Sydney's 'military operation' complete

The Sydney Kings knew their backs were against the wall heading to Adelaide for their Round 4 blockbuster with the 36ers.

From losing two of their first three games, to not having defeated Adelaide for more than three years, and the highly anticipated return of former 36er Kendric Davis, Kings coach Brian Goorjian knew how tough the situation was.

So much so, he labelled it a 'military operation'.

"One of the things I said to them [the players before arriving in Adelaide], from the time we walk into this township, it's a military operation," six-time NBL champion Goorjian said in Saturday's post-game press conference.

"[From the moment] they arrived at the stadium, I knew they were [locked] in.

"Coming in here tonight and getting a win here goes down as one, not just this year, but and in the manner that we did it, one of the better wins that I've had in my time in the NBL."

A big part of what Goorjian touched on was the performance of Davis in his first game back in the city of churches.

In the 24-point victory, the star guard finished with 22 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, in a performance that impressed former NBA champion and current teammate Matthew Dellavedova.

"We knew this was going to be a big game coming in and he just did a great job of keeping his composure," Dellavedova said.

"He had a little bit of foul trouble in that first half, but then in the second half, he executed well, got some big buckets and found guys when we needed to get scores.

"For him to do that, I think shows just a lot of maturity.

"[Overall] he's been great, he's a basketball head who's always sending me clips and talking the game. He just wants to keep improving, keep getting better, and I'm happy to see it pay off for him tonight."

As well as Davis, a number of other Kings impressed Goorjian on the defensive end, holding five-time MVP Bryce Cotton to a season-low 7 points on 3/10 from the field.

"There’s been a lot of conversation and question marks about our team, but one of the things after the disappointing Melbourne game was I believed we have a team that can be very elite defensively," Goorjian said.

"So it [defence] was a real focus coming in tonight and it's a strength having Bul [Kuol], having [Jaylin] Galloway, having Delly, having Wach [Makuach Maluach] that all can come in and play a guy like Bryce, who's as good a player ever to play in this league.

"It's no easy feat what the guys did tonight, but it was a gang effort. It wasn't one guy, but Bul did a great job in the second half, with his size and length being a big factor."

The Kings, who are now 2-2 on the season, travel to Tasmania on Wednesday for an Ignite Cup fixture with the JackJumpers at MyState Bank Arena.

Tip off is at 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.