Kings Hope to Inflict Wildcats Heartbreak

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Sydney Kings Owner Paul Smith has declared he will get immense joy from seeing his side knock the Perth Wildcats out of the Finals picture today.

Perth enters the final game of the season in seventh spot, 0.4% behind the sixth placed Melbourne United.

If the Wildcats win, and United lose to the Adelaide 36ers earlier in the day, Perth will make the Finals. If the results flip, the Wildcats will be watching the Finals from home for a second straight year.

There is no love lost between Sydney and Perth, with bad blood dating back to 2020 when the Wildcats defeated the Kings in a COVID-shortened Grand Final series.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Final day vibes ?<br><br>The regular season comes to a close with two monster games that could still impact the top six ?<br><br>Follow the action live and free on 10 Peach and 10 play | live on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel ? <a href="https://t.co/9H4N1zP1kU">pic.twitter.com/9H4N1zP1kU</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1622029739253809155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Even though Sydney has nothing to play for today, having already locked up first spot, Smith is hoping to break the hearts of the red army.

“The most important days of my life have been the birth of my two children, winning the grand final series last year, my wedding and this potentially would be number five,” Smith told The West Australian.

“It’s genuine. There’s aspects of the confidence or arrogance of the Wildcats that annoy me. Sometimes I personally think the league tends to dance to the tune of the Wildcats.

“I just think the Wildcats in a huge extent are irrelevant in that equation. The league is made up of 10 clubs now and they are one tenth of that.”

Tip-off between the Kings and Wildcats is 4pm AEDT today at RAC Arena.