The secret sauce driving Sydney's strong start

Kendric Davis and Torrey Craig grab the headlines, but two quieter contributors are just as big a reason the Sydney Kings sit on top of the ladder.

The Kings finished Round 8 of the Hungry Jack’s NBL27 Season at 8-3. Alongside MVP contender Davis and US import Craig, Xavier Cooks and Makuach Maluach have been key to that strong start.

The NBL23 MVP Cooks has quietly gone about his business, averaging 12.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists, along with career highs in field goal percentage (68.7) and free-throw percentage (72.2).

His impact isn’t lost on coach Brian Goorjian, a seven-time NBL champion.

“I constantly get feedback from them on what a great teammate Xavier is and how important he is to them,” Goorjian said.

“In the last game against Tasmania, he had two points, but he won the game for us.

“He had two points, and he was one of our best players.”

Kings and Boomers teammate Matthew Dellavedova echoed those sentiments.

“He just provides what the team needs on any given night,” Dellavedova said.

“Six massive offensive boards [on Sunday], a couple of massive blocks, he’s distributing the ball, 6/7 from the field, 3/3 from the line.

“Sometimes that’s him playmaking, sometimes it’s rebounding, sometimes it’s defending, sometimes it’s scoring. But he just wants the team to win.

“As a leader of this team, it makes everyone play the same way.”

Dellavedova also praised Maluach, who is posting career-best averages of 13.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.5 blocks.

“Everyone sees the buckets, but he had a couple of massive steals at the end to ice the game, and a huge block right at the rim,” he said.

“He’s getting his shots up every single day after practice. He deserves all of his success.”

Sydney will chase a fourth straight win when they travel to Cairns on Friday night, from 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.