Buford: 'United Couldn't Guard Cooks'

After Chris Goulding was a confirmed out against Sydney on Christmas Day, much of the pre-game discussion was centred around each team’s respective Australian stars.

For Melbourne it surrounded how they would perform without Goulding. For Sydney, it centred around the fitness of Xavier Cooks.

Ultimately, it was Cooks who proved the difference-maker on the night for the Kings. The star forward recovered from an ankle injury to finish the game with 24 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, leading his side to a 21-point win.

Such was his influence, NBL analyst Liam Santamaria said Cooks’ availability was the reason they won.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Xav doing it for the Kings fans! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/dsR3rPPGIT">pic.twitter.com/dsR3rPPGIT</a></p>&mdash; Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1606937151542796288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Goulding’s absence from the game drastically weakened United’s threat from beyond the arc, and Sydney head coach Chase Buford says his side targeted that chink in the armor. 

“With Goulding out we were able to clog up the paint a tonne,” Buford said post-game. “They took two thirds of their shots from three. That was able to help us rebound the ball a lot and get out and run where we could.

“I think we were a couple of plays in a row giving the ball to ‘Xav’ and getting the heck out of the way. We felt like they couldn’t guard him.

“We go as ‘Xav’ goes a lot of the time … he was good.”

While the spectacle of a Christmas Day game was remarkable for the fans, Kings centre Jordi Hunter offered his appreciation to United for travelling for the game.

“Huge credit to United,” Hunter said. “It probably wasn’t an ideal scenario for them, but we’re really grateful they made the sacrifice to come up here and play us. That goes to the refs and the game day staff as well.

“It was awesome to be a part of. We knew coming into it that it was probably a bit experimental to be running a game on Christmas but I think the turnout with the fans exceeded expectations.

“It’s very exciting – hopefully it grows from here. It’ll be great to see where it goes in the future."