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Full Noise by SN
Why Kings co-owner felt 'sorry' for the Wildcats after finals loss
Nicholas Quinlan • March 12th, 2026 6:28 pm
Sydney Kings co-owner Paul Smith has reflected on his side’s one-point win against Perth to begin their NBL finals campaign.
With home court advantage against a Wildcats side that beat Melbourne United in a sudden-death play-in, the Kings were tested throughout all four quarters.
And in a topsy-turvy fourth quarter, the boys in purple and gold held their nerve and the lead to pull through victorious in Game 1 of their three match semi-final series.
Leading the way from a Sydney point of view was Kendric Davis.
The MVP runner-up was dominant, managing to score 35 points which seriously impressed Smith.
“It is good, mate,” he explained on SEN’s Vossy’s Verdict.
“Kendric gets belted with everything, including a lawn chair last night and still gets 35. It was a pretty remarkable effort.
“It was great basketball, and look, I don't tweet that much nowadays, but I did say last night on Twitter, respect to the Wildcats, they really bought it all last night.
“I felt pretty sorry for them; they were just exhausted on the court after the game.
“That was a tough one, but we got away with it. Good teams, great teams win games like that.
“You win ugly sometimes, and we didn't play our best. But we'd had a long layoff (of) 19 days.
“We could see the rust was there. But, you know, the fact we got through it, the guys were really up about it, and on to the next one in Perth on Saturday night.”
The Kings can book their spot in the NBL Championship Series as soon as Saturday when they travel west to RAC Arena to play Game 2 of their best-of-three series.
Tip-off takes place at 8pm AEDT.
