day off tomorrow, get some rest on Saturday and get ready for the game on Sunday.”

Sydney plays South East Melbourne on Sunday at 2pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies | 10 Peach and 10 Play - with tickets still available here.